I have (maybe) a crazy idea, but why don't we call their bluff and tell them to move all of these loans to standard 10Y plans?

OK, so before anyone throws a shoe at me, hear me out for just a second.

1 in 6 Americans has federal student loan debt that they cannot pay back on a 10Y clip. This $1.6 trillion in loans is 100% uncollectible. Almost none of it will EVER be collected from borrowers, and certainly not enough to outpace the new issuances and costs to just run the program...

Now, I get it, most people aren't going to be comfortable with a big, defaulted loan on their credit report. But again, hear me out. We are talking about 43mm Americans. There is this concept that if you hand down this "punishment" or "consequence" to a few people, it works. But if you apply it to half of all people in their 20-50s... the actual net effect of what you are doing ceases to matter.

I think that, at some point, you do have to look at it and say "OK, Congress is arguing about a loan portfolio and how to collect on it, but these are really BAD loans that they cannot collect except by exception over many decades, not just one." It becomes like medical debt. Mortgage lenders, auto lenders, etc., are going to start treating this like they do a million dollar medical bill you didn't pay... pretty much irrelevant. If mortgage and auto lenders didn't do that, they'd have far less customers and that's not... they aren't married to any of this in the way that performative politicians are.

Now, for a final point, some people might be worried about garnishment. But again, I'd strike back at that and say that huge amounts of these loans are written to people who are judgement proof. They are not at risk of garnishment given their actual financial situation. And those that could be garnished "some" would see... maybe a hundred dollars or two hundred dollars a month. It's going to be a lot less than the plans the government is discussing for student loan reform today of 15%+ of a person's income.

So, I guess I am just putting it out there that this all still a house of cards. These loans are unsecured, not collectible in 80%+ cases and while Congress may enjoy pointing to them during their "performances" on TV as if they can all be collected somehow, the reality... is just different than that. Maybe rather than fear the bill, look at it for what it is -- completely out of touch people talking about collecting loans that should all... already be in default if we were being honest and accountable the way a real business or lender would, and written off.