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Comment by bastawhiz | Hacker News Reader

It's truly something when I come to this website and folks are arguing against the government providing assistance to folks burdened by inescapable debt where making payments for decades and paying taxes can land you with even more debt than you started with because of the interest rates. What's supposed to happen? We just throw our hands up and say that the system is irreparably broken and there's nothing to be done?

And if this is a tax hike, then where has the 5-15% APR on many of those loans been going this whole time?

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The government isnt providing assistance.

This is transferring debt people willingly took on to get a college degree, to people who did not go to college.

Look, I am not trying to be rude and I am trying to be gentle when I ask this: Where do you think the 'assistance' the government is going to provide comes from?

This transfers the debt to the top income earners who pay federal income tax into the general fund. The bottom 60% of Americans, 100 million households, pay no federal income tax.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/18/61percent-of-americans-paid-...

> Look, I am not trying to be rude and I am trying to be gentle when I ask this: Where do you think the 'assistance' the government is going to provide comes from?

The wealthy and high earners? I pay substantial federal income tax, and I’m not too bent out of shape about this. I’m more concerned about waste going forward, not financial relief for my fellow citizen. The need for this debt would’ve never existed if state and federal funding for higher education had not slowly been withdrawn leaving students primarily to shoulder the cost burden (although I’m mindful of unchecked college spending and the need for cost controls due to the inelastic demand).

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-co...

Money went from the government's big pool of money to a thing the government decided was a good idea. That's literally how all government spending works. We can collectively decide through our system of democracy that education is a good thing and that the single largest source of unsecured debt is probably worth addressing and not have the argument of "but it doesn't affect that group of people." If you want to get incensed about uneven distribution of wealth, get angry that the tax rate for the highest earners is the lowest it's ever been (and no, debt forgiveness doesn't benefit them).

It's also naive to think that relieving debt from the middle class won't benefit the economy in some way. America's middle class goes to college. It's hard to argue that consumers having more money to spend won't drive economic growth.

What is your stance on "canceling" mortgage and credit card debt?

Like college debt, it was taken on willingly and its hard to argue that consumers having more money to spend won't drive economic growth.

Those kinds of debt can be escaped. Sell your home and buy a new one. Declare bankruptcy.

Student loan debt is taken on by literal children with no credit with the promise of a good job and cannot be escaped under really any circumstances. Saying "well you just shouldn't have gone to college" is blaming kids for decisions their parents ultimately made.

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