Raphael Warnock Wants the Majority of Georgians to Give $10,000 or More to a Privileged Minority

Senator Raphael Warnock supports government bailouts for college graduates: “I support student debt relief. Our children shouldn’t have a mortgage before they get a mortgage.” Of course, if you don’t want a mortgage, don’t buy a house. He isn’t arguing that Georgia college grads should give back their diplomas, only that they should not have to pay for them. Whom does this benefit? According to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, as of 2019: “In Georgia, 31 percent of adults age 25 and over have a bachelor’s degree or above. Thirty-nine percent have an associate degree or above . . . About four in 10 Georgians older than 25 have an associate or bachelor’s degree. The share is closer to two in 10 for Latino Georgians and three in 10 for African-Americans.” College graduates in Georgia earn an average of $51,915 a year ($65,479 for graduate or professional degrees), compared with $29,437 for high-school grads and $21,993 for people without a high-school education. Of course, many of the people with degrees paid for their own education (often by working their way through school) or have already paid off their loans, so this is a minority of a minority, and a well-off one at that. Warnock is not asking for similar relief for people with mortgages or business loans for farmers, plumbers, barbers, bodegas, etc. They’ll just have to be the ones to foot the bill.