Michael Hiltzik: Would forgiving student debt drive up inflation? Only if you're using lousy math

With a deadline looming in less than two weeks for President Biden to decide what to do about student debt, it shouldn't be surprising that conservatives have been agitating with increasing intensity against relief for the borrowers.

Among their principal arguments recently is that debt relief would be inflationary.

The deficit hawks at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, for example, fretted last week that forgiving even $10,000 in student debt per borrower would be so inflationary that it would destroy a decade's worth of inflation reduction from Biden's newly enacted Inflation Reduction Act.

A bill filed by Republican members of Congress Elise Stefanik of New York, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina and Jason Smith of Missouri cites canceling student debt as among "harmful economic policies" by the Biden administration that have "exacerbated inflation and led to skyrocketing prices."

I've written about before. The inflation angle is relatively new, however, presumably because inflation is top of mind for voters as we approach the midterm elections. It's