Student debt replaces progressive taxation—a consequence of our choice to commodify higher ed, rather than providing it as collective good. An example of how “user-funded structures privatize social risks while shielding wealth from productive public use.” nytimes.com/2021/06/23/opi…
https://twitter.com/sparkyabraham/status/1475925976953413634
I use the word "replace" intentionally: as Andreas Wiedemann recently summarized, “A growing body of work associates higher debt levels with limited welfare states, suggesting that the former can substitute for the latter.” Student debt is but one example. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…
Similar dynamics are seen in local contexts: "Even where the state avoids [obligations], the charges it imposes in their place will tend to become debt at the individual level, as poor families who lack means to make immediate payment then turn to credit." lpeproject.org/blog/the-bondh…
In higher education just as elsewhere, "commodification [as reflected in current student debt obligations] results from the absence of redistributive transfers provided through the state—thus ensuring that risks are individualized while gains are hoarded." lpeproject.org/blog/the-bondh…
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