Thread by @GalvinAlmanza

My mom asked me for a take on the debt relief, which is not my field. However, I'm a millennial, a voter, and a person who works in poverty law, so...here goes. A few thoughts. @jorie_graham here you go.

First of all, I'm a person who had astronomical debt and, through a combination of loan forgiveness/repayment assistance and plain payment, paid it off.

So let's start here: I am really, really happy at the thought that others might not have to do that.

I work in a field where everyone has astronomical debt. #lawtwitter please chime in. A lot of us worked through the "summer of slaughter" 2008 where no one could get job offers, struggled in the difficult job market that followed, and, like me, chose change-making paths w/low pay

When we tried to use income-based repayment or public service loan forgiveness (before the program was reformed) we felt like we were just dodging a series of traps...payments we made weren't counted. We would have to appeal disqualification. It sucked. npr.org/2021/10/06/104…

I would also add that we spent a lot of time talking to people who went to school in the 1980s when annual tuition was LESS THAN $2000.

No, I didn't leave off a zero. Yes, you read that right.

educationdata.org/average-cost-o….

All of which is to say, if grumpy old people or people whose debt sucked are complaining, this is what I see:

Let's also talk about who this impacts. I was shocked to learn that 53% of people with student loan debt have debt of less than $20,000.

So for the majority of debt-holders, this $10-20k could wipe out half or the majority of their debt.

Who does this help the most? Young people, excitingly. The very same people our elected leaders spend a lot of time giving side-eye to about voting.

Folks who didn't finish college. Who dropped out to care for a sick love one or have an unexpected kid. Who were taken advantage of by predatory institutions. And, let's not forget, people who have paid in a great deal. washingtonpost.com/education/2022…

Just check out this thread from @NathanTankus

https://twitter.com/NathanTankus/status/1562571521490821121?t=nM0s_88jNDCvw-Mr02A0eA&s=09

Also, let's not forget that this relief is TEENSY compared to how much debt was forgiven in the form of PPP loans.

And, uh, that a lot of the student debt grinches had, shall we say, their own golden goose from the feds.

mashable.com/article/studen…

Is this enough? No. I wish this had gone farther. Not just because I want people who are struggling to have a less harsh road--I also know that money spent relieving financial burdens for ordinary Americans does a lot more for our economy than tax cuts for the 1%.

Cash in people's pockets is lunch for their kids. Maybe a better place to live. Maybe an investment in their own professional success. You know what happens when you give people who need money some money?

Good things.

news.wsu.edu/press-release/…

So if u have a grinch in yr life, remind them the world used to be a lot cheaper, colleges less predatory, most debt is smaller than you'd think but more crippling than you imagine, poor people spend money on good things, and also that stopping the trolly is *always* good.

Addendum: a grinch can be any age. I wish I could amend the grumpy old people remark above, because there are grumpy 32 year olds who hate relief and probably some horrible 12yo somewhere, idk.

One more! This fact is so good it belongs in my Responses to Grinches Litany

https://twitter.com/JulianCastro/status/1562626451861475329?t=STiZ81cNaYgPf-GJVekD9Q&s=19

Thanks to @itsjasonflom for this image btw