> we could’ve eliminated student loan debt for ~20 million Americans. It would in turn open a myriad number of opportunities, like owning a home

I'd give the money to folks starting in the trades before bailling out the college-educated class.

Also, wiping out numbers on a spreadsheet doesn't erect new homes. If we wiped out student debt, the portion of that value that went into new homeownership would principally flow to existing homeowners.

Finally, you're comparing a government hand-out to private investment into a capital asset. That's like comparing eating out at a nice restaurant to buying a bond. Different prerogatives.

The problem with allowing student debt to rack up to these levels and then cancelling it is that it would embolden universities to ask even higher tuition. A second problem is that not all students get the benefit, some already paid off their debts or a large part of it. It would be unfair to them.

> Instead we gave a small number of people all of this money for a moonshot in a state where they squabble over who’s allowed to use which bathroom and if I need an abortion I might die.

AFAICT from this article and others on the same subject, the 500 billion number does not appear to be public money. It sounds like it's 100 billion of private investment (probably mostly from Son), and FTA,

> could reach five times that sum

(5x 100 billion === 500 billion, the # everyone seems to be quoting)

Eliminating some student debt is a fish. Free university is the fishing rod. Do that instead.

"we could’ve eliminated student loan debt for ~20 million Americans. "

Don't throw more money at schools. They will happily take the money and jack up tuition even more. There is no reason why tuition is going up at the pace it does.

Allowing student debts to be included in bankruptcy takes care of most of the issue. Those that were unable to find decent, paying jobs will have a path to relieve the stress of high student loan payments, while those that found high paying jobs will continue paying on the loans from which they received a benefit.

Let the schools pay back the people they scammed.

Or, prices of houses would go up even more because we still aren't allowing supply to increase and people having more money doesn't change that.

Eliminating debt has a lot of unintended consequences. Price inflation would almost certainly be a problem, for example.

It's also not clear to me what happens to all of the derivatives based on student debt, though there may very well be an answer there that I just haven't understood yet.

You are forgetting the fact that this is a private investment, whereas the student loans problem should be solved by the government. No private institutions will have any interests in paying off student loans.

History says almost all society was corrputed and previous 50 to 80 years are slight exception. People with power prefer to give power to selected people selected by their personal preference.

Repaying student loans makes a lot of people a little richer. The current initiative makes a few people a lot richer. If you ask some people, the former is a very communist/socialist way of thinking (bad), while the latter is pure, unadulterated capitalism (good).

i’m sorry but student debt payoffs are probably one of the lowest socially valuable uses of this money, rather than basic things like snap or housing vouchers. sorta shows how myopic HN is, student debt is a relatable concern so it gets prioritized

I know!! Also we could have given an IPhone to 500 million of people for the amount!! It’s such a waste to think they’re investing it in the future instead

This is the problem with capitalists / the billionaires currently hoarding the money and the US' policy, it's all for short term gain. But the conservatives that look back to the 50's or 80's or whatever decade their rose-tinted glasses are tuned to should also realise that the good parts of that came from families not being neck-deep in debt.

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go to the uk. they have all the free abortions, genders, and education you could possibly want. apply for asylum since you're clearly afraid for your life.

I'm starting to think there's no difference between this website and reddit