Democrats Need a Lesson Before Forgiving Student Loans

There is no free lunch.

Don’t say that to a Democrat – because in the caucus that now dominates the Democratic Party, lunch is just the start of the freebies.

“Medicare for all” – including illegal immigrants – is no longer a radical idea for Democrats. It’s a staple, a necessity for any candidate trying to book the 9:07 am slot with Rachel Maddow.

And right behind free health care is free education, or some version of it.

Senator Kamala Harris unveiled her plan to tackle student debt with this tweet: “As president, I will establish a student debt cancellation program for Pell scholarship recipients who start a business that operates for three years in disadvantaged communities. ” This met with an immediate reaction from “lawyers” who thought the plan was too restrictive.

But don’t worry, America! You have an assortment of bad ideas to choose from at will.

Senator Elizabeth Warren has launched her own extreme proposal. If the Brattle Street Bolshevik were successful, it would write off $ 640 billion in student loan debt.

CNBC.com explained that in the proposal of Warren and House Majority Whip representative Jim Clyburn, “borrowers with household incomes of less than $ 100,000 would get $ 50,000 of their student debt canceled.”

When asked why her plan was better than Bernie’s, the former Native American replied that hers was “definitely bigger”.

And that’s exactly what we claim given the scale of Bernie’s “revolutionary” project.

Sanders told the Washington Post that his proposal “forgives all student debt.”

That’s right. All! No qualifiers.

It’s like a game of high stakes poker – with someone else’s money. Your money.

Democrats continually rise up in the hope that their far-fetched promises will translate into votes. It is not a surprise. It’s politics as usual. But boy, have we come a long way from a chicken in every pot.

Their ideas may be absurd, but that’s not the point.

If millennials think a candidate is going to pull out a “magic wand” (to use an Obama-ism) and erase all of their loans, then maybe they’ll put their avocado toast long enough to walk up to it. the voting booth.

But as Democrats focus on the plight of indebted students across America, they ignore the real culprit: the industrial establishment of higher education.

Take Senator Warren. She loves to present herself as the candidate who will blow up the big banks and face the big cats of Wall Street. But it’s hard to think of a bigger cat than universities and colleges in the United States today.

It’s understandable that Warren doesn’t want to shed some light on, say, Harvard.

You know the expression, don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

And when that hand fed you $ 350,000 in return for teaching a college course – not to mention the interest-free loan to buy your mansion on Linnaean Street… well, you’d be crazy to start trouble.

But maybe if Harvard had given the Distinguished Woman of Color even half that high salary, then they could have given the students a little slack.

If Liz and her coworkers weren’t so, dare I say it, greedy… well, maybe the tuition wouldn’t be that high.

But if the idea of ​​a pay cut is too extreme for Beautiful People, other financially plausible options exist that wouldn’t force professors and deans to lose one of their big paychecks.

After all, like most universities and colleges in America, Harvard has an endowment. A big one at that. According to US News, the college has about $ 37 billion.

And as the Harvard website proudly explains, “As an educational institution, Harvard is also exempt from Massachusetts state income tax. In other words, it’s loaded.

And yet the college tuition fees are astronomical. According to Harvard Crimson, the annual cost in 2019 (including accommodation and meals) is $ 67,580 per student.

Make no mistake, Harvard can do whatever it wants. It is a free country, at least until the Democrats regain control of the White House.

And in a healthy society, students who took out loans they couldn’t afford would be held accountable. But we all know that blaming students is out of the question.

So how come taxpayers are stuck with the tab? Don’t be fooled by the label “free university”. Someone’s going to foot the bill. Maybe most people can handle the thought of paying taxes for bridges and roads. But these people would probably make an effort to pay the tuition fees of others.

I have been lectured by President Obama and countless millionaire celebrities with private jets and 400 foot yachts that I have to pay my “fair share”. Well, maybe it is time for our revered institutions to pay theirs. They can certainly afford it more than the rest of us.

About Karren Campbell

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