Student loan debt has garnered many a headline and has been an explosive subject of late, as Democrats and Republicans squabble over how best to pay for keeping the interest rates low on these federal loans.  Those rates are set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1. All the political hubbub over this issue is understandable, given that these loans are associated with a rather important voting bloc, that is college-age and young professionals, and that the elections are only six months away.  Yet, the total student loan debt stands at $870 billion--a mere pittance when compared to our nation's ever-growing overall federal debt. Our federal debt load in the United States stands at $15.7 trillion--an enormous and incomprehensible number for many of us.  When Barack Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, the federal debt stood at $10.626 trillion.  A mere three and a half years later, the federal debt level has jumped a whopping 48 percent. Perhaps it is...(Read Full Post)