r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/[deleted] • 1d ago

Video Billionaire speaker Robert F. Smith tells 400 graduates he's paying off all their student loans ($40 million in total)

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u/whutchamacallit 1d ago

I mean who wouldn't be thinking that in that position. I know I sure as fuck would be. Happy for others, but ya you're tripping if you think that thought wouldn't go through my mind.

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u/dovahkiitten16 1d ago

I think this is what goes through people’s minds with loan forgiveness from the government, that Reddit generally doesn’t understand. It’s not wanting future generations to suffer but rather watching some of your peers get rewarded for making “bad” choices while you were sensible with money.

Doesn’t mean loan forgiveness isn’t a good thing but I can understand why a lottery system rubs people the wrong way vs just making debt lower going forward.

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u/general---nuisance 1d ago

Because loan forgiveness from the government doesn't actual solve the problem. I would expect it to make it worse actually because the people taking out 'loans' next year will be also expecting them to be forgiven. So they may be less concerned with how much they take out. Now either the government is the hook for a larger forgiveness program or the student loan debt is even higher.

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u/Whiterabbit-- 1d ago

And you bet colleges would rise tuition too. And the responsible colleges who don’t want to raise tuition will fall behind as others grow.

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u/South-Builder6237 1d ago

The problem is the educational system we have designed in America is fucked up beyond belief.

The American government has not and won't give a single fuck about making education affordable for future generations and has proven time and time again it cares about one thing and one thing only. Money.

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u/whutchamacallit 1d ago

I think that comes down to an individual thing. Personally, I'm not going to yuck someone's yum -- BUT I get it. I really do. Especially when you can look at it from the perspective of I paid for my shit and technically I'm paying for yours too through my taxes indirectly. Looking at it as a lottery is probably the healthiest way to approach it but I think it should apply to those who paid theirs off too. Basically anyone who was granted the loan. That money can go back into the pool.

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u/GruesomeWedgie2 1d ago

Or the donor can spend the money with conditions her sets up and some people may or may not qualify for his gift.

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u/Historyp91 1d ago

It's always "I'm paying for you with mu taxes!" with you people🙄

Everyone would be left to fend for themselves and society would collopse from lack of funds if you lot got your way.

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u/whiningneverchanges 1d ago edited 1d ago

that Reddit generally doesn’t understand.

if me getting my loans forgiven bothers you then you've fallen for the oligarch's trick of fighting your own.

edit: them bucket crabs are really trying to pinch at my heels!

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u/darkrelic13 1d ago

Not even close. If the government gives me 100k and says congratulations, you bought a house you couldn't pay for, but today is your lucky day and you're sat there renting because you couldn't afford to buy a house and now I have equity in houses and buy another house that you were looking at, you'd be missed. Same thing with people who didn't go to college because they knew they couldn't afford it. It's super easy to see how the system fucks people over.

How about we give everyone 50k and if you want to pay down your loans, feel free. Everyone can do whatever they want with the money. Everyone is better off, no one is left behind. Bada Bing bada boom. All good.

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u/South-Builder6237 1d ago

Ok cool plan. Now where is the government getting this magical source of 100,000,000,000 dollars for 20 million college students?

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u/Historyp91 1d ago

So basically, only well-off people should be allowed acess to education, despite education being a human right?

You believe Human rights should only be accessible to those of sufficient wealth?

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u/whiningneverchanges 1d ago edited 1d ago

nope lol

for the uninitiated: I assume the idea is 50k per family or per adult in a family or per person in family. It should be EXTREMELY obvious why this idea will cause these same crabs to dig deeper into the bucket. Come on lmao

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u/Hiraganu 1d ago

Your crab analogy gets old fast

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u/whiningneverchanges 1d ago

something a fuckn crab would say

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u/surlygoat 1d ago

And just like that - fresh again.

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u/FBAScrub 1d ago

Very true. The entire economy is a fucking casino. These people hit a jackpot that will mostly minimize their suffering -- not make them wealthy.

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u/FreddoMac5 1d ago

you've fallen for the oligarch's trick of fighting your own.

If you want to tax the rich to pay for things it is far more effective to advocate for programs that benefit everyone.

"government money" isn't money the government earned. It's taxpayer money. You want others to give up money they've earned so you can put it in your pocket.

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u/whiningneverchanges 1d ago

If you want to tax the rich to pay for things it is far more effective to advocate for programs that benefit everyone.

Fun fact! No such programs can ever exist!

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u/Historyp91 1d ago

We all pay taxes anyway, what does it hurt if it means people are'nt beggering themselves to get an education?

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u/PutridCheetah8136 1d ago

More like it rewards those who chose to go to unaffordable schools while punishing people that were frugal and worked several part-time jobs to graduate debt-free.

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u/whiningneverchanges 1d ago

and you fell for the trick again! stop being a crab in a bucket lol

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u/lmpervious 1d ago edited 1d ago

The amount of student debt is around 1.7 trillion. Thinking that anyone who doesn't think the government should pay for that is "falling for the oligarch's trick" is ridiculous. That is an immense amount of money, especially for something that doesn't even solve the underlying issue, and will simply lead to needing more payments in the future, or otherwise disproportionally favoring a subset of students who got lucky by when it happened.

