President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

In 2003, Congress passed the HEROES Act providing the executive the authority to forgive student loans due to hardship related to a national emergency. Trump declared an emergency in 2020 at the start of the pandemic and the status hasn't been lifted. So Biden's ability to do this was actually passed into law.

 

Of course, if state funding of colleges hadn’t been slashed over the years maybe tuition wouldn’t be so high that big loans are needed to cover it.

 

The cost of a college education has continued to rise while the value of the same has stagnated, if not fallen because more people have degrees. And then there is the wage stagnation over the last 30 years. You have to wonder why Congress has never passed a bill to write off interest on a college loan like they do with mortgages. Or go further and write off up to say $X of tuition - which would theorettically encourage some colleges to hold the line on tuition hikes in order to advertise that students could get a college education for "free."

 

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! ... There sure are a lot of Boomers and some older Gen Xers mad about this, forgetting that many of them had opportunities to go to some state colleges/universities for free for for, say, $25/credit. Or they had better opportunities for real government aid like grants instead of today's some-subsidized/some-not federal loans and better need-based scholarship opportunities for middle-class kids.

 

I find the legal justification for this EO to be pretty flimsy myself, like something John Yoo would've cooked up in the 2000’s.

 

Also ... if it's this kind of loan relief and the extra COVID cash that has really caused crazy-high inflation, could we then argue that the horrible wage stagnation over the last 40-plus years is what's really kept inflation in check?

 

Trust me ... you don't want me sending this guy your way ...

 

Wait … so it’s a giveaway to one class?

SOCILISM!

 

In a political sense - the loan forgiveness is brilliant. Biden will get "credit" for trying to do something, and two things could happen - it will be challenged and be overturned, and/or Congress will see how well it is being received and push through some legislation.

 

Student loan interest is deductible ... up to certain income levels. There are multiple tax credits/subsidies that allow one to effectively write off $X of tuition ... up to certain income levels.

 

Interest on student loans was tax deductible, like interest on consumer loans. Reagan and Gingrich eliminated it.