Thursday’s Morning JoeWillie Geist, the replacement host, seemed surprisingly skeptical about Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.
Geist was the first to be criticised. Elise Jordan from MSNBC Republican, who is normally on the side of Democrats, also took part. I guess It doesn’t tackle the problem of higher education cartel, which I find irritating. This basically means that money is being infused into a corrupt system of higher education. At this point,” she stated.
The opposition also featured a variety of ex-Democratic officials. Steve Rattner was the former Obama auto czar. Morning Joe‘s economic analyst, spoke against the proposal. “I think, The biggest problem is fairness (…). Your family is not the only one who works hard. They took an extra job in order to pay their tuition. He said.
Perhaps most amazingly, the show had as a guest Megan McArdle, an actual unreconstructed libertarian, who of course was very critical of the proposal.
Al Sharpton and the other defenders of this proposal were on the panel. Sharpton claimed that he really wanted $50,000 in forgiveness, rather than the $10-20,000. Biden’s plan offers. Mike Barnicle claimed that Republican criticisms must be totally ignored. He called them “preposterous”
But, contrary to Barnicle’s claim that Republican criticisms are “preposterous, those criticisms focused on the issue of fairness. That is why most critics, from every political party, focus on fairness. As Geist put it:
Und Rattner suggested, however that the Fairness Backlash to Biden’s Plan could result in the formation of something like the Tea Party. Rattner reminded us that the Tea Party was founded in 2009 by Rick Santelli, CNBC’s host of an epic row about who is responsible for our home loans. He contrasts it with the large government bailout for those who have defaulted.
Will Willie be allowed to play while Joe and Mika go on vacation? Will he have more control over the issue and will he take a less adamant approach?
Geist saved some street cred by saying that the segment ended with 43 million people having a bit more success in their day.
Morning Joe is surprised at Biden’s student-loan forgiveness program. It was sponsored by Subway and Abbott, makers of Rinvoq.
You can find the transcription here.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
8/25/22
6:02 am EDT
JOE BIDDEN: These actions will bring real benefits to families, without having an impact on inflation, according to independent experts.
WILLIE GEIST – The party lines dictated the reaction to Capitol Hill.
ELIZABETH WAREN Let’s have a celebration We understand that 20 million Americans received the good news that they won’t have to spend another penny on student loans.
RO KHANNA: These are young people trying to survive. So to demand them to repay their student loans now in such a tough economy is absurd.
AYANNA PRESSLEY : It is a remarkable step that will ease people’s burden.
MITCH McCONELL: This is a terrible idea. It will be loved by all who benefit. It is fair, but is that fair for all?
J.D. VANCE: This is exactly what it is. A massive bailout to people who made poor economic decisions.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE This is completely unfair. It’s unfair to hardworking individuals to have to take out huge student loan repayments for someone who went to Ivy League college.
. . .
AL SHARPTON : This was a campaign promise and will definitely be a relief to millions. It is definitely a move in the right direction we desired for this president. Many of us voted to send him there. Now, Did we ask him to do more? Yes. Yes. Yes. However, he has done it more often than anyone. . . Although I would have loved to raise $50,000, I am happy that we were able to get $10,000.
. . .
GEIST: This isn’t just a problem for Republicans. There are many working people and Democrats as well as independents that feel they have to foot the bill.
. . .
MIKE BARNICLE – It’s incredible that he managed to do it so quickly, considering the current divisions that are evident in our country. It will be surrounded by all the noise and excitement. First, you should consider just this: It is impossible to ignore critics like J.D. Vance and Marjorie Taylor Greene were the ones we saw in this clip. Their criticisms are absurd.
. . .
ELISE JORDAN – I think The thing I dislike about this is the fact that it does not address higher-education corruption. It basically infuses money into a system of higher education that is fundamentally corrupt. This is the final point. Look at the amount. The tuition rate has risen by a whopping 80% —
BARNICLE: Obscene.
JORDAN: — For the last 20-30 years. My college tuition was three times what it was 20-years ago.
