THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF FORGIVING STUDENT LOAN DEBT.

Call it what it is: a regressive transfer.

Forgiving college debt is a slap in the face to those who paid down their debts early, those who minimized their borrowing by attending cheaper schools or working during their studies, those who forwent college entirely, and those suffering under other kinds of debt. College-loan forgiveness is also a poor way to stimulate the economy in the short term during the COVID-19 malaise, because there are plenty of groups more deserving, because much of the forgiven debt wouldn’t have been repaid for years anyway, and because the forgiveness would probably be taxed. And it’s virtually guaranteed to be regressive, for the simple reason that Americans who went to college are a richer-than-average bunch.

It's also a dilemma for Joe from Scranton. "Joe Biden ran as a moderate who could unite the country. Hardly anything could be more divisive than shunting taxpayer dollars at folks who’ve been to college while low-skilled workers bear the brunt of our current economic pain." Particularly to the extent that those debts were incurred in the pursuit of dubious degrees.