[jyl]

This sounds to me like the loud predictions two years that the US would soon collapse into Weimar Republic style hyperinflation and the dollar would be worthless. We heard those predictions on this board, from some of the same people participating in this thread, who similarly had no question whatsoever that they were right. Hmmm?

You have to do the numbers analysis. Get down to the actual data and show me how this is going to happen. Average govt-guaranteed debt per newly graduating college student is say $20K. As you say, lenders can and will crush blood from every last ounce of flesh to collect the debt. What percent of college students have so little earnings ability (including assistance programs) that you can't crush $20K + interest from them over 10 years or so? That's only about $2,000/year. You need to show why this percent is or will become a large-ish number, to support your predictions of a trillion-dollar blowup.