It looks like a bribe, coming as it does 10 weeks before a midterm election, and aimed as it is at college-educated voters who are the Democratic base. It wipes out every penny (and likely more) of the deficit reduction that the Inflation Reduction Act was supposed to deliver. It benefits a relatively small, affluent group of voters. A minority of Americans have college degrees, they are higher earning and less-often unemployed than their fellow countrymen, and this forgiveness benefit is available for couples making up to $250,000 in annual income.
It takes the willingly acquired debt of some and makes it a liability of those who did not take it on, while offering nothing in mortgage relief, car loan relief, credit-card debt relief, or small-business loan relief. It makes suckers of everyone who recently paid off their college loans or decided not to acquire them in the first place.
In response to a question about this element of unfairness, Biden offered this: “Is it unfair to people who in fact do not own multi-billion dollar businesses? You see how these guys give them all a tax break. Is that fair? What do you think?”
Honestly, I don’t know what that means, but there it is if you want his take.
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