Ross: Donald Trump Jr. aligns with China on education policy

The latest critic of student loan forgiveness is Donald Trump Jr., who called it “insane and disgusting” that “thousands of Harvard Law grads need hard-working blue-collar workers to help them pay off their loans for them.”

He also said the reason for all the student debt is because left-wing “universities keep on raising tuition while graduating kids with worthless degrees.”

I know it’s reassuring to blue-collar workers that Don Jr. has their back, and I don’t doubt his sincerity, but when you talk about “worthless degrees,” what exactly are you saying?

Obviously, some degrees open more doors than others. But where does that argument lead us?

I’ll tell you: the implication is that someone other than the student should be choosing the course of study.

Are we OK with that?

Some countries do it that way:

Years ago I spent three weeks in China, escorted by a student who explained that in his country, you took a government exam that determined what you were good at, and the government then assigned you to the appropriate school. His talent was for languages – so he became an escort for foreigners.

If Americans are making dumb decisions about their careers, maybe Don Jr. would prefer that the government choose which academic fields are loan-worthy. That’s what it sounds like to me.

But no one ever comes out and says that.

And as for the claim that the cost of these forgiven loans is going to fall on “working-class taxpayers.”

There’s another meaningless statement.

Sooner or later the cost of everything falls on taxpayers: Student loans, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the border wall, and the clean-up after January 6th. Taxes pay it all.

And yet I keep seeing these claims that student loan forgiveness will “cost the average taxpayer $2,000.” What does that mean?

I’ll tell you what it doesn’t mean – it doesn’t mean that the average taxpayer or any taxpayer is going to get a bill for $2,000.

No one is going to get a bill from the government for $2,000 to pay for someone else’s student loan.

Your tax rate doesn’t change unless Congress changes it.

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