Forgiving student loan obligations won’t make them vanish; it merely exacerbates the debt, and would unfairly punish responsible taxpayers — like the frugal Iowan who admonished the senator in Grimes.
Todd Blodgett Iowa View contributor
Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign recently was rocked by an Iowan who exposed the innate unfairness of her proposal to forgive student loan debt. The political fallout, in my view, likely means she won’t win Iowa’s presidential caucuses.
But if properly utilized by Republicans, this issue can keep Democrats on defense from now through Election Day. That’s because 98.5 million American adults lack a college degree, and 106 million with one or more either had no student loans or they’ve repaid them. While the collective federal student loan debt of $1.6 trillion is burdensome to its holders, they borrowed that money, and for most, investing in their education has paid off, or likely will.
But forgiving their obligations won’t make them vanish; it merely exacerbates the federal debt, and would unfairly punish responsible taxpayers — like the frugal Iowan who admonished the senator in Grimes.
Warren proposes forgiving $50,000 of student loan debt for borrowers from families with annual incomes of under $100,000. Bernie Sanders goes even further, and Joe Biden advocates forgiving student loans for teachers. But Americans with only a high school diploma earn, on average, nearly $1 million less than college grads over their lifetimes. So, why burden them with their bills? Such self-centered thinking is truly anti-American.
Forgiving such debt also undermines incentives that motivate collegians to ensure that their field of study, post-graduation, will provide gainful enough employment to justify its costs. Removing incentives — via free tuition or forgiven student debt — could impel Americans holding credit card debt, mortgages, auto loans, HELOCs, and even personal loans, to demand that taxpayers pay those debts.
Also, tuition debt forgiveness would adversely impact tens of millions of Americans whose IRAs, pension plans, 401(k) plans and trusts earn interest income from outstanding student loan payments.
When President Barack Obama worsened what Bill Clinton initiated, the U.S. government basically wrested control of guaranteed student loans from banks and other financial institutions. Effectively, this significantly lowered the risk to those who got these funds, which meant that the failure of students to complete their degree carried little downside.
Now, these clueless graduates and drop-outs with low-paying jobs who can’t repay such loans want us to cover the costs of their naivete, arrogance, imprudent planning, or outright stupidity.
With what amounted to essentially unlimited funding, universities and colleges raised their tuition rates, knowing that demand would continue, underwritten by tax dollars.
At Iowa’s three state universities, some professors pull down six-figure salaries to teach one class per week while engaging in useless research. Ever since Democrats, under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, began extensively intervening in health care, education and housing, costs have skyrocketed.
Back then, future President Gerald R. Ford warned, “A government that’s big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have.” Excepting Jimmy Carter and JFK, every college-educated post-World War II Democratic chief executive was an educator before entering politics.
Even Democrat Woodrow Wilson, a racist who served from 1913 to 1921, was a university professor before becoming president. Only four Democratic presidents (FDR, JFK, Harry Truman and Carter) between 1885 and 2017 didn’t teach professionally. The disastrous consequences of the budget-busting policies of former teachers LBJ, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama harmed productive, hardworking Americans — particularly retirees and blue-collar workers, like the Iowa dad who blasted Liz Warren.
Promoting redistributionist policies like tuition forgiveness helps President Donald Trump, as such radical proposals are unpopular with most likely voters, including union members, in swing states that the Democrats can’t afford to lose.
Todd Blodgett of Clear Lake served on President Ronald Reagan’s White House staff and as an adviser to the 1988 presidential campaign of George H.W. Bush. He has also worked for the Republican National Committee and the FBI.