Republican Senator Mitch McConnell Says It is "Socialism To Relieve Student Debt"

What specifically is the 'reckless' behavior to which you refer?

 

https://twitter.com/BharatRamamurti/status/1328386696296222720

 

Taking out loans and ultimately not paying back that loan.

You could see 1 person that chose not to work during college, opting to party and use their loans to live beyond their means while making no attempt at limiting those loans ( which happens a lot, I have observed it first hand). Another person chose to work full time while going to school, paying as they go and perhaps taking 6 or 7 years to finish, but ultimately graduated with zero debt. By expecting their loan balance to be forgiven, the former has displayed irresponsible behavior and is expecting society to bail them out for that irresponsible behavior. The latter on the other hand was completely responsible, and it was all for naught because they could have just welched off the system and expected society to bail them out. To add insult to injury, not only did the responsible person pay their own way and they did not have to, but also, they have to pay for the guy that was irresponsible.

In the future, irresponsible behavior would be incentivized by forgiving their debt, and responsible behavior would be disincentivized.

 

One wonders what Mitch thinks of this sort of thing.

Inspector General’s Report Cites Elaine Chao for Using Office to Help Family

WASHINGTON — While serving as transportation secretary during the Trump administration, Elaine Chao repeatedly used her office staff to help family members who run a shipping business with extensive ties to China, a report released Wednesday by the Transportation Department’s inspector general concluded.

The inspector general referred the matter to the Justice Department in December for possible criminal investigation. But in the weeks before the end of Trump administration, two Justice Department divisions declined to do so.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/03/us/politics/elaine-chao-inspector-general-report.html

Imagine that. The Trump DoJ decided not to pursue a case involving corruption.

 

Since you prescribe to his same theory, perhaps you can comment.

If the government paying off student loan debt is good for the economy by virtue of enabling those people to participate more fully in the economy, then why would it not be good for the economy to pay off all mortgages?

 

I personally know people who couldn't find a job with their degree, and these weren't silly degrees. These were degrees like teaching, accounting, and computer engineering. Also there are many people who owe more in student loans than when they started due to high interest and financial problems. We have a whole generation of workers who are burdened with debt and this will be a big problem for our economy.

I think we need student loan forgiveness for low-income people, along with education funding reform so fewer people get silly degrees. And we need to refinance the loans of everyone else so their loans are low interest.

 

If they have degrees in teaching, accounting, and computer engineering, and are NOT ever able to find a job in those fields, they are doing something SERIOUSLY wrong. They need to do whatever it takes to learn how to interview. It is high time they take responsibility for their actions rather than trying to blame society.

 

You don't understand the job market today. Most employers don't want to hire people with no experience and its brutal for new grads, especially if they didn't go to a good school. Even with a degree in computer science, which is the most marketable major ever, it took me a few months to find a job.

 

Has Biden stated that all future debt will be forgiven? If so, I would agree with you. But if not, why would people automatically assume that their debt will be forgiven? And really, if all future debt will be forgiven, why not just make tuition free - because that is, in effect, what it would be for those who cannot afford to pay for it?

 

Took you a few months huh? What a tragedy! ( sarcasm)

Your problem is that you are expecting everything to happen immediately and without challenge. Even though this is a time of labor shortage and a tight labor supply which is about the best time to be looking for a job as a new grad, if they are complaining about today's job market, then wait until tomorrow's. Rome was not built in a day. Hard work pays off, and life is a marathon rather than a sprint. Your friends to which you refer just need to keep working on their interviewing skills and they will find jobs. It sounds like they expect everything to be handed to them. Sometimes it takes a while to figure things out.

 

They took out loans. They need to pay back every penny.

If you wanted to argue that they should be able to go bankrupt on that debt, I might be fine with that because it gives them some skin in the game and most people are not going to opt to file banruptcy. To forgive any portion of their debt with no penalty however, IMHO would be a travesty. The taxpayer didnt accrue their debt. Only the person who took out that loan did.

 

And you have every right to that opinion - just as I have the right to think it isn't the worst thing to be done.

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I cannot argue with that.

I can argue however against the notion that you pushed which is that doing so is a net positive for the economy.

 

Agree! What you wrote represents true American Patriotic thinking: If I didn’t get, nobody should get it!

 

Don’t take on the debt if you can’t pay it back or will have a hard time paying it back. Seems like a f’ing simple enough concept.

