来源：《华盛顿邮报》
原文刊登日期：2022年5月31日
With sagging poll numbers and midterm elections months away, senior Democrats have pressed President Biden to wipe away huge amounts of student debt — $50,000 per person — which, they argue, the law allows the president to do with a wave of his hand. Mr. Biden has properly resisted such a giveaway, which would lavish federal aid on many wealthy college graduates.
随着民调数字的下降和中期选举在几个月后到来，资深民主党人向拜登总统施压，要求他免除巨额学生债务——每人5万美元——他们认为，法律允许总统挥挥手就可以做到这一点。拜登先生正确地抵制了这样的大放送，因为这将把联邦援助浪费在许多富有的大学毕业生身上。
Until, perhaps, now. After months of uncertainty, it is reported that Mr. Biden is poised to announce a student debt plan that is not as spectacularly bad as the ideas some other Democrats have pushed. But that is not much of a distinction; the president’s apparent plan would still be an expensive and inequitable election-year stunt.
也许直到现在。在经历了数月的不确定性之后，据报道，拜登准备宣布一项学生债务计划，该计划不像其他民主党人提出的想法那样糟糕。但并没有太大的区别；总统似乎要实施的计划仍然是一个昂贵且不公平的选举年噱头。
Mr. Biden’s reported policy would forgive $10,000 in student debt per person. Erasing $10,000 rather than $50,000 per borrower would be a nod toward those who point out that eliminating large amounts of student debt would cost the government huge sums of money. Mr. Biden’s plan would also limit debt forgiveness to individuals earning less than $150,000 per year or couples earning less than $300,000, heading off criticism that government money would be delivered to rich, well-educated people.
据报道，拜登的政策将免除每人1万美元的学生债务。免除每个借款人1万美元，而不是5万美元，将是对那些指出免除大量学生债务将花费巨额资金的人的认可。拜登的计划还将债务减免限制在年收入低于15万美元的个人或年收入低于30万美元的夫妇，以避免有人批评政府的钱会流向富有、受过良好教育的人。
These provisions, while welcome, would not stop the policy from becoming yet another taxpayer-funded subsidy for the upper middle class. The president’s means test would be almost useless, as some 97 percent of borrowers would still qualify for forgiveness. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan watchdog, estimates that such a plan would cost at least $230 billion, that 71 percent of the benefits would flow to those in the top half of the income scale — and that a quarter of the benefits would go to the top 20 percent. Even this does not express fully how regressive the policy would be, because many recent graduates from medical, law and business schools would qualify for forgiveness even though their lifetime income trajectories don’t justify it.
这些条款虽然受欢迎，但不会阻止该政策成为又一项纳税人为中上层阶级提供补贴的政策。总统的经济情况调查将几乎毫无用处，因为约97%的借款人仍有资格获得减免。负责任联邦预算委员会，一个无党派的监督机构，估计这样一个计划将花费至少2300亿美元，71%的减免将流向收入最高的一半人群，四分之一的减免将流向收入最高的20%人群。即便如此，这也不能完全表达该政策的劫贫济富程度，因为许多刚从医学院、法学院和商学院毕业的学生都有资格获得减免，尽管他们的终身收入轨迹并不证明这是合理的。
Rough estimates suggest that a third of borrowers would see their balances disappear, and an additional 20 percent of student debtors would see their balances at least halved. Doing so, it must be said, would help some genuinely needy people. Low-income borrowers who have relatively small amounts of debt yet still struggle to make their payments could see their balances eliminated or substantially reduced. The aid could be life-changing for some former students toiling under the weight of default, since student loan debt generally cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.
粗略估计，三分之一的借款人将看到他们的借款余额消失，另外20%的学生债务人将看到他们的借款余额至少减半。必须说，这样做会帮助一些真正贫困的人。那些债务相对较少但仍难以支付的低收入借款人可能会看到他们的借款余额被消除或大幅减少。对于一些在学生债务违约的重压下辛苦工作的人来说，这项援助可能会改变他们的生活，因为学生贷款债务通常无法在破产时解除。
But Mr. Biden could ease the burden on the truly disadvantaged in a variety of more targeted ways — and avoid setting a precedent of broad loan forgiveness that future presidents will be pressured to match. Administration officials stressed that Mr. Biden has not made a final decision and that his goal is to aid the neediest. Good. He still has time to change course.
但拜登可以通过多种更有针对性的方式减轻真正弱势群体的负担，并避免开创广泛贷款减免的先例，因为未来的总统将被迫效仿。政府官员强调，拜登尚未做出最终决定，他的目标是帮助最贫困的人。很好。他还有时间改变路线。