Could the Fed wipe out all of America's student debt?

Jill Stein has a crazy plan. But is it so crazy it just might work?

College debt could theoretically be forgiven.
(Image credit: Ikon Images / Alamy Stock Photo)

Green Party nominee Jill Stein has been trying to make a mark on the 2016 presidential race by calling for the cancelation of all student debt. And she says the Federal Reserve could do it with a wave of its magic monetary wand.

Stein compared her plan to quantitative easing, where the Fed bought financial instruments built on housing debt off the big banks as a way of injecting more cash into the financial system: "It's simply a debt that was bought up by the U.S. government, and then essentially zeroed out, canceled," she said. "So that's exactly what we are calling for here."

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.