Bob is digging a very deep hole. Seamus and Sarah are standing over it.
Seamus: What are you doing?
Bob: Digging a protest hole!
Sarah: A ... protest hole?
Bob: I’m not coming out until all of my student loans are forgiven! Its societies fault I’m in here so society should bail me out!
Sarah: But Bob, you’re the one who dug the hole!
Seamus: (Sigh) I don’t know Sarah. Thing is… Bob is… kind of right about this one….
Sarah gasps, her baby gasps, Ron gasps, Bob gasps, Seamus gasps
Seamus: Kind of right. The government is mostly responsible for the student loan crisis. . Normally, when banks loan money out, they determine the amount of money they’ll give you and your interest rate based on the likelihood you’ll pay them back. But with federally subsidised student loans, your interest rates are fixed! And whether or not you’ll be able to realistically pay off the loan isn’t taken into account before it’s given! So people are able to borrow way more than they can handle, and colleges jack up the prices as a result! And people are also less incentivized to learn trades where they could earn a good living without accumulating insane amounts of debt!
Bob is shown climbing
Bob: In other words, I was taken advantage of! And so I should be bailed out!
Seamus: Bob, I feel your pain, but loan forgiveness doesn’t mean that your loan disappears. It means that the government will force taxpayers to pay your loan off for you. Some of those taxpayers went to college themselves, but most did not. And ultimately, it will serve to perpetuate the cycle of people needlessly spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars obtaining degrees they don’t need for jobs that don’t exist! Only this time, it will be funded by every single tax payer rather than the recipient of the degree.
Bob is shown once again, still climbing
Bob: SO WHAT ABOUT ME?!
Seamus: Bob, many underprivileged kids from impoverished schools systems didn’t get a chance to go away to college. And you’re telling me they should be forced to pay off your loans with their tax money? I’m not gonna lie to you, the climb out of that hole is gonna be a tough one. But the alternative to allowing you to take responsibility for your mistakes is to force everyone to take responsibility for them.
Bob: I guess you’re right...
Cut to a few weeks later. Bob emerges from the hole with a huge beard.
Bob: It wasn’t easy… but I did it! I finally paid my loan off!
The mailman walks buy and hands Bob his pay check.
Bob: Now my wages won’t be garnished! I can get a nicer home or buy a new car or-
Bob sees the “Student Loan Forgiveness Tax” deducted his pay check. He twitches and then faints back into his hole.
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About this show
Short videos with a punchy, comedic tone and entertaining Socratic characters taking on trending issues and important concepts from a classical liberal perspective, written & animated by Seamus Coughlin.
Why Canceling Student Loans Is Bad for Everyone
September 10, 2019
Bob has dug himself a huge hole and won't get out of it until his debts are cancelled. Seamus' is sympathetic, but reminds him who *actually* has to pay.
CREDITS: Written by Seamus Coughlin & Jennifer Maffessanti Animated by Seamus Coughlin Produced by Sean W. Malone
Popular YouTube host Kevin Lieber (VSauce2) hosts this informative and entertaining video series designed to introduce key concepts of economics to younger audiences through credible arguments, comedy... And puppets!
