President Joe Biden announced a student loan forgiveness plan on Wednesday. His executive order would “cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers making under $125,000 a year or couples making less than $250,000 a year,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Some may even be eligible for $20,000.
You don’t need to be a political savant to understand the proposal is a naked effort to buy the votes Democrats need this fall and raise Biden’s ultra-low polling.
Democrats will likely tell folks they will make the “rich” pay for it. The sad part is it will not be the rich paying for it. Everyone will be paying for it, including people who chose not to go to college, which is 63% of the country’s population.
To the party obsessed with fairness, how is this fair? It’s not.
How’s it fair for an HVAC tech, who makes a good living with no debt thanks to wise financial decisions, to pay for someone’s online travel management degree? How’s it fair to force a plumber to pay for someone else’s kid’s study abroad semester in Europe? It’s not.
Putting aside concerns about funding the proposal, the White House makes no mention of individuals who worked hard to pay off their federal student loans already. Isn’t it only right and fair that they are reimbursed $10,000?
To all the people who spent four years hyperventilating about Trump’s executive orders, I assume you’re equally outraged about this planned executive order by Biden? No? Okay, didn’t think so.
The Wall Street Journal notes in their coverage, “A report released Tuesday from the Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated that a one-time maximum debt forgiveness of $10,000 per borrower with incomes of less than $125,000 a year would cost around $300 billion.” Hold that thought.
The Congressional Budget Office (the non-partisan office in the government responsible for calling balls and strikes) reported that the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act may actually increase inflation in 2023.
Do you think the federal government spending an extra $300 billion will bring down the 40-year high inflation we are all enduring?
Speaking of the Inflation Reduction Act, it included a $7,500 credit for the purchase of an electric vehicle. CNBC reported that Ford is raising the price of its electric F-150 by as much. With universities and colleges likely to do the same thing, Biden’s move will make the problem of sky-high tuition worse, not better.
Whether it is a car, mortgage, or a student loan, no American should take on debt they can’t pay. Similarly, no one should expect others to pay their debt. The fact that this idea is controversial with progressives is another indictment of their deeply flawed policies.
