I'd argue it does since that 43.1 million likely includes those most unable to pay their loans. Particularly those who went, but didn't finish. For real though, would you rather help those in desperate need or those with an already higher earning capacity? This effectively impoverishes those in povertymore. Why are we bailing out lawyers making $320k a year? Their $68k of loans is going to be paid off in a couple years. This is a modest, if common USC example.
On top of this, I offered another solution earlier in this thread, one aimed specifically at folks like you (I recall your prior posts about your high debt in many other threads). For real, I actually thought of you while making this original suggestion before you entered this thread. Anyway, put a hard cap on interest/interest payable. Reimburse those over this cap with a reduction in principal for the same amount as their overage. E.G. If we cap the interest payable at $5,000 and you've paid $19,427 of interest, you get a $14,427 reduction to your principal and a hard stop towards interest payments. Everything you pay moving forward goes toward your principal. You can still default for non-payment, but this actually helps you tremendously while still holding you accountable. It affords debtors the an 'extraordinary loss' while limiting their profiteering too.
I guess it's pretty easy to argue from the side that gives you and your peers a bunch of free money though while removing your respective accountability.
My issue with helping the poorest that way is it's more likely to be a giveaway to credit card companies, which I mean -- we need to help the poor in every way possible, but it doesn't seem like even the majority of that money goes to paying off student loans, so it seems sort of beside the point.
I must've forgotten to mention it earlier but I thought the interest cap was a reasonable idea. To be clear I'm not saying I just want a way out, I don't want others to get into the situation I've gotten into. And I agree there's no reason to bail out people making high salaries like those in the highest income brackets, but I think you could easily make a calculation as to whether somebody qualifies for debt relief based on their last 2-5 years of tax returns versus their amount owed. That said, the point ultimately is that the system and its incentives right now are really out of whack -- to be totally honest they never should've been even allowed to loan me the money they did, and they only did so because they knew I wouldn't be able to get out of it through bankruptcy. The desire to have everyone go to college is great, but the structure we use makes it so the money faucet is essentially open, meaning universities can continue to charge ever increasing amounts of money because, what, are you NOT going to go to college in this job environment? So the cycle continues.
I still think a forgiveness of some amount would be a necessary starting point, even in tandem with your suggestion. Warren's proposal doesn't wipe out my debt anyway, for instance, and I'm not arguing it should.
If you think I'm just arguing for "free money" you really aren't understanding me. I'm all for accountability, but there needs to be accountability for the bad actors and perverse incentive structure that was created as well.
I would also be fine with just re-enabling bankruptcy on student loans. Hell, put a limit on it so you can't do it immediately after college since people are afraid of that theoretical scenario that only happens a fraction of a percentage of the time but whatever. Make it so there's a 10 year repayment window, after which you can file for bankruptcy and erase your student loan debt if you need to. Student loan debt shouldn't be worse debt than everything else.
