The White House said that 43 million student loan borrowers will benefit and that as many as 20 million borrowers will have their full remaining student loan balances wiped out.
That will be very significant for those households. Due to debt obligations, people have put off on home-ownership, starting their families, and more. Adjustments to the payments owed will also give people whose debt has not thoroughly been retired welcome breathing space. It may not be what they hoped for, but it is a change in the right direction.
Of course, people have to complain. I'm not going to focus on the more left-based criticism that the debt forgiveness should have gone further because I'm in agreement with it--I am a Gen X kid whose working class to middle class family was able to manage my education, and I acknowledge my privilege. My degree was invaluable to me, though, and I encourage people to get a good education because the broader your horizons, the better your damn time here on this earth. I got a BA in English Lit., which is one of the most humanities of the humanities degrees. It means I am proficient in my mother tongue and can discuss works people have been reading for pleasure for a long time.
Nonetheless, I also learned a lot about the writing process, organizing my thoughts, critical thinking, research, and how to become self-educating.
I want to focus on the right's arguments against because they are so mad for the simple reason that this fairly low cost (compared to plenty of programs for businesses, wealthy folks, etc.) relief for stressed borrowers is way too helpful and people will like it. I mean, that's what it boils down to, right? They are calling it a "bribe". Well, there's no strings attached. Surely, conservative people exist who have student loan debt. They aren't obligated to vote blue just because they got breathing room on their credit. And we seldom think it's a "bribe" when GOP congress folks vote for tax breaks for the wealthy--who just happen to be their political donors.
Of course, this is also pitched as being about some people benefitting while other don't, to divide people. Don't forgive student debt for some folks, now, because others paid their debt sounds to me like, don't end the draft because of all the others who were drafted? It does not follow. It's dumb. What about people who got their college loans paid through the GI bill and earned it by serving their country? Um--different situation, same tax money? Why are we doing this? It is good for us to have an educated people who are not deeply in debt. Full stop.
It's funny to me that what one considers a bribe depends so much on "who" benefits. Cui bono? And I think there is a phobia among the conservative elite that working class kids with educations will rise up and beat their asses. After all, money is getting poured into balloon headed Charlie Kirk's college-disparagement project, and the religious right is doing a lot to wreck public schooling. One gets the notion that some people (conservatives) don't want a highly educated proletariat because they might get VERY BIG AND DANGEROUS IDEAS.
Actually-the right wing is the reason we have student debt in the first place, because they (like Ronald Reagan) are the ones who wrecked free tuition at state colleges because of that very reason--the fear of educated working class kids. Like me. Roughly 50 years on, it's time we had some kind of jubilee.
That's right, a jubilee. And call for an end to college debt usury. See, the detractors of this debt relief want to say it's a kind of moral hazard--well, these people already have been to college and are most likely not going to go out and seek new opportunities to take on student debt. They are going to just live their lives more fully and contribute more to the economy. There's is growth potential in this debt cancellation, as incomes are freed up to flow back into other consumer spending.
Now, you might note that I'm using "forgive us our debts" and "jubilee" and "usury" pretty specifically as a call-back to our ancient and respected Judeo-Christian foundations (please read that with the necessary sarcasm), because I am exactly that nose-rubbing kind of nerd. Just as with PPP loan forgiveness and other assorted government bailouts, there is obviously historical precedent and it's hypocritical as hell to pretend this is anything especially odd and different. Why, the most ancient concept we have of liberty is freedom from bondage, such as debt bondage.
So anyway--we should celebrate that some people are going to have a better living situation because President Biden delivers. Also he's going to take steps to preserve DACA because that's how we take care of people who through no fault of their own, are the incidental Americans we want to make a part of our great tradition.
And that's no malarky, Jack. (Frankly I want an accelerated pathway to citizenship for them and man, I already know the GOP low-key replacement theory racist bullshit that would tip off.)
UPDATE: No MF'ing malarkey:
REPORTER: Is this unfair to people who paid their student loans or chose not to take out loans?
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) August 24, 2022
BIDEN: Is it fair to people who, in fact, do not own multi-billion-dollar businesses if they see one of these guys getting all the tax breaks? Is that fair? What do you think? pic.twitter.com/HA9LzLBMSC
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