Earlier this week, I kicked Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren around for her insanely intellectually dishonest argument for canceling student loan debt.
I went to a college that cost $50 a semester and had the opportunity to follow my dreams. But too many people don’t have that opportunity today. It's time to fix our broken student loan system and #CancelStudentDebt.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 21, 2022
Elizabeth Warren is obviously lying through her teeth when she suggests that student debt is something that can be “canceled.” It can’t be canceled; it can just be forcibly made a burden for someone else. That’s exactly what President Joe Biden will be doing if he issues an edict today as expected that up to $20,000 in student loan debt per borrower can be wiped out and the bill passed along to other people.
SCOOP: White House expected to provide up to ***$20,000*** in student debt relief 4 ***Pell Grant*** recipients, sources tell @DaniDougPost & me
Would have to be under $125K ($250K jointly) to qualify.
Other recipients believed @ $10K
Final details TBDhttps://t.co/nQm72h9kQQ
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) August 24, 2022
I, like many others out there, worked really hard after graduating to pay off my student loans. And I did pay them off. And I was proud of myself.
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And now, the last thing I want to do is take the increasingly small amount of money that the government has allowed me to keep and give it to someone who either didn’t read the fine print of their loan contracts or read it and didn’t care. But if you ask Robert Reich, it’s someone like me who’s the greedy one:
Student debt: $1.9 trillion
GOP tax cut for the rich: $1.9 trillion
Who else would like to live in a country where we bail out students who need it instead of CEOs who don’t?
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) August 23, 2022
I, personally, don’t want to live in a country where I’m expected or forced to bail out anyone. Especially anyone who was fiscally irresponsible. Obviously the country I live in now has a government that expects and is willing to force me to bail out other people — which sucks to no end — but the solution to that problem is not to turn the bailout dial up to freaking 11.
I’d like to live in a country where contacts are honored. Including student loans.
— Jan Cisar (@JaCisar) August 23, 2022
That would be nice, wouldn’t it? But if we lived in a country like that, Robert Reich would have one less thing to get self-righteously indignant about. Keep in mind that he’s a professor at UC-Berkeley. He’s been able to build a pretty cushy life for himself thanks to students taking out loans they can’t afford to pay back.
Thanks to students taking out loans they can’t afford to pay back in order to listen to Robert Reich fill their heads with lies.
It's really weird to conflate letting people keep their own money with giving people other peoples' money. https://t.co/f0I5JKFeZ8
— Brad Polumbo 🇺🇸⚽️🏳️🌈 (@brad_polumbo) August 24, 2022
It may be weird … but it’s Robert Reich’s M.O.
Here you go:
-Tax cuts let people keep more of the money they earned
-Most people received a cut (per New York Times: https://t.co/nTaoQOxBmc)
The government collected MORE revenue after the tax cuts (per White House historical tables 1.1 https://t.co/uVEfVATCu5)
You are welcome! https://t.co/gDa8PSl1xG— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) August 24, 2022
The GOP tax cut favored working-class Americans. It cut taxes most for those making under $50K, and cut taxes least for those making over $1M.
And there is no comparison between letting people keep their own money (a tax cut) and letting them keep our money (a debt bailout). https://t.co/obD5TAtkvW
— Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) August 24, 2022
Let’s talk about who the student debt “forgiveness” will benefit most of all. Hint: It’s not the working class.
Just a little reminder of who holds student loan debt. pic.twitter.com/MrRwYVx3dx
— AG (@AGHamilton29) August 24, 2022
Uh-oh, Robert.
"Despite being 25 percent of the population, borrowers who live in high-income neighborhoods hold 33 percent of federal balances, while borrowers residing in low-income areas hold only 23 percent of balances.”https://t.co/fHVryOfzrL
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) April 27, 2022
"Under a $10,000 forgiveness policy, 33 percent of forgiveness would go to majority minority neighborhoods while 67 percent would go to majority white neighborhoods.”https://t.co/fHVryOfzrL
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) April 27, 2022
"Increasing the forgiveness amount increases the share of total forgiven debt for higher credit score borrowers and those living in richer neighborhoods with a majority of white residents.”https://t.co/fHVryOfzrL
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) April 27, 2022
In other words, without an income cap, forgiving $10,000 per borrower would most benefit whites under age 40 with graduate degrees who live in high-income majority-white neighborhoods.https://t.co/fHVryOfzrL
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) April 27, 2022
Whites under age 40 with graduate degrees who live in high-income majority-white neighborhoods… just happen to be one of the most Democratic-leaning and outspoken progressive demographics in the country.https://t.co/fHVryOfzrL pic.twitter.com/TnaGlPBVNp
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) April 27, 2022
Remind us, Robert, why on God’s green earth we should ever listen to you?
@RBReich really has gone off the rails on his understanding of our tax code, economics and mostly common sense. If he wants to pay for someones decision to take on debt, go right ahead. Leave the rest of us out of your idiocy. https://t.co/VUyC3OAgaW
— Keith Gordon (@GordonKeithm) August 24, 2022
Go start your own country, Robert. And leave us here to try to salvage this one.
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Related:
Robert Reich is wondering if ‘DeSantis’ is now ‘officially a synonym for fascist’
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