• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

What is the rationale behind forgiving $250 billion in student debt?

What is the rationale behind forgiving around $320 billion in student debt?

  • Students entered into a legal agreement and should pay their debts

    Votes: 30 83.3%

  • Students were misled because they did not get the jobs they wanted

    Votes: 4 11.1%

  • $250 billion is not a lot of money so it does not have to be paid back

    Votes: 1 2.8%

  • Why should working people without college debt have to rescue deadbeats?

    Votes: 23 63.9%
  • Total voters
    36
jaypatriot said:
Isn't America great? There are citizens who believe we are so rich that we can willy-nilly forgive all manor of personal debt and the economy will be just fine with that.
Have you ever worked in a for-profit organization?
Click to expand...
Yes, I have. But the government is not a for-profit organization.

That's why I often harp on people to explain why they think federal debt and/or deficits are harmful. And to date, nobody has been able to come up with any evidence that they are harmful (because they are not). And it skews sooooo many threads about government debt and economics, this big, wrong assumption sitting like a turd in the middle of the discussion.

In 2008, when commercial banks were failing, the government and the central bank stepped in to bail everybody out. And they didn't break a sweat doing so; that's just one of the powers a government has, especially the government of a big, rich economy such as ours. People need to recognize that before arguing that the government can't afford to do this or that, or the taxpayers will be on the hook for every dollar spent, or other such nonsense.
 
Slyfox696 said:
You mean the people whose Social Security and Medicare the rest of society pays?
Click to expand...
Technically, yes.
They're reaping benefits they never paid for.
They don't seem to care the kids here are going to get nothing.
They're a drain, in a sense. And waaaayyyy more "entitled" mentally than any Millennial or GenX or GenZ that I've encountered.
 
Artymoon said:
I wish. But the same people who are struggling with paying their student debt are likely the ones who struggle in general making good life decisions. And I fear they are starting to outnumber the rest.
Click to expand...
The children of those who paid their debts are getting bailed out. The parents have been making excuses and demanding participation trophies hoping the kids will move out from the basement, so your probably right.
 
Eriech said:
The children of those who paid their debts are getting bailed out. The parents have been making excuses and demanding participation trophies hoping the kids will move out from the basement, so your probably right.
Click to expand...
No doubt. My generation of parenting has failed miserably IMO.
 
You should reword the title of your thread because you are not asking for a rationale.

The rationale is that it is in the nations interest to have an educated workforce (thus college loans). Unfortunately when created, it also created an incentive for private institutions to profit from those loans, even though there was no risk to the lending institution because they were guaranteed by the federal govt.

So by paying them off, they release the future economic growth of the younger recently graduated future taxpayers.
 
jaypatriot said:
How about underwater photography.?
People like doing that too.
Click to expand...
Anyone who wants a degree in underwater photography has my full support, however I don't think tax dollars should subsidize it and I don't think colleges should make obscene profits providing it either.
 


Well idiocy aside, Norway, Sweden and a host of other countries have totally free education through to PHD, and in the case of Norway up to as many a 3 Phd's if qualified.

Canada has a two tier system along with grants and a generous loan program while 'foreign students' make up the bulk of the cost of recovery. Americans would rather spend $1.5 million for new toilets aboard Air Force One and throw in $100 million in "research costs".

The pentagon spends more than Canada's entire economy on testing new defense systems that never see the light of day, especially 'stealth'
anything.

Maybe if the US heeded the warning from the last 'great president' Dwight Eisenhower about the "Military Industrial Complex" you'd have better educated voters.

I ask, who benefits most with dumbed-down voters?
 


Simply put, we are talking about the difference of net income and the tax ratio as high earners they will more than compensate down the road, and/or add business for self who create jobs!

When you stop seeing it through the narrow vision of 'me & mine' and see it as a tool in economics, it more than makes sense.

Simple compare the standard of living of countries which pay a large portion for post secondary with your own system; the difference is staggering
 
So Imagine if the government would forgive them of all of their loans, think of all the future economic growth we could enjoy.
You want to dump the responsibility of those government loans on the backs of citizens who never cared about going to college? Does that make sense? Burden current taxpayers with the loans of those students who entered into a legal contract and now do not wish to live up to their responsibilities.

