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wdmso · 08-29-2022, 08:51 AM

this sums up the tears of student loan haters myopic view of the world

Forgiving student loans has sparked quite the debate over fairness in public policy decisions. Those who are critical of the forgiveness of up to $20,000 feel it is not fair to those who never went to college or who already paid their college loans.
When you think about it, not many policies affect everyone equally. For example, I pay a Medicare premium based on my income. However, I am pretty healthy and never receive medical benefits equivalent to my premium contributions. I am sure others in my premium range receive benefits that are many multiples of my contribution. I also pay a large portion of my property taxes to support public education, although I currently have no children in school. My house has never caught on fire and hence I have never needed to call the Fire Department. Yet, part of my taxes that I have paid for over 50 years goes to support fire departments. I could give example after example. I could view this an unfair. However, society as a whole benefits when its members receive health care and are educated and have fire departments to limit fire damage. Hence, I do benefit from these policies.
After World War II, U.S. taxpayers funded the GI bill that paid tuition for white veterans (talk about unfairness—veterans of color were excluded) to attend the college or trade school of their choice. Millions took advantage of this. And, over their careers, they paid back in taxes many multiples of the benefits they were given. Not every individual was qualified for this program—in fact only a small percent did. However, society as a whole benefitted, not just in the tax dollars that were paid back, but in the contributions these educated citizens made through their work.
I will give one final example. During the early years of the current pandemic, the federal government developed the Payback Protection Program that enabled many businesses to continue to pay their employees and hence to continue their business operations. This benefitted both the businesses and their employees. As a retired person, I received no benefit from this, except that I do benefit when businesses remain operational and when employees continue to be able to support themselves. I am betting that many employees who benefitted from these payments did not go to college and hence did not incur student loans.
Over 10 millions businesses received these PPP loans with an average of $72,500 per loan. All—ALL— of these amounts have now been forgiven. If my math is correct, this totals over $740 million forgiven.
Under the Student Loan forgiveness program, only the first $10,000 for some people and only the first $20,000 for others is being forgiven. Obviously, this is far less per loan than the $72,500 per loan under the PPP. Forty three million Americans will benefit from the student loan forgiveness program. I long ago paid back my student loans. I could view this as being unfair to me. However, I benefit when 43 million people are in a better financial position. This allows them to more fully participate in our consumer economy by buying houses and all the things that go with that (furniture, appliances, etc.). This allows them to save for retirement.
I would ask those who are critical of the loan forgiveness program to think of the public policies that benefit you, but not everyone else. Certainly there are many.
We are a society. We all benefit when others are stronger and more successful.

08-29-2022, 08:51 AM	#117
wdmso Registered User Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Somerset MA Posts: 9,129	this sums up the tears of student loan haters myopic view of the world Forgiving student loans has sparked quite the debate over fairness in public policy decisions. Those who are critical of the forgiveness of up to $20,000 feel it is not fair to those who never went to college or who already paid their college loans. When you think about it, not many policies affect everyone equally. For example, I pay a Medicare premium based on my income. However, I am pretty healthy and never receive medical benefits equivalent to my premium contributions. I am sure others in my premium range receive benefits that are many multiples of my contribution. I also pay a large portion of my property taxes to support public education, although I currently have no children in school. My house has never caught on fire and hence I have never needed to call the Fire Department. Yet, part of my taxes that I have paid for over 50 years goes to support fire departments. I could give example after example. I could view this an unfair. However, society as a whole benefits when its members receive health care and are educated and have fire departments to limit fire damage. Hence, I do benefit from these policies. After World War II, U.S. taxpayers funded the GI bill that paid tuition for white veterans (talk about unfairness—veterans of color were excluded) to attend the college or trade school of their choice. Millions took advantage of this. And, over their careers, they paid back in taxes many multiples of the benefits they were given. Not every individual was qualified for this program—in fact only a small percent did. However, society as a whole benefitted, not just in the tax dollars that were paid back, but in the contributions these educated citizens made through their work. I will give one final example. During the early years of the current pandemic, the federal government developed the Payback Protection Program that enabled many businesses to continue to pay their employees and hence to continue their business operations. This benefitted both the businesses and their employees. As a retired person, I received no benefit from this, except that I do benefit when businesses remain operational and when employees continue to be able to support themselves. I am betting that many employees who benefitted from these payments did not go to college and hence did not incur student loans. Over 10 millions businesses received these PPP loans with an average of $72,500 per loan. All—ALL— of these amounts have now been forgiven. If my math is correct, this totals over $740 million forgiven. Under the Student Loan forgiveness program, only the first $10,000 for some people and only the first $20,000 for others is being forgiven. Obviously, this is far less per loan than the $72,500 per loan under the PPP. Forty three million Americans will benefit from the student loan forgiveness program. I long ago paid back my student loans. I could view this as being unfair to me. However, I benefit when 43 million people are in a better financial position. This allows them to more fully participate in our consumer economy by buying houses and all the things that go with that (furniture, appliances, etc.). This allows them to save for retirement. I would ask those who are critical of the loan forgiveness program to think of the public policies that benefit you, but not everyone else. Certainly there are many. We are a society. We all benefit when others are stronger and more successful.