I am working on ways to solve the problem. It can't be done all at once, so incremental changes are the way to go. Sadly, the political climate is so severe in this country that forgiveness is not likely. Of course, the climate can change dramatically, so who knows what lies ahead. For the moment, that's off the table. That doesn't mean there aren't other ways to solve the crisis.

Thanks so much for sharing. That is absolutely wrong, and I am afraid you're analysis is right(I have discussed similar things, and am actually working on a piece about the privatization of UW-Madison). These things - education, among many other things - is no longer regarded as important to support through public funding. Neoliberalism has triumphed, and it makes me quite concerned for the future of this country. I'd like to post your comment over at my blog - All Education Matters. Please let me know if you have objections. Thanks.

-Cryn Johannsen
Founder & Exec. Dir.
All Education Matters (http://alleducationmatters.blogspot.com)

When I went to college in 1976 in Michigan, my annual tuition at a public university was less than $1500, which I paid in cash with no loans required. I dropped out for reasons other than financial, and when I went back to school in California, my community college tuition was $5 per credit hour, and my subsequent tuition at the University of California at Berkeley in the late 80s was still well under $2000 per year, which I paid in cash with no loans required. And when I did my Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin as an out-of-state student, I had two years covered by research grants, and was able to pay the $14,000 annual tuition for the other three years through the savings I'd amassed as a well-paid college graduate.

Public education used to be public. Our state and federal taxes supported things like libraries, public K-12 and higher education, so that they could be enjoyed by all citizens regardless of wealth. No longer. We now demand public services without any intention of taxing ourselves to have them, and the results are predictable. I just paid my income taxes last night -- I make a good living, and take only standard deductions with no fancy tax magic. And my federal income tax amounted to only 15.3% of my annual gross income. That's just wrong. And it's why these stories are as common as they are.

And now the medical issues. I've had to deal with stress, depression and anxiety for years. It gets so bad that it agitates some other condition I can't afford to pursue, which has lead to paresthesia and temporary (so far) paralysis. And now my doctors feel I have endometriosis. However, the only way to diagnose this is through surgery -- something I've had to push off for months because I cannot afford it. I can barely afford to pay off my previous doctor's visits and trip to the ER. My health is getting worse, and there are days when I can hardly move. Who wants to employ someone who is this sick? But I can't take care of the issue until I get a job with benefits.

The daily calls from creditors is terrifying. I completely understand why people in debt become suicidal. They give you no way out. The offer no solutions to help you with your situation. I'm on unemployment now (the company I was working for went under), so I've begun to finally be able to pay off some of my debt -- very slowly. However, first I was told if I made payments I'd be fine -- but once I made payments they said my debt could still go to the courts unless I pay ALL of the overdue balance at once. They change their statements every time. There never appears to be a light at the end, no chance for any drop of hope.

We need real, concrete solutions to this debt issue. And soon.
I know I'm not that far in debt, but something must be done.

In the meantime I wake up every single night with terrible attacks of asthma and cough so hard I think my brain rattles against my skull.
And a tickle in my upper chest like you wouldn;t breathe.

I use the fast acting inhalers, which I can afford. One is a prescription Albuterol, and when that doesn;t cut through the asthma after 5 or 6 puffs in succession, I take a few puffs of over the counter Primatene Mist.

MY heart is really racing now, but the breathing has eased, and the coughing has stopped.

And @ Peter R, this is from a Poem called: "Song Of The Galley Slaves" by Rudyard Kipling

.....
The salt made the oar-handles like shark-skin;our knees were
cut to the bone with salt-cracks; our hair was stuck to
our foreheads; and our lips were cut to the gums, and
you whipped us because we could not row.

Will you never let us go?

By the way Peter R,
I graduated from Law School, and curse the day I ever took out student loans. Sometimes curse the very very day I was born.
And certainly have nothing but fear and regret with which to live out the rest of my miserable days.
I am deeply in debt, and poor.
Poor until the day I die.
What I wouldn't give to be able to sleep all night without waking up once with an asthma attack.

But I also recognize that there are people with worse health problems than mine, as Cryn describes above.