In the first half, StudentLoanJustice.Org founder Alan Collinge discussed his organization's progress in exposing predatory student loan lenders and what we can do to protect against them. He first investigated student loan debt after graduating with $35,000 in loans and saw corruption and payoffs in the system. Federal student loans have been exempt from consumer protection and bankruptcy laws, "so it's really become a license to steal. And now we're seeing sort of the death spiral...of the lending system. It's just a catastrophic failure at this point by all rational metrics," with a total loan debt of around $2 trillion, he noted. The loan system has given colleges "the green light to raise their prices at double or triple the rate of inflation," with the federal government along for the ride with their own profit motive, he lamented.
Collinge cited cases where even when people are dutifully paying off their student debt, they can never catch up and, over the years, end up paying thousands and thousands of dollars in interest beyond the original loan amount. He believes that the government should not be profiting off student loans, and that most student debt should be forgiven, as a large percentage of it will never be paid off anyway. We absolutely should have constitutional bankruptcy rights returned to student loans, he declared. It's not that everyone would go out and file for bankruptcy, but without that protection, "it causes just the worst sort of vicious predatory behaviors on the part of the lenders," Collinge explained. He also talked about various political efforts and was critical of both Democrats and Republicans for not passing legislation or making changes to correct the issue.
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Retired college professor and banker Bob Coppes became interested in near-death experiences (NDEs) after the untimely death of his brother. In the latter half, he shared his research into over one hundred NDEs and the powerful and transformative testimonies of people from different religious and cultural backgrounds who underwent these experiences and their aftereffects. Out-of-body experiences are a commonly reported effect of NDEs, such as roaming about in the hospital when undergoing surgery, or near the crash site of an accident. What's particularly interesting about this, he noted, is that people later reveal accurate details of a conversation or things they saw when they were unconscious or in a coma, which indicates that consciousness can be separate from the body.
Coppes pointed out that NDEs are quite different from dreams or hallucinations in that they are experienced as absolutely real. A large percentage of people who've had an NDE lose their fear of death, he reported, as they find the other side a welcoming place and often refer to it as "home." During an NDE, individuals describe an array of sights and interactions. Some have a life review; others see wonderful gardens, cities, geometric figures, or even just a blank void, he detailed. "But the overall feeling...is that there is unconditional love...and we seem to be very closely connected with each other but also with the animal world or with nature." NDErs report there is no sense of time during the occurrence. One person told Coppes she could see the future and the present simultaneously, considering the unusual vantage she had in the NDE.
News segment guests: John M. Curtis / Charles Coppes