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The push by American progressives to have Joe Biden’s incoming administration forgive $50,000 of student debt per borrower is deeply stupid, but at least clarifyingly so.

More polite language fails to capture the absurdity of singling out college attendees for an unprecedented $1tn transfer of wealth — equivalent to the total spent on cash welfare in the last 40 years. The top sources of US student debt are professional business and law degrees.

All the rationales offered — addressing “systemic inequities” and the “racial wealth gap”, providing “much-needed economic stimulus”, reducing “negative health outcomes” associated with debt — make a better case, assuming one is giving away money, for simple cash transfers to lower-income households. If “debt forgiveness” is the goal, why not car loans or credit card balances?

Continue Reading at Financial Times
Oren Cass
Oren Cass is chief economist at American Compass.
@oren_cass
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