Clive Crook, Columnist

Biden’s Debt Relief Plan Will Make American Politics Worse

Forgiving student loans is unfair and divisive, and could backfire on Democrats in November.

August 26, 2022 at 12:30 PM UTC

Clive Crook is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and member of the editorial board covering economics. Previously, he was deputy editor of the Economist and chief Washington commentator for the Financial Times.

The president may come to regret this. — The president may come to regret this.
Photographer: STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP

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President Joe Biden’s student-debt plan is bad policy in too many ways to count. But is it also bad politics? Apparently he and his advisers think not, given that he announced this initiative just before the midterm elections. No disrespect to their expertise, but I wonder if they have miscalculated.

Consider the substance first. The exact cost of forgiving up to $20,000 of student debt for millions of eligible borrowers and capping monthly repayments for a different (overlapping) group is impossible to know, given that all the rules haven’t been set out. But it will likely be $500 billion or more.