President Biden may be leaving office in January, but it appears he is not giving up on his student loan forgiveness plans, despite repeated pushback from the courts. The latest setback for Biden came last week, when a federal appeals court halted his latest student debt forgiveness scheme---the so-called SAVE plan---amidst a legal challenge from several states. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Biden's original debt forgiveness plan, ruling he doesn't have the authority to do it without Congress.
And yet, Biden has pushed on, forgiving billions as part of another plan even as that, too was challenged in court. Aside from the legal challenges, critics say these loan forgiveness plans are ethically and morally wrong. "It's un-American," says Kevin O'Leary, investor and host of Shark Tank, in a recent interview on Fox News. "There are many people who already paid back their student loans, those in the future who may still not get this, people who never got to go to college because they thought they couldn't afford it...it's so unfair."
O'Leary also believes this sets a terrible precedent and example for younger generations. "We teach everybody in America that you have to pay back your debts, but not you five million people," he says. "You're off the hook? Why?"
If Biden's loan forgiveness plans are allowed to proceed, economists estimate they will add at least $160 billion to the national debt and further drive up the skyrocketing price of higher education. "There's no way this isn't inflationary," says O'Leary. "This is free money from a helicopter when we're trying to tame inflation...this just makes it worse."
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