 

Its easy to sit around giving people advice without truly knowing what you are actually talking about. Throwing around phrases like "hard work pays off", and "life is a marathon" isn't going to help them with their real-life problems. The problem my friends have is they simply lack the skills employers are looking for. When you fundamentally lack the skills, better interview skills is like liptick on a pig. Also the longer they are out of a job, the more of a red flag that is for employers, and the less likely they will be employed.

I had a friend who got a PhD in a STEM field and couldn't for the life of her find a post-doc. She had a really good resume and interview skills. She did a big project on her own that even won financial prizes. She used networking and connections. But her area got funding cuts. So then she tried interviewing for batchelor's level jobs. But then she kept being told she was "overqualified." She ended up getting a degree in nursing instead and now shes working in a hospital.

 

Its also easy to sit back as a young person and think that you have life figured out when in reality you do not possess the perspective necessary to be able to understand life or recognize true wisdom when it slaps you in the face.

You just said with a straight face that it took you a few months to find a job as if that is an example of going through hell and back. Thats nothing more than an example that life is hard. This is a marathon, not a sprint. In the end, who really cares that it took you a few months (oh the horror) to find a job in your field. If it takes you a few years then so be it. If a friend of yours has an accounting degree and they go a few years without finding a job in their field, they are CLEARLY doing something wrong. This does not mean that we need to absolve him of his debt. It means he needs to work hard and find out what he is doing wrong in the interviewing process.

As far as your friend with a PhD, it is not my responsibility to absolve her of debts because she is unable to find a job that utilizes her PhD. I am also not sure how you can credibly say that she has great interviewing skills because well, the proof is in the pudding. PhD's in general are a lot more about academics than they are about making money. If she just wanted to make money, she would have been better off getting an MBA. If she got her PhD for reasons other than money, it is not my problem how much debt she accrued in the process.

Business owners start businesses and fail constantly. Why is the struggling college graduate more worthy of debt absolving than the person who starts a business that fails?

Life is a contact sport. The sooner that young people learn this, the better off they will be. The problem that these kids have is that they have been coddled their entire life and everyone is treated as a winner. Once they get into the real world and are faced with the concept of losing, they assume it is someone else's fault rather than their own.

It's not about how many times you get knocked down ( everyone gets knocked down), rather it is how many times you get back up. Your friends with the accounting and engineering degrees that are having difficulty finding a job simply need to get back up and keep working to get that job. When they get knocked down again, they need to once again get back up. This is life. The sooner they realize this, the better off they will be.

 

I really feel like you are the type of person who gives advice to people when you don't really understand their situation or what they are going through. I see this a lot of these armchair experts who give this nice sounding advice that doesn't really help. Also I notice that you make a lot of assumptions about these people that they are lazy, entitled, or not doing it right.

In a lot of cases people simply can't find a job with the degree they have. Employers simply don't want them. A big reason for this is school are terrible at preparing people for the workforce and employers know it. We need to reform our education system.

 

I really feel like you do not have the perspective to understand. I believe that at some point several years down the road, my advice ( or some like it) will make far more sense to you. I am not saying all of this to be a jerk. I give the exact same advice to my kids who are likely your age or maybe a few years younger.

The sooner that you realize that life is hard, the better off you will be. Your generation is not special because they have to struggle. All generations have struggled when coming of age.

 

Not even remotely

 

I'll just leave this here.

 

The problem is if you haven't lived with the problems current kids are, you might not have good advice for them. I find that vague advice about hard work doesn't help job seekers as much as very specific tips. Your advice may not help them if you don't completely understand their situation.

Lets say there was someone who took a programming bootcamp and couldn't find a job (which happens a lot). You might go off about how its a marathon and they just need to slug it out. But as a tech person, I'll tell them they need to do a serious project in React, NodeJs, PostGres, and AWS. Then post the code in Github and provide a link to AWS in the resume. I can also give them specific tips about their tech resume like including a list of languages and frameworks and how exactly to talk about the projects that sounds good.

 

And every time they raise the minimum wage (other than inflation) they make it harder for entry level employees to find a job.

 

I'm curious. Were they offered any jobs at all that they turned down?

 

Making the middle class pay for the wealthy and privileged extravagance isn't really socialism it's a cast system.

People should pay their own debt. If you can't afford it you made some mistakes that are your responsibility.

Demanding a McDonald's worker pay of somebody's worthless degree is enslavement.