Former Fed chair Ben Bernanke says nixing student loan debt 'would be very unfair'



Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke said that cancelling student loan debt would be unfair.

"It would be very unfair to eliminate. Many of the people who have large amounts of student debt are professionals who are going to go on and make lots of money in their lifetime. So why would we be favoring them over somebody who didn’t go to college, for example?" Bernanke said, according to the New York Times.

President Joe Biden said last month that he is "considering dealing with some debt reduction," though he added that $50,000 debt reduction is not on the table — some Democrats have pushed for Biden to nix up to $50,000 of federal student loan debt per person.

Pres. Biden on student loan forgiveness: "I am not considering $50,000 debt reduction but I am in the process of taking a hard look" at some student debt forgiveness. \n\nHe adds he'll have an answer "in the next coming weeks."pic.twitter.com/R78gMrWy8Q
— CBS News (@CBS News) 1651165155

But the concept of wiping out some or all student debt obligations remains deeply polarizing. Debt forgiveness would not benefit those who have already worked diligently to pay off their own student loans or the millions of Americans who chose not to attend college.

"I just worked my butt off to pay off my very expensive student loans a few months ago. If Biden forgives student loans, I’m going to be livid," Kassy Dillon tweeted last month, expressing a viewpoint likely shared by many others who scraped to pay off their student debt.

"Biden essentially wants blue-collar workers like truck drivers — who didn't have the luxury of going to college to get drunk for four years — to bail out a bunch of upper-middle-class kids who chose to spend tens of thousands of dollars that they didn't have on worthless gender study degrees," Donald Trump Jr. said, according to the Washington Post.

Progressive Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has responded to a question about how cancelling student debt would benefit those who have already paid off their debts: "I've said it before and I'll say it again: Not every program has to be for everybody. People with apartments pay for first time homeowner benefits. Young people pay for Medicare for our seniors. People who take public transit pay for car infrastructure," Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

"Maybe student loan forgiveness doesn't impact you. That doesn't make it bad. I am sure there are certainly other things that student loan borrowers' taxes pay for. We can do good things and reject the scarcity mindset that says doing something good for someone else comes at the cost of something for ourselves.

"An example: If a person is blessed enough to be in a position to have paid off their loans, maybe they have a home now and benefitted from first time homeowners programs that people crushed by student loans help subsidize when they aren't able to buy a home because of student debt. It all comes around. It's okay. We can support things we won't directly benefit from," the congresswoman concluded.

On Instagram, @RepAOC gives a straightforward answer to the question: What about those who already paid off their student loans? Her answer: \u201cIt all comes around.\u201dpic.twitter.com/4mk3GWkgp1
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@Philip Melanchthon Wegmann) 1651429786
Mario Tama/Getty Images

'Not every program has to be for everybody': AOC responds to question about how student debt forgiveness would benefit those who have already paid off their loans



In response to a question about how student debt cancellation would benefit people who have already paid off their loans, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) suggested that while individuals who have already paid down their student debt will not benefit from debt cancellation, they might benefit from another program — "It all comes around," she wrote.

On Instagram, @RepAOC gives a straightforward answer to the question: What about those who already paid off their student loans? Her answer: \u201cIt all comes around.\u201dpic.twitter.com/4mk3GWkgp1
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@Philip Melanchthon Wegmann) 1651429786

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: Not every program has to be for everybody. People with apartments pay for first time homeowner benefits. Young people pay for Medicare for our seniors. People who take public transit pay for car infrastructure," Ocasio-Cortez noted.

"Maybe student loan forgiveness doesn't impact you. That doesn't make it bad. I am sure there are certainly other things that student loan borrowers' taxes pay for. We can do good things and reject the scarcity mindset that says doing something good for someone else comes at the cost of something for ourselves.

"An example: If a person is blessed enough to be in a position to have paid off their loans, maybe they have a home now and benefitted from first time homeowners programs that people crushed by student loans help subsidize when they aren't able to buy a home because of student debt. It all comes around. It's okay. We can support things we won't directly benefit from," the congresswoman concluded.

