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“I like debt for me,” said then-2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump. While defending himself against attacks by Hillary Clinton, Trump referred to himself as the “king of debt,” touting his classic business skills in renegotiating debts for his financial gain. Trump flipped the script on how many think about debt, which has long been held as a deep moral obligation to be paid in every account. Rather, Trump told the truth about debt: that the debtor-creditor relationship, much like the worker-boss relationship, implies financial power on both ends. Today, however, Trump finds himself not as the debtor, but as the creditor, set to use the broad powers of the federal government to push the masses even further into poverty.

For the first time since the onset of COVID-19, the Trump administration is set to garnish U.S. workers’ wages for defaulted student loans. The Department of Education has announced that beginning this week it will send at least 1,000 borrowers a notice of intent to garnish wages, sending additional notices every month as it expands its efforts to forcibly collect money from millions of borrowers in default.

This is a cruel, harsh policy that the Trump administration does not have to implement — and it shouldn’t.

Most Americans with student loan debt cannot afford to keep up with their payments, which average over $400 a month. With stagnant wages, record-high household debt burdens, the rising cost of college, and ballooning interest, the student debt crisis has only worsened since its inception. Student debt is often difficult to discharge in bankruptcy. Unlike mortgages and every other type of debt, student loan interest can capitalize — forcing debtors to pay interest on the interest on the principal. The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, the most affordable repayment plan ever introduced in the U.S., has been effectively undermined by the Trump administration, causing expected payments to skyrocket. And of course, cancellation plans that grant debtors relief after 10 or 20 years have been bungled or thwarted.

Nearly a third of debtors........

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