World News: Ingrid looks at college debt

Tuesday, August 23

Student loan debt 'forgiveness'? A pause? Both? Who knows

Today we hear from Columnist Ingrid Jacques and her coverage of the economy.

The Biden administration has once again waited to the last minute to make a decision on student loans. On Aug. 31, the latest pause on loan payments ends, and borrowers are uncertain about what's going to happen.

President Joe Biden has teased some amount of student loan forgiveness since before taking office, but he has yet to commit to any firm plan.

One thing that is clear is how this decision is a calculated, political one. I wrote about the student loan mess this week, and you can read the full piece here.

Biden speaks about student loan forgiveness

White House / Getty

With soaring inflation, Biden has dealt with record low approval numbers, and he's trying to figure out what he must do to foster voter confidence ahead of the midterms.

The president got a small boost after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (which won't do anything to reduce inflation). But now, he must tread carefully on loans.

Any kind of blanket forgiveness would contribute to higher prices at a time when this remains one of Biden's biggest problems. Americans are worried. A recent CNBC poll found 59% fear loan cancellation would make inflation worse.

They're right to be concerned. It would be a mistake for Biden to use student loans to nudge more support for Democrats, but that's probably what he's going to do.

-Ingrid Jacques

What else has Ingrid been writing?

•	Liz Cheney loses her primary. What to do now with 'hot mess' that is the GOP?
•	Teachers unions may love Biden's attack on charter schools, but parents won't be happy
•	Democrats so badly want Trump to go away, but FBI's Mar-a-Lago search is helping him stay
•	2022 elections could be a new year of the woman. Can conservative women catch up?

Will Florida be lost to wokeness?

By Rex Huppke

In Florida, DeSantis is fighting the good fight against whatever the word "woke" means. He recently signed a not-at-all-ridiculous-sounding law, the Stop WOKE Act. But before all wokeness could be stopped, a federal judge leaned on the First Amendment – the woke-ist part of the U.S. Constitution – to block the state from enforcing part of the law.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 24, 2022, in Orlando.

John Raoux/AP

Can you believe that? Now wokeness is raging unabated throughout the great state of Florida, probably. Read more...

What other columns should you be reading?

•	My toddler with asthma is going back to school vaccinated. That's reason to be grateful.
•	Bad bosses like Mark Zuckerberg will face a backlash. America's workers are fed up.
•	Do our elected leaders know how it feels to choose between food and medicine? I do.
•	WHO and world leaders: How we're building better, more equitable vaccine systems
•	'I'm going to put a box around work': That's a country song waiting to happen

You in the mood for a great deal?

You likely have noticed that some of our columns are part of the USA TODAY subscription model. Many of you have subscribed and we love you for that. Some might be waiting for a good sale to join the team. Well, wait no longer. We're running a sale right now. Take look and subscriber to see all of our premium columns.

Real quick, sign up to get our alerts

Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? It's free and available in your app store.

Once you have the app, go to the settings and add "Commentary & Analysis" to make sure you don't miss out.

Discover more with our newsletters: Get the latest headlines, things to do and more in your inbox. Sign up here.