Student Loan Relief in Texas
Loans at the Lege
RECEIVED TUE., FEB. 28, 2023
Another Letter to The Editor from a member of Student Loan Justice Org..
“Loans at the Lege – Feedback,” The Austin Chronicle
Dear Editor,
The fact that Texas legislators like Ted Cruz are opposing student loan cancellation makes no sense. The state is crushed under $141 billion in mostly federal debt, most of the people with these loans are either Republican or Independent, and the lending system is truly the most predatory, big-government loan scam in US history.
Nearly $10 billion/year in interest alone on this debt is leaving the state every year, accruing to the Department of Education. For loans that LBJ, in 1965, declared would be “free of interest.” This cannot continue. The least that Sen. Cruz and other Texas legislators could do is return constitutional bankruptcy rights to the loans. But at this late date, frankly, the loans should be canceled, and the entire program scrapped.
Jacque Abron
The loans have made a profit. Holding people hostage for these loans hurts the nation.
Might misunderstand the situation, but can’t think of a reason that Cruz’s opinion has bearing on whether it happens or not. Nothing wrong with this letter writer expressing his opinion on the matter of course. My opinion is that student debt is just one element of financial life and if the federal government has multiple hundred-billions to provide relief to people with financial problems, then holding student debt alone is a pretty weak method of deciding who benefits. More rational approaches undoubtedly would still involve large numbers of student debt holders. Consider the various examples published at AB over the past year. For most of them $10,000 will still leave them crushed, but for every horror story there are plenty for whom the $10,000 will be simply a nice tax-free add to their balance sheet. But at this point, my opinion doesn’t matter either.
The US has been in terrible economic shape ever since it unleashed predatory capitalism in the 1980s. Talk about defund the police. That started with Carter, but Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump were all about defunding and defanging the police. Capitalism is like fire. It can be very effective, but you don’t just set fire to stuff without a plan to control it, and controlling it requires vigilance and enforcement.
It’s high time for a jubilee. Maybe there is some wisdom in the Old Testament after all.