💰 Privilege vs. Responsibility: The Double Standard in Debt Forgiveness

Why do people cheer for millionaires going bankrupt while criticizing students asking for debt help?

😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
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Some people think it's okay 💰 for rich people to go bankrupt 💸 because they lost money in their businesses, but they think asking for help 🙋‍♂️ with student loans 🎓 is wrong. This means that while a casino owner 🎰 might get praised for losing a lot of money, students 📚 trying to pay for their education get unfairly judged 😟. The article talks about how unfair this is and why it's important to treat everyone more equally ⚖️.

🗝️ Takeaways

• 📊 Double Standards: We celebrate wealthy bankruptcies as "smart business" but condemn student loan relief as laziness.

• ⚖️ Unfair Treatment: The financial struggles of students and the wealthy are viewed through entirely different lenses.

• 💔 Loss of Hope: The Biden administration has been slow to act on student debt relief, leaving many in despair.

• 📜 Selective Socialism: Corporate bailouts are warmly accepted, while education assistance seems stigmatized.

• 💡 Refocusing Values: Societal values are skewed; risk-taking is seen as commendable only for the privileged.

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The Double Standard: Why We Coddle Millionaire Bankruptcies But Condemn Student Debt Relief

Ah, the American Dream™ —where going bankrupt and running a casino (yes, a business where people literally hand you their money) is just savvy entrepreneurship, but trying to get relief from crushing student loan debt makes you a lazy freeloader.

Let's dive into this masterclass in cognitive dissonance, shall we?

Welcome to the Upside Down: Where Money Flows Up

Picture this: A young person takes out loans to get an education, hoping to contribute meaningfully to society.

The nerve of these entitled millennials, right?

Meanwhile, a certain real estate mogul can rack up bankruptcy after bankruptcy, leaving a trail of unpaid contractors and devastated employees in his wake, and that's just "smart business."

If this sounds backwards to you, congratulations – your moral compass hasn't been recalibrated by late-stage capitalism.

The Casino Paradox: How to Lose Money When People Give It to You

Let's marinate on this delicious irony for a moment. Trump's Taj Mahal went bankrupt within a year of opening.

Let that sink in. A CASINO. WENT. BANKRUPT.

This is like owning a water store in the desert and somehow running out of customers. Yet somehow, this spectacular failure is celebrated as business acumen, while someone struggling to pay off their nursing degree is labeled a drain on society.

The Rich Person's Get-Out-of-Debt-Free Card

Here's where things get spicy. When wealthy individuals declare bankruptcy:

• "It's just restructuring!"

• "That's how business works!"

• "He's using the system to his advantage!"

But when students seek loan forgiveness:

• "Whatever happened to personal responsibility?"

• "I paid MY loans off!" (Usually followed by a story about working three jobs while walking uphill both ways in the snow)

• "Why should MY tax dollars pay for YOUR education?"

The Magical Mathematics of Moral Outrage

Let's crunch some numbers, shall we?

Trump's Atlantic City casino failures resulted in:

• Hundreds of millions in losses

• Thousands of jobs lost

• Countless small businesses and contractors left unpaid

• Multiple bankruptcy filings

• A somehow unscathed reputation among certain political circles

Meanwhile, the proposed student loan forgiveness of $10,000 to $20,000 per borrower - designed to help teachers, nurses, social workers, and other professionals who actually contribute to society - is apparently the hill that fiscal conservatives want to die on.

Make it make sense.

The Symphony of Selective Socialism

Isn't it fascinating how government intervention is socialism when it helps working-class students, but it's "economic stimulus" when it bails out banks or subsidizes billion-dollar corporations?

It's almost as if... gasp... the system is designed to protect wealth rather than create opportunity.

The "Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps" Brigade

The same folks who lecture about personal responsibility seem remarkably quiet when:

• Corporate bailouts are handed out like candy at a parade

• Tax breaks rain down on the wealthy like confetti

• Business moguls use bankruptcy as a financial strategy

• CEOs get golden parachutes after running companies into the ground

But heaven forbid someone who went into debt trying to better themselves through education asks for help. That's apparently where we draw the line on "handouts."

Why This Matters (Beyond the Obvious)

This isn't just about the money – it's about our values as a society.

When we celebrate the financial gymnastics of the wealthy while condemning students seeking education, we're saying something profound about what we value.

We're essentially declaring that:

• Risk-taking is only admirable when you're already rich

• Education is a luxury, not a public good

• The rules are different depending on your tax bracket

• Being born wealthy is more praiseworthy than working to better yourself

The Death of Hope: Biden's Student Debt Relief Swan Song

Oh, what a perfectly fitting end to 2024's parade of plutocratic victories!

Just as the champagne is being chilled for New Year's Eve, the Biden administration has quietly folded its cards on broad student debt relief faster than a casino dealer at Trump's Taj Mahal.

Chef's kiss for the timing.

Let's paint this bleak picture: Wade Burt, 67 years young, took out a modest $20,000 loan in 1988 for an associate degree in avionics.

Through the miracle of compound interest (and by "miracle," I mean "predatory capitalism at its finest"), that debt has bloated like a corporate CEO's bonus package to nearly six figures.

But hey, at least he learned to fix planes while the American Dream flew away without him.

The SAVE repayment plan?

Stuck in litigation limbo faster than you can say "Republican lawsuit."

Broad debt relief?

Biden's team has officially thrown in the towel, citing "limited time" – because apparently helping millions of Americans drowning in debt isn't worth burning the midnight oil.

And with Trump preparing to retake the throne, the prospects for relief are about as sunny as a black hole.

Here's the kicker: While Burt and millions like him wonder if they'll be paying student loans until they're 72 (because nothing says "golden years" like choosing between medication and loan payments), our incoming administration's idea of education reform is making sure the Education Secretary can't help borrowers outside of existing programs.

It's like putting a lock on the life preservers while the ship is sinking.

Remember folks:

• Corporate bailouts? "Essential for economic stability!"

• Tax breaks for billionaires? "Promotes job creation!"

• Student loan relief? "Sorry, that would be unfair to people who already drowned in debt!"

The cruel irony is palpable: Borrowers like Molly Valentine Dierks can't even plan to buy a house because their student loan payments might suddenly surge like a Trump casino's bankruptcy filings.

Meanwhile, Rep. Virginia Foxx celebrates the end of "false hope for millions of borrowers" – because apparently, hope itself is now a partisan issue.

Moving Forward: A Modest Proposal

Perhaps it's time to apply the same generous standards to student loan borrowers that we apply to failed casino magnates. Imagine if we treated education with the same reverence we treat speculative real estate ventures.

What if we viewed student debt relief not as a handout, but as a "strategic financial restructuring" – you know, like the fancy term we use when rich people can't pay their bills?

The Bottom Line

The next time someone rants about the moral hazard of student loan forgiveness, ask them how they feel about corporate bankruptcies. Watch the mental gymnastics begin – it's quite the spectacle.

If we can forgive the wealthy for losing millions in failed business ventures, surely we can extend the same grace to those whose only crime was believing in the promise of education.

Remember: In America, debt forgiveness is like justice – best served with a side of privilege and a generous helping of double standards.

And as we enter 2025 with hope dying faster than Trump's Atlantic City dreams, perhaps it's time to ask ourselves: in a country that can bail out banks and bankrupt casinos, why is education the hill we choose to die on?

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