> No offense, but the banks should take on risk if they're charging interest. Right now, they can have their cake and eat it, too, which is stupid - no offense.

i'll skip the faux politeness of "no offense" and just point out that this is foolish.

even if payback is literally guaranteed, interest is still required, because money now is worth more than money later, due to opportunity costs. the US federal government, which everyone considers the pinnacle of credit worthiness, still has to pay interest.

further, just because the debt can't be discharged doesn't mean its paid off in a timely fashion. the interest rate has to be further increased to account for folks who just don't make payments for years at a time.