By Margot Cleveland
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Of all the pandering showcased during Democrats’ attempts
to win back the presidency, wiping out student debt ranked at or near the top.
“I believe that education is the future for this
country,” socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders barked during the first round of
Democratic primary debates, explaining that’s why we must “eliminate student
debt and we do that by placing a tax on Wall Street.” Sen. Amy Klobuchar spoke
similarly. “I can tell you this,” the Minnesota senator demagogued, “if
billionaires can pay off their yachts, students should be able to pay off their
student loans.”
There can be no serious discussion of this issue,
however, in 60-second sound bites. So, beyond the soak-the-rich shtick that
shades every Democratic economic debate point, the candidates resorted to two
tactics: shock and sob stories.
The Shock Strategy
The size of student debt provides the jolt necessary to
peddle their plans to the American populace. “I got $100,000 in student loan
debt myself,” California Rep. Eric Swalwell bemoaned. “College affordability is
personal for us,” South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg shared, noting that
his household has “six-figure student debt.” So, sure, “I believe in reducing
student debt,” Buttigieg announced.
Next came the sob stories. Those student loans are
suffocating a generation, the candidates suggested. After all, “40 million of
us who can’t start a family,” the diaper-changing daddy Swalwell
contradictorily proclaimed, adding that they “Can’t take a good idea and start
a business and can’t buy our first home.”
“We can’t put people in a position where they aren’t able
to go on and move on,” frontrunner Joe Biden agreed.
Tellingly, when not constrained by the debate format,
these same politicians push the same narrative to garner support for bailing
out student loans, all while the media provides the Democrats a free assist.
“With loans totaling more than $130,000,” Buttigieg’s
household is “among the 43 million people in the United States who owe federal
student loan debt,” the Associated Press reported last month, before
highlighting the myriad plans to bail out student debt pushed by a cadre of
presidential candidates. The AP then furthered the narrative by using
statistics to shock the public into socialism:
The debtors are so numerous and the
total debt so high—more than $1.447 trillion, according to federal
statistics—that several of the Democratic candidates have made major policy
proposals to address the crisis. Their ideas include wiping away debt, lowering
interest rates, expanding programs that tie repayment terms to income and
making college free or debt-free. Student
loan debt is often discussed as an issue that mostly affects millennials, but
it cuts across age groups. Federal statistics show that about 7.8 million
people age 50 and older owe a combined $291.9 billion in student loans. People
age 35 to 49, a group that covers older millennials such as Buttigieg as well
as Generation X, owe $548.4 billion. That group includes more than 14 million
people.
Sob Stories Reign
Supreme
Then the sad tales continue the sales pitch for a
government solution to student debt—a ploy that began well before the 2016
elections. Here’s one of myriad media examples.
“Shayna Pilnick, 28, would like to buy an apartment but
can’t afford a mortgage. Jacqueline Mannino, 23, and her boyfriend, Benjamin
Prowse, 26, want to get married. Jacob Childerson, 24, and his wife, Jennifer,
25, wish they could start a family, but they live with Jennifer’s parents,” is
how USA Today opened its 2013 profile of millennials unable to obtain their
dream life because they are “tethered” to “tens of thousands of dollars in
student loan debt.”
There are many ways to counter these arguments, based on
both economics and equity. But it’s hard to counter soundbites with sense, so
instead, here are my inquiries for these politicians, the press, and all the
students demanding relief from the burdens of their debt: Tell me your sob
stories from age 12 on, not what you can’t do now, but what you couldn’t do
then. Tell what you had to do then and through college to avoid what is now, to
you, crushing student debt.
What time did you get up to deliver papers in junior
high? How many hours a week did you work since 14 to save for college? How many
toilets did you scrub? How many high school football games did you miss because
you were working? What dream college did you forgo to avoid taking out student
loans?
Which 8 a.m. class did you take so you could complete
your major’s requirements and still work in the afternoon? Which bus line did
you take to get to your job because you didn’t borrow to buy a car? What job
did you work full-time while completing your MBA at night?
What did you do to afford college? What didn’t you do
because of the cost of college? Were you getting tattoos and traveling your way
through college? Were you pledging and partying? Did you go to your top-choice
university? Maybe an out-of-state public university with higher tuition rates?
Which spring break and study abroad destinations did you visit along the way?
Did you splurge on your fairytale wedding instead of
paying down your student loans? What cars did you buy or lease? Where did you
live? What electronics did you own? What clothing and other personal
expenditures did you have? In short, show me the money and how you spent it!
None of my business? You’re right. Nor is your student
debt my business or my problem.
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