A failed Democratic congressional candidate-turned "educator" learned a tough lesson from Twitter about Big Government money that grade-school children are taught in social studies class: Where do federal government funds come from? Government 101 teaches you that federal revenue is collected from taxes. It's a beginner concept that advocates of student debt "cancellation" must have forgotten as the Biden administration plans to "cancel" $10,000 in student loans for lower-income borrowers amid a pandemic-era moratorium on payments.
CLAIM: Over the weekend, self-described "thought leader" Nina Turner tweeted: "FYI—Student debt cancelation isn't paid for by the taxpayers, the federal government is the lender. It's costlier for the government to hold on to the debt." Turner, an ex-Ohio state Senate member who just lost her Democratic primary in her bid for Congress, was promptly given a crash course on the U.S. government by thousands of Twitter users.
FYI—Student debt cancelation isn’t paid for by the taxpayers, the federal government is the lender.
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) August 21, 2022
It’s costlier for the government to hold on to the debt.
A ratio of roasting came for Turner since the Sunday morning tweet, mocking the progressive activist for not understanding "how basic math works," that money doesn't grow on trees, and that the source of federal government funding is hard-earned taxpayer dollars. And as Kyle Becker of Becker News explained it succinctly, the government is not some kind of magical wish-granting "money fairy;" government officials, who are public servants employed by the American people in service of its citizens, act as "bookkeepers."
FACTS: There are quite a few logical fallacies in Turner's repeated argument to "cancel" student debt.
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Turner believes that "student debt is a tax on the poor and working poor who dared go to college to break the cycle of poverty!" Skilled laborers who went to trade school instead of a brand-name university would beg to differ after they've saved tens of thousands yet still make more than a gender studies professor. Still, it's blue-collar workers footing the bill. You don't need a college degree to understand that taking out a loan will cost someone money. Just like government-funded healthcare isn't "free," calling student loan forgiveness "a cancellation" of debt is a rather euphemistic phrase for reaching deep into another person's pockets. Why should an overworked carpenter pay for an aspiring film critic's course load on contemporary rom-coms?
REMINDER—student debt is a tax on the poor and working poor who dared go to college to break the cycle of poverty!
— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) August 17, 2022
The left has framed student loan "cancellation," which should really be called student debt transferral, as a pathway to close the wealth gap in America. But it has disproportionate benefits that America's top earners would profit the most from. According to an analysis by the liberal Brookings Institute think tank based on Federal Reserve data, the top 40 percent of U.S. households with incomes above $74,000 would reap the rewards even though the same demographic owes almost 60 percent of the outstanding educational debt and make almost three-quarters of the payments. Compare these figures to the lowest-income (40 percent of households) holding just under 20 percent of the outstanding debt and making only 10 percent of the payments.
The coastal elites who measure societal success in college credits don't think there should be direct punishment for taking on an expense you can't manage. If the consequences disappear, students won't practice or learn financial responsibility first-hand. Someone still is being punished, though. If all federal student loans were forgiven, taxpayers certainly wouldn't be off the hook. Such a policy going into effect would be a bailout of the very tax bracket that Democrats complain doesn't pay its fair share: the rich. So, in essence, the transfer of financial burden would provide a major tax cut to the Americans that progressives want to be paying more in taxes. Meanwhile, borrowers have been afforded many months of paid vacation from loan bills.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, borrowers have enjoyed almost two years of payment suspension, set to expire soon on Aug. 31 and will force loanees to pay up again. But the Biden administration announced on Wednesday an extension, until December 31. The announcement comes after the administration has already provided a galore of $32 billion in "forgiveness" since President Biden entered the White House.
RATING: Turner's claim that taxpayers won't be burdened by student loan "cancellation" is FALSE.
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