Iowa father confronted Elizabeth Warren on her plan to forgive student loan debt…

An Iowa father confronted Elizabeth Warren on her plan to forgive student loan debt…

Father: I just want to ask one question. My daughter’s getting out of school, I saved all my money, she doesn’t have any student loans…

Warren: God Bless you.

Father: am I going to get my money back?

Warren: Of course not.

Father: So you’re gonna pay for people who didn’t save any money, and those of us who did the right thing get screwed?

Warren: No it’s not like that…

Father: Of course it is, when my buddy had fun, got a car, went on vacation, I saved my money. He made more than I did. I worked a double shift. I worked extra. So you’re laughing at it. That’s exactly what you’re doing. We did the right thing and we get screwed. {walks off}

Senator Warren's plan calls for eliminating student loan debt of up to $50,000 for households making under $100,000 annually, which would apply to around 95% of borrowers.

She said she would finance her 2 trillion dollar proposal with a wealth tax.

Asked about the moment on "CBS This Morning," Warren responded…

"Look, we build a future going forward by making it better… By that same logic what would we have done? Not start social security because we didn't start it last month for you?"

She then went on to say…

"Back when I was growing up, my family didn't have any money to send me to college, but there was a $50, a semester opportunity out there… So kids didn't have to go into debt a part time job would get you through that world is gone, and we need to open it back up again."

For one, the only time I hear Democratic politicians say “God bless you” is when they want to justify taking money from the middle class to give to the poor. It’s like me stealing your car and saying, “Thank you.”

Secondly, she argues the middle class won’t have to pay for it, but there’s a reason why 9 of the 12 European nations that had implemented a wealth tax quickly did away with it and that’s because unless you also increase import tariffs then you are basically encouraging the wealthy to move their money and businesses overseas. For example, France's wealth tax led to an exodus of roughly 42,000 millionaires until Macron ended the tax.

Thirdly, a president must prioritize!

In the last 70 years a president has only been able to pass a few major pieces of legislation over the course of their presidency. Does Elizabeth Warren really want to use a large chunk of her political capital on such a divisive solution?

And do Americans really want to pay 2 trillion dollars for forgiving student loans when that money could be better spent elsewhere, such as on our infrastructure or paying off our own national debt, which cannot be so easily forgiven and which every year faces evermore interest.

Lastly, her personal anecdote is revealing because in America you used to be able to pay far less for university. College got more expensive when the government got more involved.

This is because as soon as government made it easier for you to borrow more money then it made it easier for the universities to charge more money.

Why not go back to the way things were?

And then for those of you who got screwed by our current system I empathize with you.

You were scammed and it’s just plain unfair for you to have to pay large chunks of your income for decades on end. It’s also bad for the American economy when so much money is tied up in paying off loans instead of being spent or invested.

So we should all agree that something needs to be done and here are some sensible solutions…

The government should pay off $10,000 worth of debt for all students no matter what you or your parents make. That’s a more modest and fair amount.
The Government should work with banks to restructure loans in order to reduce student debt by an additional 5% - 25%.
We should also extend loans further into the future so each month you can pay less money out of pocket. Overtime, rising inflation will also help you pay less in real dollars.
We should massively reduce interest rates and possibly eliminate interest altogether.
And then we should tie monthly payment size to a percent of your income instead of demanding a set amount.
These solutions are common sense. And since they’re less partisan, they’re much more likely to get done.

We can all walk away from this compromise feeling like its fair instead of feeling shafted for doing the right thing.

But of course putting sensibility aside, promising “free” always buys more votes.