Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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The Monday reprint of a Los Angeles Times editorial advocates going slower on self-driving cars. The editorial supports this opinion with several anecdotes but lacks the only relevant information: How does the accident rate of these autonomous cars compare to those driven by people? Maybe we should be going faster, not slower.

Harold A. Roberts, Excelsior

STUDENT LOANS

Give them interest relief, at least

We all know that to take out a loan is to agree to repay it in a timely, responsible manner.

The writers who decry student loan debt relief ("Your loans shouldn't surprise you," Readers Write, July 5) fail to get one basic piece of this puzzle for borrowers. A $10,000 forgiveness on a student loan is virtually nothing by comparison to the thousands of dollars our students are paying in interest rates well above rates on our savings and investments. These high rates mean that many borrowers will still be paying loans well into their 40s, if not beyond. This is usury on the part of lenders. Lenders are making a ton of money on the backs of our kids. How about giving our borrowers a break on loan interest at least?

Mary Jane Miller, Chanhassen

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When will you folks at the Star Tribune ever get around to acknowledging that people are responsible for their own life choices? Case in point is the front-page story about the young engineering college graduate with $27,000 in student loans, bemoaning more roommates and a later start to (beginning) a family ("Minnesota graduates delaying, rethinking futures," July 1). Touching, to be sure.

What the article did not state was that, according to a Michigan Tech survey for 2023, starting engineering salaries range from $60,000 to $90,000 a year depending on the chosen field.

The gentleman in this story made some life choices. He decided that rather than work some menial job for the rest of his life, he would instead pursue a professional engineering degree, which in the long run would provide him with a very comfortable living. He knew that along the way he would have to borrow money and pay it back after graduation, and he accepted that responsibility.

Even if the young man's starting engineering salary is at the bottom level of $60,000 a year, or $5,000 a month, I doubt that a $300-a-month loan repayment fee will disrupt his life to any great extent. Expecting loan forgiveness would not only be unfair to the taxpayers who will have to assume the student debt but is also unfair to all past loan recipients who responsibly fully repaid their student loan debt as agreed. Thank heaven there is one clearheaded branch of government left.

Russell L. Prince, Apple Valley

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In the Star Tribune stories on July 1 covering the Supreme Court decisions on student loan debt forgiveness, we read a quote from U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer: "[President Joe] Biden's student loan scam would've bailed out the wealthy while forcing taxpayers — including those who didn't go to college — to foot the bill." There are tons of arguments on this matter, both for and against, but to pull in the concept of burdening the poor taxpayer with yet further government overreach is lame, incorrect and misleading. People high in government, like Emmer, should know better and at least give us a clear picture.

In this case, the truth is that the average citizen taxpayer is no more going to pay for student loan forgiveness than they are going to pay for all the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the moonshot of President John F. Kennedy's day or the initial costs of the Interstate Highway System of President Dwight Eisenhower. More accurately, the U.S. government spends what it needs to get what it wants. It creates the money it needs by adding figures on U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank ledger sheets. That's where the money comes from; the government creates money, as provided in the Constitution, and spends what it needs.

Taxes are also levied on citizens and collected by broad programs set by Congress and administered by the IRS. As tax dollars come in, they are used to offset government expenditures decreed by Congress, but the two seldom ever meet or balance out. I think we all know that; we witness massive tax cuts enacted even as government expenditures rise. (The U.S. deficit in 2022 was only 5.4% of GDP — not low, but also not pointing to disaster.)

Now if Emmer feels he wants to sink or sustain student loan debts for various reasons, he certainly can say what he wants. But for him to infer that Biden's or any other student loan forgiveness costs will now fall back directly on the average taxpayer is off the mark and adds to the confusion. Emmer could also point out that the current 2023 farm bill totals $1.5 trillion and perhaps suggest we should eliminate it if he believes the typical taxpayer is going to pony up that sum directly as well. A better discussion on the impact of student loans may be this: What real economic and job growth are we stifling by enforcing these debt payments for years as our younger generations defer family formation and consumer spending?

David Lingo, Golden Valley

DOWNTOWN MINNEAPOLIS

It's the place for us. And maybe you?

We moved from the suburbs to the North Loop 22 years ago when it was still called the Warehouse District, mostly because it was the warehouse district. I like to call my husband a bit of a trendsetter. There were much fewer of us then. If you know the film "Butch Cassidy," you'll know this: My husband always says when an article like Jim Souhan's appears, "I got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals!" ("Yes, it's just fine to go downtown for a Twins game," July 3.) The last time I saw a population number for downtown, it was approaching 48,000. It may be higher now. [Opinion editor's note: According to the Minneapolis Downtown Council, residents numbered nearly 57,000 in 2022.]

Souhan's description is so spot-on, and we are thrilled to have it written in Minnesota's flagship newspaper. For 22-plus years, we have walked daily along the river, tried almost every restaurant around (the Monte being our favorite, especially during patio season), walked to the Mill City Farmers Market, taken in Twins games and walked to Whole Foods for groceries, though we prefer Lunds across the river. I used to run into former Sen. Walter Mondale at Lunds. We walk to the Guthrie routinely unless it's just too cold. I miss Dayton's and Barnes & Noble terribly and wish for more retail, but that has more to do with online shopping than any concern for safety.

We've had the pleasure of having Twins players living in our lovely townhouse complex, greeting Mayor Jacob Frey on his runs along the river, and once, walking by Wilde Roast to come upon Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Frey having a drink together — not a police officer or security agent in sight. All of us were perfectly safe.

We have loved our years living downtown more than anywhere we've been, including a time in Denver, Phoenix and two suburbs in the Twin Cities. None could match the benefits, the healthy lifestyle (we walk virtually everywhere) and the simple joys of seeing a city hum with activity.

Thanks so much to Souhan for dispelling the myths of downtown living for everyone. If anyone questions his accuracy, send them our or our neighbors' way.

Peggy Anderson, Minneapolis