TED CRUZ was quick to be part of the critics of Joe Biden for his plan to cancel student debts of up to $10,000 through executive action. In a new episode of his podcast, called “Verdict“, he analyzed with Michael Knowles the implications that such policy could have on the electoral scenario.
The Texas senator began his remarks by saying that he agrees 100% with the argument expressed by Nancy Pelosi, who recently stated that “People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress.”
“But when’s the last time Nancy and I agreed?” Cruz asked chuckling
He then took a sheet of paper and, in the best teaching style, he began to dictate key statistics in order to understand the dimension of the impact that Biden’s plan could have if implemented.
“According to Brookings the left-wing think tank the immediate income of households with student loans is 76 400. only 7 of those are below the poverty. But look they’ve gone to college or grad school so that tends to move you up in the income ski strata to begin with,” Cruz remarked.
“If you exclude the people who aren’t making any payments and you focus just on those making payments on their loans the median income is 86.500, so that’s starting to get up there and only 4 percent are in poverty. Overall, the top 40 percent of American households hold 60 percent of the student loans,” He added.
Ted Cruz, Grampa Simpson, and Joe Biden’s forgiveness of student debt
Looking back, Cruz compared Biden’s student debt forgiveness to an old Simpsons episode. “I’m reminded of one of my favorite Simpsons episodes, where grampa Simpsons has been getting checks for I think it was having like itchy and scratchy cartoon or something and he hadn’t done, it was a mistake. And Lisa says ‘well grandpa, didn’t you think it was strange that you were getting checks in the mail for not having done anything’ and he says ‘no, Lisa, I just figured the democrats were back in power.'”
The Texan also predicted two possible scenarios regarding voter acceptance of the executive order. The first one consists of total rejection by the people on the street and he exemplified with a viral video in which a voter was arguing with Elizabeth Warren about the forgiveness of student debt, one of the pillars of the senator’s presidential campaign.
The second is somewhat more auspicious for the ruling party and its logic is based on the following: “it may be a political master stroke, why is that that there’s a school of thought and economics that’s called ‘public choice theory’, and public choice theory examines how decision-making is made in a democratic society. What it focuses on is when you have a relatively small group with a concentrated benefit and you have a large group with a diffuse harm, the small group cares a lot about it and the large group typically doesn’t. So look, there is a real risk if you are that slacker barista who wasted seven years in college studying completely useless things now has loans and can’t get a job, Joe Biden just gave you 20 grand.”
The Texas senator assured that the taxpayers who will have to pay for this policy may not feel the extra burden on their shoulders.
Cruz also said that student debt forgiveness “could drive up turnout particularly among young people and the people who are getting screwed it’s not necessarily the case that they understand they’re getting screwed. It’s a little more diffuse of I’m paying taxes but it’s not like you get a Bill in October, ‘Dear Michael send in your two thousand one hundred dollars to pay for um slacker boys loans getting forgiven,'” he concluded.
Joaquín Núñez es licenciado en comunicación periodística por la Universidad Católica Argentina. Se especializa en el escenario internacional y en la política nacional norteamericana. Confeso hincha de Racing Club de Avellaneda. Contacto: [email protected] // Joaquín Núñez has a degree in journalistic communication from the Universidad Católica Argentina. He specializes in the international scene and national American politics. Confessed fan of Racing Club of Avellaneda. Contact: [email protected]