Modest Relief

NPR's coverage of the latest effort to reduce student-loan debt got some things right: Congress and the courts are making any such relief difficult and such relief programs benefit the entire economy. 

But then the discussion turned toward the "moral hazard" of such programs. Steve Inskeep is a good journalist, so I was surprised to hear him just nodding along with the secretary's nonsense talking points. 

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona

]I was not surprised to hear Sec. Cardona blame universities for the student-debt crisis, but I expected Steve Inskeep to point out the important role of state governments. Instead, he agreed with the Secretary's language of "moral hazard" as if universities just enjoy raising prices. 

Since the days of Reagan and Clinton, public-sector higher education has been under attack by both parties, shifting the 80/20 sharing of costs that people of my age enjoyed to the 20/80 (at best) sharing that exists today. Public universities are public in name only these days; we get a sliver of our budget from public funds, with students paying/borrowing most of what it takes to run a school.

This is why the anti-intellectual language of "ROI" has gained such traction, even among smart people like Mr. Inskeep.