I won't speculate whether it has anything to do with politics or financial literacy, but for many people in the US, debt is a widely accepted cost of participating in society. I am fortunate enough not to have any debt, but many of my peers will regularly go into debt in excess of $100K in order to afford the cost of higher education and a home. Debt is just an ordinary part of life in the US.

Your moral judgment notwithstanding, here we are, discussing the problem of people unable to pay their expensive guaranteed loans.

Perhaps your proposal is that, before someone takes out a loan, they take and pass a course that covers interest rates, credit scores, expected income, alternatives, and other such issues? Is that what you meant?

This is a somewhat insidious form of gatekeeping.

Especially considering people make much more money if they have a college degree. Even if you don't understand debt, you understand that. The problem isn't incapability of understanding debt - it's never actually being taught it.

And thus the cycle continues.