As a resident of Washington state, I feel compelled to offer my apologies to the rest of the country for inflicting Pramila Jayapal upon the rest of you.
But to be fair, I (thankfully) don’t live in her district. Otherwise, I would be suffering from even more secondhand cringe from this tweet, which Congresswoman Jayapal meant to sound oh-so-progressive and virtuous. SHE CARES, EVERYONE.
Student debt cancellation is racial justice.
Student debt cancellation is gender justice.
Student debt cancellation is economic justice.
— Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) April 16, 2022
Okay, let’s get the obvious argument out of the way. That money was spent. Who should pay it, Congresswoman?
No, it’s wrongfully shifting the cost of that debt to all other tax payers, many of whom are not college educated.
There is no justice in making others pay for the debts others incurred for something they don’t even have themselves and on avg benefits those with degrees more
— Nathan (@Ho8Go8L1N) April 16, 2022
The easy answer is “anyone who votes for Pramila Jayapal or the Progressive Caucus (which she leads right now) should get their debts forgiven, because they vote for the RIGHT people.” At least, that’s what Jayapal probably thinks. But let’s look a little deeper into this tweet.
“Student debt cancellation is racial justice.” How? Are there no poor white college students who take out incredibly crippling student loans because colleges know they can keep raising the price? Unless the congresswoman can prove that students of ethnic and racial minorities pay a higher rate of tuition than white students, then this argument is null and void.
“Student debt cancellation is gender justice.” How? More women are now attending college than men (though what a woman is, the left can’t even tell us now). If Jayapal is going to claim “gender justice” because, as a percentage, women are carrying more student debt because more women are attending college, that only proves that her degree isn’t in math. Unless the congresswoman can prove that colleges are charging different rates between men and women, then this argument is null and void.
“Student debt cancellation is economic justice.” How? As pointed out by the response above, those who attend college usually leave college with a degree, which gives them credentials for certain jobs (in theory). Those jobs supposedly have higher incomes because of the college credentialing. So, the earning power of these students will be higher – and yet, the colleges keep raising their rates because they have NO incentive to control their own salaries and costs. They know the students will keep taking out the loans to get the degrees, in order to eventually earn a higher income. In comparison, as trade school advocates like Mike Rowe have continually pointed out, a skilled tradesman can start out with much more earning potential, even at a lower salary, because they AREN’T carrying the debt of a college education.
That college-educated student with a degree in early 17th century French literature is still going to need a plumber if their toilet backs up, and then will be stunned at the cost of said plumber. Welcome to the cost of labor and skill. Perhaps a degree that conferred a marketable skill would have been a better investment. But colleges are not interested in telling students to get degrees that provide a good return on their investment. They are interested in telling students to “follow their passion” and get that drama degree, because why do the colleges care if you get a job later? You’re paying them the money NOW.
What Jayapal is trying to do – and what Democrats in general are encouraging Biden to do – is pay off Millennials and Gen Z students for their vote. If they can “cancel” student debt, it will create a different kind of debt – a debt of gratitude to the Democrats, which means that they have essentially bribed people for votes.
Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green described student debt forgiveness as extremely popular. Green cited a Politico/Morning Consult poll this week that found voters endorse some loan relief by a 2-to-1 margin. He said it could “reignite” support for Biden and Democrats before November.”
“The Democratic coalition depends on rehabilitating support from young voters, and canceling student loan debt would certainly help address that,” Green told the Washington Examiner.”
The Biden administration keeps extending the moratorium on student loan repayments, with Democrats like Chuck Schumer (who definitely wants to keep his Senate seat out of the hands of a far-left socialist challenger like AOC) egging Biden on. The moratorium is supposed to expire at the end of August. The White House has admitted that when they want COVID to be over, it is over (think Title 42), but when they need it to justify masks on airplanes or stopping student loan debt repayments, then COVID is still a thing. What are the odds that the Democrats try to push out the moratorium until AFTER the midterms?
We certainly know what Congresswoman Jayapal would say. She wants “justice” and some votes for Democrats, so she’s pushing for “cancellation.” Except that it isn’t “cancellation,” because, again, THAT MONEY WAS SPENT. What Jayapal wants is “forgiveness,” but she didn’t lend that money. The Democrats didn’t lend that money. She can’t just wipe those numbers off the ledgers. The money was spent, and it needs to be repaid. What Jayapal and the Democrats want is for the GOVERNMENT to pay for it. Which means WE, THE TAXPAYERS, would be forced to pay for college for kids other than our own.
That doesn’t sound like “justice” to me.
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Featured image: Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, official portrait, cropped, public domain
Cameron says: The only way I would support this is if every single penny of this comes out of the colleges themselves since they were the ones who issued the degrees. This will solve a few problems such as colleges suddenly offering real programs again.
