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Americans owe more than $1 trillion in student loans — a total that surpasses credit card debt — but millions who are past due on payments are not taking advantage of a program designed to make their debt manageable.

The federal income-based repayment­ program reduces an eligible borrower’s monthly payment based on income, and it forgives the loan balance after up to 25 years. Those who owe more than they earn in a year are probably eligible. And those working in public service fields, such as teachers, can have loans forgiven after 10 years.

Think of predatory lending and you probably think of pawn shops and check cashing stores in run down strip malls in poor neighborhoods. 

Time to expand your thinking—like, say, to include the fancy office tower in downtown San Francisco that houses Wells Fargo's headquarters. Wells Fargo is one of a handful of banks that offer Checking Account Advances, which can carry eye-popping interest rates. 

Representative Martha Roby has an op-ed in Politico today making the case for her “Working Families Flexibility Act.” The bill would allow businesses to pay their workers in comp time, rather than higher wages, for the overtime hours they work.

Roby has argued that her bill would make it easier for workers who want flexible schedules. As proof, she offers the example of Karen DeLoach, a bookkeeper who works at an accounting firm in Alabama.

According to numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the beginning of April, American employers added only 88,000 jobs in March, compared to 268,000 in February. While it's certainly better than losing the same number of jobs, it does very little to reassure Americans still looking for work. Also, while we've had about 30 months of job growth, it doesn't appear to have improved overall incomes.

The advocacy group Small Business Majority is out this morning with a new survey that bolsters efforts to raise the minimum wage.

President Obama ignited the debate earlier this year when he proposed raising the hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $9, arguing that it would help working families. Congressional Democrats countered with a higher bid, suggesting $10.10. Both proposals would tie the minimum wage to inflation so it keeps up with the cost of living.

More than 77 percent of successful candidates in 2012 and all current statewide office holders were publicly financed, a report released Monday found.

Wall Street has made it far more likely that you will spend at least some of your golden years eating Fancy Feast.

NerdWallet underlies its findings with a report by public policy organization Demos from last summer, which added the further frightening fact that among folks investing in 401(k) plans, a full two-thirds had no idea they were payinganything at all for their 401(k) (which actually makes all of the folks who guessed wrong in NerdWallet's poll look pretty smart by comparison).

A big reason that Citizens United was such a blow to equal democracy is that it enabled corporations to pump money into elections in new and anonymous ways. Even before that Supreme Court decision, though, campaign finance law already included a major loophole that allows for gigantic -- and perfectly legal -- corporate donations to a sitting president or president-elect.