Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumElizabeth Warren Is Right About Student Debt Relief
The government missed an opportunity to modify mortgages during the housing crisis. It shouldnt repeat its mistake.https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-01-22/elizabeth-warren-is-right-about-student-debt-relief
Good op-ed from Joe Nocera, who among other things, is a business commentator for NPR's Weekend Edition.
Today, having struggled to pay off my loan, I would be well within my rights to demand that the current crop of student debtors do the same thing I did: suck it up and pay off their loans, no matter what. From reading Twitter, I can see many baby boomers feel the same way.
One boomer who does not, however, is Democratic presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren. She as well as rival Senator Bernie Sanders is proposing a substantial student-loan-forgiveness program. Hers would eliminate $50,000 worth of student loan debt for 42 million Americans, according to her issues website. Total student loan debt is now more than $1.5 trillion, according to estimates, higher than any other category of debt after home mortgages. Warrens plan would erase $1 trillion of that. 1 (Sanderss plan would go much further and simply wipe all student debt off the nations books.)
This being Warren, she ladles her student loan plan with a heaping of progressive rhetoric: State governments and the federal government decided that instead of treating higher education like our public school system free and accessible to all Americans theyd rather cut taxes for billionaires and so forth.
But this also being Warren she lays out a concrete, practical reason for her loan-relief plan: Student debt, she says, is acting as an anchor on our economy. She continues: Its reducing home ownership rates. Its leading fewer people to start businesses. Its forcing students to drop out of school before getting a degree. It is a problem for all of us.
She is right on all counts, which is why, however unfair it may seem to those who struggled to pay their student loans, relieving some of that debt burden would benefit the country enormously.
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Much more at the link. Worth a read if you still have free articles from Bloomberg. This was my last one.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Student loan payments are still smaller than the wage premium that comes with a college degree.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
flying_wahini
(6,594 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Recursion
(56,582 posts)The college wage premium has been growing (it is itself a big source of national inequality). For the fraction of college graduates who do not, that's why income-based repayment exists.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Hav
(5,969 posts)It's a matter of what's beneficial for a country (I'm sure most would agree that affordable education belongs in that group) vs what is beneficial for me on an individual level. Such a system can only be fair if the solidarity is reciprocated.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Gore1FL
(21,132 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Recursion
(56,582 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
My Pet Orangutan
(9,249 posts)The unintended consequence of huge student debt is that graduates seek out the highest paying jobs, rather than their vocations. This is particularly a problem with teachers.
Warrens plan - up to $50,000 relief for those earning less than $100K, tapering off thereafter, is more realistic ($650b) than Sanders' forgive all debt to everyone ($1.5 trillion)
Warren's plan is paid for by the wealth tax - it is not asking the less well off to subsidize the other half. One can go onto debate the constitutionality of a wealth tax, but the fact is, it is fair, as pitched.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
squirecam
(2,706 posts)Free college/Debt forgiveness in exchange for public or military service is fine. Or for certain professions like teachers.
I do not believe in simply eliminating all college debt. An investment should see a return. Like it or not, when the economy crashed and banks got $, that money was paid back. The government invested, and made $ on that deal. When you get a loan, the expectation is that economically you will pay that loan back with the degree.
https://www.thebalance.com/tarp-bailout-program-3305895
Refinancing at lower rates is also something to do as well.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Gore1FL
(21,132 posts)When we were going to the moon, we were the only ones who could build the stuff. We had the edge. In the 1980s, Reagan said, we need rest on our laurels and not invest in what makes us great anymore. Not doing that has cost us far more than the investments; our jobs have shipped overseas.
We need them back and the best way to do that is to recreate what worked before--affordable education. Education was affordable before Reagan. This isn't radical. It's 1970s.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
squirecam
(2,706 posts)Then you should have sufficient income to pay the loans back. Same with lawyers and doctors and other professions.
Any degree that provides a market edge should not be a problem, because that degree should be economically in demand.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Gore1FL
(21,132 posts)Or my siblings in the 70's?
Why do the poor have to subsidize the rich? Why do kids need to shovel their earnings into the hands of private bankers? Why not have the rich bankers subsidize the education of their future workers?
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
I dont believe that the poor should subsidize the rich. Thats why I dont think everyone should get free college. Why should Barron Trump get it when the Don can afford it.
I dont think kids need to shovel earnings into the hands of bankers. Thats why I think we should expand Pell Grants so that more kids can attend college or technical school. As Amy says, we need more plumbers.
If you want to join the military or perform public service or join certain professions (like teachers), your education should be free, subsidized or loans eventually forgiven.
Now. If One wants to obtain a degree in 17th century French poetry, there is nothing wrong with that. And if you want to take those classes at a local community college, well....ok.
If you want to attend out-of-state U for that degree, at $26,000 a year, and want the taxpayers to pay for it.....thats where you lose me. You are certainly free to get a loan to get that degree. But we have too many things to pay for already.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Gore1FL
(21,132 posts)There is no reason to exclude people because they are rich. The issue is making that children have opportunity regardless of the wealth of their parents.
High-interest loan payments by people who would otherwise be buying houses, cars, and appliances simply hurts the economy and enriches bankers.
There is no reason to militarize the populace to ensure college or trade school tuition; we just need to educate our youth. The model worked for a long time until Reagan broke it. Affordable education is not a long-term cost. It fuels the economic engine.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
squirecam
(2,706 posts)That you dont want the poor to subsidize the rich.....
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Gore1FL
(21,132 posts)Presumably, the rich are paying more than enough to support their own children in such a scenario.
Regardless, I want everyone to have an opportunity regardless of who their parents are, and what opportunities where afforded to them.
And yes, I want rich people to have access to the public parks, zoos, fire departments, streets, and everything else we all can enjoy, too. That's not a contradiction.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
BlueMTexpat
(15,369 posts)Please do.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden