Katherine Mangu-Ward

And in fact, we've built it to encourage the acquisition of that kind of debt in particular.

You know, people who will carry $100,000 of student loan debt are people who are better off than most people.

Well, and the fact that, of course, you can't discharge student loan debt, unlike other types of debts, makes it a safer bet as well.

So I think, you know, again, that's another program that's hugely expensive that is sort of sold as some kind of...

you know, equity enhancing program and is in fact functioning nothing like that.

If we had any appetite for talking about any of those things and cutting back benefits to the already wealthy and really building a real safety net, lots of libertarians would say, like, fine, let's get there.

And then again, if we want to talk about really intense, you know, minimal government stuff down the line.

We can do it, but we're so far.

Yeah, you did see on the student loan debt question, there was some pushback, right?

And not just from the courts who rightly noted that Biden's plans were all totally unconstitutional and illegal.

I think that's true.

But I also think there were just a lot of people who said.

listen, I didn't go to college at all because I couldn't afford it.

Or I took out some debt and then I paid it back.

And I don't know why we would be forgiving debt for people who are clearly not the neediest or least well off in our country.

And so I do think that argument has some purchase.

But you are quite right that the political coalition for cutting

Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, which in the late 90s, early aughts, there was like this little moment when it was like, could we do it?

Are we gonna do it?

And then, absolutely not, we did not do it.