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.
According to the government, it was all about “giving individuals a fair chance.” Contrarily, this is real. It penalises 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.
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.
The government is also halving payments for those on income-based repayment programmes and prolonging the COVID payment freeze until after the midterm elections (that must be a coincidence).
The original $300 billion estimate of the cost of this generosity has now increased to as much as a trillion dollars.
Biden has screwed the individuals who made sacrifices and other choices to escape student loan debt, despite his pretence of indignation about “making sure Americans have the breathing space they need to purchase a home, launch a company, start a family, and invest for their future.”
When a furious father approached Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the campaign road in 2020 after she boasted about her intentions to abolish student debt, she famously shrugged him off.
I have all my money in savings. There aren’t any college loans for [my daughter]. Will I get my money back?
Naturally not, she said.
That doesn’t seem at all fair to me.
But what’s this?
Now that irate parent who saved and worked two shifts and did the right thing must bear a significant increase in taxes.
Discuss receiving a penalty for doing the right thing: The National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimates that each taxpayer will contribute $2,500 toward the cost.
Who truly gains from this offer, then?
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 administration has, however, released false statistics in support of the White House’s lies that give the impression that these benefits are received by members of the middle and working classes rather than Harvard Law students who clerk for a year or two before moving on to well-paying 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 made headlines when she famously ignored an angry father who challenged her on the campaign trail in 2020 after she boasted about her intentions to eliminate student debt (see photo above).
The irony is that student loan programmes designed to provide the best kids from lower-income households access to higher education have effectively prevented them from doing so.
With 93 percent of loans being held directly by the Department of Education, the student loan industry has almost completely been nationalised.
Universities have been allowed to boost tuition by 60 cents for every dollar in student loans that becomes accessible, to absurdly high rates that deter working families.
As a consequence, fewer students from lower-income households are enrolled in universities now than there were 50 years ago, when similar programmes were first introduced.
To make matters worse, those same individuals are now required to repay the debt owed by accountants and bureaucrats.
In a contemporary panem et circenses, or “bread and circuses,” Biden wants to throw open the doors of the granary for his constituents.
Okay, but lower and middle class American taxpayers should insist that the cost not be due on their own doorsteps.
If there is anybody who should foot the tab for this decades-long plan, it should be the colleges who benefitted from it.
They are only funding a Democratic re-election campaign, after all.