On Monday, Senator Bernie Sanders is set to release his plan to forgive all student loan debt. In a tweet early on Monday, Sanders shared information about the “student debt crisis” with the hashtag #CancelStudentDebt.
The Washington Post had knowledge of the proposal according to Fox News, releasing details about the proposal. The proposal would generate $2 Trillion over 10 years to combat student debt through taxes on stock transactions and bonds. It would also propose that tuition for public universities, community colleges and trade schools.
There has been a lot of support of the student debt forgiveness plans in recent days in both the House and Senate. Representative Ilhan Omar is set to propose the counter legislation to this in the House and has been an outspoken advocate for the proposal.
Senator Elizabeth Warren released a plan to forgive student debt previously, although her plan had caps set based on income. Her plan was met with responses that varied. Some supporters said that her plan was a step in the right direction. Others complained that the plan did not go far enough to address the student debt crisis.
There are multiple issues at play in the student debt forgiveness idea. First of all, Sanders horrible math is on display again just as it was in his Medicare for all idea. There is $1.6 trillion in student debt and according to a report from 2014, annual college tuition expenses would require $62.6 billion annually. So with the $1.6 trillion in forgiveness and over $620 billion required over the 10 years (not counting inflation), Sanders plan falls over $200 billion short of the required funding.
As I continued to think about student debt, I can’t help but think of the continued reparations talk from Democrats. Is this a punishment for those who have paid off student loans responsibly or do we owe them reparations? If you use the liberal mindset, this certainly would not seem fair.
The student debt forgiveness disproportionately benefits higher wage earners as opposed to the low wage earners that many would argue for. Take Omar’s tweet for example. She earns over $174,000 annually as a US Representative, much higher than the average college graduate. In fact, over 34% of US student debt is held by the top 25% of wage earners.
This goes directly against the argument that Sanders makes in that he is not out to benefit the top wage earners. In fact, forgiving student loan debt would continue to widen the wage gap among all earners. It’s just more pandering from Democrats in an effort to push us into a socialist society.
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