joether
Posts: 5195
Joined: 7/24/2005 Status: offline
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I can actually see both sides of this arguement. On one side, it would create a 'stimulus' effect onto the economy. Most student loan payers are giving $300-900 a month towards the principle and interest on their loan(s). If we took business psychology into consideration, it would be more likely those students would place that extra money towards disposable income rather than investments. It would be a huge burden of their shoulders, and allow them to focus on helping other Americans gain jobs (as they'd be buying things up quicker than they are now). If 100,000 such individuals, were paying $400 a month on student loans did not take the 'investment' route, but inside spent it mostly inside their state (say 80% of total), that would be $32 million put back into the economy. Your going to tell me businesses in that state wouldn't want a stake in a free $32 million 'give-away'? That the state would ignore the possibility of taxes and such being netted from those people spending their money on stuff? For purposes of this, the numbers are kept simple for the sake of the arguement. Do I have actual numbers, from a stable source? No, I'm taking an educated (and conservative) guess. The reality is more likely a higher number of dollars generated rather than lower. The other side of the arguement is that it would undermine the loan process for the future. Do future students get their loans removed when the economy is good? Or in a future recession, what circumstances would dictate that students with loans simply have them removed? It opens many such questions. As we have observed in this nation, there is no such thing as a 'one time only' thing when money is involved. This of course assumes the loans were taken out in good faith between both parties, and the student was making a wise and accurate financial picture of future employment based on their course of study. And how many 17 & 18 year olds do you know that predict the future four years in advance with perfect accuracy? disclaimer: I have student loans myself. Trying to pay 'em off. Would love to have my student loans killed. What could I do with an extra $400/month?
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