1/ Likely we test new US political movements
that echo 2008 housing bailout
but for STUDENT LOAN forgiveness

Also played on past stages of
Germany vs Greece
North vs Southern Europe (Italy)

SAVERS vs SPENDTHRIFTS

2/ Obviously it is MORE complicated than profligate spending with other spotlights on inflationary cost of higher ed, driven ever higher by government provision of crazy debt loads, bloated administrative ranks, broken promise that a costly degree was high paying job guarantee...

3/ Excellent @GeorgeWill column in WaPo frames the lines... https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/student-loan-forgiveness-is-a-schumer-warren-gift-to-the-well-off/2021/02/09/75877a64-6b08-11eb-9f80-3d7646ce1bc0_story.html

4/ Excerpts

35% of loan balances owed by people in top 20% of income

56% of student debt owed by those with masters or professional degrees

5/ The IDEA....

would be that forgiving the student loan debt would free up that debt service by people paying it and the interest for consumption, investment, household formation

BUT...

6/ The PROBLEM...

is the outrage from

making education FREE for SOME people who can't qualify to pay their debt (i mean it would be socialist provision of education, effectively like post facto vouchers––but OK)

while punishing OTHERS who did pay but maybe struggled to

7/ My mom worked 2-3 jobs for me to go to the state school at Cornell; i worked through college; i took on debt and i was lucky

People far worse whose parents have devoted their entire lives to help pay their kids EDUCATION debts were financially imprisoned while others let free

8/ The way this COULD go would actually NOT give it to the poorest, hardest hit, neediest but would exacerbate inequality giving 65% of the benefits to households in the top 2 income quintiles and only 14% to the bottom 2 income quintiles

9/ Indeed the US gov would lose
~$435 billion from student loans

in the housing crisis in 2008 it lost
~$535 billion from subprime mortgages

But COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES are the ones that've grossly exploited the provision of gov debt to keep raising prices...at rate of 3x CPI!