Cancel America’s Student Loan Debt! But How?

Matter of Opinion

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Ross Douthat, News, New York Times, Journalism

4.2 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The problem of student loan debt has reached crisis proportions. As a college degree has grown increasingly necessary for economic mobility, so has the $1.7 trillion in student loan debt that Americans have taken on to access that opportunity. President Biden has put some debt cancellation on the table, but progressive Democrats are pushing him for more. So what is the fairest way to correct course? Astra Taylor — an author, a documentarian and a co-founder of the Debt Collective — dukes it out with Sandy Baum, an economist and a nonresident senior fellow at the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute. While the activist and the economist agree that addressing the crisis requires dramatic measures, they disagree on how to get there. Is canceling everyone’s debt progressive policy, as Taylor contends? Or does it end up being a regressive measure, as Baum insists? Jane hears them both out. And she offers a royal history tour after Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Referenced in this episode: Astra Taylor in The Nation: “The Case for Wide-Scale Debt Relief” Sandy Baum in Education Next: “Mass Debt Forgiveness Is Not a Progressive Idea” Astra Taylor’s documentary for The Intercept: “You Are Not a Loan” Sandy Baum for the Urban Institute: “Strengthening the Federal Role in the Federal-State Partnership for Funding Higher Education” Jane’s recommendation: Lucy Worsley’s three-episode mini-series “Secrets of the Six Wives” Share your arguments with us: We want to hear what you’re arguing about with your family, your friends and your frenemies. Leave us a voice mail message at (347) 915-4324. We may use excerpts from your audio in a future episode. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of "The Argument" at nytimes.com/the-argument, and you can find Jane on Twitter @janecoaston. “The Argument” is produced by Phoebe Lett, Elisa Gutierrez and Vishakha Darbha and edited by Alison Bruzek and Paula Szuchman; fact-checking by Kate Sinclair; music and sound design by Isaac Jones.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today on the argument, imagine if we wiped away every American student loan debt.
0:08.0	Should we?
0:13.1	The cost of higher education in America has skyrocketed in recent decades, and so have
0:18.6	the student loans to pay for it.
0:21.4	Americans are carrying more than $1.7 trillion in college debt.
0:25.8	That's more than we owe credit card companies or auto lenders.
0:29.1	Nearly 43 million of us are still paying off our college tuition.
0:33.3	It's a crisis with massive consequences for our economy, and for millions of Americans
0:37.5	who made, quote, the right decision to get an education.
0:41.3	President Biden campaigned on forgiving $10,000 of debt for everyone.
0:45.4	Democrats have been pushing for more.
0:47.2	Clearly, some relief is on the table, but what's the most fair way to do it?
0:53.5	I'm Jane Kostin, and this is one of those debates I have to be skeptical of my own
0:57.6	opinion on.
0:59.2	As someone with sizeable student loan debt that I have no idea when I'll finish paying off,
1:04.7	my first reaction is, yes, please, cancel my debt.
1:08.3	I will happily invest that money elsewhere in our economy.
1:12.1	But especially when a position benefits me, I know to be extra critical.
1:17.3	So I brought together two people who feel very strongly that the crisis is real and needs
1:21.5	fixing.
1:22.5	But that's about where their agreement stops.
1:27.4	Mr. Taylor co-founded an organization called the debt collective, which pushes for total
	...

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