Quote:
Originally Posted by rubecube
I think having less personal debt in a country is always a good thing.
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Sure, no one likes to have debt, but in many cases, recently graduated students are in a very good position to handle their debt. I'm sure some will accuse me of generalizing here, but never the less, many students get out of university, get and job and move back in with their parents. Sure, the job they get will not be all that high paying, but what are their expenses? A car, gas, insurance, maybe you pay your parents a little bit of rent, but really, that's not a whole lot considering you have steady income coming in. Again, if you are conservative with your money, managing student debt after you graduate shouldn't be all that difficult, and what's more, it should be good practice for when you get older and take on a some real debt (i.e. a mortgage, new car payments, etc.).
I'd like to see policies that encourage responsible debt management amongst young people. The reason the economy got as bad as it did was, in a nutshell, people borrowed themselves into financial ruin. As Canadians, we are fortunate that our banking institutions didn't allow for this to happen to the same extent it did in the US, but I don't believe we should be encouraging a further departure from fiscal responsibility.
I'll also add this: if you think you are going to eliminate debt by having the government pay off student loans, then I think you are mistaken. People that have no concept of being smart with their money will more than likely see their debt forgiven and realize that they can buy a brand new car or move out and rent a place for more money then they can probably afford to pay.