Imagine if Joe Biden Cancelled Student Loan Debt.
The President has the power to ease a financial burden for millions of people, and he should do it.
After a month in office as President of the United States, it’s no secret that many on the left have been disappointed in Joe Biden’s willingness to fight for the implementation of what even he has identified as his policy goals, like a $15 dollar minimum wage or another direct check to Americans in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Aside from attempting to pass his $1.9 trillion dollar relief package, Biden has also faced increasing pressure from not only the left to cancel all student loan debt, but even some of his fellow more center right Democratic lawmakers like Chuck Schumer are calling for him to cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt through executive order. In a stance that probably wouldn’t surprise many of us, Joe Biden has argued that he would be willing to cancel $10,000, but conveniently feels that he does not have the constitutional authority to cancel any more than that.
Putting aside the blatant lying and infuriating weakness of that excuse, one can’t help considering the fact that when it comes to Democrats like Biden, they have become too insulated from what average Americans are experiencing and struggling with. Not only do they feel comfortable ignoring the obvious benefits to such bold action, they will lie in their reasonings against it because they are too afraid to admit it’s because their donors don’t want them to. Frankly, it’s difficult to even know where to begin when considering the impact on not just the borrowers, but the country overall if Biden were to cancel student loan debt.
With the stroke of a pen Biden could not only wipe debt clean that otherwise potentially will be following people for the rest of their lives, he would be instigating mass, immense psychological feelings of relief in doing so. Imagine the freedom as well. The freedom that comes with a clean slate, and the ability to make decisions about one’s future without having to take into account tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt one has accrued for simply doing what we have been told for decades is the most practical, responsible thing to do: get a college degree.
If Biden wiped away the staggering $1.7 trillion in debt owed by current and former students across the country, how many people would feel more comfortable starting a family, buying a house, moving where they would like to live, or taking the risk and starting the business they have dreamed of starting? How many more people would be able to use their college degree to invest their time, energy, and labor into themselves and their goals, as opposed to a giant, multinational corporation ready in the waiting to exploit them and their need for a job? How many jobs would be created by not only the influx in new businesses following the alleviation of this debt, but by the newfound buying and consumer power for millions of Americans?
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Biden’s adamant refusal to take this action is the fact that he is entirely aware of the benefits, and the good it would do. He knows it would free millions of people in a multitude of ways that right now, most of us can only dream of. And yet, he won’t do it because he knows that the elites who buy America’s politicians to do their bidding have decided it’s not in their best interest. So what if it gives Americans more purchasing power and creates the stronger economy they claim to want, if it means that it would likely lead to competition down the line. Why would CEOs of multi-million dollar corporations be interested in the cancellation of student loan debt if in the long run, it meant people might no longer be crushed beneath them? They might have more freedom to buy elsewhere, seek employment elsewhere, and perhaps create businesses of their own.
Why would the donor class or the politicians they buy to do their bidding want that?
Democrats could guarantee electoral success for decades if they cancelled student loan debt, and they know it. But they are conditioned by the donor class to be skeptical and afraid of doing what is actually popular, and this issue is no different. When a lawmaker takes money from an organization or wealthy individual with a vested interest in maintaining America’s predatory student loan industry, can we really be surprised when they scramble to come up with an excuse to be against it? All that said I find solace in the fact that with each passing day, the more the conversation of student debt cancellation continues to be normalized, the more our Democratic politicians struggle to justify being against it.
