Posted on 02/12/2018 9:16:20 AM PST by C19fan
Student loan debt is a crushing problem in America. Over 44 million people have such loans, with an average balance of about $30,000 — making for a total debt pile of $1.4 trillion. Unsurprisingly, people often struggle to repay these debts with their entry-level wages after graduating. Student debt is now the most common form of troubled debt, with about 11 percent of them 90 days or more delinquent. Worse still, thanks to Republicans and neoliberal Democrats alike, they are almost impossible to discharge in bankruptcy.
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...
Yeah, I was a lazy Kid back then, but I was also taking a couple of College Night Classes to fill in my slacker time. #;^)
Gee, in our mobile society, I need a car. I was thinking of getting a lambo but I’d have to finance about 98% of the purchase. Since I need a car and since no one cares how much I pay for one, I think the government should pay off my car loan. Makes sense to me.
Full-time professors make that much because they attach themselves to grants. IOW they bring money into the university.
Most professors make nothing near 6 figures.
At some point, an adult made the decision to go to college and decided to use loans to do it. During the loan application process, the adult signed four or five forms that stated "This is a loan. It must be repaid. You are agreeing to make payment in full."
So, time passes, things don't turn out the way the borrower thought, and there is a loan default. The defaulted loan then goes to the IRS. The IRS withholds any and all tax refunds (including EITC) until the loan is paid in full. In the case of money owed the taxpayers, we just have to be patient.
Oddly, a college student graduates with school loan debt. The first thing they do after graduation is finance a new car.
In other words, you first bucko.
simple solution there, create a new government program underwritten by GS or BoA, to loan money to cover the imputed taxes due, then forgive those loans, create another program to loan money to cover that imputed income, etc, until eventually it cycles down to nothing.
Free college, that’s the answer!
Too bad the question is “What’s the fastest way to destroy higher-education?”
According to the geniuses that wrote this paper, “it would be easily affordable and have powerfully positive side effects.”
So, why stop with student loans? If this would be so easy and wonderful, why not extend the program to credit cards, car loans, and mortgages?
You don’t think the auto companies and realtors are going to lobby with their very last breath to forgive the student loans and open up a whole new world of customers?
One of the reasons why I’ve resigned myself to it happening (editorial note: I paid off my student loans a quarter-century ago).
Is the problem 1) the student debt, 2) the lack of a job in the field of degree, or 3) the lack of a work ethic once the student graduated?
As someone else pointed out, the student would just get that $30,000 debt back the first time they purchase a new car, so why won't THAT debt be crushing, too?
-PJ
They had the choice to work their way through school and graduate with little or no debt. They made another choice.
Does the writer not know that the "government" in the above sentence means the "tax payers", or does he/she just hope his readers don't know that?
What's behind those projections? It's simple: Millions more people would be able to buy homes and cars, start families, and pump money into the economy that would otherwise have gone to debt collectors.
Aren't the "debt collectors" part of the "economy"?
Now, you may ask, what happens after we wipe out all student loan debt? Wouldn't it just start accumulating anew again the very next day? No. Because any debt cancellation should logically be paired with a new free college policy. We need to create a total reset on the way America administers higher education.
So, how exactly does college become "free"? I'm assuming that the tax payers, er, the "government" would pick up the tab, right? What does THAT do to our economy? And, if the "government" is paying for it, then the government is calling the shots on how the school is run, what courses are available, etc.
I'd sure like for my mortgage and truck payment to be "canceled". But, I remember signing a contract that said that I would pay back my loan. I received the benefit, now it's my turn, my responsibility, and my moral obligation to pay my debt.
Student debt is more a signal of lack of personal responsibility, than hapless, helpless students.
Perhaps college costs are the next bubble that needs to be popped, so the cost of education is not ridiculously high.
Why should taxpayer dollars be spent to help people who make bad financial decisions? Are these graduates too brainwashed to realize that they have been "taken" by the universities and their attendant high costs?
Are they the "snowflakes" who cannot connect the dots, but do know how to play the blame game?
Great. And they can send me a refund for the loans that I Already paid off. And don’t forget the interest. /sarc
No, just forgive all debt. Don’t hold people responsible for their decisions to take on debt. Declare bankruptcy for everybody. Take down the system. Destroy the Republic. All a Socialist Wet Dream!
Don’t forget credit card debt.
I want mine paid off now!
You’re kidding, right?
The Wall Street banksters won’t allow that to happen.
Not ever!
Canceling America's $1.4 trillion in student loan debt would cost $140 billion per year for a decade. That's about the cost of the recent Republican tax giveaway to the rich....
Latinos suffer from delinquent loans at higher rates than whites, and blacks much higher than Latinos. In this sense, debt cancellation would be a powerfully progressive move.
...
Now, you may ask, what happens after we wipe out all student loan debt? Wouldn't it just start accumulating anew again the very next day?
No. Because any debt cancellation should logically be paired with a new free college policy.
Just the headline makes me boil. Like a lot of folks my age when I took out student loans I intended to pay them back. After years of sending in those little coupons with my monthly payment I was finally debt free. Of course that meant that I couldn’t spend that money on other stuff so there was some sacrifice involved. It also meant I had to have a job and try to improve my situation. I didn’t live with my parents either. Oh yes and I was raising three children. Now I’m expected to pay for these deadbeats while they skate free from debts they signed their names to?
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