Astra Taylor
Source: Isabella De Madalena
Astra Taylor took out her first student loan at 17. She attended Brown University and the New School and owed tens of thousands of dollars when she failed to pay off her debt during the 2008 financial crisis.
“In one night, they added 19% to my principal,” said Taylor, 42. “Like millions of others, I was trapped in debt.”
Luckily, her partner, Jeff Manham, a musician who founded the Neutral Milk Hotel, offered to repay her loans in 2012. In almost every way, her life changed.
“It saved me decades of payments,” she said. Without worrying about covering her monthly student loan bill, she managed to focus on her passion for making documentaries and writing books.
Around the same time, in 2014, she helped found the Debt Collective, the first debtors’ union.
“Trying to lift the weight of my student loans is part of the reason I’m doing this,” Taylor said. “I want the same relief and opportunity for other people.”
President Joe Biden recently said he would make an announcement to forgive student loans within weeks. CNBC interviewed Taylor about what it’s like to finally see something you’ve been fighting for on the horizon for so long.
Ani Nova: Apart from your personal experience, what made you want to do one of your missions in life to fight for people in debt?
Astra Taylor: When wages are not high enough to cover the most important things in life, poor and working people have no choice but to take on debt to survive. In this sense, we have been robbed twice, first by bosses who pay us, and then by creditors who charge interest and fees when we take out a loan to cover the gap. Contrary to stereotypes, many credit card debts are for basic needs – things like rent, food and medical care. In this country, most working people do not live beyond their means, they are deprived of livelihoods. The result is exploding household debt.
More from personal finance: More and more Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck with rising inflation. Where consumers plan to cut costs amid record highs Americans say inflation has a “negative impact” on targets
AN: Why do you think people in debt need a union?
AT: The financial sector is incredibly well organized. They lobbied around the clock and managed to repeal usurious defenses, deregulate the banking industry and grow their business, and we all pay the price. That is why we need to unite to fight for fairer conditions, debt relief and policy changes that will ensure that we do not have to take on debt to survive.
AN: Unpaid student loan debts have been increasing for decades. What do you think are some of the earliest roots of the crisis?
AT: We had a model of adequate funding for public higher education. That began to change in the 1960s, when Ronald Reagan was governor of California. He dismantled the University of California’s master plan, which provides a free college for everyone and required the system to start charging students. This was part of his strategy to quell student protests for civil rights and freedom of speech. The idea was that if people had to go into debt to go to school, they would think twice about paying to carry a picket sign. His actions were part of a broader right-wing push to abolish public services and transfer as many public institutions as possible to private actors looking for new ways to make money.
AN: You have a problem with the term “student loan forgiveness”. Can you explain why?
AT: Millions of debtors have paid off the original amount they borrowed, and yet they are still in debt due to accrued interest, and many of them somehow owe more than their original balances. This is the classic definition of a debt trap. No sense in telling you now – I don’t wanna ruin the suprise. This word makes it seem that the debtors have done something wrong. We are talking about a problem at the system level, not about individual moral failure.
AN: What role do you think the cancellation of student debt in the by-elections can play?
AT: Almost 1 in 5 Trump voters said they would consider voting for a Democrat if Democrats rescinded all student duties. Another study found that 40% of black voters would consider staying home for the next election if no action was taken on student loan debt. That could make or break Democrats in the states on the battlefield.
AN: It remains unclear how much student debt will be canceled, if any. Biden said he was not considering deleting $ 50,000 to a borrower, suggesting he could choose a lower figure. You believe that all $ 1.7 trillion in outstanding student debt should be canceled. Why?
AT: For millions of borrowers trapped in debt, … $ 10,000 or $ 20,000 hardly makes a difference in the amount they owe. For 83% of black borrowers, canceling a $ 10,000 debt still leaves them with a balance sheet higher than their original amount. This is unacceptable.
AN: One of the leading arguments against canceling a student loan is that it directs resources to people who are better off because they went to college. What do you think about this?
AT: Really rich people don’t have student obligations because they or their parents could cover the expenses. In addition, the wealthy receive a lot of financial aid, which they do not recognize. Mortgage holders have been able to take advantage of historically low interest rates and can also deduct their mortgage interest from their taxes. Credit card debtors who are more likely to have difficulty do not receive 3% interest, which they can write off. Our financial system is permeated by this kind of double standard and is set against poor and working people.
AN: Cancellation of student debt may be inevitable. How do you feel about that?
AT: It’s amazing to see something you’ve worked on for so long, to become mainstream, and to hear people like Senator Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. and others to repeat our points of conversation. We first protested against student debt in 2012, when it exceeded $ 1 trillion. Ten years later, it is racing for $ 2 trillion and even more borrowers are suffering. The problem has gotten a lot worse, but at least we are finally hearing politicians admit that the only sensible solution is to erase the debt.
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