By — Paul Solman Paul Solman Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/graeber-on-the-heavy-load-of-student-debt Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter The Heavy Load of Student Debt Economy Jun 4, 2012 5:14 PM EDT We first set out to cover the student-debt story last year when we read David Graeber’s book, “Debt: The First 5000 Years” and listened to him speak (online). Graeber was pushing a proposal for mass repudiation of student debt. He was arguing that the interest rate incorporates the risk of default, so creditors should hardly be surprised when unforeseen circumstances like a jobless job market make repayment difficult to impossible. Graeber’s online initiative has since been superseded by more practical alternatives — both of which we mention in our first student-loan story — but his reasoning is well worth examining. This entry is cross-posted on the Making Sen$e page, where correspondent Paul Solman answers your economic and business questions Follow @PaulSolman We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — Paul Solman Paul Solman Paul Solman has been a correspondent for the PBS News Hour since 1985, mainly covering business and economics. @paulsolman
We first set out to cover the student-debt story last year when we read David Graeber’s book, “Debt: The First 5000 Years” and listened to him speak (online). Graeber was pushing a proposal for mass repudiation of student debt. He was arguing that the interest rate incorporates the risk of default, so creditors should hardly be surprised when unforeseen circumstances like a jobless job market make repayment difficult to impossible. Graeber’s online initiative has since been superseded by more practical alternatives — both of which we mention in our first student-loan story — but his reasoning is well worth examining. This entry is cross-posted on the Making Sen$e page, where correspondent Paul Solman answers your economic and business questions Follow @PaulSolman We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now