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    Go Ahead, Forgive Student Debt

    Debt forgiveness is not the best form of stimulus available. But Joe Biden shouldn’t waver.
    by Annie Lowrey Nov 21, 2020 5 minutes
    Source: Shutterstock / Getty / The Atlantic

    President-elect Joe Biden could conjure a sweeping financial-relief policy into existence on the first day of his presidency, without the participation of Congress, the Federal Reserve, or any other institution. That is, he could forgive student loans.

    On Monday, Biden said that loan forgiveness figures into his plan to rev up the American economy, citing a provision in the House’s stalled-out HEROES Act that would pay off $10,000 a person in student loans. Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, and Senator Elizabeth Warren are pushing the incoming administration to forgive up to $50,000 a person in federal student-loan debt. That would completely eliminate the burden of three in four borrowers.

    That kind of radical provision might not be the best form of stimulus available. Nor would it fix the country’s crushing student-loan crisis, or

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