Atwood Debtor's Prism Analysis

In the article “Debt Education: Bad for the Young, Bad for America”, Jeffrey J. Williams explains the damage student debt causes past and present college students. Williams argued that more than half of the college students and their families are in debt from having to make such large payments toward the rising costs of colleges. Though, Williams also states a higher degree or education will lead to a high income and all around better jobs, the risk of being unemployed after college is too great. This is considered to be good for individuals, as it will maximize their economic potential. It is also good for society as a whole as people are getting better education, and rising to greater expectations in the world. Williams mentions the opportunity

Gordon offers a ‘biography’ of the debt making the book a human drama as he explains the positive myriads ways that it has influenced and shaped the history of America economy. Gordon is attempting to provide the audience with a brief history of the American debt

The biggest enemy to the end of the financial crisis and the beginning of an economic recovery is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson himself. Lets forget for a minute that the decision by Paulson and Bernanke to let Lehman Brothers fail was the precipitating event leading to credit markets freezing up and the first round of financial panic. Since then, the two have been working diligently to correct this collosal mistake. But separating actions from words, we see that words are in fact much more potent.

Thus, it stands to reason that the article’s purpose is to support the argument that predatory lending practices are at fault for the debt young adults experience. Macias uses personal experience immediately peppering in researched data to support his findings and conclusions on how the credit card industry wholeheartedly takes advantage of young America. His article captures the reader’s focus by appealing to pathos and tugging at pity in the reciting of how Macias was taken advantage of by credit lenders. Carlos Macias’s argument for the debt accrued by college aged adults being the fault of the credit card companies themselves roots itself in his rhetoric. From his skillful hooking of the audience with information garnered from personal experience to the utilization of logos throughout the paper presenting itself as careful and reliable research. He discusses how one of his favorite stores to shop in is the GAP and upon shopping there on one Spring Break the store clerk present had persuaded him into enrolling in a program that entailed opening a GapCard. Carlos Macias was persuaded into this program

Ayn Rand and her novel Atlas Shrugged almost fully predict the American economic and social ideals that are happening in modern times. Rand foresees the gradual collapse of the American Economy that has happened in 2008 and is now predicted to happen once again in 2016. She too envisages the type of people that arise from the economic crisis such as the hard working free thinkers, and the sheep that follow in today’s society. Ayn Rand also portrays the ideal that no one can answer the most rhetorical questions of today’s society with the phrase “Who is John Galt?”. This phrase is similar to some that are said today that represent the hopelessness and despair of the failing American society. Atlas Shrugged begins with the event of a gradual

The total U.S. student loan debt now surpasses $1.2 trillion and there is more than 40 million recipients owing on federal and private student loans (Malone). Most of the college students in the United States can’t afford their education by themselves and, as a result, students end up drowning in student loans in order to earn a degree. Student debt is a major problem in the US, and it is a major influence on the gap between rich and poor. A more accessible college education would help reduce the gap between rich and poor in the United States.

According to Anya Kamenetz in the article “Generation Debt,” young people of today are struggling with high debt due to high educational finances and this is preventing them to move on as responsible adults. College tuitions are too high to pay that young people fall into applying for student loans, and have significant credit card debt with high balances. Most students are using their credit cards to pay for their college expenses and student loans; even their paychecks are being used to pay for college. I agree that many young people held back in becoming a full adult which they are doing everything they can just to continue their education. Even if it means to continue living at home with parents just to make ends meets and not being able to step in the “fully adulthood.” In other words they, are prolonging their adulthood just to be able to go to college and be able to fully

When most Americans are in debt, they are very stressed out and then they are worried and don't want to do anything because they are moping around depressed about the debt they have put themselves in. For example, ‘’when a threat to basic needs is perceived, when debts flood the certainty of food and shelter, when making ends meet seems improbable, happiness slips away’’(Sheppard).Most people get themselves in the hole because they want to have a family, and then marriage is so expensive the price of it hurts them financially and they are having trouble recovering from it. My mom and dad went through the same thing when I was about 4 years old my grandpa helped them out because he was very worried they would get their house taken away from them because of the debt they put themselves in and now their credit score is in the

