The 2020 Presidential Race is upon us already. With every Democrat over the minimum age of 35 in the running, candidates are looking for ways to differentiate their brands and attract young voters. Each Democrat candidate has offered a swag bag of goodies to Generation Z featuring free or low cost college tuition and college debt refinancing or cancellation.

Last night during the five hour marathon CNN Town Hall, which I did not watch because I have a life, Kamala Harris supported “debt free college” and college debt loan refinancing. She actually made sense.

“Mayor Pete” Buttigieg played #MeToo with a question from a University of New Hampshire student. Apparently, Buttigieg and his husband Chasten have six figures worth of college debt. My first thought was, “If you are so smart, why didn’t you get grants or military scholarships to cover the cost of your education?” But, that would involve logic and Buttigieg is running a campaign based on emotion. See also Mike Pence.

Elizabeth Harris, whose campaign has flailed since she went to “get me a beer”, has come up with a plan sure to appeal to Gen Z, Millennials and Baby Boomers of a Socialist bent. It also maximizes wealth envy for bonus swag points. I turned to The Chronicle of Higher Education to get the Education Industrial Complex thoughts on Warren’s plan:

Sen. Elizabeth A. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat running for president, issued a $1.25-trillion plan on Monday that would cancel most student-loan debt and make every public college free.

The plan, unveiled in a blog post, would cancel up to $50,000 each in student-loan debt for 42 million Americans, wiping it out entirely for three-quarters of those borrowers.

Cancel up to $50,000 in student-loan debt? What about the folks who dutifully paid off their loans? Would they be eligible for loan repayment refunds? A whole new envy industry could spring up.

And just how does Senator Warren intend to pay for this largesse?

The senator dismissed as “nonsense” complaints that her plan, which would cost an estimated $1.25 trillion over 10 years, was unaffordable. The cost would be more than covered, she wrote, by what she called an “ultra-millionaire tax,” a 2-percent annual tax on the 75,000 families in the United States worth at least $50 million.

That’s two percent every year! But it’s only 75,000 families in the United States. They are “ultra-millionaires” so they deserve to be “ultra-taxed”. The ultra-millionaires don’t deserve equal treatment under the law because they are too rich.

This video is from a discussion on Fox Business Network regarding Warren’s plan:

Yes. This is about buying votes. That is exactly what this unholy plan is about. Elizabeth Warren just doesn’t want to cancel college debt and provide for free college. Warren wants to tax the wealthy to provide for free child care and affordable housing and to ease the burden of life for everyone who is not too rich. Elizabeth Warren wants to take away your burdens.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28

This just seems all kind of wrong and probably unconstitutional to me, but Bloomberg News thinks it’s probably constitutional.

Maybe the younger generations have a different attitude about debt. Debt scares the living daylights out of me. Basing payment of debt on some future, potential, may be possible salary would be a big NO for me.

And, is this the discussion we should be having about education? What is the future of high education? What is the future of learning itself? What is the direction of the American workforce? What jobs and careers will be most needed in the future?

All of the Democrats are thinking too small. Elizabeth Warren is just the most craven and small in her desire to be relevant and buy votes with her college debt cancellation plan.

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