Student loan debt relief is a regressive policy that mostly benefits high-income households, says former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. In a series of tweets, the former director of the National Economic Council (NEC) in the Obama administration stated that “all serious economists” agree that debt reduction is “regressive.” “Key point. You need to look at payments not debt burdens since many are already enabled to service at low rates,” he wrote, adding that policymakers need to reform subsidies “to institutions that rip students off.” Summers also thinks a good start to altering post-secondary student lending is to substitute loans with grants. Recently, President Joe Biden extended the moratorium on student loan payments, which Summers believes is “highly problematic” when judged on its economic effects. “Relief also promotes spending in the near term when the economy is clearly supply constrained thereby contributing to inflation pressures,” he argued. Is Student Loan …