August 7, 2025 • 8 mins
LISTEN and SUBSCRIBE on:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i
WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured
In this explosive episode of Watchdog on Wall Street, Chris goes off on the student loan racket—and the endless cycle of lies, bailouts, and bad decisions fueling it.
Here’s what you’ll hear:
-Why today's college grads are right to feel scammed—but wrong to demand a taxpayer bailout
-The evil genius of uncollateralized, nondischargeable student debt
-How colleges became hedge funds with nonprofit status
-What would happen if student loans were priced like any other loan (spoiler: Harvard would be charging 25% interest)
-A radical idea: make the colleges responsible for the loans they encourage
The system is broken. The fix shouldn’t be on the backs of taxpayers.
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i
WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured
In this explosive episode of Watchdog on Wall Street, Chris goes off on the student loan racket—and the endless cycle of lies, bailouts, and bad decisions fueling it.
Here’s what you’ll hear:
-Why today's college grads are right to feel scammed—but wrong to demand a taxpayer bailout
-The evil genius of uncollateralized, nondischargeable student debt
-How colleges became hedge funds with nonprofit status
-What would happen if student loans were priced like any other loan (spoiler: Harvard would be charging 25% interest)
-A radical idea: make the colleges responsible for the loans they encourage
The system is broken. The fix shouldn’t be on the backs of taxpayers.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact that we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski College
debt Bomb.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Let me give you a type of email or response
I get from college kids that want to argue with
me about debt forgiveness and the government stepping in and
forgiving student loans. Sometimes they can get a little bit nasty,
but other times they offer the point up there. We
were ripped off, we were lied to, we were scammed,
(00:40):
we were scammed. We were told to go out and
take out all of these student loans and to take
these classes, and we were told we'd be able to
pay it back and have a job at it. Something
like that. YadA YadA, YadA, YadA YadA. Okay, you're not wrong. Okay,
I'm not arguing that you're wrong. However, there's a lot
(01:04):
of crooks out there, a lot of lies. I try
to explain to people here on the program. Conventional wisdom
is poisonous. And again that doesn't mean society as a
whole and taxpayer should have to bail you out. Now,
(01:26):
taking a look at some of the numbers right now
with the debt situation and the delinquency rates on student
loans going through the roof, and again, I was actually
shocked to see the amount of people in my generation,
for crying out loud, that are delinquent on student loans.
I still pull my hair out. I said, you grew
up on the breakfast club and you still haven't paid
(01:46):
back your student loans. What's the matter with you? But anyway, anyway,
the whole thing, the whole thing was a racket. It
was a racket. We told you, We warned you. I
went on CNN. I was on CNN with Dom Lemon
(02:08):
for crying out loud making the point this was she's
this had to be two thousand and five, two thousand
and six, that we should eliminate all student loans all together,
because colleges and universities should price their product based upon
what people could afford to pay. What about the novel
(02:28):
concept as well, that we talked about here on the program,
that if a kid is going to get a student
loan to go to a university, why shouldn't that college
or university be partially responsible for that student loan have
some skin in the game. Novel concept, right, or why
don't the colleges and universities make the loan out again?
(02:52):
We allow as a country, whence you have messed up this place?
Is we allow eighteen year olds, eighteen year olds by
the millions, that is tens of millions, to sign themselves
(03:12):
up for a quarter million dollars of uncollateralized debt, many
times before they've even ever had a job. Think about that,
before you have a job, no skill, college degree, college
(03:36):
or don't you graduate with a high school degree and
they're giving you that type of money. They're not even
asking what you're going to major and then even what
you're gonna do with the money. It's just that you're
going to college. Now, why is that? Why would any
lender in their right mind ever do anything like that? Well,
(03:59):
you just checked in to the uh you checked into
the college hotel version of Hotel California. You can't discharge
that loan in bankruptcy. It's gonna follow you around forever,
follow around forever. They're gonna be able to bang you
out for fees and bang you out for interest if
you pay late. You can't discharge it no brainer for them.
