College lesson

What will young folks learn from this?

IT MAY have been Will Rogers who said if you’re in a hole, stop digging. Sounds like him. And he said so many other things that have become cliché that it won’t hurt to accuse him of one more.

President Biden hasn’t learned to put down the shovel. Now comes word that he might cancel up to $10,000 in student-loan debt per borrower—through executive action.

You’ll not be surprised to know that the idea polls well. Especially among young people with student debt. Why not put it on the government’s credit card? After all, so much else is.

More than one generation has been taught, by our government, that loans need not be paid back, no matter who signed on the dotted line. As long as Uncle Sucker is willing to take the responsibility. And he always is, when an issue polls well.

So as the Federal Reserve is battling inflation not seen in a generation, and is trying to rein in spending, and deciding on how high to push interest rates to do so, the Biden administration is going to take on a policy to boost spending.

Which is what will happen when people have less debt and find themselves with more spending money at the end of the month. Does this government’s right hand know what its left hand is doing?

President Biden says he can wipe out $10K in student debt with the stroke of a pen. But even that won’t appease the progressives in Congress. They want $50,000, at least. Or for all student debt to be forgiven, completely. The administration says it won’t go that far. Why not? After all, it’s only a matter of degrees.

There has been some pushback, as you might imagine:

“After a huge increase in our national debt, thanks to the pandemic and reckless Democratic spending, the government does not need to be forgoing billions of dollars by providing student loan relief to Americans.” So say several Republicans in the Senate. We’d agree with every part of that statement, save one: Spending hasn’t only been a Democratic problem. It’s been bipartisan. For years.

Has anybody asked President Biden & Generous Co. why those Americans who haven’t been to college should subsidize those who have? Why the plumber or farmer should bankroll the education of doctors, bankers, engineers and, ahem, journalists?

And what about all those doctors, bankers, engineers and journalists who have degrees that are, say, 15 or 20 years old? They’ve paid off their student loans. Will they be reimbursed?

Maybe we shouldn’t give anybody any ideas—somebody might commission a poll that shows it popular to reimburse all the student loans from years past.

“Most borrowers don’t need debt relief,” The Wall Street Journal notes editorially, “but Democrats are hoping to buy themselves political relief before the midterm elections. Young people have soured on President Biden, and Democrats worry they will be as motivated to vote this November as they were to attend a 9 a.m. class. Democrats plan to bribe them to the polls.”

While the debate is definitely financial, there may be an even more important reason to oppose the administration’s goal:

These Americans signed contracts to pay back these loans. Or at least significant portions of the loans until an age is reached for complete forgiveness. What message does it send that the government can cancel these commitments, these agreements, these pacts?

The government will just write it off! It’s like printing money! (Some of us have never bought into the idea that government makes things cheaper.)

The whole idea of writing off loans that have already been taken out goes against everything some of us have been taught about obligation. What message does it send to young Americans, and not just young Americans, about their word, their duty?

If this latest idea from the Free Lunch Crowd gains momentum, what’s next?

Hey, will the government take, and write off, our mortgages next?

If not, why not?

WE NOTE that there are programs all over the country that allow students to take unconventional approaches to getting an education—either a degree or perhaps a certificate—in a way that does not bankrupt the family or the future American taxpayer.

For best local examples: The truck driving course in Pocahontas. The welding class in Little Rock. The steel tech program in Blytheville.

And there is a program in northeast Arkansas willing to help students with their debt. Williams Baptist University has a program called “Williams Works.” It allows students in the program to work part-time to have their tuition and fees covered. Other universities have work-study, too. Then there are Pell Grants. And scholarships. And just old-fashioned savings. And failing all of that, a loan. That should be paid back.

The idea of just putting trillions of more dollars on the national credit card, especially money that has been contractually obligated to be paid back by other means, so that future generations can cover our lifestyle today—or only part of our lifestyles, since a lot of Americans don’t go to college—just because it polls well . . . . It sounds unsustainable. And Will Rogers again:

“We’ll show the world we are prosperous, even if we have to go broke to do it.”