AND NOW…IDIOTS
In one of the most embarrassing efforts by an alleged Christian theologian that I’ve ever seen, Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, senior fellow at the leftist Center for American Progress, thinks that US student loan debt should be wiped off the books. Why? Because Jesus would have wanted it that way:
We need to start taking student loan debt seriously, both as a troubling moral issue and as a ticking economic time bomb. By some reports, student loan debt in the U.S. will exceed 1 trillion dollars this year, more than the credit card debt of all Americans.
A whole generation of young Americans is at risk in this excessive borrowing. They fall further and further behind in “servicing their debt” because they have no way to keep up with the payments as many of them are unemployed or underemployed. They will delay starting marriage and families; they dare not take the risk of quitting a paying job (if they have one!) and starting their own business to create jobs, and they certainly cannot save to buy a home. They are trapped.
Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12) Forgiving debt is a moral issue. Forgiving some of the worst of this student debt is crucial literally to save this American generation.
Sue? By any chance, have you read as far as Matthew 6:14-15? If you have, how in the world can you seriously suggest that going into hock for a semiotics degree is the sort of “debt” to which Our Lord referred?
As for debt forgiveness being “crucial literally to save this American generation,” I’ll have to take your word for that since it seems that no one in American history has ever owed a college a large sum of money before. But Susie’s not letting go of that bone.
The kind of moral equality that Jesus asks us to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer can be seen in Applebaum’s argument. Jesus calls on us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Forgive and be forgiven. Americans are tied together in this student debt debacle, and debt forgiveness will help the forgivers as well as those forgiven.
Here’s a question. What is the moral difference between student loan debt and any other kind of debt? Why is forgiving one kind of debt crucial to our national survival while forgiving another kind is not? Why should college students be singled out?
If your mortgage, your credit card debt or your car payment vanished tomorrow, your financial situation would considerably improve, you could buy more stuff and the economy would pick up. So, since Christian forgiveness is literally to be unlimited, shouldn’t Brooksie want all debts to be forgiven? Apparently not; even God Incarnate has His limits and some debts are more important than others.
Currently, I’m advocating debt forgiveness. It is the moral thing to do and it is the right civic thing to do. This is what Jesus actually meant; real debts, real debtors, forgiving and forgiven. This is what government is actually about—of the people, by the people, for the people. We still have a chance to show young people that democracy can work for the common good.
By “people,” of course, Brooksie means people with Masters degrees in Bulgarian Literature Studies and Obama stickers on the Priuses their parents bought them for graduation. Anyway, it’s all for the KidsTM so kiss off, Slappy!
We need to start taking student loan debt seriously, both as a troubling moral issue and as a ticking economic time bomb. By some reports, student loan debt in the U.S. will exceed 1 trillion dollars this year, more than the credit card debt of all Americans.
A whole generation of young Americans is at risk in this excessive borrowing. They fall further and further behind in “servicing their debt” because they have no way to keep up with the payments as many of them are unemployed or underemployed. They will delay starting marriage and families; they dare not take the risk of quitting a paying job (if they have one!) and starting their own business to create jobs, and they certainly cannot save to buy a home. They are trapped.
Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12) Forgiving debt is a moral issue. Forgiving some of the worst of this student debt is crucial literally to save this American generation.
Sue? By any chance, have you read as far as Matthew 6:14-15? If you have, how in the world can you seriously suggest that going into hock for a semiotics degree is the sort of “debt” to which Our Lord referred?
As for debt forgiveness being “crucial literally to save this American generation,” I’ll have to take your word for that since it seems that no one in American history has ever owed a college a large sum of money before. But Susie’s not letting go of that bone.
The kind of moral equality that Jesus asks us to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer can be seen in Applebaum’s argument. Jesus calls on us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Forgive and be forgiven. Americans are tied together in this student debt debacle, and debt forgiveness will help the forgivers as well as those forgiven.
Here’s a question. What is the moral difference between student loan debt and any other kind of debt? Why is forgiving one kind of debt crucial to our national survival while forgiving another kind is not? Why should college students be singled out?
If your mortgage, your credit card debt or your car payment vanished tomorrow, your financial situation would considerably improve, you could buy more stuff and the economy would pick up. So, since Christian forgiveness is literally to be unlimited, shouldn’t Brooksie want all debts to be forgiven? Apparently not; even God Incarnate has His limits and some debts are more important than others.
Currently, I’m advocating debt forgiveness. It is the moral thing to do and it is the right civic thing to do. This is what Jesus actually meant; real debts, real debtors, forgiving and forgiven. This is what government is actually about—of the people, by the people, for the people. We still have a chance to show young people that democracy can work for the common good.
By “people,” of course, Brooksie means people with Masters degrees in Bulgarian Literature Studies and Obama stickers on the Priuses their parents bought them for graduation. Anyway, it’s all for the KidsTM so kiss off, Slappy!
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