I find myself still waking up alive each day to go to my job at a Big Evil Corporate Bank despite my dreams of being a writer, so I would like to know what makes this author so specially-special that a "Real Job(TM)" is such anathema to them, such poison to their special sensitive disposition, that they could not manage it.

So because you are fine with playing along, so should everyone else. Got it.

If you are working for a "Big Evil Corporate Bank", you should be perfectly familiar with the logic of "It's business, moral decisions don't have anything to do with how we act." Yet, if someone finds themselves trapped in a situation where their only rational business decision involves making the business decision of defaulting, it's suddenly time for "THINK OF THE CHILDREN!". The quasi-religious importance of one's credit rating is a valid argument. Also, a sign of truly insane times.

God, sacrificing your nonpaying but TOTALLY ESSENTIAL dream career just looks like blood splattered all over an altar, doesn't it? It just feels horrible too, having an extra couple hundred I can burn each month, after I pay all my obligations and then some.

Trust me, I can barely type for all the soul-crushing.

Should you ever really internalize that money > other considerations, you may not feel obliged to agressively justify what you're doing. Could go either way, really.

The way student loans are set up in the US, they are a trap. You may not see it that way since you've arranged yourself comfortably with it. That's how traps work. You only really notice them if you try to move.

In Germany, despite not having to deal with the kind of insane costs of education that you have, we have this thing called "Privatinsolvenz". As far as I know, it can only be done once. What it means is that everything of real value you possess at the time of your default is sold off by a court appointed trustee - that doesn't include necessities of life, like a computer if you work with those or a car if you need that for your job. You'll also get to keep ~1100€ (more if children are involved) of your earnings, while a percentage (about 50 percent) of everything above that is used to pay of your creditors. If you manage to pay off 1/3 of your debt, the remaining 2/3 are forgiven after 3 years. Otherwise, 5 years for all to be forgiven if you only manage to pay court costs and 6 years if you don't.

This means that people actually can get that second chance. Considering how easy it is to make some poor decisions when you're young, especially if "financial responsibility" is not part of what your parents taught you well... I think a second chance like that is really important to have.