Inez Stepman is the host of High Noon with Inez Stepman and a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum.
President Joe Biden’s politically self-serving gift of debt forgiveness to his most ardent supporters might upset you, and trust me, I feel the same way.
But you have to acknowledge that it is rather cunningly evil.
Contrary to what the administration said, it was “about giving individuals a fair opportunity.” It penalizes those who adhered to the regulations.
This bailout has been referred to by Vice President Biden as a lifeline for individuals who are in need of money. Mistake again. It’s like Robin Hood done backwards: the poor are robbed, while the affluent get given.
Democrats also often hammer on the subject of how the wealthy already have too much.
The goal of Biden’s proposal to cancel student loans is not justice, the American dream, or campaign promises.
It has to do with rewarding the upper middle class and academic institutions that serve as crucial incubators for the cultural revolution of the left, two vital Democratic constituencies.
It’s that easy. cynical as well.
As of now, the idea calls for forgiving $10,000 in debtors’ debts who earn up to $125,000 annually, or up to $500,000 for couples, and $20,000 for those who are eligible for Pell Grants, which are only awarded to students from low-income families.
President Biden has characterized this bailout as a lifeline to those struggling financially. Wrong again. It’s Robin Hood in reverse: It robs from the poor and gives to the rich.
The administration is also extending the COVID payment pause until after the midterm elections (that must be a coincidence) and cutting payments in half for those on income-based repayment plans.
The cost of this largesse keeps adjusting upward from an initial estimate of $300 billion to up to a trillion dollars.
For all of Biden’s faux righteousness about ‘making sure folks have the breathing room they need to buy a house, open a business, start a family, and save for their future,’ he has screwed the people who made sacrifices and different decisions to avoid college debt.
Recall: Sen. Elizabeth Warren infamously blew off an outraged dad who confronted her on the campaign trail in 2020, after she bragged about plans to erase student debt.
‘I’ve saved all my money. [My daughter] doesn’t have any student loans. Am I going to get my money back?’
‘Of course not,’ she said.
That doesn’t strike me as fair one bit.
But guess what?
Now that infuriated father who saved and worked double shifts and did the responsible thing has a big new tax burden to shoulder.
Talk about being punished for doing the right thing: According to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, each and every taxpayer will share the cost to the tune of $2,500.
So, who, really, benefits from this giveaway?
Even Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that the President does not have the ability to spend a trillion dollars with the wave of a pen, despite ambiguous statutory wording.
Well, in service of the White House’s lies, the administration has released misleading statistics that give the impression these benefits go to the middle and working classes instead of Harvard Law students clerking for a year or two before heading over to well-paid firm jobs.
Naturally, none of this has been done with the input of the government body charged with budgetary oversight.
Even Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that the President does not have the ability to spend a trillion dollars with the wave of a pen, despite ambiguous statutory wording.
The president cannot eliminate student loan debt, she argued, just postpone or defer it. “To eliminate student loan debt, an act of Congress, not an executive decree, would be required.”
Naturally, she quickly changed her mind and referred to the statement as a “bold move” and a “strong step” rather than as a mocking attack on the separation of powers and the function of Congress.
The government has provided nothing but further misinformation in response to the criticism over its reverse robin hood jubilee, which has caused Democrats in swing districts to shy away from this action.
Biden is correct about one thing, however, in spite of all the facts, distortions, and white lies: student loan debt is a significant burden for at least two generations (so far).
This devilishly misleading policy’s reflection of his administration’s overall lack of seriousness in the face of pressing issues for America may be its most repulsive component.
None of this addresses the fundamental issues with higher education.
The amount of outstanding student debt in the United States will be equal to what it is now in four years, and taxpayers will likely be taken advantage of for another trillion or two dollars—inflation is a big kicker.
The real cause of the issue, however, is that the cost of college has grown wildly out of proportion to the value of either the education or the degrees universities offer, and that this out-of-proportion cost is being fueled by ever-larger government-backed loans. Applying the first of many band-aids to the problem at the expense of truckers and Amazon deliverymen won’t solve it.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren infamously blew off an outraged dad (above) who confronted her on the campaign trail in 2020, after she bragged about plans to erase student debt.
The irony is that student loan programs intended to ensure the brightest students from poorer families could access higher education have locked them out of it.
The student loan market is nearly entirely nationalized, with 93 percent of loans held directly by the Department of Education.
For every dollar in student loans that becomes available, universities have been able to raise tuition 60 cents, to eye-popping amounts that ward off working families.
The result is there are fewer students from families on the lower half of the income spectrum attending university today than 50 years ago when these programs were started.
And now to add insult to injury, those same people are expected to pay off the debt of accountants and bureaucrats.
Biden wants to throw open the doors to the granary in a modern day panem et circenses – ‘bread and circuses’ — for his constituencies.
All right then, but it’s only right that lower and middle class American taxpayers demand that the bill comes due not on their own doorsteps.
If the bill for this scheme that has been decades in the making should come due anywhere, it’s at the doorstep of universities who have benefited from it.
After all, they’re just paying for a Democratic re-election campaign.