Disinformation is propaganda when it comes from official government accounts. Of course, from any account it’s wrong, but let’s hold government accounts to the highest standard with little room for tomfoolery.
Comparisons between Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness and student debt forgiveness do not fit. PPP loans were to help businesses after an involuntary, government enforced shutdown, while student loans were voluntarily taken. The two loans and their forgiveness packages are entirely different.
The disturbing problem is that the White House official Twitter and Instagram accounts have posts showing Republican members of Congress criticizing the student loan forgiveness plan along with the caption of much they received in PPP loan forgiveness. The message is clearly meant to gutlessly imply that Republican critics are hypocrites. That is disinformation to the level that it is government propaganda.
This is all part of a larger trend of disinformation from this Orwellian White House, which includes changing the definition of words they don’t like.
And take note that most of the criticism on student loan forgiveness is directed at the fact that the White House hasn’t explained how the government plans to pay for this student loan bailout.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre doesn’t know how it’s going to be paid for or how much it will cost. Here’s her inarticulate answer to the very simple question of how much will student loan forgiveness cost the government- “I, look the secretary, uh [pause, eyes closed, sigh] the UN Ambassador, the former UN Ambassador spoke to this yesterday. We just have to see. It is a process that we just need ah to take to take a to take a look before we can answer that question.” Admitting they don’t know how much it cost is fiscally irresponsible.
And here is her answer to another very simple question; how is this plan funded?
She’s so bad at this.
So without knowing how much this will cost and without knowing how it will be paid for, makes it tough to evaluate the merits of the plan. That may be a deliberate tactic from this Orwellian White House.
The lack of information on this leads to other questions: Will future Pell Grant recipients be required to pay back the loan? Why do this now? Senator Elizabeth Warren offered a similar plan in the form of legislation, so does that mean a president doesn’t have the authority to do this, or if he does, then where is such authority listed? Why the $10,000 and $20,000 caps? At least one Democrat in Congress said he wants $50,000 in forgiveness, will that happen? But you can’t get any straight answers on any of this right now.
The propaganda needs to stop. Honest communications need to come from the White House.
