Biden cancels $10,000 to $20,000 student debt for millions of people – Corriere.it

From our mail to New York

Not enough for the Democratic left, and the right is a huge mistake. A great relief to millions of Americans. After months of reflection, studies, and second thoughts, Biden has kept faith in his election promise to ease his college debt. $10,000 of mortgages have been canceled for individuals earning less than $125,000 per year (250 thousand for families), and 20 thousand for recipients of Pell Grants, designed for the poor (estimated 27 million people will benefit). There are 45 million Americans with a total debt of $1.6 trillion on their shoulders. Five owe less than ten thousand. Biden also announced that the payment pause, which began with Covid in March 2020, will be extended Still until the end of the year.

Speaking from the White House on his way back from his beach house in Delaware, Biden said: “It all means it.” People can finally start getting out of this mountain of debt… They will finally be able to consider buying a home, starting a family or starting a business. And by the way, when this happens, the entire economy benefits.

Great joy on the part of those who have always fought over itstarting with Senator Elizabeth Warren, but there is plenty of skepticism even among prominent Democrats like the former Treasury Secretary (with Clinton, then the National Economic Council chair with Obama) Larry Summers, worried about rising inflation because families would have more money to spend (inflation is his concern, he predicted it would rise long before it did). According to Summers and many like him, Biden’s move is one Redistribution of wealth, which nevertheless does not help the poor: Endowment in particular, Summers tweets, bonuses among other surgeons, lawyers and investment bankers with very high salaries.

But from younger voters, whose support the Democratic president was losing, the relief was enormous. Before the announcement on social media, this tweet went viral: Personally, if Biden cancels even $10,000 of student debt, I’ll hang a picture of him in the living room As an Italian grandmother does with the Pope.

Others don’t make toast, and even if they are from opposite situations – because they would like to take more visible action – I agree with Summers. According to critics of the left, who have demanded a rebate of at least $50,000, the measure as it is is not helping enough blacks, minorities and the poorest, those who have too much difficulty paying down debt. According to the Brookings Institution, four years after graduation, black students owe an average of $25,000 more than their white peers..

Republicans are indignant, and according to those who have already paid the debt or those who have never contracted it to pay for the expenses of others’ children. According to Senator Ben Sasse of the Republic of Nebraska, the plan It forces blue-collar workers to support white-collar graduate students. Rather than demanding accountability from the failing higher education sector that is driving many young Americans into huge debt, the unilateral management plan outlines a failing system. The cost to the government, Ben Wharton estimates, will be about $300 billion.