[syki]

Mathew 20:13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

For student loan forgiveness the government is in the role of the landowner in this parable.

[nate_meurer]

Pay close attention to verse 15. Who's money are we talking about here?

[syki]

As I said, the government plays the role of the landowner. Perhaps you have the mistaken belief that the money you pay in taxes is still your money and therefore you don’t believe the government can play the role of the landowner.

[nate_meurer]

> Perhaps you have the mistaken belief that the money you pay in taxes is still your money.

More precisely, I'd say that the government's right to take our resources by force and redistribute them is constitutionally subject and subordinate to their obligation to represent our will as voters. Maybe that makes me a radical?

I also wonder why, per your analogy, you think student debtors have some kind of employer-employee relationship with the state?

[syki]

The government is owed money. It has the ability to forgive it. That is its prerogative (viewing it as a single entity). It can do with its money (or obligations of debt to it) as it sees fit. Just like the landowner in the parable is able to do pay whatever he wants to the workers he hired last.

A long time ago I was on unemployment pay. It was a meager sum of money. I wasn’t upset that during the pandemic unemployment was quite generous.

[imtringued]

You are extremely radical because you talked about resources.

The government should absolutely tax limited resources to encourage efficiency and as little waste as possible. What the government should stay away from is taxing human work. There is absolutely no reason to do that.

[tamaharbor]

It would be wonderful if a generous individual wants to pay off someone’s student debt. However, the government shouldn’t force everyone to do it.

[dTal]

To focus on the landowner is to entirely miss the point. It's a parable about envy, not about free enterprise.