To the editor: Columnist Michael Hiltzik asks a question on student loan debt relief that is fundamental to the direction of this country and should dominate economic policy in the 2024 election. (“Are Republicans who got pandemic debt relief hypocrites for complaining about student debt relief? Yes,” column, April 16)
For far too long, Republicans have maligned any form of student debt relief under the guise that it cost the taxpayers in order to fund “worthless gender studies degrees.” They have no exposure to the lived realities of 45 million voters drowning under compounding interest and negative amortization on student loans.
Is it hypocritical to have received federal Paycheck Protection Program loans that were forgiven during the COVID-19 pandemic while dying on the hill of opposition against student debt cancellation? Of course it is, but this is from a party that views a college-educated electorate as a threat.
A conservative middle ground would be to reinstate the right to have student loan debt discharged as any other unsecured debt in bankruptcy. Yet, people on both sides of the aisle seem to be profiting too handsomely from the largess of the lending industry.
Forty-five million student loan borrowers constitute a massive untethered voting bloc. Both parties should be looking to solve this crisis.
Lisa Ansell, Beverly Hills
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To the editor: The biggest “gotcha” that the proponents of student loan forgiveness have is this: What about PPP loans?
PPP loans, you’ll recall, were intended to keep employees receiving paychecks during the pandemic lockdown. Undoubtedly, some of the money went astray to people who didn’t need it rather than the small business owners who did.
The student loan equivalent of that is students who voluntarily undertook massive loans in order to major in unemployable.
Are people who oppose student loan relief hypocrites if they received PPP loans that were forgiven? Maybe, but two wrongs don’t make a right. You don’t throw good money after bad.
Kevin Dawson, Los Angeles
