Democrats are salivating at the potential votes they could get from people with student debt. The declared candidates for the 2020 Democrat nomination for president are already falling all over each other trying to stake out the most advantageous position to address what they call the ‘student debt crisis.’ It’s actually anything but a crisis since voluntarily assumed debt is not a crisis.
The latest figures for student loan debt in the U.S. make it easy to see why the Democrats are seeing votes in the issue. According to an article on Forbes, “borrowers in the Class of 2017, on average, owe $28,650, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.”
Forbes: Student Loan Statistics: Overview
Total Student Loan Debt: $1.56 trillion
Total U.S. Borrowers With Student Loan Debt: 44.7 million
Student Loan Delinquency Or Default Rate: 11.4% (90+ days delinquent)
Direct Loans – Cumulative in Default (360+ days delinquent):$101.4 billion (5.1 million borrowers)
Direct Loan In Forbearance: $111.1 billion (2.6 million borrowers)
Some have let their student loan debt get so out of control that they have fled the country to avoid having to pay it back. After going into debt to obtain a degree in subjects such as comparative Literature, they are surprised at being unable to find a job that pays what they consider to be a ‘living wage.’ Finding the cost of living much lower in third world countries, many student loan debtors have decided that their low standard of living is worth it to escape the mountain of debt they’ve acquired.
CNBC – Chad Haag considered living in a cave to escape his student debt. He had a friend doing it. But after some plotting, he settled on what he considered a less risky plan. This year, he relocated to a jungle in India. “I’ve put America behind me,” Haag, 29, said.
Today he lives in a concrete house in the village of Uchakkada for $50 a month. His backyard is filled with coconut trees and chickens. “I saw four elephants just yesterday,” he said, adding that he hopes never to set foot in a Walmart again.
More than 9,000 miles away from Colorado, Haag said, his student loans don’t feel real anymore. “It’s kind of like, if a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it really exist?” he said.
Adjusting to a new country, he admitted, has not been entirely easy.
“Some toilets here are holes in the ground you squat over,” Haag said. Recently, he ate spoiled goat meat at a local restaurant and landed in the emergency room.
Still, he said, “I have a higher standard of living in a Third World country than I would in America, because of my student loans.”
Perhaps Haag and others should have given more thought to their choice of degrees and the amount of debt they voluntarily agreed to pay.
Some of the biggest problems with people taking on massive amounts of student loan debt are the delusions of grandeur they have about the earning potential with their degrees in underwater basket weaving or theory of contemporary African American literature. Like the reprobates a few years ago in the Occupy Wall Street movement, they are shocked to find out their ridiculous degree isn’t going to land them a job paying six figures and provide them with the utopian lifestyle they dreamed of while sitting in their Gender and James Bond class.
A common theme among those who have student loans is that their debt should just be “forgiven.” What they’re really saying is they believe the taxpayers should fork over the money to pay for their bad financial decisions. They borrow an exorbitant amount of money and give no rational thought to how they will pay it back or how long it will take.
The Federalist – “I am $180k in debt. I have a PHD and am a tenured professor — my students are in the same boat, sinking in debt,” Heather Gautney, a senior policy advisor for Sanders, tweeted. “I pay $1100/month in student loan debt, half of my rent. We MUST #CancelStudentDebt.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made the claim that it was “literally easier” for her to get elected to Congress than to pay off her student loan debt.
Whose fault is this? Who is responsible for 44 million Americans owing $1.5 trillion in student debt in 2019?
The more important question is not being asked. Who put a gun to their heads and forced them to take out these loans?
What about people who have already paid off their student loans? Should they be given a refund? What about people with other kinds of debt? Home loans, car payments, credit card debt, medical bills. What about the habitual gambler who owes the bookie at the corner bar? Should the taxpayers be expected to pay for all that debt as well?
Whatever argument you come up with to justify using taxpayer money to pay off student loan debt can be used to justify using taxpayer money to pay off any kind of debt.
This is a huge problem with a lot of people these days and not just with people who identify as politically on the left. There are lots of people who claim to be on the right side of the political spectrum who think the government (taxpayers) should just wipe out all the debt.
That is blatant theft. You’re wanting the government to steal money that someone else worked for and give it to you to pay off your voluntarily assumed debt. That is greed. That is stealing. That is coveting. That is just plain evil.
Your fellow Americans don’t owe you a free college education. You aren’t owed a job that pays six figures. You aren’t owed a nice home with a white picket fence. Expecting others to pay your bills is a form of slavery. Other taxpayers are doing work and you want to steal their labor to pay for your stupid decisions.
If canceling student loan debt ever becomes a reality you can bet the next mantra from Democrats will be ‘forgiving’ other kinds of debt as well. After all, there are millions of votes out there to be bought and paid for with other people’s money.
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