CSUN Rally Marks ‘Zero Deficit Day’

When most college students think about debt, it is usually when the credit card bill comes in the mail.

But for a brief time Tuesday, a rally at Cal State Northridge reminded students that Uncle Sam is running up a tab that can cost them as much as $80,000 by the time they finish paying off their student loans in the year 2015.

“When you took out your student loan, you signed up for your student debt,” Alan B. Ungar, who heads the San Fernando Valley Chapter of the Concord Coalition, told a group of about two dozen students. “But a debt you didn’t sign up for is the government debt.”

Founded in 1992 by former presidential candidate Paul Tsongas and Warren Rudman, the Concord Coalition has been staging nationwide rallies to educate young people about the importance of reducing the federal deficit, which is nearing $5 billion, Ungar said.

Tuesday’s rally, marking “Zero Deficit Day,” was also attended by CSUN President Blenda Wilson and Bonny Matheson, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.

The rally’s highlight was a massive electronic clock loaded on a trailer that showed the federal deficit rising $9,657 per second, bringing the average person’s share to about $18,000.

Standing before the clock, Ungar encouraged students to form their own coalition to reduce the deficit to zero by the year 2000.

Some students, such as Joshua Stone, legislative analyst for the CSUN Associated Student Organization, responded to the call.

Not only did Stone jump up on the podium to help Ungar cut up a mock credit card issued to the U.S. government, he said he pledged to continue trying to raise awareness on campus about the deficit.

“Most students have credit cards and know what debt is,” said Stone, 21. “The way the U.S. is spending money faster than it is taking it in, it’s like a credit card without any limit. And, in time, there are going to be ramifications.”

But many students simply didn’t hear the clock ticking. Most drifted off when Ungar began spouting off numbers.

“It’s a serious concern,” said Tengiz Borisoff, 29, a computer science student. “But it’s not an immediate concern. It’s not something you feel in your pocket.”

But Borisoff, who emigrated from the former Soviet Union 14 years ago, felt good that, at least in the United States, the next generation is being educated about the country’s troubles.

“When the country is closed, like in the Soviet Union, nobody knew about the problem,” he said.