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Warren’s plan to cancel student debt stimulates the bad-take economy

Never underestimate how upset people will be about helping other people.

Photo of David Covucci

David Covucci

elizabeth warren student debt

Today, 2020 Democratic hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) unveiled the newest idea in her long list of progressive proposals: tackling the student debt crisis.

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Student debt has exploded in the past decade, as colleges have become more and more expensive and the interest rates loan companies charge students continue to grow. Collectively, young Americans are saddled with $1.5 trillion in debt, making concepts like owning a home and saving for retirement foreign to them.

Which is why Warren wants to forgive $50,000 in debt for people making under $100,000.

What makes less sense is why so many people are against it. In the wake of Warren’s announcement, numerous dudes spoke up in defense of banks, predatory lenders, and keeping America’s institutions of higher learning as white and male as possible.

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The Washington Examiner‘s Phillip Klein called it pandering.

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Klein writes that “Warren’s plan to cancel student loan debt would be a slap in the face to all those who struggled to pay off their loans,” as though because some people experienced hardship, we should no longer extend gratitude or relief toward anyone.

That logic didn’t really carry water when applied to other instances, though.

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Klein’s argument was that people who worked to pay off their loans would be angered because the government helped people who were struggling with paying theirs off. Which is a thing governments frequently do.

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But it wasn’t just students who paid off their loans who would be upset. Won’t someone think of the banks?

Don’t worry, Ben Shapiro is here to think of the banks.

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Shapiro worries that alleviating one segment of debt in society might lead to politicians tackling other debts people struggle with, which might adversely affect corporations who make obscene amounts of money off people.

Which… great!

https://twitter.com/theshrillest/status/1120350574937927680

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But even young millennials who you might think are sympathetic to the cause are also upset that someone wants to help with the debt crisis. Joel Pavelski, formerly of faking a funeral to build a treehouse fame, announced that he thought maybe poor people just shouldn’t go to some institutions of higher learning.

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https://twitter.com/joelcifer/status/1120347029023096832

It’s an interesting thought that would help wealthy families continue their inordinate stranglehold over society while simultaneously preventing disadvantaged people from improving their lot in life.

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https://twitter.com/jbillinson/status/1120371384436383746

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Maybe Warren just wants to help people who struggle with debt for simply wanting an education.

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