CommentsTHE DOCTOR IS IN - Yes, President Biden surged again from the political center to the Left, and proved that it was not the legacy Joe Biden he campaigned on in 2020 who won but rather his former opponent Bernie Sanders.
His latest bailout: those who took out more loans than they could pay back.
And right before the 2022 elections, too!
Hence the $300 billion-plus giveaway will either be a draw for young people to get out the vote this November, or a gamble that will trash the Democratic Party's dreams of controlling Washington, D.C. after the mid-term elections.
Certainly, in deep-blue states the likelihood of changing any tossup races to a GOP candidate won't be likely...but those states are already focusing on the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe vs. Wade.
Economically, the Democratic Party (and, in particular, the Biden Administration) does not have much credibility post-pandemic...and that's despite the fact that the economic impacts from the recent pandemic (which really is NOT over with, is it?) are still all about us.
Homelessness, the bizarre and amazing lack of affordable housing, utilities, food, and gas, and a host of related issues are forcing many of us (and not just the poor) to budget more and tighten our belts...even if it's just giving up a vacation we'd long planned for.
So as so many Americans are working two jobs, or are fighting to work more than one job to keep one's bills paid...and debts paid...the need to access student loan relief is critical for many Americans who are trying to move forward in their lives.
Hence there will be the arguments that President Biden's student loan forgiveness (which, by the way, is uncertain with respect to constitutionality) will help many...but there will also be those who raise a few moral issues, and economic issues that follow right behind the morality questions.
How about those who paid off their debts, or are paying off their debts, by budgeting and working multiple jobs, and forgoing life's pleasures? What does President Biden's move say to them?
Even worse, what about those who did NOT go to college because they could not afford to take out a loan? Now they have to pay for the loans of others.
And how about all the restauranteurs, tradespeople, electricians, truck drivers, plumbers, and the like who did NOT go to college? How are they supposed to respond...will they rejoice in the paying of their neighbors' self-imposed debts?
But the MOST concerning questions are not so much moral but economic in nature, and are very easily ignored:
1) As the rules for paying back debt are so easily and quickly relaxed, will other forms of debt be pressured for "forgiveness"?
2) Will this encourage college tuitions to go down...or way UP?
3) Will bankruptcies based on the inabilities of student loan repayment now have a major push to go up?
4) Will inflation now go sky-high as the dollar keeps getting less valuable, and with less encouragement of Americans to go back to work post-pandemic?
Hence we see swing-seat Democrats in purple states getting very nervous and unsupportive of President Biden's student loan forgiveness because Main Street will throw out a newly-perceived elitist Democratic Party out of power.
But the big question: did President Biden's sweeping loan forgiveness just send us all on a big, politically-motivated, and unavoidable Great Recession that will make the last one in 2007-2009 look like a picnic?
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband to a wonderful wife and father to two cherished children. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 9, years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach, Planning, and Transportation/Infrastructure Committees for 10 years. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