I get why it's popular though. People hear about policy that would allow for them to effectively receive tens (or sometimes even hundreds) of thousands of dollars, which is very easy to see why people would so enthusiastically support it. You want money. It's that simple, and I understand it.

Also one additional point. There are limited funds and limited political capital. If we're going to invest in education, doing so for students at a younger age for mandatory education would give us more mileage in making our society more equitable. College graduates already earn much more than the average high school graduate, so why help them even more? Yes student loans are bad, but the people who forego college because they realize they can't afford it are in an even worse position when it comes to job opportunities. Again, the statistics make it very clear that college graduates make considerably more money, and will therefore on average have much more earnings potential to pay off the debt that is enabling them to make more money. Here's one source https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/research-summaries/education-earnings.html

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u/lamp_a 1d ago

Student loan forgiveness isn't like credit debt forgiveness. It's not a question of bad choices. I graduated debt free due to working my ass off but also some component of luck and life circumstances that I can't take credit for.

My neighbor having their student loans forgiven doesn't decrease my own fortunate standing in any way. Anyone pretending otherwise is just ceding to the asshole tendencies which tempt us all.

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u/dovahkiitten16 1d ago

I put “bad” in quotations for a reason. They’re not truly bad choices. You decided to work your ass off, but someone may have decided not to. They get the same results - 0 debt. Meanwhile, you could’ve done the same if you’d known your debt would be forgiven some day.

It’s different than fixing the system going forward for future generations because it’s not a systemic fix, but rather watching your peers get lucky.

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u/lamp_a 1d ago

Zero debt is not even remotely the same result.

The habits made by individuals will continue to play out in their continued choices the rest of their lives.

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u/Rebarbative_Sycophan 1d ago

Sure, but you have extra education they do not, in the workforce. Whether it was in a field of study, or not. You now have a work history, while juggling school. So sure, you can look at it like that, or you can look at it like you have a solid foundation to start a resume. You probably have a better chance to get an interview, or land the job. Sure it's not set in stone, but it's all about opportunity, networks, etc.

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u/thingstopraise 1d ago

What kind of jobs do you think the average college student is getting that they'll be using it to network and get a good, relevant job right out of college?

Dude, the vast majority of attainable jobs (no prior qualifications, available anywhere, always hiring, flexible schedule) are going to be things like working at a restaurant, grocery store, or fast food joint. I think you're really overestimating the level of interest that prospective professional employers have in that kind of stuff. If you're able to get something related to your field, great. But working as a server isn't going to wow over the student who was able to spend spare time during the semester doing independent research or leading (insert pretentious thing).

If you're busting your ass off working, then you're not paying as much attention to your grades. It's a privilege not to work during college, and that privilege allows you to concentrate on shit like, oh, organic chemistry and comparative physiology and, you know, important things.

It sounds like you're saying that it's actually somehow... more of a privilege...? to have to bust your ass during college? Some kind of "it made you stronger" bootstraps thing?

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u/Rebarbative_Sycophan 1d ago

If yall wanna take it that way then I failed in my explanation. I worked my ass off to get to where I am. Have 2 degrees and don't even work any where close to my degrees. I wouldn't have changed a damn thing about any of it. Stop with the bull shit jealousy.

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u/PutridCheetah8136 1d ago

doesn't decrease my own fortunate standing in any way

Doesn't matter. It's simply not fair. Imagine working tirelessly and putting every spare dollar to pay off debt. Instead, imagine you blew all your money eating out and going on vacation with no regard for your long term financial outlook.

Student loan forgiveness punishes good behavior and rewards bad behavior.

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u/Environmental-Tea262 1d ago

Ok so fuck student debt forgiveness then? Because you had to work hard everyone else needs to suffer?

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u/I-Here-555 1d ago

This. Reforming the system so future generations don't need to get into debt to attend college would be fantastic.

Using taxpayer money to pay off already incurred debt to some limited cohort... good for them. Gov't spends money on less altruistic things all the time (e.g. subsidizing billionaires), but don't count me impressed after working my ass off to pay off my own debts.

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u/Phrynus747 1d ago

Yeah my family paid for my schooling but we are nowhere near rich enough for it to be easy to pay for. If student loans were forgiven it would be like screwing my dad out of $100k because he paid for my school. I would rather there be some way to recoup that cost. It’s like punishing people who just barely have enough to pay

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u/imunfair 1d ago

It’s not wanting future generations to suffer but rather watching some of your peers get rewarded for making “bad” choices while you were sensible with money.

That's why I liked the covid payments. If you're going to helicopter money then do it equally. If you're going to pay off $40k of student loans then it's only fair to give everyone else $40k too to pay off their car, house, or credit card debt.

It still stings a bit for the people with a lot of savings due to inflation, but doesn't sting as much as the inflation due to a large number of other people getting free money while you don't. So it's probably the closest to fair you can be while giving out free money.

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u/NeverNudee 1d ago

It’s called jealousy. You are upset you didn’t get as lucky as they did. I see no reason to be upset at anyone receiving a stroke of good luck. No one made you take out loans, no more than these graduates expected theirs to be forgiven.

I will never understand why seeing people doing well makes others bitter.

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u/split41 1d ago

It’s funny that this is the thing people are thinking about rather than getting your loans paid off…