As a hoodie-wearing, ultra-liberal young black man with an afro and a faded Obama t-shirt I often get asked to comment on the Trayvon Martin case.  However, rarely am I asked in the context of someone actually trying to learn something, I am asked in the context of someone who wants to start an argument, usually something Gingrich or Hannity-esque, along the lines of a young person was shot by an over zealous community watch type person who thought he was a member of the Watchmen.  If only that were the case.  As it turns out Trayvon Martin’s murder was a hate crime committed by George Zimmerman in conjunction with the Sanford County Police Department.  It is unique only in the carelessness of the murderer and his police department accomplice.  Finally, and here is why it is on the blog, millions of young black men go to college to 1) help create a world where things like this don’t happen and 2) try and avoid this fate themselves.

While I don’t have a conservative screaming in my ear, let’s review what happened.  A regular citizen, with no official authority whatsoever and a criminal record clearly states his intention to follow and aggressively confront another citizen whom he suspects not of being in the midst of criminal activity, but of being a criminal, simply because of his race.  This citizen turns out to be an unarmed child who the regular citizen, a grown man almost twice the weight of said child, then guns down.

Stop right there.  Here are the details that make this particular occurrence unusual.  First, the caller uses racial slurs. Second, AFTER the killing, nothing is planted on the victim.  No gun, no drugs, no knife, no jewelry, not even a spork from the convenience store.  Third, the victim (at least as far as we know) never had any documented run-in with the police and Fourth, the officer presiding over the case was known not to prosecute the assault and murder of undesirables (like the homeless) for sport. From a machiavellian standpoint it is easy to see how this could have happened and none of us would have ever heard about it…like it actually does everyday.

More on what this had to do with college and debt after the jump

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I try and give you folks a lark with some good-old fashioned bro humor. I had a great story about a bro who opened a puppy rental stand who paid this slam piece to jerk off guys she saw walking said puppies and suggest that for paying off high interest private loans. But you people need help. Serious help. So instead I am going to explain to you something you should have learned growing up watching sports.

Now here is how I know there are no sports fans on this site. One if there were ballets among you you’d have gotten scholarships. Two if you could converse about sports with people you’d be less miserable at work, more pleasant to be around, less likely to lose your job and more likely to find a new one if you do.  And before you get started yes I am going to make a sports analogy BUT I am going to explain it so even those who think Jordan was the greatest football player because he scored the most runs in history can understand.

You are playing a game, say basketball, (round ball, bounces, played indoors) and your opponent is debt. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game (aka the amount of time you want/reasonable amount of time to take to pay off your loans is) wins. Debt is winning by the amount you owe, aided by crooked refs we’ll call interest.
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Here at Debtor’s Prison we are in the market for a new writer.  Specifically, we are looking for someone who is underemployed.  By that we mean someone who perhaps experienced a period of unemployment and was forced to take a job in a different industry making substantially (35% less or higher) less or are managed by someone who is younger, less well-educated and/or has inferior experience to you.

Many of us here at Debtor’s Prison (myself included) think the storm ends when you find a new job.  That is not true from the stories I hear.  First, you have an enormous hole to climb out of.  I’ve heard it described as trying to climb out of a 200 ft. hole with a 30 ft. rope.  Next, the indignity and shame of being unemployed is replaced with the indignity and shame of working for your ex-girlfriend’s little brother who drank too much and dropped out of his division III school after loosing his football scholarship and has an Associate Degree from a school advertised on TV between the hours of 2 and 5 AM.  You’re forced to constantly answer the question “why are you working here?” or lie about your age and academic pedigree. 

Let’s also not forget once you start working again…you’re working again.  That is to say you’ve still got predominantly the same issues and problems but on top of that you’re working and a great deal of your likely pathetic salary is taken up with NEW expenses CREATED BY your job, such as transportation, clothing, lunches and drinking with your new coworkers who you are beginning to dislike as much as your old coworkers who managed to weather the storm.

What I’ve taken from my friends who’ve taken the first steps toward recovery or as they say, have filed through the first bar in their cell in debtor’s prison is that 1) not much changes 2) what does change is often not positive.  They also dispelled several myths, like it’s easier to get a job once you have a job.  News flash: You can’t spend 10 hours a day looking for a new job once you have a job.  My favorite myth is that five years from now none of this will matter, your career will be back on track, and it will be like this little hiccup in the economy never happened.  Somebody sure did fail economics.  Dollars you make early in life are mathematically worth more than dollars you make later.  This means that to TRULY be where you would have been in five years if none of this horror never happened (we’re talking purely financial, not physical, mental, emotional or psychological) it’s not enough to find a job.  It’s not enough to find a job that pays as much as the one you lost.  It’s not enough to find a job that pays substantially MORE than what you used to make.  You need that last job AND a windfall sum of money equal to what you would have made plus interest.

*sigh*

The bottom line is I can’t do this perspective justice and a number of individuals I have approached about it don’t want to write  about it for fear of endangearing their current job or because they just feel overwhelmed.  If this describes you or someone you know Puh-LEeZe let us know.

Based on the comments there might have been some confusion on my stance with respect to bankruptcy for student debtors.  If I were king of the world I would certainly grant student debtors bankruptcy protection AS WELL AS instituting a policy capping payments as a percentage of gross income as well as setting limits in terms of how long payments could be required to continue.  I would appoint Alpha Man as “student loans czar” and let him have at it.

Where I disagree with Alpha Man is with respect to the wisdom of spending our finite resources campaigning for renewed bankruptcy protection given the history of student loans and given alternatives like the President’s proposal.  I simply don’t think it’s realistic that these giant profit mills are going to take it from both sides, aka taking on the added risk of bankruptcies AND the added risk that individuals will only repay a portion of their loans over the course of the allotted time with a restraint on the amount of a student’s accessible gross income.  I just don’t see it.

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Hi kids.  I am sure you have heard about the petition going around trying to drum up support for bankruptcy protection for student debtors.  But who does that help?  Is that really the answer?  I am going to put in my two cents before I leave it to the gang to discuss.

Essentially I don’t think it’s the answer.  Here’s why.  At the end of the day the man gets his money and lawyers ruin everything.   Here’s what I mean.  Collectors collect.  We as a group lost bankruptcy protection when newly minted lawyers declared bankruptcy, discharged their loans and then went on to lucrative careers with the inconvenience of paying a higher interest rate on credit cards and mortgages.  If bankruptcy protection returns, these people will game the system again and collectors will simply find some other way to get their money.  One way could be to astronomically increase interest rates on student loans.  Another way would be to demand parent cosigners for student loans (thereby eliminating bankruptcy as an option if you care about your family).  The point is, we’re not slick compared to the man.  The man will get his money.

Read on as I finish my thought and the gang ways in

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