Paul Krugman argues 'student debt relief isn't elitist' in New York Times column

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Paul Krugman says US is not in a recession, suggests 'negativity bias' in economic media coverage

New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman said Sunday that the U.S. is not in a recession and that the term does not matter.

In his latest column, "Why Student Debt Relief Isn't Elitist," New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman argued on Monday that President Biden's student loan debt handout was not just going to benefit an elite few.

"In short, student debt relief isn’t some kind of niche elite concern; it’s a broad, one might even say populist, issue," Krugman wrote, adding that "Republican attacks" were likely to "fall flat."

Krugman argued that the response to Biden's plan coming from the right was "tone deaf." 

"And that pervasiveness is why Republicans’ attacks on President Biden’s debt-relief policy — which they generally portray as a giveaway either to privileged elites or to lazy spendthrifts — are likely to fall flat," Krugman wrote. 

AMERICANS ALREADY REACTING TO BIDEN'S STUDENT LOAN HANDOUT PLAN: 'HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS'

U.S. President Joe Biden greets people on South Lawn after arriving on Marine One from a trip to Delaware at the White House in Washington, U.S., August 24, 2022. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)

He said that Biden's plan would help "as many as 43 million Americans" and that it was "not a small, cosseted elite."

"What this means is that even if you subscribe to the Trump diner theory of politics — according to which the only voters who matter are blue-collar guys wearing baseball caps — you should be aware that some of those guys probably took out loans to attend trade schools or community colleges, all too often getting nothing but debt in return. Even among those who didn’t take out student loans, many probably have children, siblings, cousins or friends who did. So the Biden plan will touch many people," the New York Times columnist wrote. 

Biden announced on Wednesday that he would cancel $10,000 of federal student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.

He said another aspect of the conservative response "involves invoking personal responsibility" and "portraying the recipients of debt relief as welfare queens." 

Krugman noted Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who said on his podcast recently that "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." 

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, speaks during the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. Photographer: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

HARRIS DODGES QUESTION ON WHO WILL PAY FOR STUDENT LOAN HANDOUT

Krugman said that Cruz's comments and anything similar was "not smart." 

"Furthermore, many of the most prominent critics of debt relief are almost comically out of touch, hypocritical, or both. Actually, scratch the 'almost,'" Krugamn claimed in his column. 

The liberal columnist also noted that Biden's plan did not address the root problem, the high cost of college. He added that free community college was part of Biden's original Build Back Better bill, which did not pass through Congress. 

POCANTICO HILLS, NY - OCTOBER 21:  Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times Opinion columnist Paul Krugman attends The New York Times Food For Tomorrow Conference 2015 at Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture on October 21, 2015 in Pocantico Hills City.  (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for the New York Times)

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"He is, however, offering some real help to millions of Americans — and Republicans clearly have no idea how to respond," Krugman concluded. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., responded to criticism coming from Democrats about Biden's plan. Many Democrats have come out against Biden's plan, arguing that it doesn't do anything to help the high cost of college. 

"In a sense that criticism is correct," Sanders said on Sunday.