We’re doomed. Let’s call it what it is – a bribe to the youngest demographic of voters and a sop to black and brown voters. Joe Biden’s decision to cancel student loan debt was bone-headed at best, cynical at worst. To make a bad decision even worse – Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Jill Biden ( that’s Dr. Jill to you) advised the dazed and confused president not to do it. Instead of listening to a couple of people who might actually know a little something about the subject, Joe Biden decided to listen to Kamala Harris. That’s right. Biden acted on Kamala’s advice.

Also playing starring roles in the decision-making process were Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Massachusetts senator formerly known as Fauxcahontas, Elizabeth Warren. There’s no team of rivals approach being used in the Biden administration. There is only progressive and more progressive deliberation going on. This is why Biden has wrecked just about everything in just eighteen months time.

Ed wrote about how poorly this latest assault on American taxpayers was rolled out without any real plan in place. The administration still won’t answer how much this will cost, three days after the announcement was made, because they just don’t know. No one seems to have bothered to put those pesky details together. The White House press secretary, a blithering idiot, has failed to answer the question in press briefings since Thursday. FNC’s Peter Doocy did manage to get an honest answer from the Secretary of Education, though Secretary Cardona obviously stumbled into it. Doocy asked if there was any benefit for American taxpayers in the debt cancellation and Cardona simply responded, “No.”

The New York Times reports that Chuck Schumer lobbied Biden for student loan cancellation on Air Force One during a flight back to D.C. after a visit to Buffalo where a mass shooting occurred at a local grocery store. Schumer reminded Biden that it was a campaign promise he made and should keep. Biden was worried that it would benefit rich white students (it will) and Schumer reassured him “the vast majority are poor people and people of color” who would benefit from the debt cancelation. No one should ever take Schumer’s word for anything.

Mr. Biden’s deliberations on the student loan issue underscored his reluctance to fully embrace the progressive agenda of his Democratic rivals during the 2020 presidential primaries. But they also revealed his willingness to change his mind and his desire to be seen as an advocate of the middle class.

As he finished making the announcement on Wednesday, Mr. Biden was asked by a reporter whether it was fair to those who had already paid back their student loans.

“Is it fair to people who in fact do not own a multibillion-dollar business if they see one of these guys give them all a tax break?” Mr. Biden snapped back, referring to Republican tax cuts in 2017. “Is that fair?”

That is a standard talking point made by Democrats about tax cuts. The truth is that Trump’s tax cuts benefitted all segments of the population and the economy took off like a rocket. The numbers prove it. The cancellation of student debt, though, only benefits those who qualify. Every American taxpayer is on the hook for Biden’s unconstitutional and likely illegal action. At this point we have to hope that the cancellations will be legally challenged.

Biden’s advisers have been warning against this since the spring of 2021. Janet Yellen told Biden that cancellation of student loans might free up consumer spending and that will increase inflation even higher than it is now, which is a 40 year high. Even Jill Biden advised against it. She’s all about free community college but even she knows better than to agree with student loan debt cancellation. Yellen looks at it with an eye on the economic impact of the decision. Jill looks at the political implications. As we have seen since Biden’s announcement, no one is happy except for some who think they will qualify and receive $10,000 to $20,000.

White House's @BharatRamamurti says the application for student debt cancelation will be made available "in early October"

He adds borrowers should expect 4-6 weeks from that point to when relief arrives

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) August 26, 2022

Ah, yes. Just in time for the midterm elections in November. Could it be any more obvious? Of course, that assumes all goes smoothly for Team Biden and we know that never happens. This administration is big on announcements and not so much on follow-through or execution. Elizabeth Warren and her ilk are complaining that Biden has to do more – give them an inch and they take a mile – while moderate Democrats and those Democrats in tough re-election races are angry that Biden did this before the midterms. All Republicans are against it. Biden’s closest political advisers are divided, too.

The president ultimately chose to ignore their advice – after being cajoled on the subject by Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in favor of loan cancelations.

Mike Donilon, one of Biden’s closest political advisers, told him polling showed Americans were split on the issue.

Yet Ron Klain, his chief of staff, said it could be a popular move with younger voters, heading into the midterms.

One of the most ‘persistent’ supporters of debt relief was the vice president, Kamala Harris.

In February she tasked her team with creating a memo detailing Biden’s concerns about debt relief and countering them one by one, The New York Times said.

The Penn-Wharton School of Business puts the cost at up to $1 trillion. Thanks, Joe and Kamala. See you in November.