Cancel Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy

[B_bi_in_socal]

You ought to be sure your career of choice will pay you enough to repay your student loans (without wishful thinking). If you're smart enough to go to college and go into debt, don't tell me your too stupid not to have a plan to repay it in a reasonable amount of time.

And if you go WAY in over your head, you should have gone to a cheaper school carried a fulltime job.

College kids already have a horrible sense of entitlement. As if a college education is a birth right (It's not!). Fuck em, let em work to pay it off like everyone else.

 

[HazelGod]

Fuck em, let em work to pay it off like everyone else.

Typical of this ilk.

Obama spoke of this during his campaign often. I wouldn't agree with an unconditional cancellation of student loans...but his idea of exchanging a service commitment for loan repayment seems to be an excellent plan for stimulus.

 

[B_bi_in_socal]

Typical of this ilk.

Obama spoke of this during his campaign often. I wouldn't agree with an unconditional cancellation of student loans...but his idea of exchanging a service commitment for loan repayment seems to be an excellent plan for stimulus.

What? "Let em work to pay it like everyone else"?

You're fucking A right. No one is special, not even spoiled brats LOL!

I carried debt, my friends carried debt. I know people who were fat slobs who sat on their liberal asses and got dizzy on booze while in college, when they could have been working a full time job to help pay.

Don't expect me to come picking up the tab now. I'm already subsidizing the fucking thing.

You agreed to the loan now it's time to live up to your word.

 

[HazelGod]

You're fucking A right. No one is special, not even spoiled brats LOL!

Don't expect me to come picking up the tab now. I'm already subsidizing the fucking thing.

You agreed to the loan now it's time to live up to your word.

Same as all your like-minded pals in the financial industry?

 

[B_bi_in_socal]

Same as all your like-minded pals in the financial industry?

And all the fools who bought homes they couldn't afford. It takes 2 to tango.

 

[HazelGod]

And all the fools who bought homes they couldn't afford. It takes 2 to tango.

Funny, I didn't see $700,000,000,000.00 being appropriated to bail out the actual home buyers...

 

[B_bi_in_socal]

Funny, I didn't see $700,000,000,000.00 being appropriated to bail out the actual home buyers...

Nor did I see it going to bail out the actual home buyers.

And I'm sure you have a point somewhere.

 

[mindseye]

Cancelling student loan debt for people making under $150,000 per year would have an IMMEDIATE stimulating effect on the economy. 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. Those extra dollars being pumped into the economy would have a multiplying effect, unlike many of the provisions of the plan presently under consideration. As a result, tax revenues would go up, the credit market will unfreeze and jobs will be created.

Nah, not buying it one bit. Even at $150,000 a year (are you serious?!) you're making over three times the median income in this country, and are well into the top quintile of all wage-earners in the country. (source)

For the same reason that I opposed Bush's lopsided tax cut proposals that benefited millionaires but increased the national debt for the rest of us (source, scroll down to Figure 4), I'd say that $150,000 a year is a ridiculous threshold from which to start talking about loan forgiveness.

On the other hand, if you can find a way to get this dweeb to shut the hell up, talk to me about taking over your student loan payments in gratitude.

 

[midlifebear]

If you cannot afford to pay back a student loan, don't apply for and get one. As for all -- and I mean ALL -- of those I know of who thought they were beating the system by defaulting on everything and taking out bankruptcy when that also included wiping out student loan debt, they were ALL smart-ass conservatives who insisted they were not getting an even break in life because of the competition for positions in business because of Affirmative Action or some other such nonsense. Every - single - special - conservative - on of them. And if you think the world is unfair because you find yourself strapped each week, month, year because you have to pay back your student loan, too fucking bad. I paid mine back. Why can't you?

As for a college education: the USA should have long ago created a system whereby high school students would have covered everything they are supposed to have covered in 12 years in less tha 10 years, allowing them in their tenth or eleventh year to: 1. apply to a university, 2. pick a trade program, or 2. join the military. Seems to work rather well in Europe and many other countries where teenagers aren't coddled past 17 or 18 while they live with their parents and just HAVE to go through those "special" rites of passage such as the senior prom, or being a football hero. Sigh, all those years kids waste being cheerleaders. Look what good that did Bush W -- a special needs child, to be sure.

And speaking of tax breaks, I vividly remember the day Reagan pushed through the change in IRS law requiring students to pay income taxes on scholarships and stipends. Yeah, that was a real bright conservative move. The only boyze and girlz I saw drinking their way through college for four years were the fraternity slogs and sorority bitches whose ultra conservative parents sent them to The University of Texas for their undergrad degrees because it was "a family tradition." Now there's a campus overrun with 16 to 22 year-olds driving BMWs, Mercedes, Audies, and other far-too-expensive rides their parents bought them for toodling around drunk during kollege. And I had to grade their fucking papers.

 

[ZOS23xy]

I'd suggest that somehow, someway, that conglomerates be broken up and businesses run on a more manageable level with more people at the controls,and without a CEO who rakes it in.

 

[Rikter8]

For many of us recent graduates, even if you DO pick a degree in a field of demand - there isn't any work right now ~at least here there isn't.

But alot of places outside of here are downsizing due to the state of economic affairs.

For the first time Ever, I applied for a student loan and financed my last 2 years of college with it.

