Billionaires bash Biden bailout for middle-class Americans in debt

A conservative advocacy group funded by billionaires filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s student debt relief program, which seeks .

The Trump-connected, billionaire-backed front group associated with an infamous right-wing public relations executive is part of a network of other astroturf groups that all fight tooth-and-nail while posing as defenders of Main Street values to defend elite interests against progressive efforts to regulate corporate power – and all

The group—called the Job Creators Network Foundation (JCNF) Legal Action Fund (LAF)—is funded by billionaires such as former Home Depot CEO of Bernie Marcuss, whose net worth is $7 billion; MAGA Republican and hedge fund manager Hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer; plus Phil Anschutz, who is the 66th richest person in the United States.

Biden recently announced a three-part plan, that includes loan forgiveness of up to $20,000, to help working and middle-class federal student loan borrowers transition back to making regular payments as pandemic-related support expires.

A typical borrower earning $50,000 in income owes about $37,455 in student loans while those making $35,000 per year owe $30,575. Those included in the relief program comprise about 75 percent of American households with outstanding student loans.

The billionaires financing the lawsuit have previously advocated for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, corporate bailouts, and restrictive voting laws.

“Colleges need to be held accountable for their outrageous tuition prices that fund high executive pay, an army of administrators who provide little-to-no value, and the construction of resort-style amenities,” said Elaine Parker, president of the Job Creators Network Foundation. “College endowments, not taxpayers, should be responsible for helping students drowning in debt. By shifting the burden to taxpayers, including those who didn’t go to college or paid their student loans back, colleges escape responsibility for their actions creating the student loan crisis.”

Biden’s wide-ranging student loan cancellation plan will cost $379 billion over roughly 30 years, the U.S. Department of Education estimated last week. Most of the program’s costs will come in its first decade, when they will average about $30 billion per year.

By comparison, Trump’s tax cuts of 2017 cost the US Treasury four times as much, or $1.5 trillion, in lost revenue by allowing the 400 wealthiest families in America—all of them with a net worth in the billions of dollars—to pay a lower tax rate than the bottom 50 percent of households.

For the first time in more than a century, billionaires now pay lower tax rates —counting all taxes paid at all levels of government —than their secretaries.

America turned away from the most progressive tax system in history to embrace policies that only serve to compound the wealth of a few.

Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare they have become the tools of corrupt interests, which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.