Stephen Karlson says: There’s much more student debt held by physicians, surgeons, and attorneys than there is by associate degree graduates of community colleges. The payment freeze is a regressive transfer.
John says: I feel your pain. This woman is from the same District that gave Washington State Baghdad Jim McDermott. Would that we in Washington could experience an earthquake that will sever her district from the rest of the State!
This is merely one more stroke in the Left’s campaign to drain all objective meaning from the two most important concepts in American political thought: “rights” and “justice.” Once those words have been emptied of all objective content, the Left can do whatever it pleases to us.
Antoine J. Bastien says: I’m Mexican. My first priority after undegraduate school, and law school, was to pay off my student loans.
Jayapal’s proposed giveaway to irresponsible students is a slap in the face to those of us who aren’t freeloaders.
Howy says: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; … ” Let the congresswoman do that hard work of getting the congress to pass legislation to forgive debt. I know. Hard work is hard. But any executive action on this would be unconstitutional and surely would be struck down by the courts.
Scott says: ” and surely would be struck down by the courts.”.. You sir, are an optimist..
Doesn’t work – at least by that clause. Because the money has already been appropriated – since back in 2010 (one of those things you had to pass Obamacare to find out what was in it). Almost all student loan debt is owned by the Federal Government, between bailing out bank balance sheets in 2008 and direct from government loans since then.
Forgiving the balances would be the same as any creditor writing off a debt. IRS does that all the time. POLITICALLY a hot potato, but not legally.
By the way, I expect that the moratorium will NOT be extended, or, if it is, for just a month. I think the plan is to keep it in the minds of their base until just before the midterms – and trigger the forgiveness plan then. Doing it now would be long forgotten by November, crowded out by the continuing and worsening economic disaster.
Paul Jurkoic says: I have observed that when someone attaches modifiers (e.g., “racial”, “economic”) to the word “justice,” it’s a good bet that person is pushing an agenda that won’t have wide acceptance among the general population.
GWB says: But colleges are not interested in telling students to get degrees that provide a good return on their investment. They are interested in telling students to “follow their passion” and get that drama degree, because why do the colleges care if you get a job later?
I disagree with this analysis. This has to do with marketing and sales strategy. They don’t insist they get “real” degrees because a vast number of them would never graduate and would probably drop out early and never pay the college all that sweet filthy lucre. They know vast numbers of potential students are hugely unprepared for doing serious academic work when they “graduate” high school, but they’re all being told they have to get a degree to get a “decent” job, so they’re selling that portion of the market. You don’t turn away potential marks customers, after all.
rehabilitating support from young voters
Their reality problem is this: young people don’t vote, and the people who dovote are the ones who probably paid off their loans (or are working on it). They think this will cause the young people to get out and vote in droves, but experience says it won’t.
That doesn’t sound like “justice” to me.
Well, of course it doesn’t to you. You actually practice using your brain for something other than a narcotic receptacle or playing Call of Duty*. It makes a difference to what you perceive as reality.
(* Personally, I want to see something like Squad Leader for the computer. THAT would be an impressive feat, IMO, with fog of war, comm issues, and a bunch of other things realistically represented. If you don’t know what Squad Leader is, then get off my lawn.)
[…] that requires extraordinary interventions like mask mandates for travel, federal student loan moratoriums/possible forgiveness of loans, and a national state of emergency, or is it now just an endemic part of life so Title 42 […]
370H55V says: I come from a blue-collar background myself and was the First In My Family To Go To College after attending one of those elite specialized high schools in NYC. Fortunately I went to a unit of the City University of New York that (at least back then) charge no tuition, so I wasn’t burdened with student loan debt. I didn’t do really well in school, although a lot of that I can attribute to my choice of a demanding STEM major.
After that I had to flog myself further by getting an MA in government affairs from a respectable school in the midwest. Luckily there too I had enough funding from the school, together with personal savings, to finish debt-free.
I’m long retired now, but looking back over the wreckage of my so-called “professional” career, not a day goes by in which I don’t regret with great sorrow my choice to go to college and beyond. My life was punctuated by several lengthy stints of unemployment, and the remainder filled with jobs where I was either in over my head or unable to negotiate successfully the fashions of the moment in what its now known as DIE or ESG. I never got a promotion in any company I worked for and spent my entire career at or not much beyond entry-level. I wasn’t suited for that world either cognitively or temperamentally.
God bless Mike Rowe for his inspiration to millions of young men not to waste four (or more) years of their lives in an environment that loathes them but will still take their money. May they never make the mistakes I did.
Doctor Mist says: Deanna, I’m afraid you have forgotten what “justice” means these days. It means that good groups shall suffer no costs and bad groups shall reap no rewards.
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