Summary of"“Cancel Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy”

               In the proposal “Cancel Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy”, Barry Applebaum introduces the idea of using the some of the money from the TARP bailout to wipe out student debt so the economy can prosper. Applebaum argued that only cost a small fraction of the bailout to complete this task but it had not even been considered. According to Applebaum” For decades, presidents, senators, and members of Congress have touted themselves as champions of education, yet they’ve done nothing to actually encourage the pursuit of one on a individual level”(29). In other word, the author believes the federal government does nothing to encourage high education, but instead only promote their own accolades within the education system. Applebaum also argued how the TARP was nothing but a waste of money. He further deepens the argument by saying:” The Wall Street financial institutions, auto manufactures, insurance companies, and countless other irresponsible actors have now received trillions of taxpayer dollars to bail them out of their self created mess. This, too, does nothing to stimulate the economy. It merely rewards bad behavior and does nothing to encourage institutional change”29. Applebaums point is that the giving money especially taxpayer money to the ones that created the financial mess in the first place.

                Applebaum’s proposal is surely right about TARP bailout because it’s nothing more than a waste of money. Taxpayer money or better yet “our” money could have been put to better use such as paying off student loans as the author mention. The author made a valid point mentioning “rewarding for bad behavior”29.Would a person award their child for making a mess and not cleaning it up? The responsible thing would be to let a child clean up to teach them a lesson so they would learn from the mistake and not do it again.