Ben Bernanke on forgiving student debt:

[Sympthsical]

15. I ran into a friend at the store the other day

I hadn't seen in her in about five years and didn't realize she had recently moved close to me. We were chatting. She's an LVN. I was telling her how I returned to school to become at least an RN. Coincidentally, she told me her daughter was about to graduate high school (oh god, we're getting old), and had been accepted into University of San Francisco to be a nurse.

Now, USF is considered one of the best schools to go to for the medical field. Being able to go there is considered insanely good.

Then we got to discussing costs. $60-70k a year.

To be a nurse.

An 18 year old is being told she should be honored and grateful to have landed acceptance. She'd be insane not to take the opportunity. The pressure is on. Everyone thinks she should go. I raised an eyebrow. From parents to school counselors to professional advisors are all telling this teenager, "Yes, $200k+ in debt is a perfectly rational decision for you."

And we think this is a sane and fair system. That something isn't grossly out of whack.

I gamed this before I went back. For me, this is all running me about $40-50k. Fortunately, I have two things working for me. I'm in my early 40s and have savings, and I have a job where I work mostly from home and allows me to do both school and work while having a good income. Because I'm in my early 40s, I'm set up for this. Even then, it's a lot of money for me.

To be a nurse. You know. Those "heroes" who are incredibly short supply. "Thank you for your service! Now fuck you."

It is amazing watching ostensible liberals manage the attitudes they do in all this.

My partner is a PharmD who just turned 50 over the weekend. He's still carrying $80k in debt, and he graduated ages ago. I have friends in their 40s still paying off debt. They've made payments for years, and their principle just sits there like a bump on a log.

People keep talking like they know. They don't. They do have a lot of classist assumptions though. And all of this advice and judgement and fairness policing seems to be coming mostly from a cohort of people who had affordable education.

I'll just say this. Someone wish us luck in November, because the discontent being generated about this is real. And the sneering down the nose of people around this issue has created a lot of resentment. If our party's message for the past two years turns out to be, "We will tackle this problem! Nah, we have no intention actually, and how dare you be mad about it."

Well. That is certainly one way to approach politics. And of course, if it goes as expected, it will be everyone else's fault. Particularly those who keep warning what will happen. The messengers always get it the worst.