Obama’s Top Economist Shreds Biden Student Debt Relief Plan: ‘Worse’ Than ‘Reckless’

Jason Furman, the one-time chief economist to former President Barack Obama, criticized President Joe Biden’s sweeping student loan forgiveness plan Wednesday.

The White House announced individual loan borrowers earning less than $125,000 annually will receive $10,000 in debt forgiveness. The same goes for borrowers who are married and whose household income is less than $250,000 per year.

For borrowers who have received PELL Grants, the amount being forgiven doubles to $20,000. The White House is also reforming long-criticized, income-driven repayment plan rates.

The decision has been months, if not more than a year, in the making. It is being celebrated by student debt relief advocates, but criticized by many Republicans and some Democrats, given the country’s sky-high inflation.

One prominent critic was Furman, who argued the forgiveness, which might be somewhere in the ballpark of $300,000,000, is “reckless,” if not “worse.”

“Pouring roughly half trillion dollars of gasoline on the inflationary fire that is already burning is reckless,” tweeted Furman. “

Doing it while going well beyond one campaign promise ($10K of student loan relief) and breaking another (all proposals paid for) is even worse.”

Furman elaborated in subsequent tweets.

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