5 ms·

If it's just about people struggling with their finances today, why not forgive any type of debt? Money is fungible after all. Suppose a grad has a net debt bec

If it's just about people struggling with their finances today, why not forgive any type of debt? Money is fungible after all. Suppose a grad has a net debt because they routinely spend more than they earn and like to go on all inclusive destination vacations every year. Now suppose you have someone who didn't take out student loans but had some unfortunate life circumstances that caused them to be in the same amount of debt. Forgiving either person's debt will improve each one's finances, but won't affect whether they've gone to college in the past. Edit: in case it wasn't obvious, the question is rhetorical. I'm not advocating for forgiving any kind of debt.

foogazi 3y ago
> why not forgive any type of debt? You can already do that with bankruptcy, but it specifically does not apply for student loans
- bitshiftfaced 3y ago
  There are long lasting negative repercussions of going into bankruptcy.
  - foogazi 3y ago
    Yes
    - bitshiftfaced 3y ago
      I'm sorry. I assumed you were trying to make a counterpoint and not simply naming factual information. When I asked, "why not forgive any type of debt," I was making a point about how there's no reason we would judge either debt to be more worthy of forgiveness if we accept parent poster's claim that this was just about peoples' present-day financial struggle. Bankruptcy is very different than student loan forgiveness. For example, 91% of people hire an attorney to do the bankruptcy, there are court fees, you take a huge hit on your credit score, you can't get credit, you either get put on a payment plan or you have to liquidate your assets, etc. Compared to that, student loan forgiveness is basically a freebie. When I asked, "why not forgive any type of debt," I meant it in the same kind of way that student loan forgiveness works.
      - foogazi 3y ago
        > I'm sorry. I assumed you were trying to make a counterpoint and not simply naming factual information. You are the one telling me bankruptcy has consequences The point is school debt is specifically excluded from bankruptcy by law so people have no recourse You ask why not forgive all debts, and my response is we don’t need to do that, if debt is enough of a burden people can file bankruptcy Yes, there are consequences and people have to make that choice There is no choice for student loan debt, hence forgiveness You can’t have it both ways - there has to be an out
        bitshiftfaced 3y ago
        Then the question would become: why should the system give such harsh repercussions for those who must file bankruptcy while those who get student loan forgiveness have no repercussions? What's more: those who get student loan forgiveness are much more likely to have a degree and have a higher income. In addition, student loan forgiveness applies to everyone with the debt, not just those who are in financial distress.
deleted 3y ago
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oddtuple 3y ago
[flagged]
- bitshiftfaced 3y ago
  You realize that many people with student loans are no longer students, right?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - oddtuple 3y ago
    [flagged]
Volundr 3y ago
Because much of student debt is federally owned and they have the authority to forgive it, while they don't have the authority to force Visa to forgive someone's credit card debt that was incurred due to unfortunate life circumstances. It'd be fair to ask why student debt vs other kinds of federally held debt, but why notmall debt is pretty clear.
- bitshiftfaced 3y ago
  The federal government could do this in the form of a check in the mail once you provide your credit card statement. For the purposes of the argument, I don't see why it would matter if the individual actually uses it to pay the debt or not. It has the same affect on their ability to cope with the struggle that parent poster was referring to, and it costs the same to the taxpayer. (Although, I'm sure that they could make some kind of law to accomplish this.) But this is going into the weeds and not really addressing the point of the argument.

foogazi 3y ago

> why not forgive any type of debt? You can already do that with bankruptcy, but it specifically does not apply for student loans

bitshiftfaced 3y ago
There are long lasting negative repercussions of going into bankruptcy.
- foogazi 3y ago
  Yes
  - bitshiftfaced 3y ago
    I'm sorry. I assumed you were trying to make a counterpoint and not simply naming factual information. When I asked, "why not forgive any type of debt," I was making a point about how there's no reason we would judge either debt to be more worthy of forgiveness if we accept parent poster's claim that this was just about peoples' present-day financial struggle. Bankruptcy is very different than student loan forgiveness. For example, 91% of people hire an attorney to do the bankruptcy, there are court fees, you take a huge hit on your credit score, you can't get credit, you either get put on a payment plan or you have to liquidate your assets, etc. Compared to that, student loan forgiveness is basically a freebie. When I asked, "why not forgive any type of debt," I meant it in the same kind of way that student loan forgiveness works.
    - foogazi 3y ago
      > I'm sorry. I assumed you were trying to make a counterpoint and not simply naming factual information. You are the one telling me bankruptcy has consequences The point is school debt is specifically excluded from bankruptcy by law so people have no recourse You ask why not forgive all debts, and my response is we don’t need to do that, if debt is enough of a burden people can file bankruptcy Yes, there are consequences and people have to make that choice There is no choice for student loan debt, hence forgiveness You can’t have it both ways - there has to be an out
      - bitshiftfaced 3y ago
        Then the question would become: why should the system give such harsh repercussions for those who must file bankruptcy while those who get student loan forgiveness have no repercussions? What's more: those who get student loan forgiveness are much more likely to have a degree and have a higher income. In addition, student loan forgiveness applies to everyone with the debt, not just those who are in financial distress.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

oddtuple 3y ago

[flagged]

bitshiftfaced 3y ago
You realize that many people with student loans are no longer students, right?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- oddtuple 3y ago
  [flagged]

Volundr 3y ago

Because much of student debt is federally owned and they have the authority to forgive it, while they don't have the authority to force Visa to forgive someone's credit card debt that was incurred due to unfortunate life circumstances. It'd be fair to ask why student debt vs other kinds of federally held debt, but why notmall debt is pretty clear.

bitshiftfaced 3y ago
The federal government could do this in the form of a check in the mail once you provide your credit card statement. For the purposes of the argument, I don't see why it would matter if the individual actually uses it to pay the debt or not. It has the same affect on their ability to cope with the struggle that parent poster was referring to, and it costs the same to the taxpayer. (Although, I'm sure that they could make some kind of law to accomplish this.) But this is going into the weeds and not really addressing the point of the argument.