Lifetime wealth might be a good way to aggregate the results, but the practical consequences of student debt are far more insidious. If half the educated popul

Lifetime wealth might be a good way to aggregate the results, but the practical consequences of student debt are far more insidious. If half the educated population is still paying off loans in their late 20s and even 30s, this delays and reduces family formation and population a.k.a. child free. This will eventually destroy the housing market, especially in the sprawling suburbs. If suburbia goes, it takes down the auto industry and the conspicuous 'big-box' retail industry, which we are already seeing. Next comes the bankruptcy of Western social programs - social security, medicare, pensions, general retirement in one's mid 60s - all of which is not actually based on any sort of 'savings' but instead are paid for by the younger generation, which must always be larger the previous, in true pyramid style. I'm guessing that the collapse of the big school loan bubble, originating in the US, and now cloned in the Anglosphere and beyond, William make the housing bubble look like a cake walk. School loans are further down the chain than mortgages being backed by the government itself.