For the second article in a row I am posting a link to a story that might be the beginning of the end of our suffering

http://abovethelaw.com/2010/06/could-law-school-loans-become-more-easily-dischargeable-in-bankruptcy/#comments

Could it be true?  I am like a Goat in Narnia that’s just seen Santa’s sleigh.  Perhaps the endless winter is coming to an end.  Now before we get all giddy, let’s explore the two reasons why this isn’t likely to happen and analyze the BEST option for beating the odds and finally getting out of this hell hole. 

The first reason this isn’t likely to happen is of course lawyers.  Remember, it was their bankruptcy declaring asses on the second day after graduation that got us in this damn mess in the first place.  The second reason is the fact that an educational loan has no collateral.  There’s no car or home to repossess in the event you can’t pay…or is there?

Let’s be honest here.  The only thing we learned in law school was how to push the outer limits of our alcohol tolerance and what the townspeople in Huckleberry Finn felt like who’d seen the second showing of the play put on by the King and Duke.  The only “value” comes from the credential.  Why can’t we give that back?  Hell, I’d give my JD back for a hot meal, a new baseball cap or gas money /bus-fare for next week.  Wipe out my loans and you can take me off the esteemed list of individuals who have earned a JD from an ivy T-7.  If I want back on I have to fork over the dough or pay for a new one.

Ok, but what the hell is a bank going to do with a bunch of fake lambskin with typo-riddled latin all over it.  Who would pay for that?  Who benefits from that?

Every other professional who holds that degree, that’s who.  Bar associations could use a portion of their dues to buy back those degrees, thereby driving the supply of those individuals down and thereby making the rest of them more valuable.  Medical associations and Engineering associations all do the same…any job that REQUIRES some credential to it has an association that, with the right prodding, could be convinced that this is a proper expenditure of money. Plus, how much past it’s prime shrimp cocktail and Grade B steaks can these organizations feed themselves?

But what about undergraduate degrees?  Well, alumni associations should buy them back.  Think about it.  You care enough about Harvard to be involved with the alumni.  Do you really want some poor person holding the same degree you do?  Ruining all that hard earned prestige that has built up over the centuries? How dare you major in Art History because you like it, not because your Daddy has castles that need decorating? 

So please.  Take my degrees.  They are sabotaging my interviews at fast food restaurants anyway.  Take my degrees let me go to work at Arby’s.  I’ll work there for a few months, get promoted to beef slicer, and then if I am lucky I can go work at one of those new Whole Foods or Wegman’s grocery stores in the deli department.  Then maybe I can afford to move out of my mother’s basement.