As the midterm elections fast approach, Democrats have lost a key demographic that they relied on in 2020: college-educated men. The biggest defections from the Democrat Party since the last election have been by this group, amid an overall decline since inauguration of 19 points in support of Biden by those under age 35. The Democrats’ playbook for attracting voters is to toss them some handouts. So it is no coincidence that, six months before Election Day, Biden is working on a plan to give potential supporters upwards of $500 billion. A half-trillion dollars is a lot of money, even by today’s standards of sending truckloads of new cash to almost anyone who asks for it. Inflation is soaring to levels not seen in 40 years.
Student debt tops $1.7 trillion, as racked up by merely 13% of the population due to overpriced higher education. Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that Congressional approval is required before that debt is forgiven, which would burden all Americans. Yet Biden plans to bypass Congress, and instead transfer these dollars to his potential supporters through the Department of Education. The Democrat Party wants to claim credit for this on the eve of the election, even though there is not enough support for such measures to pass the Democrat-controlled Congress.
Biden told reporters that he has rejected waiving as much as $50,000 per student in loans, which would be more than the average student debt of $37,000. Biden will instead try to buy millions of votes with a waiver of $10,000 per student. Already in default is 8% of this debt, which is not dischargeable in bankruptcy due to federal legislation that Biden supported in 2005. Changing the bankruptcy laws for those who are truly bankrupted by student debt would make far more sense than simply waiving debt obligations across-the-board.
The most sensible solution of all would be for the Biden Administration to stop issuing government-backed loans of tens of thousands of dollars to teenagers altogether. Why are we trying to bail out our sinking boat before stopping the leak? First we must address the root of the problem, then we can talk about the rest.
