It’s not even meant to work, it’s a campaign talking point.

Bloomberg reports.

Clinton’s College Plan Flunks the Economics Test

If it’s the summer of an election year, it must be time for campaign promises. Republicans will promise absurd tax cuts. Democrats will promise to, as PJ O’Rourke once wrote, “make you richer, smarter, taller and get the chickweed out of your lawn,” with expensive programs funded entirely by taxing a small number of distant theoretical rich people.

And right on schedule, Hillary Clinton has come forward with a plan to make college cheaper — for some folks, anyway. It will become much more expensive for the taxpayers who have to foot the bill, but they’re richer than you and you’ve never met them anyway, so who cares?

The specifics of the plan are as follows: In-state tuition at a state college will be free to anyone whose family makes less than $125,000 (initially the cap will be $85,000, then phasing in over four years). There will be a three-month “moratorium on student debt to get millions of borrowers relief from crushing debt,” the campaign says — which apparently means borrowers can use the time to refinance their loans or enroll in income-based repayment. There will also be no tuition at community colleges.

The cost of this program? As far as I can gather, about $450 billion over 10 years. Or maybe $520 billion. It is paid for by “closing high income tax loopholes,” including limiting deductions for folks whose income puts them in the 33 percent tax bracket: about $190,000 for singles and $215,000 for married couples. Well, I shouldn’t quite say “paid for”; this math comes up a bit short. But what’s $50 billion or $100 billion among friends?