Massive forgiveness of student loans. Awesome. It'll never happen, though; and as the blogger points out, it's unfair to those who've paid their debts.
(Link from Instapundit.)
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Marathon
12 years ago
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
an idea I'd happily get behind
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3 comments:
Not being burdened with student loans myself, I may not fully understand the situation here, but this sentence puzzled me:
"Responsible people who did nothing other than pursue a higher education would have hundreds, if not thousands of extra dollars per month to spend, fueling the economy NOW."
This seems to assume that higher education does nothing to affect the earning potential of an individual. I don't have the statistics, but I'm guessing that this is not the case. Now, whether or not the difference in earning potential makes up for loans is another question, but still, people who pursue higher education and go into debt doing so are making a conscious trade-off: debt after graduation in exchange for greater earning potential.
I realize that forgiving student loans would probably have a more immediate effect, but wouldn't leveling the playing field be better in the long run--that is, allow more people to pursue a higher education without having to go into debt in the first place?
This is probably just as unlikely to happen as an across-the-board wiping out of student debt, but it seems more reasonable to me.
Charles,
Damn you and your lack of student loans!
"This seems to assume that higher education does nothing to affect the earning potential of an individual."
I think the article asserts exactly that:
"...the now-false promise that higher education equates with higher earnings."
As for the conscious trade-off... yeah, I think that describes exactly the gamble that many are taking, but then you have idiots like me who plunge themselves into debt pursing an interest that isn't likely to pan out as anything lucrative.
Kevin
Hell, it's unfair that I pay taxes that keep Amtrack running when I've never used it and never will as have most people in the U.S. who don't live on the East coast.
Others, who were born in other countries where the quality of life is much less than that in the U.S., would break laws and leave their families and loved ones to have it as good as we have it.
John from Daejeon
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