50% of Millennials would give up their right to vote to get student loans erased

Read that and tell me it's sensible to extrapolate that and validate the title. There's a reason it's not linked as a source. Because it's crap.

TL:DR Amongst other huge problems like only providing the final percentages of selected answers, 50% is exactly 250 people who have student loans with the company. It's not a "personal finance" company. It's a student loan provider who all of the respondents likely owe varying amounts of money to.

This is exactly an actual debt collector asking it's debtors what they would do to get their debt forgiven while dangling their life in front of them.

Intellectually, it might be an interesting hypothetical discussion. But this article and the survey aren't worth much.

Let's say I have $130k+ in college loans. Would voting for a particular person (or a set of people over the rest of my life) give me $130k+ in direct benefits? Probably not.

The more poignant conclusion here is that our votes are actually worth very little.

Another conclusion is that "values" are more important than money, and we vote to establish values, not to make money.

Never surrender voting rights for any reason. No vote == no voice in government.

1) the amount of debt accumulated by this group for their degrees is much larger than they're comfortable with 2) how much more important personal finance is as compared to government finance at this particular point in time

"Lucullus now turned his attention to the cities in Asia, in order that, while he was at leisure from military enterprises, he might do something for the furtherance of justice and law. Through long lack of these, unspeakable and incredible misfortunes were rife in the province. Its people were plundered and reduced to slavery by the tax-gatherers and money-lenders. Families were forced to sell their comely sons and virgin daughters, and cities their votive offerings, pictures, and sacred statues. At last men had to surrender to their creditors and serve them as slaves, but what preceded this was far worse, — tortures of rope, barrier, and horse; standing under the open sky in the blazing sun of summer, and in winter, being thrust into mud or ice. Slavery seemed, by comparison, to be disburdenment and peace. Such were the evils which Lucullus found in the cities, and in a short time he freed the oppressed from all of them."

"In the first place, he ordered that the monthly rate of interest should be reckoned at one per cent., and no more; in the second place, he cut off all interest that exceeded the principal; third, and most important of all, he ordained that the lender should receive not more than the fourth part of his debtor's income, and any lender who added interest to principal was deprived of the whole. Thus, in less than four years' time, the debts were all paid, and the properties restored to their owners unencumbered. This public debt had its origin in the twenty thousand talents which Sulla had laid upon Asia as a contribution, and twice this amount had been paid back to the money-lenders. Yet now, by reckoning usurious interest, they had brought the total debt up to a hundred and twenty thousand talents. These men, accordingly, considered themselves outraged, and raised a clamour against Lucullus at Rome. They also bribed some of the tribunes to proceed against him, being men of great influence, who had got many of the active politicians into their debt. Lucullus, however, was not only beloved by the peoples whom he had benefited, nay, other provinces also longed to have him set over them, and felicitated those whose good fortune it was to have such a governor."

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/l...

Afaik this is already possible, just commit a serious enough felony and make sure you go to a federal prison :) you won't be able to vote anymore, plus easy way to get rid of your student loan(s). I wouldn't advice it though.

The power of a voting block scales with the square of the size of the block. Individual votes are near meaningless.

But I feel like someone could equally do the same thing about baby boomers and medical costs. A lot of people are just desperate, and would basically give anything to solve their very real problems. Really the title should be "desperate people willing to do anything to solve really hard problem agree to ridiculous hypothetical for magical solution"

I honestly thought it was comical spoof site or an impostor and had to double check the url to make sure it was really "FOX News".

I'd offer FOX News has sunk to new lows with this, but that would be inaccurate too.

I'm only surprised the % of millennials giving up their right to vote isn't far higher.