The student loan debt spike took place largely under President Barack Obama’s watch, and the White House now argues that student debt is ultimately good for the economy in a new report that uses circular logic to make its case.
“Since early 2009, when Mr. Obama took office, student debt has nearly doubled, to about $1.3 trillion today, according to the New York Federal Reserve,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “The uptick owed much to the sorry state of the economy: During high unemployment, enrollment in college and graduate school typically rises, the White House notes.”
The White House report then goes on to note grads who owe the most are doing just fine because they got degrees that will land them high-paying jobs that will allow them to buy houses to support the economy. It says college dropouts are the ones who are really struggling to pay back student debt, but they are only a small percentage of those who own student loan debt, and probably have other problems too that prevent them from being productive citizens.
“And the White House concludes that many of these [college drop-out] borrowers would still be suffering financially even without student debt, suggesting other factors are holding them down,” the Journal reports, adding:
“It is education, not student debt, that drives the persistent differences in homeownership,” the report states. …
Secondly, the White House says, “student loan debt is an investment in human capital that typically pays off through higher lifetime earnings and increase productivity.”
Its conclusion: “The main macroeconomic impact of student loans, particularly over the longer run, is via the boost to output and productivity form a more educated workforce.”
MORE: Student loan debt hits $1.27 trillion, grows $3,055 every second
MORE: Study finds 15 percent of retirees have student loan debt
MORE: Obama Makes $41.3 Billion Profit on Student Loans
Not everyone is buying the spin, especially commentators on the WSJ website, who note:
Right. Taking money from the life savings of workers … directly via taxes on “income” and indirectly via by taxes on corporations … to finance Black Studies programs to encourage students to hate white people sure helps the economy.
You know who’s likely to believe that more debt is better than less debt? Two generations of Americans subjected to the “modern” educational theories inflicted on the nation’s public schools and universities. The same generations wholly incapable of even subtracting or adding whole numbers without a calculator.
Just another example of Obama’s pathetic wealth redistribution plan.
The White House just released a big report on student debt that contains all the familiar horrors about for-profit schools, indebted dropouts and students defaulting on their loans. But it has an interesting conclusion: That growing stack of $1.3 trillion in student debt is helping, not hurting, the U.S. economy. Very Orwellian – Doublespeak: In 1984 when BIG BROTHER and the Party say PEACE they mean WAR, when they say LOVE they mean HATE, and when they say FREEDOM they mean SLAVERY. So too, today, do our versions of BIG BROTHER and the Party abound with contradictions and deliberate reversals of fact.
Click here to read the full story, and perhaps leave your own pithy comment.
MORE: Student loan debt hits $1.27 trillion, grows $3,055 every second
MORE: Study finds 15 percent of retirees have student loan debt
MORE: Obama Makes $41.3 Billion Profit on Student Loans
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
IMAGE: JoeCrimmings/Flickr
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.