Try, Try Again
Handouts to voters: Though his first attempt at student loan forgiveness was struck down by the Supreme Court in June of last year (Biden v. Nebraska), President Joe Biden apparently feels called to try again. If this attempt went through, it would—to his mind—not only lift the shackles of decades of debt from a chunk of the voting public, but also possibly compel people, filled with newly grateful spirits, to vote for him. So you can understand why he’d be so persistent.
That doesn’t make it good policy. The new plan, which would affect roughly 30 million, uses a different mechanism than last time—it expands programs that already exist, and targets those who have high loan balances due to interest—but it would still be to our collective detriment.
“First, the plan takes aim at borrowers who have seen their balances climb due to unpaid interest, seeking to cancel up to $20,000 of accrued interest for all borrowers,” reports Reason‘s Emma Camp. “For borrowers enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan (IDR) making up to $120,000 a year, or $240,000 a year for couples, the Education Department plans to forgive all accrued interest.”
“Biden’s plan would also automatically cancel debt held by people who are eligible for loan forgiveness under an existing plan but haven’t yet enrolled,” adds Camp. “Considering that all borrowers are eligible to enroll in Saving on a Valuable Education plan (SAVE), an IDR plan that provides forgiveness after 10 years for those with balances under $12,000, this new change could effectively create automatic forgiveness after 10 years for those with small balances.” For those who started paying their undergraduate loans off 20 years ago (and 25 years for graduate loans), the Department of Education plans to wipe the slate clean.
It’s clear that Biden either doesn’t understand how incentives work or doesn’t care: Colleges and universities have no reason to lower their prices if this becomes the law of the land. So tuition will become more bloated, and the vicious cycle will repeat all over again—only with taxpayers on the hook to a greater degree than before.
Trump’s abortion quagmire: “On abortion, Trump chose politics over principles,” reads a New York Times headline from today, referring to the presidential contender’s comments yesterday saying that he’s in favor of states setting their own abortion policies, but that he broadly supports exceptions being made when the mother’s life is endangered or in cases of rape or incest. He also expressed support for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments. “You must follow your heart, or in many cases, your religion or your faith,” said Trump. “Do what’s right for your family and do what’s right for yourself.”
But it’s a little funny that much of the mainstream media—which tends to be awfully supportive of legal abortion, with newsrooms comprised mostly of Democratic voters—is still managing to find a way to ding Trump over this. His comments probably represent the majority of voters, who are uneasy with abortion but believe, broadly, that it ought to be permitted during the first trimester and made illegal during the second. The vast majority of voters are in favor of life/health/rape/incest exceptions. And, contra the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision, the vast majority of voters (even the hi
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