http://www.unz.com/article/student-debt-cancellation-a-good-idea-and-a-political-hoax/
Debt Cancellation will come whether we like it or not. So it’s in everyone’s interest to develop a sensible plan that liberates the (mostly) innocent and assigns responsibility where appropriate.
There are certain moments in history where each person—and eventually the larger community—must decide which path to follow, ultimately leading us in vastly different directions. With the U.S. student debt fiasco now approaching $1.6 trillion and 45 million borrowers, we seem to be rapidly advancing towards such a moment.
At present, one of the biggest problems regarding the student loan debacle is the dismal nature of the polarized “debate.” Not just on debt relief, but on the many dysfunctions of the college system and its financing mechanisms as well.
On one side, we have free-lunch Democrats that want to “give” everything away in order to buy votes and seize control of higher education; their Debt Forgiveness schemes merely dump liabilities onto taxpayers and give banks and colleges a free pass. Republicans and conservatives, meanwhile, prefer to lecture students on the morality of paying your bills, while forgetting that students didn’t create the corrupt system of mandatory college or its skyrocketing costs. That came from “responsible” adults. And both sides insist that federal involvement in all levels of learning is essential.
Since Debt Cancellation is one of those explosive topics that can lead to partisan bickering and empty sloganeering, I should start by saying that I disagree with nearly everything that BOTH official sides are saying. After much searching, I was able to find a few sensible voices in the wilderness as detailed and expanded upon later. But at this point, anything rational or productive on this issue remains strictly forbidden in the mainstream press, which strongly favors centralized banking and collective education, preferably sold in easily digestible sound-bites.
Taking a broader approach to this looming decision, the major themes of this essay are:
- Weak Arguments against Debt Cancellation from the ‘Right’
- Weak Arguments for Debt Cancellation and ‘Free’ College from the ‘Left’
- Winners and Losers of Honest Debt Forgiveness
I’ll try to fill in some related gaps along the way, mainly to address entrenched ideologies on overall education and financing.
My conclusions are: 1) people can learn quite well without federal involvement and the suffocating strings attached, 2) after over a century of massive (over 2,000%) inflationary stresses, Americans could benefit from an overdue Inflation Dividend, and 3) student Debt Cancellation will come whether we like it or not, so it’s in everyone’s interest to develop a sensible debt re-structuring plan that liberates the (mostly) innocent and assigns responsibility where appropriate. As for culpability, I’m talking about banks and colleges, not taxpayers.
For demographics, I don’t mind saying that I turned 50 this year and never had any debt from college when I graduated in 1991, back when state school in New York was pretty cheap. I work in the private sector and find time to research and write on the side, among other things.
Washington Orthodoxy: Education Must Be Centrally Controlled
With “education” becoming increasingly politicized over the last century, it’s hard to find valuable information through the haze of overt and subtle misinformation. As usual, if you follow the money it leads back to a common theme. Total government spending for combined federal, state and local levels (K through college) came to a staggering $1.1 trillion for FY2019. That enormous pot of “free” gold comes with heavy strings attached and influences nearly all modern decisions on the topic of learning.
First of all, both parties in Washington and at the State capitols almost unanimously view individual learning as a group decision. Proceeding from that bias, public schools in America have become burdened with licensing restrictions, teacher credentials and accreditation requirements to justify accessing their “fair” share of public funds. Read the rest of this entry »
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