It's A Start
Well, well, well it looks like the college debt crisis is going to be over! Papa Joe to the rescue! Here he is announcing the cancellation of all student debt and that going forward, public education will be super affordable:
Oh. $10,000? Hmm. OK. Well, that’s something I suppose. I mean, it’s only one-third of the average debt held by individuals but whatever. Seems like a good compromise. I’m sure that everyone will agree it’s a necessary step toward solving some of the issues people under 40 are having with homeownership, savings, childbearing, etc. I’m sure even Republicans can get on board with —
(sighs for ten minutes)
Naturally, Republicans hate loan forgiveness. Sorry, they hate COLLEGE loan forgiveness. They are fine with bailing out banks to the tune of billions of dollars. Or when their PPP loans were completely forgiven. Or when the government forgives more than a trillion dollars in taxes for rich folks. But anything that might even accidentally help a person of color, well, that’s no good. No sirree. Any make no mistake about it. This loan forgiveness will help lots of minorities.
I’m sure that’s not the ONLY reason why right-wingers hate this very popular thing. Oh right. Because conservatives have roughly the same brain power as a child, they’re upset because it’s NOT FAIR. Boo Hoo! NOT FAIR!
Setting aside the absurdity of what Trump-Lite here said (and the obvious transphobic overtones) let’s take this argument seriously for a moment. Is it fair that someone who didn’t go to college (or did but paid off their loans) has to pay off the loans of someone else? Well, that’s pretty easy. It absolutely is.
Say you’re the trucker that DeSantis mentioned above. He drives on taxpayer-funded roads. Without those, he wouldn’t have a job. And all the safety measures put in place like weigh stations, driving limits, rest areas, etc. are mostly paid for and enforced by the government. Is it fair for Dr. Barista to have to pay for those if they live in a city and only take mass transit? What if the trucker works for a gun manufacturer? Is it fair that someone like me (who hates guns and thinks they should be banned) has to pay for roads that bring them from place to place? Or how about something like the Hyde Amendment which bans any federal money from going to abortion providers? I WANT the government to pay for abortions! Is it fair that you spend my hard-earned non-trucker money on useless abstinence education and not abortions?
Also, I don’t remember any of these people complaining about fairness when Trump spent a literal TRILLION dollars on a rich-dude tax cut.
Spare me the “fairness” bullshit. Also, no one over the age of 50 should be complaining about this at all. You all got to school for pennies on the dollar compared to now. In fact, in the 60s right here in Minnesota, you could go to the U for about 6 weeks’ worth of work at a minimum wage job.
Either we need to bring down the cost of education through loan forgiveness or increase the minimum wage to a point where a person can actually, you know, live off it. As the price of college rose over the last 4 decades, the government has invested pretty much the same amount of money.
Consider this a down payment on past-due bills.
Until we get to a point where everyone can individually select exactly what they want their taxpayer money spent on, spare me the “IT’S NOT FAIR” nonsense. Do you think I want oil and gas companies to receive $20 BILLION from us in subsidies every year? Hell no! But that’s the price of democracy — paying for shit other people use. We can play this game all day.
Other things that are in Biden’s EO: it will seek to reduce the cost of higher education by doubling the Pell Grant program max and making community college free. It will also cap how much a loan holder can force a person to pay each month. From how Republicans are freaking out about this program, you’d think it included something like this:
That seems about right!
Loan forgiveness is a GOOD thing. Making college affordable is a good thing. Paying for things that aren’t something you use is a good thing. Don’t be a selfish dick.