Cancel student-loan debt? That’s making the working class subsidize the elite
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Re: Cancel student-loan debt? That’s making the working class subsidize the elite
#2I've got mixed opinions on this one––I feel like we often wrongly conflate "the elite" and "those with a college degree". The real losers if we cancel student loan debt is probably decamillionaires+ due to taxes.
That said, I'm not in favor of immediate student loan cancellation. I think we need a sustainable solution to prevent a rebuild-up of student loans first, and I think we also need to aim to implement the same solutions for those in trade school for the same reason the author mentions. If we're in favor of public funding for secondary schools, why not post-secondary where folks actually tend to learn to critically think and learn their skills for the job market?
Re: Cancel student-loan debt? That’s making the working class subsidize the elite
#3Opinions like this are why we can't have nice things in the USA. People look at some subgroup getting a benefit and are encouraged to think "Why should they get this thing when I get nothing? These people don't deserve it" and so they block the new benefit, and we fall farther and farther behind countries like the Nordics, where this is somehow not a problem.
Re: Cancel student-loan debt? That’s making the working class subsidize the elite
#4Student loans should be discharable in bankruptcy court. It's insane that they aren't already.
Simple solution, anyone in financial trouble gets relief, and people who can pay their debt off should do so. (edit: phrasing)
Re: Cancel student-loan debt? That’s making the working class subsidize the elite
#5When everyone was praising the billionaire who paid for the student loans of that graduating class a few years ago (who by the way is under investigation for tax evasion), I raised the point that this might not be seen as fair by everyone and I was immediately criticized by some friends. I cautioned that it's fine for a private individual to do whatever he wants, but watch out if you apply this some day to the government.
Imagine how you would feel if you were from a family that had scrimped and saved to send you to college, you worked night jobs, etc. Only to find that at the end everyone else who had taken out loans had them forgiven (basically). What incentive is there to sacrifice or think ahead if this is what will happen at the end? I was panned for thinking such selfish thoughts at the act of someone so generous.
I think it would be more reasonable to give every student a $ gift at that point.
Watch out, mind you, if our government gets into the business of doing this. You'd better double check whether you think it's an absolute good thing.
When you pay someone's debts, you assume some participation into the choices they've made, or some small tacit approval of their choices. And when you forgive debt, it implicitly chooses some people over others. People who made what can objectively be called responsible choices to save and not take out debt will not be happy with what those who are less responsible receive.
Are we only going to do this for current students? Are we going to do this for every student to come? What happens when a person knows that whatever debt they take out will be forgiven?
Think to the unintended consequences of what you thought were just good intentions. If your level of logic is "what could be so wrong about helping people get out of hardship", then maybe you shouldn't be in the business of administering / making economic policy...
Re: Cancel student-loan debt? That’s making the working class subsidize the elite
#6Opinions like this are why we can't have nice things in the USA. People look at some subgroup getting a benefit and are encouraged to think "Why should they get this thing when I get nothing? These people don't deserve it" and so they block the new benefit, and we fall farther and farther behind countries like the Nordics, where this is somehow not a problem.
This isn't a magic button you can press to costlessly improve some people's lives. It's pure wealth redistribution with recipients disproportionately in the upper middle class.
Re: Cancel student-loan debt? That’s making the working class subsidize the elite
#7Opinions like this are why we can't have nice things in the USA. People look at some subgroup getting a benefit and are encouraged to think "Why should they get this thing when I get nothing? These people don't deserve it" and so they block the new benefit, and we fall farther and farther behind countries like the Nordics, where this is somehow not a problem.
Your logic being that any time we give money or subsidize some group, it must be good?
Re: Cancel student-loan debt? That’s making the working class subsidize the elite
#8If you want a middle class, subsidise middle class things. Maybe that means some upper limit per person to the subsidy education program, but it does mean subsidising education.
Re: Cancel student-loan debt? That’s making the working class subsidize the elite
#9I think the most reasonable thing to do would be to cancel student debts and to then make college affordable again.
When I went to a NY State SUNY school in the late 80s / early 90s, it was heavily supported by the taxpayers of NY. My tuition was $675 a semester, or $1350/year and the fees were minimal. The NY minimum wage at the time was $3.35/hr. That meant that by working a minimum wage job for the summer, I could pay my tuition and fees for the next academic year, and by working part time during the semester, I could pay for rent and food. Thanks to this, I graduated debt free.
We need to get back to this level of affordability.
Re: Cancel student-loan debt? That’s making the working class subsidize the elite
#10Opinions like this are why we can't have nice things in the USA. People look at some subgroup getting a benefit and are encouraged to think "Why should they get this thing when I get nothing? These people don't deserve it" and so they block the new benefit, and we fall farther and farther behind countries like the Nordics, where this is somehow not a problem.
Your logic being that any time we give money or subsidize some group, it must be good?
I honestly think that we need to stop thinking about "subsidize some group". The more effort we spend making sure that somebody doesn't get something they don't deserve, the worse off we are. Let's just have a UBI rather than lots of bureaucracy keeping score.