> Why is making loans to people that have, statistically, a very low chance of paying off somehow not also a "bad financial decision"? I agree that the governm

> Why is making loans to people that have, statistically, a very low chance of paying off somehow not also a "bad financial decision"? I agree that the government shouldn't be making bad loans to people who are unlikely to pay them back. In fact, that's exactly what I said in my comment: the government should get out of the loan business. Unfortunately, loan forgiveness would mean me (a current taxpayer) having to pay for the past poor decisions of students. > We pay for "bad financial decisions" regardless of who makes them - debt forgiveness for individuals or bank bailouts when they get in over their heads. Banks pay significant penalties for bailouts, while people seem to want debt forgiveness with 0 repercussions. Not to mention this whole issue of banks is orthogonal because most loans are from the government. If we let the bankruptcy system handle it, people could get out of their loans but there would still be consequences.