Thread by @Nate_Allen1, I simply do not have enough self-control to not jump in on [...]

I simply do not have enough self-control to not jump in on the “cancel student debt” debate :)

The only argument I’m seeing is basically “it’s not fair to those who have already paid off their loans,” followed by this meme

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(sorry to my wife, who hates when I do this)

I simply do not have enough self-control to not jump in on the “cancel student debt” debate :)The only argument I’m seeing is basically “it’s not fair to those who have already paid off their loans,” followed by this meme THREAD(sorry to my wife, who hates when I do this)

I feel COMPELLED to point out that both sides of this argument are missing the point entirely.

If you’re a person making the argument that cancelling student debt now would not be fair to the people who have already paid back their loans, that’s silly.

When we make policy decisions, we generally don’t give any consideration people who would have been affected by that policy had it been made in the past, because issues from the past are moot and irrelevant.

Also, we’re not going to give out stipends to those who have already paid off their loans because we don’t do ex post facto, after the fact legislation.

So the meme is accurate to that end, which seems obvious to me.

So why is everybody jumping to that argument (or jumping to attack that argument) when there are infinitely more important factors at play that make infinitely more sense then “it’s not fair to the pervious generation?”

Here’s what I think we *should* be talking about: nothing is free! If student loans are discharged, they won’t disappear—the government will simply pay them off. And where will the government get the money to pay off those loans? YOU. By way of taxes.

You may be thinking that’s an okay deal. $50k worth of loans discharged in exchange for a slight increase in taxes (and a massive bump in national debt) sounds fine at face value.

But what about the 70% of Americans who didn’t go to college? Why should their tax dollars pay for your student loans? Are we going to make the working class pay off the debt of the statistically privileged, white, educated population?

Are we willing to widen the income gap for this, which would disproportionately hurt minorities and people who come from less privileged backgrounds?

Not to mention, the student debt crisis is merely a symptom of the disease. The real issue is supply and demand.

The supply of college graduates continues to rise faster than the demand for college graduates.

There are simply not enough available jobs that pay well enough to justify an expensive degree.

This, combined with the exponential rise in tuition costs, is what got us here.

Cancelling debt is a bandaid on a gunshot wound. It will not solve anything, and the only winners will be the giant lending companies that will receive trillions of your tax dollars.

In fact, it will probably make things worse as more students will be willing to take on higher amounts of debt under the assumption that it will be discharged later.

So no, I do not believe we should cancel student loans. Some real, lasting solutions may include state school tuition caps, funding towards cheaper trade schools, and a large public push toward non-college careers (which often earn more money anyway).

That’s just off the top of my head. There are real, achievable ways to solve this, but our leaders simply won’t because we’re too distracted by (improbable) promises of loan forgiveness.

I also saw a great thread earlier today about incentivizing colleges to lower costs and increase job placement. I’ll link it if I can find it

Anyway, that’s it for now, friends! If you read this backwards it’s a map to an ancient FAFSA treasure hidden under the Lincoln Memorial!

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