I have written in the past about the generational war currently being waged by old people on America's young.

To me, the crushing student loan debt that our nation's young people labor underneath is the most striking, overt, and obvious front in this often quiet, subtle war. 

Public Citizen has a quote from a WSJ article that explains the most egregious aspect of student loan debt in America: it's not just that our young people are taking on huge, never-before-seen levels of debt getting their educations, it's not just that many of them incur this debt at bologna for-profit institutions that essentially function as funnels to shove federal money into the coffers of Wall Street banks through student loans sold to young people, it's not just that the prospect of actually finding work in your chosen field  has never been bleaker, it's that the federal government has withheld from our young people relief in bankruptcy from crushing student loan debt. 

“Unlike most other types of consumer credit, student debt is extremely difficult to discharge in bankruptcy. After falling behind on payments, a borrower typically finds it harder to obtain other types of consumer loans, or can only do so at higher interest rates… Since the end of 2007, just before the financial crisis hit, total student debt has grown by more than 56%, adjusted for inflation… During that time, overall household debt—including mortgages, student loans, auto loans and credit cards—fell by 18%, to $11.31 trillion as of Sept. 30 [of this year].”

— Wall Street Journal, 11/28/12

Student loan debt is crippling an entire generation of Americans. I'm not kidding. I see it with my law school classmates who can't leave jobs they hate and work that is unimportant because they need the paycheck. I see it with my clients—homeowners facing foreclosure, people who have been injured by the negligence or recklessness of others. I see it with family members who forgo advanced degrees because the specter of six-figure debt is too haunting. Certainly, the size of student loan debts is a problem. But, the fact that young people who need to file bankruptcy cannot (except in rare circumstances) get some relief from what is likely their single-largest debt is one of the true injustices of our time. 

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing another case regarding the enforceability of mandatory arbitration agreements and class action bans following its devastating decision in AT&T v. Concepcion in 2011. This one involves a suit by merchants over whether they must accept all American Express cards or only the traditional Amex cards that require full payment at the end of the month. The liberals on the Court are a vote down because Justice Sotomayor participated in the decision at the Court of Appeals and will not participate in the Supreme Court case. Not good.

Mandatory arbitration agreements and bans on class action bans often prevent consumers, including Kentucky consumers from vindicating their rights when businesses do wrong by them. The question in this case is whether the cost of arbitration or an individual action (when compared to the dollar amount at stake in the case) is enough to invalidate a mandatory arbitration provision or a provision banning class actions in a contract. 

Important.

The merchants told the Supreme Court that the most any of them could hope to recover in damages is $38,549, far less than what it would cost to marshal the evidence to prove their case.

I read an amazing proposal from law professor Chris Peterson recently on regulating the marketing of high-cost loans through local ordinance. The city could require anyone offering high-interest loans to post signs that say, "Warning: Predatory Lender." The approach could be useful in Louisville because it is a local solution requiring buy-in from only the council and the mayor, not Frankfort.

Predatory payday lenders rob the city's most vulnerable people at a time when those folks can least afford the high interest rates payday lenders charge. Frankfort continues to stymie appropriate legislation of these jackels.