Debt obligations suddenly become “sacrosanct” only when it is a case of the poor or middle class owing the rich
High taxes on the wealthy have accompanied strong employment and economic growth in the past, for instance during the immediate postwar period.
The reason for the double standard on debt seems clear: the debt of the poor and “middle class” (i.e. working class) helps to reproduce a category of people – most people – who need to sell their labor power to capitalists in exchange for wage or salary income or rely on someone (e.g. a partner, a parent) who does