(04:25):
What what type of evil freaking genius came up with this? Now, kids,
I want you to understand something. Okay, you may have
done real well, may have done real well in high school.
You may have gotten straight a's, you were student government,
you played sports, whatever your instrument, whatever it may be.
(04:49):
Let me tell you something. I don't care if you
got into Harvard. I don't care if you've gotten a
Harvard great background. Okay, what do you what do you
think if you need to borrow money to go to Harvard?
What do you think if it was priced according again
uncollateralized loans, what type of interest payments would they actually charge?
(05:11):
If you could if you wanted to discharge that loan
in bankruptcy court, take a flyer on it. Six percent,
six and a half seven. That's a mortgage right now. No,
you don't pay your mortgage. They take your house ten
(05:33):
Now now you're talking, you're talking eighteen to twenty five percent.
And that's that's if you're going to Harvard. You've been
lied to, been lied to by the people in power,
people in Washington, d C. By Higher Edge for all
of this nonsense, when it's all completely nonsensical. You get
(05:58):
that this is where we're at today and we haven't
done anything, has is anything changed? And you know we're
battling over right now and colleges and cutting checks to
the federal government versus You can't solve this problem. No,
(06:20):
it's too entrenched. Just there's too many moving parts. There's
too many people that are making money off this. Colleges
and universities got way more useless people and administrators working
there than they do actual professors. For crying out loud,
you know it, and I know it. Any schools out
there more of than I. You barely even meet your professor.
You're speaking to a TA most of the time. You've
(06:44):
been duped. They set it up. It's a ruse, it's
a scam. Understand that. Okay, understand that. But also it's
a very expensive ticket that gets you into certain positions
in life. I'm not arguing that point. I'm not. You're
not getting a job. You're not getting a job on
Wall Street with a high school diploma, just not happening.
(07:05):
You have no choice but to do this, but you
have to be smart about it. You can't get yourself
in to debt. Yeah, you gotta get great grades, and
you got to you got to go to a state
school that you can afford. Too many kids out there. Again,
(07:25):
I feel again you don't think that you know, I
go off on this all the time, and you don't
have any comparison for these kids. Yes I do, I do,
But again we live in a in a place, in
a country quite frankly where I don't think the taxpayers
should be burdened with this. You want to come up
with something saying to colleges and universities here in this
(07:47):
country have got to make these kids whole. I don't know.
You figure it out. I could care less. They're all
hedge funds with nonprofit status as far as I'm concerned,
have at it. I don't care. Come up with something,
but no, it can't be on the time taxpayers. But
at some point in time, people, you have to wisen up.
Watch dog on Wall Street dot com
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact that we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski College
debt Bomb.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Let me give you a type of email or response
I get from college kids that want to argue with
me about debt forgiveness and the government stepping in and
forgiving student loans. Sometimes they can get a little bit nasty,
but other times they offer the point up there. We
were ripped off, we were lied to, we were scammed,
(00:40):
we were scammed. We were told to go out and
take out all of these student loans and to take
these classes, and we were told we'd be able to
pay it back and have a job at it. Something
like that. YadA YadA, YadA, YadA YadA. Okay, you're not wrong. Okay,
I'm not arguing that you're wrong. However, there's a lot
(01:04):
of crooks out there, a lot of lies. I try
to explain to people here on the program. Conventional wisdom
is poisonous. And again that doesn't mean society as a
whole and taxpayer should have to bail you out. Now,
(01:26):
taking a look at some of the numbers right now
with the debt situation and the delinquency rates on student
loans going through the roof, and again, I was actually
shocked to see the amount of people in my generation,
for crying out loud, that are delinquent on student loans.
