The two dumbest Boomer arguments for not doing student loan relief
1) I worked my way through college.
2) You’ll help people who are _______ (too lazy/too rich/too brown skinned/etc).
Democrats have Republicans wrong-footed on this and so many issues. It is sickening to know that they will not press their advantage.
Worked my way thru college playing in bands, but realize that’s impossible today and that the costs have sky rocketed. Some college should be free, just like public schools.
“The average cost of attending a four-year college or university in the United States rose by 497% between the 1985-86 and 2017-18 academic years, more than twice the rate of inflation.”
I get your point, but to be precise, the cost haven’t skyrocketed. President’s pay and endowments have ballooned.
Not sure if boomers deserve the blame here. Many boomers, my wife and I included, have kids with enormous debt burdens, and do whatever we can to help. Not to mention the loans we took out on their behalf.
Good point. Boomer is a big brush.
I’m not sure it’s only Boomers. Resentment of others getting something for nothing is embedded in the genome. You will find the same behavior in almost all simian species, and lots of lower animal species as well.
Beyond the “where’s mine?” crowd, there are other people who have reason to oppose this, and you can even make a class-based argument that this is a giveaway to the middle class that leaves the half of people who don’t go to college on the outside looking in.
That’s why it polls badly. And you can complain all you want, it’s not going to poll any better until you change simian nature, which we persist in calling “human” nature.
I would note that the impression that some people are getting an unfair boost is also evident in the arguments against the Biden covid relief plan, which some people complain will go to the undeserving rich. But they aren’t gaining much traction on that issue because, unlike student loan relief, the benefits will go to everyone.
It’s that simple. When an issue affects only a portion of the populace, only that portion plus the empathetic minority cares. When it affects the vast majority, it gets majority support. I don’t find this all that hard to understand.
BTW, selfishness is not universal, in our species or others. One study suggests rats with food will share with others without — and they can sniff out cheaters who ask for food when they already have enough.
https://www.newsweek.com/rats-sniff-out-hunger-share-food-each-other-based-need-study-finds-1494093#:~:text=A%20study%20of%20rats%20suggests,costs%20and%20benefits%20of%20sharing.
I paid for Delaware when it was 500 buck a semester. I was in my prosperous period and was ably to pay for my kid ad Va Tech and Delaware. I support 50K forgiveness straight up:)
You can get a break on $50k in credit card debt by filing for bankruptcy. What’s the logic behind not providing that break to college-loan borrowers?
I remember my parents writing the check for 175 bucks for community college nd struggling to come up with the 200 bucks I needed for books.