U.S. forgives 40k student loans • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#81

Post by nr2x » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:20 PM UTC

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #22

theandrewbailey wrote: post #2

If we're going to be forgiving loans, we shouldn't be giving them out in the first place. Otherwise, we're going to be in the same spot in one generation's time.

Are you complaining about the massive amount of not-really-loans given to small and not small during COVID? Right? You're vociferously complaining about that frequent game played by corporations with outsized lobbying abilities to get loans that aren't really ever expected to be paid? How much was that in the grand scheme of printing money by the fed, a billion? Or are you angry about little poor people getting a pit…

Hit. The. Nail. On. The. Head.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#82

Post by colpabar » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:21 PM UTC

nr2x wrote: post #68

loourr wrote: post #12

It's crazy to cancel student loans and still keep issuing the exact same loans. If we believe the loans are unjust then the government should stop handing them out as the very first step.

Free community college was in build back better, 49 republicans and Joe Manchin killed it.

If democrats wanted that, they would write a bill to do so. Not everything has to be bundled up in a multi trillion dollar bill that involves a ton of other unrelated things. The reason they haven't done that is because they don't really want to.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#83

Post by uf00lme » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:21 PM UTC

theandrewbailey wrote: post #2

If we're going to be forgiving loans, we shouldn't be giving them out in the first place. Otherwise, we're going to be in the same spot in one generation's time.

I don’t know the Us system at all but it sounds like what they are doing are rewarding public service workers (eg teachers?) or charity workers which likely don’t get paid well by cancelling their debt after a set time period of otherwise good behaviour. Which sounds equitable to me, although I’ll never understand why high school is free but university isnt.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#84

Post by 31098347 » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:21 PM UTC

fortran77 wrote: post #36

juskrey wrote: post #6

How about giving back money to people who paid back their loans, possibly going through even greater difficulties to do that.

People in the US are always punished for being financially responsible.

People who have paid their student loan debt are in exactly the same situation they were after this forgiveness than they were before: that is, they have no student loan debt.

People in the US are not punished for being financially responsible. They are rewarded for taking risks, but not punished for being responsible. Very different.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#85

Post by musicale » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:21 PM UTC

fasteddie31003 wrote: post #33

And the student loan debt cycle continues. I'm all for canceling student debt if it is attached to a longterm plan to reduce the cost of higher education so that the next generation is not strapped with the same problem. My cynical side thinks the higher education lobby is deeply entrenched with the Federal Government and loves the never ending conveyer belt of young adults with large bankrolls provided by government…

It's an insane system that has enabled universities to drastically increase tuition and fees, outpacing inflation for more than half a century.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#86

Post by bee_rider » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:21 PM UTC

tintor wrote: post #14

theandrewbailey wrote: post #2

If we're going to be forgiving loans, we shouldn't be giving them out in the first place. Otherwise, we're going to be in the same spot in one generation's time.

Is not giving out loans at all necessarily better? Stop giving out loans, and higher education becomes even more elitist and out of reach.

I think most people who'd like to get rid of the loans would also like to provide additional help to make college less elitist. Easy loans are just the local optimum we need to get out of.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#87

Post by andrewfong » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:22 PM UTC

Actual DOE press release here: https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/department-education-...

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#88

Post by musicale » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:22 PM UTC

gzer0 wrote: post #37

My master plan is to eventually have 13 graduate level Master's degrees under my belt. Why you may ask? If one is enrolled as a full time "student", the student loan monthly payments are paused. Since, at least for me, I can handle being a full time Master student and also my full time remote-only job, this isn't an issue. The reason I am doing this is because there is $1.6 trillion in student loan debt; the governme…

> the student loan monthly payments are paused

And the interest is capitalized at the end. That's what the banks are counting on.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#89

Post by manuelabeledo » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:22 PM UTC

lallysingh wrote: post #60

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #26

I know every European seems to ask this of every American but what is the resistance to a welfare state? if you look at a government as investing in its citizens like a VC fund, then providing education and medical care is sensible, and some will turn out fine and others will be Bezos and then you can get your investment back via tax. I am honestly trying to avoid the flame war here - but I do it know how else to fra…

We don't want others not like us to get benefits, especially if it's paid out of a common tax pool. Even if it's not, if we're not eligible for the same benefits. The US population has had decades (almost centuries) of us vs them politics within the country.

There are "us vs them politics" everywhere.

What the US has is more like "I'm fine with being screwed as long as the others are too" kind of mentality. Look at healthcare. There would be people rejecting Obamacare just because it has "Obama" in its unofficial name, then not be able to pay for treatments.

Re: U.S. forgives 40k student loans

#90

Post by throwingrocks » Wed, Apr 20, 2022, 4:22 PM UTC

_moof wrote: post #27

Please, please, please take note before commenting: These are being forgiven under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, created in 2007 (fifteen years ago), which eliminates your remaining debt after you've made ten years of payments while working in the public sector (government or non-profit). This has nothing to do with current debates around loan forgiveness.

Seeing tons of comments about what people THINK an article says or about their opinion on something related is causing me to use this site less and less.