Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary Slams 'Un-American' Plan Wiping Student Debt As 'Policy Born in Hell'

Shark Tank star and venture capitalist investor Kevin O’Leary unleashed scathing criticism on a potential proposal from the Biden administration of wiping partial of the student loan forgiveness, slamming the plan as “un-American” while describing the whole concept from President Biden ahead of the midterm election as a “policy born in hell.”

“I’m trying to find merit in this proposed policy, and I can’t. This is policy born in hell,” O’Leary said during an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box’ Wednesday morning. “And I’ll tell you why. Nobody wins.”

Education, O’Leary noted, is a “right, not a privilege,” adding past generations made the decision on whether to go to college to advance their career, and those take on the responsibility in taking on such debt.

“What do you tell people, generations past, that have actually paid back their debt? How about the people who are working so hard to get scholarships to excel? What do you tell them? Don’t bother? It’s free,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary added that only 12% of the American population has student loans and wiping their debt would impose the burden on the rest of the 88% of the population.

“You’re telling these people this is a big problem. Meanwhile, you can’t fill up your car, chicken costs 48% more and this is at the top of the agenda for the president? Can you imagine? This is manna from heaven for the Republican Party. In all these tight races coming into the midterms, this is going to be the issue that they get to campaign on. Why, why would you do this? This is a really, really bad idea,” O’Leary unleashed.

“Who is advising Biden? Who are his closest advisors? What planet are they on? It’s not the planet earth,” O’Leary asked.

The Washington Post reported the Biden administration is planning to nix $10,000 of student debt per person. The proposal would restrict loan cancellation to individuals who earned less than $150,000 the prior year, or less than $300,000 for spouses filing jointly.

Biden has already extended the COVID moratorium on student debt payments on April through Aug. 31. According to recent data, the vast majority of student debt is held by upper-middle-class and white Americans.

“Forgiving student debt is the worst policy idea I have ever heard. If you are going to spend anything on #education give it to teachers and pay them more. A good teach has tremendous impact on society,” O’Leary tweeted later Thursday morning following the segment on CNBC.