Biden Isn’t “Forgiving” Debt, He’s Bribing The Privileged

What Biden is actually doing is bribing an already privileged category of the population who have made bad financial and career decisions.

In the depths of historic inflation, soaring national debt and a soon-to-be crippling recession, President Biden has one plan (beyond hiding in Delaware for weeks on end): spend more money to buy votes.

Biden announced on Wednesday that $10,000 of federal student loan debt for those making under $125,000 per year will be “cancelled,” with this amount increasing to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients. In addition, the never-ending “pause” on federal student loan payments will be continued through the end of the year.

"In keeping with my campaign promise, my Administration is announcing a plan to give working and middle class families breathing room as they prepare to resume federal student loan payments in January 2023," Biden tweeted.

Based on a Penn Wharton Budget Model, this “forgiveness” is going to cost taxpayers around $300 billion.

And when your national debt is over $30 trillion, what’s another few billion…?!

But setting aside the absurdity that Biden continues to spend money as inflation rages on, there’s a foundational element of unfairness at the core of this policy.

(Also, it’s important to understand that no debt can be “forgiven.” Instead, responsibility for the debt is transferred from one party who failed to pay to another who must now pay. The term “forgiveness” is yet another 1984-style trick of language, and nothing more.)

Now, the central claim of Biden (or those operating Biden’s mouth) is that addressing student loan debt by forcing other people to pay for it is “responsible, fair, and focuses the benefit on middle-class and working families.”

But is that true?

Of course it’s not.