I still pull my hair out. I said, you grew
up on the breakfast club and you still haven't paid
(01:46):
back your student loans. What's the matter with you? But anyway, anyway,
the whole thing, the whole thing was a racket. It
was a racket. We told you, We warned you. I
went on CNN. I was on CNN with Dom Lemon
(02:08):
for crying out loud making the point this was she's
this had to be two thousand and five, two thousand
and six, that we should eliminate all student loans all together,
because colleges and universities should price their product based upon
what people could afford to pay. What about the novel
(02:28):
concept as well, that we talked about here on the program,
that if a kid is going to get a student
loan to go to a university, why shouldn't that college
or university be partially responsible for that student loan have
some skin in the game. Novel concept, right, or why
don't the colleges and universities make the loan out again?
(02:52):
We allow as a country, whence you have messed up this place?
Is we allow eighteen year olds, eighteen year olds by
the millions, that is tens of millions, to sign themselves
(03:12):
up for a quarter million dollars of uncollateralized debt, many
times before they've even ever had a job. Think about that,
before you have a job, no skill, college degree, college
(03:36):
or don't you graduate with a high school degree and
they're giving you that type of money. They're not even
asking what you're going to major and then even what
you're gonna do with the money. It's just that you're
going to college. Now, why is that? Why would any
lender in their right mind ever do anything like that? Well,
(03:59):
you just checked in to the uh you checked into
the college hotel version of Hotel California. You can't discharge
that loan in bankruptcy. It's gonna follow you around forever,
follow around forever. They're gonna be able to bang you
out for fees and bang you out for interest if
you pay late. You can't discharge it no brainer for them.
(04:25):
What what type of evil freaking genius came up with this? Now, kids,
I want you to understand something. Okay, you may have
done real well, may have done real well in high school.
You may have gotten straight a's, you were student government,
you played sports, whatever your instrument, whatever it may be.
(04:49):
Let me tell you something. I don't care if you
got into Harvard. I don't care if you've gotten a
Harvard great background. Okay, what do you what do you
think if you need to borrow money to go to Harvard?
What do you think if it was priced according again
uncollateralized loans, what type of interest payments would they actually charge?
(05:11):
If you could if you wanted to discharge that loan
in bankruptcy court, take a flyer on it. Six percent,
six and a half seven. That's a mortgage right now. No,
you don't pay your mortgage. They take your house ten
(05:33):
Now now you're talking, you're talking eighteen to twenty five percent.
And that's that's if you're going to Harvard. You've been
lied to, been lied to by the people in power,
people in Washington, d C. By Higher Edge for all
of this nonsense, when it's all completely nonsensical. You get
(05:58):
that this is where we're at today and we haven't
done anything, has is anything changed? And you know we're
battling over right now and colleges and cutting checks to
the federal government versus You can't solve this problem. No,
(06:20):
it's too entrenched. Just there's too many moving parts. There's
too many people that are making money off this. Colleges
and universities got way more useless people and administrators working
there than they do actual professors. For crying out loud,
you know it, and I know it. Any schools out
there more of than I. You barely even meet your professor.
You're speaking to a TA most of the time. You've
(06:44):
been duped. They set it up. It's a ruse, it's
a scam. Understand that. Okay, understand that. But also it's
a very expensive ticket that gets you into certain positions
in life. I'm not arguing that point. I'm not. You're
not getting a job. You're not getting a job on
Wall Street with a high school diploma, just not happening.
(07:05):
You have no choice but to do this, but you
have to be smart about it. You can't get yourself
in to debt. Yeah, you gotta get great grades, and
you got to you got to go to a state
school that you can afford. Too many kids out there. Again,
(07:25):
I feel again you don't think that you know, I
go off on this all the time, and you don't
have any comparison for these kids. Yes I do, I do,
But again we live in a in a place, in
a country quite frankly where I don't think the taxpayers
should be burdened with this. You want to come up
with something saying to colleges and universities here in this
(07:47):
country have got to make these kids whole. I don't know.
You figure it out. I could care less. They're all
hedge funds with nonprofit status as far as I'm concerned,
have at it. I don't care. Come up with something,
but no, it can't be on the time taxpayers. But
at some point in time, people, you have to wisen up.
Watch dog on Wall Street dot com
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