Reply to Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Liz Warren just proposed forgiving $50,000 in student debt

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Sen. Lindsey Graham -- a 65-yo baby boomer -- just made fun of his opponent (a 44-yo gen X) at a live debate for having student loans. Wow just wow. This teases out how GOP senators feel about young people's student debts.

[twitter]https://twitter.com/elliotcwilliams/status/1312575400040706049[/twitter][/quote]

I have no dog in the SC Senate fight, but though this was an interesting concept and just did some quick research on Jaime Harrison, Lindsey's opponent.  In my opinion, he is a great example of the problems with the student loan issue.

His website and other sources say he got a scholarship to attend Yale and graduate in 1998.  No idea, of course, how much of a scholarship he got.  He went back to SC after college and did what sounds like good work for good "causes".  He then went to Georgetown law school (his website implies he had a scholarship there, too, but it may just be oddly phrased).  He graduated from Georgetown law school in 2004 and, according to Wikipedia, worked as a lobbyist for Podesta Group for at least eight years --  apparently in 2017 he defended his time at Podesta by explaining it is "how i pay back my $160,000 student loan debt."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Harrison.

According to his financial disclosure statements, in 2019 and his wife had as much as $130,000 in student loan debt.  That's 15 years after he graduated from law school and despite a net worth (in 2019) of at least $3.4M.  Some reports suggest that over four years at Podesta he made over $1.5M.  https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article245737230.html

https://www.sc.gop/2019/08/14/icymi-jaime-harrisons-years-as-a-lobbyist-paid-off/

this guy has the money to pay off his students loans.  He has the money to pay off other people's student loans if he was so inclined.  He has CHOSEN not to pay them off.  It is people like this who get under the skin of those of us who sacrificed and paid back large student loan debts in reasonable time frames (often with MUCH lower incomes).

While I'm no Lindsey Graham fan, I'm kindof ok with mocking the 44 year old millionaire for still having student loan debt 16 years after he graduated from one of the most expensive law schools in the country and earning A LOT of money in those intervening years.
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Good sleuthing but it sounds like the debt was possibly his wife's? Either way, for Graham to go there and in the way he went there, it showed a clear lack of empathy and compassion for the 45 million American student loan borrowers, of which at least 2/3rds are struggling to pay back their debts. To Graham, it's clear he thinks only deadbeats and spendthrifts struggle with student loans. He couldn't care less about borrowers and student loan crisis.[/quote]

Did he complain about his debt?  If not I don't see the problem, because it makes sense to carry debt if it's low interest, to free up cash on hand for other opportunities.  Most people do this, including Trump, or anyone else who buys an investment property, etc.  From a personal finance standpoint, there's nothing wrong with carrying low interest debt if you are being responsible with your money and can pay it off in a worst case scenario the debt get's called.[/quote]

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