Ep. 23: A Brief History of Student Debt in the U.S. and Other Stories

We open with some local stories about the Northside Ministerial Alliance organizing an anti-gun violence carnival and houseless residents protesting on the Kalamazoo City Hall steps.

 

We comment on the recent verdict in the trial of two men who plotted to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, and give our analysis of a recent Michigan GOP rally featuring all of their statewide candidates (Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General). We look at their words and read between the lines.

 

We spend the next part of our show deep diving into the history of student loan debt- our response to Biden's 10k debt forgiveness and its relation to his campaign promise to relieve ALL student loan debt and his congressional record of helping create and worsen the student debt crisis. We then take the long-view and show how the capitalist class in the United States has long prioritized restricting access to education and anti-capitalist views on campus, the significant break in the 70s from affordable college nationwide to skyrocketing tuition rates, and how that campaign against higher education has impacted the current state of campus life.

 

We look at some workers who have successfully unionized a Chipotle in Lansing, and how corporate media often gives the bosses the first word. We end with some stray thoughts on the raid at Mar-a-Lago.

 

2:00- 12:30 Anti-Gun Violence Carnival on the Northside

12:30- 28:40 Houseless Residents Protest at Kzoo City Hall

28:40- 39:00 Would Be Whitmer Kidnappers Sentenced

39:00- 1:00:25 Michigan GOP Rally Response

1:00:25- 1:40:35 A Brief History of Student Debt in the U.S.

1:41:20- 1:58:00 Chipotle Workers Unionize in Lansing

1:58:00- 2:08:00 Stray Thoughts on the Mar-a-Lago Raid

 

SOURCES

Joe Biden’s Role in Creating the Student Debt Crisis Stretches Back to the 1970s

https://theintercept.com/2020/01/07/joe-biden-student-loans/

The Origin of Student Debt: Reagan Adviser Warned Free College Would Create a Dangerous “Educated Proletariat”

https://theintercept.com/2022/08/25/student-loans-debt-reagan/?fbclid=IwAR1V_Huzt5tVMgqfSaMgz9aIJBgDHgQg4p2HGgRNdxByav9NHrX9a-W2VwM

45 Years and Counting: Sustaining Power of “The Powell Memo”

https://www.laprogressive.com/progressive-issues/powell-manifesto?fbclid=IwAR029rWz6B4_Gg5i75Hs4R8f8viRMz_7fsz4cwQ8fkD7wwmNMBgxR1V-4cw

 

Neoliberalism's War on Higher Education (Second Edition)

By Henry A. Giroux

https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1386-neoliberalism-s-war-on-higher-education