GEIST: Yeah.
JORDAN : It’s completely absurd. It doesn’t accomplish anything, and it’s unavailable to the vast majority of Americans. It’s just, This is absolutely absurd.
GEIST: The other fact is that many of the schools in question have endowments worth billions to billions of dollars.
JORDAN: Exactly.
GEIST: Collecting interest for future generations . . There are legal, moral and economic reasons that this is not the best way to forgive student debt. In fact, last year, Even Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that the president of the United States doesn’t have the power to cancel any debt.
NANCY PELOSI Some people believe the United States president has the authority to forgo debt forgiveness. He does not. He has the option to postpone. He can delay. He does not possess that ability. It would. That must be an act by Congress.
GEIST – That was last July. The Wall Street Journal quoted a top Obama-era lawyer who said it’s unlikely that courts will allow the case to proceed.
Former President Barack Obama is the most prominent economic figure. [Clinton]Larry Summers, Treasury Secretary, is just one example of the many. Inflation will be increased by cancelling student loans and encouraging colleges raise tuition.
This was tweeted by a former economic advisor to President Obama, It is foolish to pour approximately half-trillion dollars worth of gasoline onto the already flaming inflationary flames.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board sees it as a moral risk and has written in part about its danger. The tens or millions of Americans that didn’t attend college or paid off their debts, skimmed and saved, or chose to study at lower cost schools in order to stay out of the debt trap, will be paying for this writeoff. It is the college graduates bailout. FedEx drivers and plumbers pay for it.
. . .
STEVEN RATTNER: It seems, The biggest problem is fairness. As you mentioned in several other conversations. The other half who do not go to college aren’t able to reap the benefits. This is what people like you and your family did. They worked hard to get their kids to college.In terms of who benefits and who loses, there are significant questions regarding fairness.
Megan, the piece you are looking for in the GEIST Washington PostThis article is entitled “Biden’s Student Loan Fix: Perfect for Making the Problem Worse.” Many people feel like they are suckers this morning.For having had a second job, or for paying off student loans, or going to college they believed they could afford, versus one that would cost them 20 to 30 years. Let’s see what your argument is. Your argument in opposition to this is what’s the crux of it all?
MEGAN. MCARDLE. Look, Mr. Rattner is right. This is problematic for many reasons. People who work hard to get rid of debt and to send their kids to school are affected by this.
It will also create the need for further bailouts. Right? Just look at all the college graduates next year. The income-based payments they receive are reduced to 5%. However, they aren’t getting $10,000. Then they will look at it and see that tuition is still increasing. This is absurd. The administration will respond by saying, “What about me?”
It’s creating a lot of pressure for people to do this all the time, which is not solving it. You’re not only not going to fix the rising college cost problem, it is actually making matters worse.
. . .
GEIST – Rev, can you answer the fairness questions? Megan, I will let you handle it. The majority of Americans are not able to get a four year college degree. You’re thinking, Wait, what? Why do I pay for college-educated people that took out huge loans and had those wiped out by tax increases. This means that half a trillion dollars could be needed to fund it. How do you respond to this?
SHARPTON : Yes, that is what I meant. However, many would also say that they are glad to know other people won’t need to suffer what mine did.
. . .
RATTNER. You may recall that in 2009 we passed homeowner relief of $75 billion as part of our response to the financial crisis. The day following, Rick Santelli, a CNBC journalist, went to the Chicago MERC and began a rant which turned into the Tea Party. It was about fairness. The question of someone who bought a house that he could not afford and accumulated too many mortgage payments, went to Disney World, etc., was also raised. Now, the government is helping him out. A responsible person.
According to the Rev, this is an entirely different problem in the sense that college students have borrowed money for their education. That’s responsible and reasonable. This basic issue of fairness which gave rise to Tea Party will be something we’ll hear much about in the days ahead.
. . .
GEIST: It will be interesting to see what happens. It will mean that 43 million people have an easier day.
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