A bailout cancelling all student debt wouldn't do shit other than make Irresponsable mommy and daddy's children more irresponsable since they will think Life is one big bailout.

People need to be smart about their OWN finances. You have to live within your means.
Sure I'd love a 2500sq ft house with a 40X40 Pole barn and 4 4-post hoists.... The bank will lend me the money for it. Do I buy? HELL NO.
I have X amount of dollars per month on full time pay. I budget so that ALL of my bills are paid and what's left I buy necessities, and....stuff that I dont need... like car parts and computer parts.
But no matter what - every month the bills are paid.

 

[sparky11point5]

First of all amygdala, nicely argued - cogent, sane, and well-grounded.

That said, you are entirely wrong about this idea, but it is no worse than the Wall Street bailout.

The federal government should work to make low-interest loans available to students. However, it is still an individual's choice on how to get an education. I went to a good

 

[sparky11point5]

... continued

state school for undergrad and a very good (but expensive) school for an MBA. I think most students over-value an expensive undergraduate education, and this is a serious problem. Moreover, I see no real reason why higher education costs should escalate at 15% - 20% per year.

Sparky

 

[amygdala]

If you cannot afford to pay back a student loan, don't apply for and get one. As for all -- and I mean ALL -- of those I know of who thought they were beating the system by defaulting on everything and taking out bankruptcy when that also included wiping out student loan debt, they were ALL smart-ass conservatives who insisted they were not getting an even break in life because of the competition for positions in business because of Affirmative Action or some other such nonsense. Every - single - special - conservative - on of them. And if you think the world is unfair because you find yourself strapped each week, month, year because you have to pay back your student loan, too fucking bad. I paid mine back. Why can't you?

As I've already said, I CAN and DO pay back my student loans. This is not about me trying to get a free ride, this is merely an idea about how to stimulate the economy in a new way, one that doesn't throw good money after bad by rewarding greed. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions - I have no problem if you disagree with my ideas, but PLEASE READ what I actually said in my postings before attacking me.

 

[B_VinylBoy]

In theory, the argument sounds good. However, I think canceling Student Loan Debt for certain people entirely is not the answer. It would be ridiculous to assume that a College Education isn't needed for most people trying to make money. That's because major corporations in the workforce are expecting their employees to have at least an Undergrad. In the last decade or so, rarely have I seen a person choose a job based on experience over paper.

What I think should happen first is setting up an education & job system that fairly judges a person's criteria not just on their school of choice (or benefit), but based on their performance. Case in point, even if a person went to Bunker Hill Community College and got an Undergrad in Communications it doesn't have the same weight as the person who went to NYU for the same degree. That's even if the Community College graduate had a 4.0 Average and the NYU grad was just making barely over 2. It's a bit premature to look at the person who did what they could to try and get a better education and invested a lot of money into it, then blame them for living beyond their means. Because if they could take a degree from a smaller state school and get similar kind of respect and recognition as the others who graduate from the big schools they would.

For people who make below the median and have lots of student loans, perhaps a more relaxed pay schedule with not as many stricter penalties? We can't just wipe out their debt because they're facing economic hardship. But the system only allows a certain number of deferments for a very limited amount of time. I'm sure people are going to try and defer their loans like crazy during the recession. But what's not to say that SallieMae and other federally created loan systems couldn't adjust their monthly payments & interest rates to match the current economic climate for their clients? Why not extend deferment plans to make them more reasonable? How about implementing a job finding service to help people struggling to find work to get one so they can continue paying off their loans? How about awarding their clients with bonuses toward their loan based on their performance? I don't know how many times I've heard of people having to quit school even though they've made Dean's List every semester and have Financial Aid.

There's ways to address this issue. I think the OP has a point, but the answer has to be more sensible.

 

[Gl3nn]

Here's an idea...give money to the students who can't afford college.
And start giving money to colleges as well.

I mean... I hear stories about people being in tens of thousands of dollars debt after college. And they haven't even started working!

Here the government funds the colleges a lot. The only thing you have to buy are the books and an enrollment fee (not high at all).
And if you don't have a lot of money, the governement gives you a scholarship to pay for most things.

Education is one of the most important things now. Without education, you won't find a good job. Education is good for the economy and if people want to go, they should be able to afford it.

 

[deleted15807]

I could be wrong but wouldn't this even more destabilize the banking industry?

 

[deleted213967]

Amygdala 2012: A bailout for all. A Ferrari in Every Garage.

You get my vote.

 

[D_Martin van Burden]

I still don't understand why a bailout directed toward the people of this country with the purpose of reconciling unsecured debts is a bad idea. People would get a significant burden lifted from their shoulders (and, like I said, if they squander it, then there are immediate repayments and stiff penalties attached) and banks would recoup their losses. Do people not think in terms of win-win?

 

[devron]

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. Many students aren't dumb they just refuse to make an effort to learn. They are lazy and so are their good for nothing parents. :irked: FWIW: I have taught grades 2-12 in public and private schools across the country I know from whence I speak.

You'll always have that. I'll bite the bullet and admit my hyperbole sunk me in that comment, but my point was the same as midlifebear stated later: High School courses here are far behind where they should be.

You sound like a real Rhodes Scholar.

From someone whose post has more grammatical errors than a hip-hop song.