Columnist Scott Gilmore brings to light the operations of payday loan companies and the impact that they have on society. Although the payday loan companies seem to take advantage of the financially vulnerable members of society, perhaps the true fault lies within the education of society. A devastatingly large portion of society seeks out payday loans, and the results are appalling. As mentioned by Gilmore in the article, “[A correlation was found] between the number of payday lenders in a neighborhood and premature mortality”. This reveals a lot regarding the repercussions of seeking out loans that in turn create greater loans. The stress caused by financial troubles takes quite a toll on the human body and mind, and efforts need to be made

When people think about college student?s financial status, they often think they are going to be broke from student loans. What most people do think about when it comes to college students is credit card debt. And if people do think about it, the students are often blamed for the debt because many people still think they are you kids who are irresponsible when It came to money. In the article, ?The Credit Card Company Made Me Do It? ? The Credit Card Industry?s Role in Causing Student Debt, author, Carlos Macias, warns his audience that credit card companies will try anything and everything to get students to own a credit card from their company. Macias states that college students have a huge target on their back when it comes to credit

The charge about the old days of the American economy—the nineteenth century, the “Gilded Age,” the era of the “robber barons”—was that it was always beset by a cycle of boom and bust. Whatever nice runs of expansion and opportunity that did come, they always seemed to be coupled with a pretty cataclysmic depression right around the corner. Boom and bust, boom and bust—this was the necessary pattern of the American economy in its primitive state.

Elmer Davis states, “We, it seems, have abolished the business cycle; when people have bought all they can they can afford they go on buying, a little down and the rest in easy payments,” explaining how buyers no longer follow the protocols of the initial “business cycle” (Document M). Instead, they are accumulating their bills to a price that would be nowhere near possible paying in the future. As the spending increased, the debt increased, causing the nation's economic stability to drop a dollar at a time. The negligent spending of American citizens would not only result in debt, but also a drop in social class. Middle-class families with such impulsive-spending mindsets would soon be plunged into poverty, leaving them starving and homeless. Nonetheless, this is not the only case in which Americans carelessly spent their money. In Fortune’s advertisement, it states, “One man pays $35,000 for a boat, another $10,000. One has a special design, the other a stock model” (Document J). This advertisement depicts just how foolish American citizens were when it

Media thrives on successfully manipulating the emotions of its audience; as a result, unordinary stories are brought to light far more often. Such is the case with the topic of student debt. Graduates shackled to large student debt years after their diploma have more coverage than those who are well in control of their repayments. Why would articles and newscasts on college graduates routinely handling their repayments with generate return customers? Accounts of those deeply in debt induces sympathy and stirs up anger in their audiences, and with the repetitive exposure to similar situations presented by the media, student-loans are commonly viewed as money leeches overtaking American

Majority of people now a days live to tell their rags to riches story of how they’ve acquired if not all a great deal of what they own due to their individual hard work. Once a young adult is enrolled in college they consume a massive amount of responsibility and gain their own sense of independence if they didn’t already have a strong sense of the concept. “Students today aren’t lazy”, Dunn said. “But if you look at what tuition is now and what the minimum wage is now, it’s not possible given that they’re up against” (President John Dunn of Western Michigan University). This is the exact point that author Svati Kirsten Narula is making when she makes use of an effective level of rhetoric’s in order to convince readers that the task of putting

In today’s society we regularly hear about the high tuition universities and colleges are demanding. In the span of one generation, how is it that graduating students are still unemployed? Could they be unknowingly causing a plummet and stagnating the economy? Tuition for both public and private colleges has tripled in the last four decades. We are living in an era where families are paying as much as six figures for their children’s higher education. The inquiry students and families are making is if higher education worth the price, time and investment? By focusing on student debt the author overlooks a deeper problem that has to do with how much students need to reciprocate once their education is finished.