Posted in: Comics | Tagged: jim steranko, student loans

Comic Book Folk React To… Student Loan Forgiveness

President Joe Biden announced that the US Government would be cancelling $10,000 in federal student loan debt, or $20,000 for Pell grant recipients, for those who earn under $125,000 a year, 95% of households. Also, to attempt to make the student loan system more manageable for current and future borrowers by capping monthly payments for undergraduate loans at 5% of a borrower's discretionary income, half of the rate that borrowers must pay now under most existing plans. By proposing a rule that borrowers who have worked at a nonprofit, in the military, or in federal, state, tribal, or local government, receive appropriate credit toward loan forgiveness. And in the future,  double the maximum Pell Grant and make community college free, while keeping college costs down. Criticism of this policy has also led some to post the PPP loans granted to said critics =dyuring the pandemic shutdown, which have now been forgiven by the state. Some comic book folks have been posting their reaction on social media. Some with more capital letters than others.

Jim Steranko: How has the on-going, belt-tightening conditions affected YOUR lives? I hate the idea of a clan of politicians manipulating events to ENRICH THEIR LIVES, SUCK UP MORE POWER, and MAKING US PAY FOR IT! I couldn't afford to go to college—and now I'm PAYING SOMEONE ELSE'S TUITION! Point: The DEBT FORGIVENESS BILL was designed to add Democratic VOTES to those benefiting by the law, but I can't think of a SINGLE REASON why I worked like a damned slave much of my life to put strangers—including politicians—through school, while denying myself the privilege! I'm revolted by liars, cheats, and thieves banking millions while dedicated, hard-working middle-class Americans and those down the ladder are being FORCED TO PAY for the TERMINAL GREED of leaders trying to make us believe it "WON'T COST TAXPAYERS A CENT!" It's TIME TO FIGHT!!!

Taylor Esposito: I love that every single person complaining about the student loan debt getting (partially) wiped is getting owned online with the receipts of their debts that were wiped away. Keep it up, I love seeing the hypocrisy… People who are against the loan forgiveness either have never been conned into a predatory loan at 18 when they had no education/protection on how they work, or they are the predatory loaners.

Steve Bissette: AMERICA 2022: Discuss. Disgust. Usuary laws are long gone. Anyone bitching about the student loan forgiveness is cheering on behalf of the loansharking leeches sucking people dry.

Alex Segura: Imagine being mad because someone else caught a break on student loans. Yeesh. Not Every Good Thing has to happen to you directly for it to be legitimately good.

Mark Brooks: I paid off my student loans. Everyone in my family has paid off theirs in full over decades of monthly payments. Know why I'm ecstatic that others that came after are going to get some student loan relief? BECAUSE IM NOT AN APATHETIC SELFISH SOCIOPATHIC MONSTER!

Scott McCloud: And on the flip side, our family has tons of debt from *private* loans for our kids that don't qualify for forgiveness—and I am ALSO happy to see others benefit! This was the right move IMO. (Esp that 5% rule.)

Tom Brennan: It speaks volumes to me that the majority of people I know who have paid off their student loans support debt forgiveness, while most of the critics I know never had any loans to pay off.

Chris Chiang: I'm fine with student loan relief or debt forgiveness. I just want it to be paired with financial aid reform otherwise the problem is ongoing and this is only a temporary solution.

Percival Constantine: Agreed. But I'm not going to say no to debt relief even if it's not paired with reform. Helping some people is still better than helping none.

Erica Friedman: It's not just 10K. There's some substantial reform in there. This will allow millions of people whose entire lives have been propping up a predatory loan system to be freed. In the 1990s it took me a decade to pay my loans off. Cancel student debt. It took me a decade to pay off my student loans in the 90s. I would love to see all student loan debt canceled. You paid your loans off because they had rates that made sense. Reagan killed regulation and that stopped. It took me a decade to pay my loans off. Loans now can't be paid off *even after 20 years of paying.* This is not complicated. Bad faith arguments are ridiculous… I worked 3 jobs and it took me a decade to pay my loans off in the 1990s. Ballooning costs and interest and stagnant wages have made it impossible now. this is not complicated, and why are you angry that people will be able to move on after a decades of paying?

