The thoughts and ideas expressed above are exclusively those of Jack Straley, his approved contributors, and www.justplaintalkwithjack.com  We may agree, and that’s fine, or we may disagree, that’s okay too.  My sole purpose is to encourage others to think, study, and become involved. Exercise your freedom and above all, when presented the opportunity, please vote.

This issue of justplaintalkwithjack is being contributed by Dr. Ron a PhD from Ohio State University.

First let me Rant about this crazy idea to payoff someone else’s debts. Why pick younger people with their whole lives ahead of them to pay back their loans! Why not choose retired people that still have mortgages on their houses. Surely we deserve to live out our lives without this crushing debt. Why do we keep surveying the people with student loans whether they should be paid off. We should never ask their opinion. Why not ask the inmates in jail whether they should be released immediately. Everyone is suffering with inflation and the high cost of gasoline, food, housing, utility bills etc. I used student loans when I went to college back in the dark ages. I paid mine back and I still have the returned documents marked “Paid In Full”! Worse than me paying back my loans, I also paid back the loans for my three kids. In the old days I would be considered responsible but currently I’m starting to feel like an idiot!  ​I would like to leave my kids a financial legacy for them to have after I pass away. I would love to buy my two daughters houses so they would never have to worry about a place to stay and/or rent. I would set my son up with some type of trust that would provide a lifetime annuity. All my wishes for my future finances were dictated by my past decisions. I am responsible ultimately for my wealth or lack thereof.​​

Let’s look at the facts as I know them and I don’t have any inside information just those items that are printed and reported on in the news. There’s a total amount outstanding of about1.7 Trillion dollars. The payments have been paused for 29 months due to the covid-19 pandemic. The average loan outstanding has been increasing due to the high cost of a college education. These loans for both students and parents are very accessible. If you and your child had an interest to go to college then money would not be an issue. The government would loan you the money. Parent loans have payments that start immediately and student repayments start six months after school stops. Paying $10,000 for someone that makes $125,000  or for a couple making $250,000 doesn’t seem like the middle class to me. The cost are still to be determined! From what I read it’s estimated to be between $300 to $500 Billion dollars. Shouldn’t the cost be known before we consider approving this giveaway of taxpayer money!!!!!

This is a Moral Issue!!! If you sign your name and anyone loans you money then it’s your responsibility to pay it back. Why should people that didn’t go to college or the ones that paid back their student loans have to pay for the ones that have current loans now? I’ve read some articles where the people with outstanding loans are considering suing the government because their loan hasn’t been forgiven yet! I can understand a fraudulent loan but most of the student loans don’t fall into that category. I guess morals are for the other guy.

Let’s look at some of the root causes. Too much of this looks like political payback. The colleges are big supporters of one political party and they have raised tuition much higher than the inflation rate over the years. This looks like a bailout for the colleges. They still get to charge outrageous fees for them to indoctrinate our young adults with a bunch of worthless crap that they can’t use to find employment. We need more counselors to look at the cost vs benefit of a lot of majors in college. 

I just recently heard about the number of employees in the current administration that would be eligible for the student loan re-assignment. If this does come about and I hope it doesn’t then people that make this policy shouldn’t be able to benefit from the policy. How many government employees would be affected? Just like people shouldn’t be able to vote themselves a pay increase! 

Reread my Rant from above!! Colleges should be held responsible for coming up with some solutions but I’m not holding my breath waiting on them. Parents and students have to be on the front line of making sure they’re getting what they’re paying for! A trade school or a technical college is great for some people. Not everyone has to go to college. The requirements have to be tighter to get the loans in the first place. Getting passing grades for courses that offer no job prospects seem like a lost cause to me! 

In closing I would like to remind everyone of three universal laws. The first is the law of Gravity. If you drop a glass onto a wooden floor, it will fall and break. The next law is, the Wages Of Sin Is Death. If you live a sinful life then spiritually you will die. The third law is the Law of Dave Ramsey and that is, Too Much Debt Will Cause You To Go Bankrupt. If we continually break these laws the final results are guaranteed.

Others wishing to express their opinions and writing guest columns please contact: jstraley@knology.net.