The debate [sic] related to student loan forgiveness is almost always based on media lies and carved-in-stone ideological identities. For example, if you see yourself as left or liberal, you salivate each time Bernie Sanders evokes the specter of 100 percent forgiveness. Conservatives reflexively grumble about “big government” and/or “work ethic” without doing any real investigation.
Hey, who needs facts when we have our [sic] manufactured opinions?
As is my style, I’m here to fill in a few of the blanks. Once again, the goal is not to change your mind. I’m just trying to increase the likelihood of having discussions founded on accuracy.
How Big is the Problem?
Never would I downplay the holistic stress of being in debt. I get it. But, for this specific issue: 18 percent of borrowers owe less than $5,000 in student loan debt. Only 6 percent of those with student debt owe more than $100,000. They make up one-third of the outstanding $1.5 trillion of debt.
It’s a problem, sure, but what about all those with medical debt or mortgages or credit card debt accrued due to the conscious destruction of our economy over the past two years?
For context:
Student debt has risen in the U.S. for two main reasons: more people attend college now than ever before and college tuition has increased by 169 percent since 1980. As a result, about 14 percent of all American adults report they have outstanding undergraduate student debt.
Although the total is much lower than student debt, roughly 50 percent of Americans carry medical debt
43 million U.S. borrowers owe nearly $1.6 trillion altogether in federal student loans
The total home mortgage debt is about (wait for it) $10 trillion
Who decides which issues make headlines and which issues get buried by algorithms?
Who Pays For This Gesture?
Fourteen percent of Americans carry student loan debt. Then there’s the top 5 percent that pays ZERO taxes. That leaves about 80 percent of Americans to foot the bill while also trying to manage their finances and do more than “just get by.”
Translation: Lower- and middle-class taxpayers will bear the brunt of the student loan forgiveness stunt. Sure, it’s better than paying taxes to fund arms shipments to Neo-Nazi transhumanists in Ukraine but we don’t get to make that choice. Plus, why should we be forced to pay for either?
Side note: People who have already paid off their student debt would now be helping to pay off the student debt of others who didn’t. Where’s the “social justice” in that?
Who Does It Help?
The yearly median income of households with student loans is $76,400. Remind me: Why is this the issue that “progressives” swoon over?
Food stamps serve households with a median income of about $19,000 a year. Half of the recipients live below the poverty line but the government only provides $2,300 annually for the average household.
Even if student debt forgiveness was capped at $50,000, that would send an average of $26,000 to eligible households. Meanwhile, families on food stamps would need 11 years to receive that much support. Where’s the #woke crowd on this issue?
Another group that will be helped by student loan forgiveness is colleges and universities. They can raise tuition even more now because they know the taxpayers will assume the financial burden through higher taxes. You might even call it the Academic-Industrial Complex.
This dynamic will result in fewer students being able to go to college in the future and if they try, the debt burden returns so the cycle can start again.
Why Does This Make No Sense?
It made no sense when mom-and-pop stores were shuttered while Target and Wal-Mart stayed open in 2020. It made no sense when you had to wear a mask to enter a restaurant but could take it off once you sat down.
I could go on but remember: It all makes sense to The Powers That Shouldn’t Be™. Everything being pushed on us is another step toward the Great Reset and other World Economic Forum goals.
In a nutshell: Their goal is to forgive all debt (especially their own, of course) and force us into a digital, cashless, social credit society in which we “own nothing” but “will be happy.”
So, please stop delegating all your energy to media-generated “debates” like student debt, guns, abortion, etc. Use some of that time to instead focus on self-education. Then, armed with knowledge, connect with others who are also dedicated to stopping the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
But if you really, really can’t stop yourself from posting about how you do or don’t support student loan forgiveness, can you please at least do a little homework to understand the issue? (Scroll up and re-read, for starters.)
This issue has been blown up into a great big emotive mess. I remember when Mike Rowe weighed in, some years back. He was right that trades are not a sign of intellectual disgrace, and that they're not a bad living either. But the higher education issue hits well below the rational mind.
I’m reading this as a “catch-up” article, and much appreciate the insight. I’m in Canada, so am not really involved in the US student debt forgiveness situation, but it’s good to get context. You are 100% correct, this makes no sense, and is being used as yet another issue to divide and distract.