What’s wrong with President Biden’ announcement today that he’s canceling $10,000-$20,000 in student loan debt for certain Americans? There are at least five serious problems with the executive order.
SO WHAT
Student loan forgiveness is a handout to Democrats’ elite base at the expense of the rest of the country.
THE PROBLEMS
1. IT’S A HANDOUT FOR THE RELATIVELY WEALTHY: The richest 40% of Americans carry 60% of student debt, while the bottom 40% carry just 20%.
- Among millennials, almost half of Biden’s debt cancellation will go to households earning $82,400 or more per year, according to an analysis by The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania released yesterday.
2. IT PUNISHES RESPONSIBILITY: Biden is effectively penalizing people who already paid off their student loans while rewarding and encouraging reckless borrowing. We’re already seeing the results, according to an Intelligent.com poll in June.
3. IT WILL MAKE INFLATION WORSE: That’s not just a conservative take.
- Democratic economist Larry Summers, who correctly predicted our current inflation crisis, has been sounding the alarm.
4. We can’t afford it: Student loan debt doesn’t magically disappear just because the president “forgives” it.
- President Biden is actually transferring more than $300 billion-$600 billion to hardworking Americans, per The Wharton School and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
- That’s on top of more than $30 trillion and counting we owe as a country and will pass on to our children and grandchildren.
5. IT MIGHT BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argued as much last year.
THE LOGIC?
If canceling student debt is such a terrible idea, why is Biden doing it?
- Critics point to politics — specifically the demands of the Democrats’ college-educated base.