The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe
Written by Josh Mitchell
Narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
From acclaimed Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Mitchell, the “devastating account” (The Wall Street Journal) of student debt in America.
In 1981, a new executive at Sallie Mae took home the company’s financial documents to review. “You’ve got to be shitting me,” he later told the company’s CEO. “This place is a gold mine.”
Over the next four decades, the student loan industry that Sallie Mae and Congress created blew up into a crisis that would submerge a generation of Americans into $1.5 trillion in student debt. In The Debt Trap, Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Mitchell tells the “vivid and compelling” (Chicago Tribune) untold story of the scandals, scams, predatory actors, and government malpractice that have created the behemoth that one of its original architects called a “monster.”
As he charts the “jaw-dropping” (Jeffrey Selingo, New York Times bestselling author of Who Gets in and Why) seventy-year history of student debt in America, Mitchell never loses sight of the countless student victims ensnared by an exploitative system that depends on their debt. Mitchell also draws alarming parallels to the housing crisis in the late 2000s, showing the catastrophic consequences student debt has had on families and the nation’s future. Mitchell’s character-driven narrative is “necessary reading” (The New York Times) for anyone wanting to understand the central economic issue of our day.
Josh Mitchell
Josh Mitchell is a reporter in the Washington bureau of The Wall Street Journal, writing about the economy and higher education. In 2016, the Education Writers Association named him the nation’s top education beat reporter among large publications, calling his reporting “unique, comprehensive, illuminating, and a must-read for policymakers, prospective and current college students, and their parents.” He lives and works in Washington, DC.
Related to The Debt Trap
Related audiobooks
The Price You Pay for College: An Entirely New Roadmap for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever Make Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Greedy Bastards: Corporate Communists, Banksters, and the Other Vampires Who Suck America Dry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Money: Who Has How Much and Why: Who Has How Much and Why Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Geography of Jobs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Merit Myth: How Our Colleges Favor the Rich and Divide America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Public Option: How to Expand Freedom, Increase Opportunity, and Promote Equality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Indebted: How Families Make College Work at Any Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What Your Financial Advisor Isn't Telling You: The 10 Essential Truths You Need to Know About Your Money Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 9.9 Percent: The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Get What's Yours for Health Care: How to Get the Best Care at the Right Price Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tax the Rich!: How Lies, Loopholes, and Lobbyists Make the Rich Even Richer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Move: The Forces Uprooting Us Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Get A Financial Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who Gets What—And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Presidents' Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wallet Activism: How to Use Every Dollar You Spend, Earn, and Save as a Force for Change Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Curse of Cash Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Business For You
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How To Win Friends And Influence People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Company Rules: Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You're Put on the Spot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets Of Americas Wealthy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon: Twelve Weeks to Creative Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Will Own Nothing: Your War with a New Financial World Order and How to Fight Back Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism (Intl Ed) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Getting to Yes: How to Negotiate Agreement Without Giving In Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seeing What Others Don't: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The TenX Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Silva Mind Control Method Of Mental Dynamics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Critical Moments: Navigating Power Plays, Outbursts, Ultimatums, and More Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Life: 10 Writers on Love, Fear, and Hope in the Age of Disasters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stimulus Wreck: Rebuilding After a Financial Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How To Lie With Statistics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Debt Trap
20 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you want to understand why college is so expensive read this book.