There's been a lot of U.S. gov bailouts before covid.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/governmen...
The next one looks like student loans which totals $1.61T nation wide.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/governmen...
The next one looks like student loans which totals $1.61T nation wide.
The initial Covid packages were warranted, but the packages passed in December 2020 and March 2021 were largely unnecessary after the initial shock had passed and the velocity in the drop in unemployment was already strong. Or they may have been warranted at a much smaller magnitude with more discretion in who received benefits.
The consequence now is that the economy is so overstimulated, we basically have to force the recession we would have had anyway to prevent it from overheating. So we'll end up in the same place, but with a ton of extra debt to service
Since most of that 30% have low income and come from low income backgrounds it will be a struggle to get it passed. A shame as those are the ones that need it the most. It’s interesting to note that Social Security was designed to cover 100% of the population even though only a smaller segment needed it, specifically to make it harder to kill. For student debt that would be an impossible sum and unnecessary.
Student debt problems are entirely self-inflicted. Students taking the loans made their own decisions. Social Security users have been paying for decades (not taking, as the student loan recipients were). Social Security users, especially those who have not yet started collecting, have worked decades to get their benefits back.
If students get their loans paid off before Social Security is fixed, it's a certain sign of corruption. (Votes for money.)
Use your votes to make government effective. Vote for politicians that pledge to fix Social Security.
Remember, older folks don't have time to remain in the labor force (unlike younger people, who will benefit from rising paychecks.) At the end of the spectrum, there is only what has been saved (which is reduced by inflation) and pensions, Social Security.
In case anyone is curious, please note the following excerpt from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Act
> Job categories that were not covered by the act included workers in agricultural labor, domestic service, government employees, and many teachers, nurses, hospital employees, librarians, and social workers. As a result,
> > 65 percent of the African American workforce was excluded from the initial Social Security program (as well as 27 percent of white workers). Many of these workers were covered only later on, when Social Security was expanded in 1950 and then in 1954.
FDR’s racial attitudes (or perhaps rather lack of interest in the issue) is rarely discussed, so thanks for bringing that up as well.
For example another poster recommends free or low-price state schools, instead of handing out mountains of freshly created money. One of those is incredibly inflationary, the other is not.
There is a lot wrong with our education system (including guaranteed infinite loans incentivizing high tuition prices -- a better system would be to just have some state schools be free, and like in Europe, more competitive. They would only be for people who really need them financially and have great potential academically). However, resetting student loans and letting the system continue is definitely NOT the solution.
> It literally hurts no one to forgive the loans
Also want to address this, because I feel like it's a common misconception, especially with Gen Z. It's basically an inflationary policy to forgive debts. So it does hurt anyone who is affected negatively by inflation, while certainly not being "fair" for the reason mentioned above (some responsible adults actually paid their debts and are penalized for that). We all make mistakes (such as taking out massive loans to go to acting school and having it not materialize), but consequences are the side effect of living in a consistent reality. If you make financial reality inconsistent by forgiving loans, you incentivize more of that bad behavior. Also note that most degree holders with student debt are not the lower class, but the middle and upper middle class. Student loan forgiveness is a handout for an educated class of people who are generally doing much better than the poorest in society.