Recent polling indicates that the Democrats are losing the youth vote — something that seemed impossible until the current placeholder moved into the White House. The panic is setting in, so the Dems have decided it is time to buy some votes with student loan forgiveness. Everybody from Chuck Schumer to AOC and the Squad are demanding Joe Biden declare some form of student loan forgiveness, to buy up to 40 million votes — with taxpayers picking up the tab. There is an ongoing debate concerning the legality of the president merely cancelling a contract between two entities — which is exactly what a loan agreement is.
Is it moral to take an obligation, that one person has agreed to and benefitted from, and transfer it to another person who had no involvement in the original transaction? At its most basic level, that is the proposed loan forgiveness.
A transfer of obligation is also a transfer of wealth. So, what is the magnitude of this transfer of wealth? There are numerous schemes being proposed. Everything from forgiving $10,000 of a borrower’s debt, to forgiving all student debt (which is what the lunatic wing in charge of the Democrat party is pushing for).
Total debt forgiveness would be a $1.6 trillion giveaway. That is a “16” with eleven zeros behind it. It’s a number so large, it’s difficult for a human mind to grasp. It is 2.5 times the amount of money spent on welfare over the past 20 years!
Forgiveness of that debt does not magically whisk it away. Free stuff from the government is never free. That student debt was funded via U.S. treasury notes. Somebody will have to continue paying the interest on those notes — and that somebody is the American taxpayers. Forgiving student debt merely transfers the loan payments from the person who benefitted, to the federal government — which means us. A larger portion of our federal taxes will be diverted away from things like defense and infrastructure, to pay for someone else’s loan.
Total student debt forgiveness would mean that every man, woman, and child in America would assume an additional $5,000 in debt (in addition to their share of the current $31 trillion in national debt). That means that an average family of four would need to pay the interest on $20,000 of additional debt — through their taxes. Given the current 4% interest rate of student loans, that family will need to be taxed an additional $202 each month, to cover the interest on someone else’s student loan.
This debt forgiveness is not welfare providing assistance to those in need. According to Fortune magazine, only 7 percent of student debt is held by people below the poverty line. The average person with a student loan has a family (themselves and their spouse) income of over $76,000 per year. An analysis by USA Today found that 40 percent of student debt is held by people with advanced degrees — like doctors and lawyers.
Here’s a little fact that should make every American’s blood boil: Congresswoman Rashida Talib (D-MI) is demanding that Joe Biden provide student loan forgiveness. She is paid $174,000 per year in taxpayer-funded salary, yet she wants someone else to pay for her $70,000 of student loan debt. She has not recused herself from the vote. It seems there is nobody with a greater sense of entitlement than a member of the Squad.
Is any of this moral? Student debt forgiveness is the epitome of the “haves” benefitting on the backs of the “have-nots” — something the Dems rail against, but somehow always facilitate. Is it moral for a truck driver or a waitress to assume the loan payments, for a doctor who took out the loan, so that he will have a bit more left over every month for his Lexus payment? That trucker or waitress will gain no benefit from assuming the additional burden. The American worker had no say in the original contract agreement and will get no thanks for assuming the burden.
Is it moral to place one person, involuntarily, in another’s service? Student debt forgiveness is immoral.