Now that some student debt relief may be at hand, the corporatocracy has sent out its misinformed. Here’s the deal.
Student Debt Forgiveness?
Andrew Ross Sorkin appeared on MSNBC to discuss student debt. Progressives are fighting very hard to empower the president to use his authority to forgive many of the loans issued by the federal government. Student debt forgiveness has polled very high for a very long time. More than 60% of Americans support it.
But of course, Right-Wing Republicans and neoliberals never want to give anything to the average American citizen. And how do they accomplish that task when something polls this well? They create divisions and false equivalencies.
There is a narrative that the mainstream media uses to push that may be partially true but sends the wrong message. They say that not everyone needs to go to college. They also claim that paying off student loans is tantamount to giving our taxes to elite, rich people. The last one is that ‘I paid my loan. Why don’t you?’
Here is the deal. While it is true that everyone does not wants to go to college. But it is also true that it is more likely that lack of finances or the fear of student debt stops many who wish to attend and are willing to complete the course load. The false equivalence here implied that you likely do not need to be there if you cannot afford college. I doubt the ‘elite rich’ parent will tell their kids outright that college is unnecessary. Hell. Even Trump sent his kid to college.
Many rich people’s kids may take out loans and invest them, thus creating a free return on Americans’ tax dollars. The mere fact that most Americans are not wealthy means that the number of people doing that is inconsequential. Moreover, the laws can mitigate that behavior if written correctly.
Many are simply selfish. Because many past students paid their loans off, they do not want to afford a break to someone else. Here is a reality, my daughter is paying ten times or more than what I paid for my education. We progressively screwed subsequent generations. I paid off all of my student loans. I would be happy to use my taxpayer dollars to pay off all student loan debts. I believe in paying it forward.
I want to ask everyone to go through this thought process our corporatocracy would like you to misunderstand. The corporations want you to believe that somehow forgiving student debt is a giveaway or some great act. It is neither. Let me explain.
The corporate world needs educated people to work the businesses. These businesses make their income from the intellect and labor of these students. The owners and executives of these corporations and companies make income, some passive, in the form of dividends and stock price appreciation for the executives and owners of these corporations.
In the past, these corporations and benefactors of the student’s intellect and labor paid taxes to make college reasonably inexpensive. But as neoliberalism, supply-side economics, and just the outright individualism and selfishness inherent to capitalism took hold, the wealthy bribed politicians to cut their taxes continually. They offloaded more on more to the underpaid citizenry. And they do it at an even more significant profit.
Corporations made college more expensive for the average American in their utter greed. Corporations were ready to loan monies to students or convince the government to guarantee the loans they made to these students. Understand this. These greedy, selfish beings made money as students borrowed for college, and they profited from not having to invest in educating the intellect and labor they needed. It is a hell of a gig we continuously give corporations.
We must pay off all student loans, federal and private. And the rich who has benefited from their free selfish ride for decades must pay for it. There should be no debate.