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My unsolicited take on cancelling debt: I had the incredible privilege of graduating debt-free. It's something I'm immensely grateful for and I benefit from it daily. I can't imagine the cruelty of not wanting others to experience that as well.
I've thought a lot about class privilege, the American Dream, and the lies we tell about who "deserves" what. I've had a lot of conversations with my dad, who grew up working class and ended up where he is now. I'm grateful for his hard work and the 529 he started for me early.
My dad worked hard all his life, and I respect him immensely for it. He started pumping gas, then went back to school and kept hustling and climbing. But a lot of people work really hard and never transcend their own socio-economic class, through no fault of their own.
But more importantly, I had nothing to do with any of that. And yet I still benefitted from it. (The guilt I feel over that and the ways I have tried to "atone" for it over the years are topics for another day lol.)
I say all of this because a lot of the discourse I'm seeing is about how folks with debt shouldn't get "hand-outs" and how this is somehow unfair to those who've already paid off their own debt (or graduated debt free!).
But "fairness" is just a completely moot point. If you are now debt-free, congratulations! You know what an immense privilege that is. Why would you want to deprive others of that privilege? Why should they have to suffer like you did? How does their suffering benefit you?
Last thing: the book "Class Matters" by some folks at the New York Times is a fantastic read on socioeconomic class, the American dream, and mobility from one class to another (or lack thereof). It's possibly a little dated at this point, but I still highly recommend it.