Steven DeKnight: I paid off my student loans in the late 90s. And I fully support student loan forgiveness. Now let's add four years of free college to anyone who wants to attend. Knowledge is power. This is why the @GOP fears it… it's vastly hypocritical for the @GOP reps to be screaming about how you have to pay your loans when so many had their PPP loans FORGIVEN.

James Asmus: I had to save 1/2 of my $ from high school jobs (worked since 15) for college. Applied for every grant, scholarship, & $ award (got several) Ultimately picked cheapest school of interest Did max hours to finish in 3.5 yrs Still had ~$12k loans Paid off at 26 & PRO-DEBT RELIEF!

Dylan Horrocks: Student loan schemes are one of many scams introduced when governments pushed social costs onto the poor & middle class to fund massive tax cuts to the rich (whose predatory finance companies could then profit off everyone else's growing personal debt). See also: housing etc…

David Avallone: The White House: Republican millionaires pocketed money from a public assistance program during a plague, and have the gall to whine about student loan forgiveness. Take a look at the numbers. Both Sides Journalism: SO UNFAIR! Why do you hate poor people!?

Keith Fosterkid: Forgiving $10k in student debt is the worst possible move. Everyone who would be mad about loan forgiveness is mad & $10k realistically isn't enough to help most people out from student loan debt. Plus it doesn't address the issues which created the debt crisis in the 1st place

Tom Feister: Can someone total up the amount of loans the Trump family has never paid back?

Regan Clem: I'm happy with those who have a portion of debt canceled. Second, I'm frustrated with those who sacrificed to pay off their debt and are upset.

Jody Houser: A point I haven't seen yet… How many folks receiving student loan relief have already paid back MORE than they originally borrowed? I know I have. For a lot of folks, the $10k/$20k forgiveness will amount to the Dept of Ed forgiving interest charged rather than loan principal.

Lilah Sturges: In reality, I paid off my student loans while working low-end temp jobs for virtually no money and I still think loan forgiveness is a good idea because I want others to have an easier time than I did. That sucked, why would I want someone else to go through a worse version?

Joe Caramagna: Me listening to someone complain about student loan debt forgiveness knowing that they've been getting annual tax breaks just for having kids and that couples with no children are paying for their kids' public education.

Pete Woods: 20 million people just got more money to spend every month. The difference here between a tax cut and loan forgiveness is your average person puts that money back into the economy and benefits everyone with more purchases and more jobs. A tax cut for the wealthy gets hoarded… Supposedly intelligent people out there arguing PPP and student loans are different. No sh-t. It's not about the type of loan or the need. It's about people who haven't had to pay back a (much larger) loan insisting other people are somehow bad for having theirs forgiven.

Darick Robertson: "the loudest voices attacking the proposal are those of GOP senators and representatives who got their own university degrees courtesy of huge subsidies from taxpayers."

Tim Seeley: Really clear what a scam the PPP loans were. I got turned down for 10k to make comics, and Franken Marge Greene got approved for 183k to make anger…. I asked for a loan of 10k to make a four issue H/S Mini.

Patrick Zircher: That $10,000 student loan forgiveness– for some, that covers Part of the interest they paid out. College and trade school students aren't the elite, they just wanted to improve their lives– and were over-charged in their quest to do that.

Erik Larsen: I paid to send my kids to school. I do not personally benefit from student loan forgiveness but society as a whole does and that's why I support it.

Nick Filardi: I mean, I'd take the 10k, but it doesn't begin to tackle the problem. Getting out with 'just' 80k severely limited what art jobs I could take. I suspect that a lot of my fellow students never even made it to comics because they just got crushed by the loans.

Domino Comics: I'm a pell grant recipient who has paid 30K in loans over the least 16 years, the 20K in forgiveness will bring me down to just 2K left to pay off. They should have done more, but I truly do appreciate that they did something.

Chuck Satterlee: If you're gonna post about how you paid your student loans & so those behind you should too, you're an asshole & please unfollow me. I was destroyed by student loans. It was like climbing Mount Everast w/a windbreaker & some shoelaces. I'm happy for those getting relief today!

Jayel Draco: I been paying interest on student loans for the last 20 years not hardly making a dent in my principal… I just looked to see how much I owe, it's now paid in full! That's over $100 more a month I can be contributing to society instead of paying to predatory multinational banks

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