Bounded Rationality and Student Loans

Needless to say, recent policy taken on student loans by the current administration became headlines and hot national debate in the US media. From the public comments, one would be able to classified them into two groups, where are they coming from: Opponents (OG) and Supporters (SG) group.

  1. Including in the OG are those (1). Who never agreed on anything, if any policy comes from another isle. Called these people as a permanent opposition. This group often, if not all the time operates under the illogical and irrational countered assumptions. (2). The second cluster in this group are those who try to seize the moment to be in 15 minutes fame, even though they have to adopt irrational reasoning such as one plus one is not equal to two, but ten.
  2. Including in the SG or second group are the “ungrateful” folks. People classified in this group are those who never feel enough. These complainers never satisfy with what have been given to them, They want more, and more and more. However, if one asks them what have they done to help themselves, there will be zero answer. Classified in this group are those poor decision makers who cannot see the consequences of their actions. For example, in each new semester student A registers to take 12 credit hours. However, on the middle-of-the semester drop 9 credit hours, and left only with 3 hours. Consequently, it will take her or him forever to complete the program. As results, her or his loans are ballooning. These folks then say the $10K or $20K cancellations are not enough. They want more. They want someone else to pay for their mistakes. Often this group plays as if they are the victim or use the sympathy as strategies to justify and to cover-up their weaknesses.

Therefore, it does not matter what one color is. One can always be able to identify both groups as irrational. Therefore, one should not be bothered of what their comments are. The reason is simple, because both group cannot do a basic reasoning, other than complaining. They are not problem solvers, but problem makers. Otherwise, they will be genuine supporters of using data and honesty principles to make inference and to govern their lives.