It was a dark week in American politics. President Joe Biden announced that his administration is “forgiving” a sizable portion of student loans for certain Americans.
But the operative word here is “certain.” Because responsible Americans who paid their debts–or chose not to go to college–will not receive a penny. Instead, they get the bill.
I chose to go to college a year early in 2005. My parents had scrapped and scraped for years to send me to private high school, so college was on me. I went to a larger private university here in Arkansas; I had at least some idea that it would be a bit more expensive than attending a public college.
That was my choice.
In 2009, I finished my undergraduate degree. We were in the middle of the Great Recession. So, like any smart millennial does, I devised a master plan: I would hide out in graduate school for a few more years until the economy rebounded.
Of course, that meant more student loan debt, but that was my choice.
By the time I finished graduate school, I owned a mortgage–it just didn’t come with a house.
I was overwhelmed. I thought I would never be free of this millstone around my neck.
One day, I sat down with a friend to express my dismay. He encouraged me to start tackling the debt head-on because, as he showed me, even though my principal balance was $130,000, I was going to pay close to $300,000 total over the lives of the loans. (Some of the loans were as much as 11.25 percent interest.)
And that realization made me mad. But it also motivated me.
I knew it was my choice–and thereby my responsibility–to pay these loans off. I also had a choice to get my rear in gear and pay them off quickly. And that’s exactly what I did.
I took as many side jobs as I could find, including working for my church and mowing as many lawns as I could. Eventually, I found a full-time job, but then continued to look for side work.
My wife and I buckled down and started making a real budget for the first time in our lives. We started operating off a cash system so we could really control our spending. We didn’t go on vacations for roughly five years and drove clunker cars.
But you know what? We did it. After about four and a half years of scraping every penny together that we could, we paid off my student loans about eight years early. Every single penny.
It’s hard to describe the wave of emotions that we felt that day we made that last debt payment. Joy. The pride of accomplishment. Relief. Excitement for what was ahead.
But with his actions this week, President Biden has stolen that experience from many Americans. They will never feel the satisfaction and reward that comes from working hard and paying off their debt the right way.
Indeed, many Americans felt a much different wave of emotions when the student loan bailout was announced. Anger; a sense of injustice; maybe even a bit of jealousy.
After all, some, including my family, sacrificed so much for so long to get out of debt–and now others get out for “free”? On the backs of hardworking Americans?
This is the core problem with these types of policies: They pit us against each other.
They prey on the desperation of those who are saddled with enormous debt and deceivingly tell them that taking money from others is a real solution to their problem. They foster greed and entitlement, while eviscerating personal responsibility.
For the responsible–and for those who chose not to go to college–these policies prey on their resources and punish their hard work. They foster resentment because they aren’t getting $10,000 from federal taxpayers–they are paying it.
It’s Wealth Redistribution 101 with some good ol’ class warfare mixed in. And it’s just wrong.
Americans should not think for a moment that this move by the Biden administration was done to “help” anyone. It is pure dependency politics, using other people’s money to curry favor with voters. (Right before a midterm election that will likely be disastrous for Democrats, I might add.)
And in so doing, President Biden has further divided us and driven yet another nail in the coffin of personal responsibility.
Nic Horton is a nationally recognized public policy expert, lifelong Arkansan, and the CEO of Red Truck Strategies. Learn more at RedTruckStrategies.com.
Print Headline: On our backs
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