Debt is Debt

Make sure your ass smells like lavender before you complain about the smell of other people's asses.  I do feel the right to call folks hypocrites for complaining about $10,000 in debt forgiveness when they have received debt forgiveness of their own...no matter the magnitude.  As far as I'm concerned the student loan forgiveness money comes out of the same magical pot as the PPP loan pot.  

After having my paychecks garnished for five years and making payments to the Department of Education for three years, I had Lady Karma take a picture of me putting an envelope into a mailbox.  That envelope was my last student loan payment.  I was (and still am) obsessed with being free from debt.  I wanted to make money off a degree and didn't want to owe anyone money for it.   You tend to take better care of a car when it is paid off and you have no car note.  

A debt it a debt, not matter what the debt is.  Some folks do not like having the debt monkey on their back and for others, they are so used to the monkey their backs don't hurt anymore.  People that didn't go to college or people who paid their debts do have the right to say "what's in it for me", but they don't have the right to make the assumption that everyone receiving $10,000 to $20,000 in debt forgiveness is an unmotivated deadbeat.  

This is what sucks: money management is not taught in High Schools.  Teenagers are encouraged to go blindly into college where tuition is skyrocketing and credit card companies are there waiting with pre-approved applications.  Swiping a credit card for pizza is lot more appetizing than spicing up your ramen noodles with chopped hot dogs.  As a result (if they are lucky to graduate) we have an army of folks with four year degrees, no "on-the-job" experience, and five (sometimes six) figures in debt.  I was one of the lucky few to stumble upon a great career while I was still an undergrad.  

I'd like for the kids to know that if they buy a pack of Skittles on a credit card, they have to pay the credit card company back, with interest.  You are not as attached to the money if it is in plastic form.  It's harder to hand a cashier a $20 bill than it is to stick a piece of plastic in a machine.  I'd like for them to know that when they fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), that is not imaginary paper money...and you are NOT guaranteed a six figure income immediately after you graduate.  

I guess the only thing that was in it for me was about a decade of having good credit, ungarnished paychecks, and not having a monkey on my back.  I'm not resentful, but I do hope everyone knows that this type of forgiveness isn't going to be the norm.  My children will know that spending plastic money has more consequences than spending paper money.  It sucks that the BMW with the $600 car note is a more desired status symbol than the paid-off Chevy. 

$10,000 won't even get you three semesters at most institutions of higher education...and tuition will continue to rise.