President Joe Biden appears to be inching closer to announcing a plan to forgive some amount of federal student loan debt, an idea he supported on the campaign trail and has been pushed to realize by progressives since he took office.
For those saying it isn’t enough, the answer is simple. In this hand I hold something. In this hand I hold nothing. Which is better?
And: Do you want to more inject more cash now, into an economy the fed is trying to cool down?
Inflation is THE political anchor on Biden/Dems right now. It will matter most this fall.
“We aren’t losing non-college-educated voters, who represent something like 2/3 of all Americans, fast enough”, mused the sage Democratic leadership.
Biden absolutely needs to do something super aggressive about student debt, gas prices, inflation, rising interest rates and the formula shortage, or he’s a political goner. But he absolutely cannot interfere in the free market or abuse his executive powers, or he’s a political goner. Both of these statements are two and you can’t make me!
$10k is unnecessarily weak considering Biden has the authority to cancel all debt. It is the smallest number I’ve seen mentioned, and few in history are revered for going milquetoast when boldness is required.
That said, I believe there is room to work with Biden here. This could be a good policy if the 10k is paired with an indefinite continuation of the loan freeze and a statement clarifying the intent to make this a yearly ritual until congress gets their act together and passes permanent relief and funding for college comparable to what previous generations enjoyed.
Let’s also not ruin the whole gesture with piles of paperwork. Make it automatic. If that means no means testing, so be it. Means testing government programs is almost always a mistake anyway. Give the benefit to everyone, then add taxes on the wealthy to make it fair.
$0.00 is much less
You would THINK that the government would push the FACT that an educated workforce helps us but…the pushback from the Right and their ‘supporters’ is always that there isn’t enough money and then they turn around and give it to their buddies when back in power. They bitch about India and Mexicans ‘taking out jobs’ but don’t do squat to help OUR citizens. When all else fails they insist that the wealthy pay more in tax overall and shouldn’t be expected to contribute to these ‘socialists’.
Biden falling into the means-testing trap again.
Just give all student loan borrowers a $10k (or $50k) reduction. Its easy to administer and simple to understand. Democrats need to stop overcomplicating a simple solution.
When Republicans start screaming bloody murder, have every Democrat campaign targeting young people with the message that Republicans will put you back into debt if you don’t go out and vote Dem in November.
The voters who oppose student debt forgiveness are either not voting for Democrats anyway or are not a single-issue voter on loan forgiveness.
Not nearly the case. The numbers of people supporting some type of student debt forgiveness are a majority, but within that are significant caveats, and blanket forgiveness only gets 20%. Haven’t seen a breakout by party affiliation, but if you’re only getting 20% overall for blanket forgiveness, that’s not nearly the majority of any party.
There is another issue…what about the people who have worked hard to payoff their school debt already? Do they get $10G’s also, or is it just the standard “fuck you” from our corrupt govrtnment?
Don’t bury the lede:
Certain groups were more likely to say that some of the debt should be forgiven, including Democrats and millennials. Republicans and baby boomers were the least likely to support any kind of education debt forgiveness, according to the report.
Debt forgiveness is exactly the type of action that is primed to increase Democratic enthusiasm before the midterms.
Also, that no option gets more than 30% shows that American’s opinion on this is malleable. Do the easy and quick mass forgiveness for all, loudly declare that it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread (voters don’t care about the details), and run on a platform that Republicans want to put you back under the burden of debt.
Whenever a MAGA complains about giving debt forgiveness to the ‘undeserving’, counter with the numerous past Trump and big business debt forgiveness (i.e. bankruptcy). Why should billionaires and mega businesses get debt relief, but not the average American?
This is quite literally low-hanging fruit in terms of political benefit and messaging.
If the tables were turned, DeSantis and Abbott would have passed the “No Floridian/Texan Student paying a single dime in Student Loan” Act and challenged the federal government with ‘2nd amendment’ solutions if they tried to collect a penny.
The “average American” doesn’t have student loan debt. It’s about 12% of the population who have current debt.
Note that the Democrats, despite having both the House and the Senate, haven’t passed anything regarding student loan forgiveness (and not even the House, so it’s not like people can blame Manchin). This isn’t at all universally loved in the Democratic party or there would be bills supporting it, not just calls for Biden to do it by Executive Order.
Biden, just yesterday, forgave another $5 billion in loans, for people bilked by the for-profit Corinthian folks. That’s stuff he’s been doing that’s low-hanging fruit, really non-controversial and not making much news because people can understand and empathize with victims of a scam.
Blanket forgiveness is not going to at all be the same, nor this magical “win” that a vocal minority suggests it will be.
I promise you this is not the case. The voters who oppose student debt forgiveness are simply not loud on Twitter.
Exactly. I oppose student debt forgiveness and I’ve never not voted Democratic.
This is bad policy and worse politics.
But it’s concentrated in the age ranges that Democrats need to motivate for GOTV in November:
It’s also overwhelmingly popular in the younger cohorts too:
Not sure how how you are defining a ‘win’, but in my view, if this can increase the turnout among younger voters by even 10%, that can be the difference between a Democratic vs Republican Congress next year. The November election is going to be a battle of inches, so targeted actions like this can absolutely help.
I have no axe to grind in regard to whether Biden does this or not. If it could help bring young voters in, it seems timely, so why not?
But to me, the more driving need is to regulate student loans so they are no longer a racket akin to credit card debt.
Leaving aside the political-suicide aspect, “let’s patch this with a bandaid and we’ll handle the heavy lift later” is just such an exceptionally bad policy idea.
Honest question to both of you - If Biden did a $50k mass forgiveness, would that stop you from voting Democratic (or voting at all) in November?