Trump is considered the highest suit in many card games, but we are not playing cards today and his constant whining is not a game. Let’s look at something probably productive for our country, the forgiveness of some college student loan debt.
If a person with student loan debt earns less than $125,000/year, they probably qualify for forgiveness of $10,000. If they received a Pell grant of families earning less than $40,000, they probably will get another $10,000.
This was a campaign promise by Joe Biden and is going to be a great relief for about 43 million people having this type of debt.
“Well isn’t that nice.” Put on your heavy trousers, shirt and gloves as we dive into the weeds of sharp and irritating details.
About 1/3 of the debtors did not get a college degree, so they lost time without any financial benefit and they have a debt that effects their credit rating for getting ahead. The greatest number of default debtors are people with a debt less than $4,000 and no or low paying jobs.
“So who told them to go to college?” We did with the mantra, “Get an education to get ahead.” Many of these debtors don’t have the skills needed at college. BUT many have manual skills far above most college students.
Yes, get an education, but get the education you can use. America desperately needs machinists, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and good mechanics. Where do high school graduates get these skills?
When I was in high school we had shop classes for wood and metal working, of course girls weren’t admitted but they had housekeeping classes where they learned how to sew, type, measure and cook and woo to the boy who wanted to attend. My point is that although the classes were sexist, at least all students learned basic measuring and tool handling skills. Now most high schools don’t have any of these classes.
So where do young people acquire manual skills? Twenty years ago there was a push to incorporate these classes into junior colleges that gave Associate Degrees or Certificates documenting manual skills in specific areas. That program is now much less available and costs money that many students don’t have.
We pushed all high schoolers to go to college rather than get training in the mechanical skills that we desperately need, especially now. Several European companies work with our high schools allowing students to get paid while learning manufacturing skills at the company and earning a job when they graduate.
Back to loan forgiveness. Is Biden’s policy totally fair? No, all laws must follow the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law. Trumplicans hate helping educated voters. Republicans reasonably argue that the law is unfair to people who already paid off their student debt and parents who went into debt to finance their children through school. Some Democrats worry that it will increase inflation. Politicians will always be able to find fault with this law, BUT what they don’t mention is THEY have the ability to correct the deficiencies by passing additional legislation, if they want to.
Come on politicians, stop your whining then put on your big boy pants and do the job that YOU chose to run for. You were elected to create laws to help our society or did you believe your job was to flatten your gluteus maximi?