Last week, the president said that he is "considering dealing with some debt reduction," though he indicated that forgiving $50,000 of debt is not on the table — many Democrats have advocated for Biden to nix up to $50,000 of federal student loan debt per borrower.

Pres. Biden on student loan forgiveness: "I am not considering $50,000 debt reduction but I am in the process of taking a hard look" at some student debt forgiveness. \n\nHe adds he'll have an answer "in the next coming weeks."pic.twitter.com/R78gMrWy8Q
— CBS News (@CBS News) 1651165155

"Canceling $50,000 in debt is where you really make a dent in inequality and the racial wealth gap. $10,000 isn't," Ocasio-Cortez said, according to the Washington Post.

But a move to cancel any amount of student loan debt would likely be highly controversial because many Americans would be outraged such a policy.

"I just worked my butt off to pay off my very expensive student loans a few months ago. If Biden forgives student loans, I’m going to be livid," Kassy Dillon tweeted last week.

But while many people would likely share Dillon's sentiments on the issue, Democrats continue calling for Biden to cancel student debt.

"Canceling student loan debt for working- and middle-class Americans is the right thing to do," Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California asserted in an opinion piece. "No one should be prevented from pursuing higher education because they can’t afford the financial burden it poses. Furthermore, it makes economic sense: Relief from student debt would help young people buy homes, build wealth and otherwise grow our economy."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls for US to ditch 'absurdly cruel' embargo on Cuba



Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) issued a statement Thursday night in which she expressed support for the Cuban people and decried "anti-democratic actions" led by Cuba President Miguel Díaz-Canel, while also calling for an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba which she described as "absurdly cruel."

"We are seeing Cubans rise up and protest for their rights like never before. We stand in solidarity with them, and we condemn the anti-democratic actions led by President Díaz-Canel. The suppression of the media, speech and protest are all gross violations of civil rights," Ocasio-Cortez said in the statement.

But then the Democratic lawmaker who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2019 went on to say that the embargo should be eliminated and to claim that "cruelty is the point" of the embargo.

"We must also name the U.S. contribution to Cuban suffering: our sixty-year-old embargo. Last month, once again, the U.N. voted overwhelmingly to call on the United States to lift its embargo on Cuba. The embargo is absurdly cruel and, like too many other U.S. policies targeting Latin Americans, the cruelty is the point. I outright reject the Biden administration's defense of the embargo. It is never acceptable for us to use cruelty as a point of leverage against every day people," she declared.

We stand in solidarity with the Cuban people and condemn the suppression of the media, speech and protest. We als… https://t.co/R8fr6dQKeC

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) 1626394170.0

The congresswoman's statement comes after Black Lives Matter recently issued a statement calling for the U.S. to lift the embargo.

"Black Lives Matter condemns the U.S. federal government's inhumane treatment of Cubans, and urges it to immediately lift the economic embargo. This cruel and inhumane policy, instituted with the explicit intention of destabilizing the country and undermining Cubans' right to choose their own government, is at the heart of Cuba's current crisis. Since 1962, the United States has forced pain and suffering on the people of Cuba by cutting off food, medicine and supplies, costing the tiny island nation an estimated $130 billion," the statement began.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is a child of Cuban immigrants, said in a tweet Thursday that socialism, not an embargo, is to blame for Cubans' suffering.

"The U.S. is the largest provider of food to #Cuba & each year sends $275 million in medicine & $3 billion in remittances to relatives," the senator tweeted. "The suffering in Cuba isn't because of an embargo,it's because socialism always leads to suffering."

In another tweet, Rubio shared an image of an article titled, "After widespread protests, Cuban government lifts restrictions to import food, medicines."

In his tweet, Rubio commented: "Wait… #Cuba had restrictions on importing food & medicine? How can that be? All week long the national media has been reporting it's the US embargo restricting food & medicine to Cuba. There is just no way these fine journalists would fall for the regimes spin that easily."

Wait… #Cuba had restrictions on importing food & medicine? How can that be? All week long the national media ha… https://t.co/b2sj0NsLRn

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) 1626385980.0