Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) demonstrated his questionable economic knowledge on Twitter Saturday, asking why homes can be refinanced at a three percent rate whereas student loans have considerably higher rates.
You have families out there paying 6, 8, 10 percent on student debt but you can refinance your homes at 3 percent. What sense is that?
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 26, 2015Oof, Bernie, no.
For those of you, who, presumably like Bernie Sanders, have never taken an economics course, student loans are at a higher interest rate because it is unsecured debt. A house can be repossessed, whereas a brain cannot.
@SenSanders
A bank can repossess a house. They can't repossess your brain if you quit paying student loans. Though, you make me wonder.
— Smittie (@smittie61984) December 26, 2015Um, I'm no economics guru, but one is a secured debt; the other is not. Therein lies the "sense." https://t.co/j552apfOEI
— Matt (@Voldematt) December 26, 2015It's so weird that someone whose platform is all about economics doesn't understand secured debt and collateral. https://t.co/OTQzGVgLQ7
— Michael Freeman (@michaelpfreeman) December 26, 2015While Sanders' ideas may sound appealing to some, it's scary that a man who is deliberately obscuring the truth from voters is doing so well. It makes perfect sense that different kinds of loans have different rates. There's no conspiracy.