Somehow that does not make logical or financial sense to those who feel a contract to borrow is an obligation to pay it off.
Do Progressives believe there is always a free government lunch?
 

Taxpayers don't pay for deficit spending. That's why they call it "deficit spending."
jaypatriot said:
Somehow that does not make logical or financial sense to those who feel a contract to borrow is an obligation to pay it off.
Click to expand...

You are thinking of the federal budget in the same way as you think of a household budget, but the two are not comparable. The government can create its own money and spend it as it sees fit. In this case, it would serve to unburden a generation of debtors and boost the economy. Everybody wins.
jaypatriot said:
Do Progressives believe there is always a free government lunch?
Click to expand...
It's not free. People and businesses work to earn that money. That's where the cost is, but like any investment, the cost is smaller than the payoff.
 
Federal student lending is predatory. Setting aside all the could have, should have, would haves and the fact that people squandered this money on worthless and unmarketable degrees - it doesn’t make economic sense to allow defaults on this scale. The US economy is built upon debt and its health is dependent on the creditworthiness of the consumer.

You can’t have a wallet full of credit cards, and a car loan, and a mortgage etc if your credit score was flushed down the tubes by a student loan debt default. So this student loan debt is an economic disaster in waiting. If not for the economic considerations, I’d say they signed a contract so they should have to pay up. But if we’re gonna do forgiveness it should only be for STEM degrees because at least there’s still a return on the investment.
 
You want to deny those taxpayers you worry about the benefits of all the taxes that these younger well educated taxpayers will generate?

It is clear to me that your understanding of how tax revenues are created and spent is a little hazy...
 
Don't you think the college making the claims to attract students that need student loans should be forced to live up to their side of the contract first?
"In a shocking investigation, the U.S. Senate declared the federal student loan program "plagued by fraud and abuse." Its report heaped scorn on for-profit trade schools for serving 22% of federal student loan borrowers but accounting for 44% of defaults."

When colleges defraud students, should the government go after school executives?

For 30 years, the U.S. Department of Education has had the power to hold for-profit college executives personally liable when their schools defraud students. It simply hasn't used it.
www.npr.org
 
jaypatriot said:
I am worried that millions of young people, who want a college education, would knowingly and willingly enter into a legal contract with a school or the federal government and then choose to not pay back that student loan.
Click to expand...

Blaming young people for doing what they were told to do since Kindergarten is stupid.
 
I could accept guaranteeing two years of community college for everyone, but after that you should be expected to pay for what you get like most everything else in this country.
As far as forgiving existing debt does, not buying it. It’s expensive and it’s unfair to those students who have been paying or have paid back their loans.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, as the saying goes.
 
Helix said:
I think that we should remove the paywall between students and higher education.
Click to expand...
Why should someone who went to a state school foot the bill for someone that borrowed 10 times as much so they could go to a “prestigious” private school?
 
The rational is that if money is tied up in making loan payments, it won't be available to enter the economy by being used to consume.

Canceling existing loans helps, but it doesn't address the source of the problem - the price of higher education being outside the reach of most people without loans.

I personally think that at minimum, community college should be 100% subsidized - as in, there is no need for loans because you do not pay for it, the government does.

Which of course means the taxpayers.

But in my view, a better educated population will result in a better overall result for everyone, making it worth the investment.
 
Yes_Minister said:
Damn it, students need to pay their own way! The US government needs that money for more wars!
Click to expand...


An uneducated electorate is the objective of tyrants and goons. Shit, you can't maintain control if you let people think!
 
ALiberalModerate said:
Why should someone who went to a state school foot the bill for someone that borrowed 10 times as much so they could go to a “prestigious” private school?
Click to expand...
They aren't footing the bill. The government is, via deficit spending, which doesn't cost taxpayers a dime.
 

Taxpayers don't foot the bill, the government does via deficit spending, which doesn't cost taxpayers a dime.
 

To buy votes. Full stop.
 
JohnfrmClevelan said:
They aren't footing the bill. The government is, via deficit spending, which doesn't cost taxpayers a dime.
Click to expand...
Of course it costs taxpayers. Every cent of debt service is less money going to services.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…