Posted on 08/30/2022 8:09:52 AM PDT by Red Badger
Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum and White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein clashed over the administration’s handling of debt surrounding student loan forgiveness.
MacCallum asked the question of who is paying for the $20,000 in student loan forgiveness provided to Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for borrowers making under $125,000 a year. Bernstein disputed a University of Pennsylvania Wharton model that she cited, which predicted that student loan forgiveness will cost over $1 trillion, claiming the cost will be closer to $24 billion.
MacCallum imagined a scenario where she had $15,000 in credit card debt and she is handed $5,000, she now has $10,000 in debt and does not have extra money to spend. The economic adviser argued the policy will be paid for by the price of the budget deficit being reduced at a significant amount more than the cost of student loan debt.
“So how is that something I can use to pay for furniture for my house? I can’t, that’s not money I have now,” she said.
“The way to think about this is that the government is taking in way more in both receipts and spending way less than we have been in prior years,” he said.
MacCallum argued the U.S. continues to have a huge deficit and is spending more than the nation has. The economic adviser said the deficit is being reduced more than the cost of student loan relief.
“The question on that table, I think you’re making this way too confusing,” he said.
“I don’t think so,” she said.
“Okay, well, hold on, and let me suggest how you’re doing so,” he interjected. “The question on the table is is it accurate to say that we are reducing the deficit more than the cost of student loan forgiveness and the answer is unquestionably yes, okay? I hope that’s pretty straight forward.”
“Well you say people can look at money by numbers in a lot of different ways and the Penn Wharton model says it’s gonna cost $1 trillion. So it’s simply not true.”
“Hold on, hold on, I’m not going to let you do the thing where you recast what I said totally differently,” he said. “What I’m saying is very straightforward. We are reducing the budget deficit both in this year and last year far more, multiples more than the cost of student loan debt forgiveness. Very simple, very straightforward fact, so I just want to be sure that’s on the table.”
MacCallum then turned to the legality of the policy, in which Bernstein argued the post-9/11 law, the “HEROES Act,” allows for them to enforce the loan forgiveness. The law was first proposed in 2003 to grant debt relief for military members serving the U.S. in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The anchor argued there may be legal challenges to the administration enacting the policy under the post-9/11 law.
I still can’t figure out why Snowflakes and Evil Princesses who got Pell grants are getting 20 grand. It doesn’t make sense. I need some help here.
“Bernstein... claiming the cost will be closer to $24 billion.” -— That is obviously a lie.
Reduced deficit by comparing pandemic years budgets.
“The question on the table is is it accurate to say that we are reducing the deficit more than the cost of student loan forgiveness and the answer is unquestionably yes, okay?
Unquestionably??? I question that very much so.
Pell Grants are federal dollars loaned (liability), so by taking $20k off every loan (credit) it actually helps “balance the books” and they will tout it as “lowering the deficit” later to pay for things
I believe it is because the majority of Pell grant recipients are minorities/ people of color who were most at-risk with debt.
This administration is Beavis and Butthead selling each other candy bars for their school fundraiser. End result, no money and no candy.
It sounds like just another Feddie scam to me. Biden needs his ass kicked for this unconstitutional scam.
You forgot the Dreamers.
Not sure what the argument is??????
It’s unconstitutional and unAmerican to boot.
Biden is spending like a drunken sailor. How is he reducing the deficit the way this guy claims?
I’ll tell you who is never gonna pay for this:
the public schools that can do such a poor job educating that folks may often have to take remedial classes once in college to be brought up to where they should have already been;
the universities requiring fluff Woke classes (indoctrination) that drive up costs;
the professors (who may be writing articles no one ever cites) selling overpriced text books no one would otherwise ever read, much less buy;
and the folks pushing educations in “disciplines” that are not marketable and in a sane world would be considered either fancy hobbies or things people with means to pay would go for after they’ve been working;
the Democrats being generous with other people’s money.
That’s a good starting list....
When the Biden administration meets it’s a liars club meeting.
Using the Hero’s act to make this legal is just about as corrupt as it gets. These people are despicable.
Alinsky: use their laws and rules against them.
Martha McCallum (and most politicians) simply don’t understand where money comes from. She makes the mistake of thinking that the Federal Government has to operate economically like states, businesses, and individual households.
The Feds have a superpower through the Federal Reseserve to create as much money as they need. They can never become insolvent or default on bonds because they are “borrowing” their own currency that they create. The Federal Reserve could cancel the entire deficit with a few keystrokes if they wanted to.
They don’t need our tax money to pay for anything. The only reason they have laws to make people pay taxes is to force them to use the dollars they created to pay their legally required taxes. It also allows the Federal government to control inflation and recession by adjusting the tax rates.
This is a secret the politicians don’t want people to know because they get elected by receiving donations from their donors who use them to direct the Federal spending to their preferred groups of voters. It would be much harder to actually determine what types of spending are really needed to advance the wellbeing of the nation. This would take vision and leadership which is discouraged by the current game in Washington.
Bernstein’s a moron.
Good on Martha, making amends for her election day screw up.
Earlier this year, pr maybe late last year, I heard a report that these two were wanting to back homes with over a million.
I love hearing the administration answer the question: How is this paid for? It should be asked repeatedly until someone actually says something coherent and not totally laughable.
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