And…whining from white progressives from affluent backgrounds who majored in Studies of My Belly Button Lint and somehow, with help from parents, managed to pay off what little they borrowed while working shit jobs in 3…2…1
I would have been overjoyed with this announcement had it come around Thanksgiving
I am very happy to see this.
Kiddo was able to get a 4 year degree without debt because Mr Sandi & I both benefited from public schools & affordable college. But many of her peers are saddled with debt, through no fault of there own. Only following our societal directive to get the best education you can.
I have ZERO resentment that my personal kid doesn’t need debt relief. Go Biden!
Well, y’all got what you wanted. A loss of the House in November.
Millennials are the Democratic Party’s largest voting block. And they also vote at a higher % rate than any other ‘D’ voting block, including my 60’s generation voters. So how many Millennials are just not going to bother to vote? No, this is on Biden. IMO he’s been a superlative president up to now, but this is a big blunder.
What’s Biden afraid of? People like you are gonna scream ‘socialism’ either way, so why not go all in - and buy the Millennial vote? Or would you rather wait another two years?
I have to think anything that distracts from Roe between now and the midterms is…unhelpful…to say the least. After last night, the Dem trajectory is on the upswing, and keeping the House in November is the absolute best chance of moving forward with policies (like this) to help non-billionaires.
Student-loan forgiveness undoubtedly will provide fresh ammunition for the GOP siren song of “Elitists! Elitists! Elitists!” to the vast majority of Americans not privileged enough to have a college education – even if we acknowledge that Republicans will scream that with or without this policy.
But RIGHT NOW the issue is politics, not policy – or at least no policy beyond ones like choice, with huge, overwhelming, tectonic support from voters.
If post-election Dems lack the majority to pass lasting, long-term, meaningful policy (with literal life-and-death consequences), then handing out GOP ammo at this point makes little sense to me, at least.
Cynicism is some people’s default position.
He just gave you free money and it’s a “blunder” because he didn’t give you enough money???
Wow. That’s just a massive sense of entitlement that the government “owes you”.
I think overall this helps Dems base support more than it rallies up GOP engagement. And it also the right policy for the country.
For all the crying about college degree elitists, a not insignificant number of student loan borrowers never completed their degrees. This will help them.
Thanks for the source, there was enough there to make some good presumptions.
I have to think anything that distracts from Roe between now and the midterms is… unhelpful …to say the least.
Didn’t even consider that. Definitely a post election discussion. Let’s hope Democrats can continue controlling the narrative for the next few months.
I’m well aware of the perfect being the enemy of the good, but in this case, cancelling freely entered into debt for something (mostly) of value makes no sense.
Without proper reform, we’re just going to keep having the discussion, and bunging $10k at people every 4 years is not the right solution.
I’m all for cancelling debt at institutions proved to be fraudulent, but the vast majority is legitimate debt that no one put a gun to people’s heads and forced them to take out.
Maybe an EO on interest rates, capping them at inflation or some % over base rate, would have been possible (especially as there is an interest holiday now, and the high rates are a result of lobbying by private loan providers)
Going to college is not as ‘elitist’ as some folks are asserting. Lots of folks do it.
| Year | Total | Men | Women | White | Black or African American | Asian | Hispanic or Latino |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 68.4% | 64.0% | 72.7% | 67.3% | 70.9% | 86.1% | 65.2% |
| 2015 | 69.2% | 65.8% | 72.6% | 71.1% | 54.6% | 83.0% | 68.9% |
| 2016 | 69.7% | 67.4% | 71.9% | 69.7% | 58.2% | 92.4% | 72.0% |
| 2017 | 66.7% | 61.1% | 71.7% | 67.1% | 59.4% | 83.0% | 61.0% |
| 2018 | 69.1% | 66.9% | 71.3% | 69.6% | 63.6% | 73.4% | 65.5% |
| 2019 | 66.2% | 62.0% | 69.8% | 66.9% | 50.7% | 89.9% | 63.4% |
| 2020 | 62.7% | 59.3% | 66.2% | 62.9% | 56.6% | 83.2% | 56.2% |
| 2021 | 61.8% | 54.9% | 69.5% | 61.0% | 61.2% | 85.9% | 58.6% |
Apparently 38% of Americans have college degrees, so it’s not a vast majority without - but that doesn’t really change your point, just saying that there are lots of people with degrees out there.
See, that’s the bit that I take issue with. You either have to be all in that this is great, or you’re “stewing in resentment”.
Here’s some reasons why this was terrible policy and terrible timing:
Creates an expectation for next year, and the next, as new college entrants will demand equitable treatment and their own bailouts.
In light of this bailout, without conditions, colleges and universities are “made whole”-- they still get their money-- thus there is no downwards pressure on price increases.
In fact, there are now upwards pressures, since students (see 1 above) coming in will not see any reason to not take on any amount of a loan, on the expectation that the government will eventually step in and eliminate it. Bookmark it, the 2023 school year will have the most massive increase in tuition rates in history.
Creation of a new entitlement is fine, but we have vehicles for that-- via the legislative process. That AOC, Schumer, Warren and Bernie haven’t even introduced student loan reform legislation tells you all you need to know-- that it can’t even get close to passing with our own caucuses. This isn’t at a Manchin-Sinema Holdout stage, it can’t even get nearly that far along.
The reason for 4 above is that over 60% of Americans do not have a college degree, vastly outnumbering the people who do have a degree, and even more the 13% with current student loan debt.
Politically, this is going to be suicidal in blue-collar-heavy areas where people who were already left behind are seeing a big check going to the people who are already well ahead of them and pulling down much better paychecks.
Bottom line, there were legitimate ways to reform debts, put downwards pressure on tuition rates, allow people to get rid of excessive debt burdens in bankruptcy and a million other ways to reform and start to fix the system.
Instead, because the student loan industry and big education buy members of both parties, we end up with a worst-of-all-cases “solution” that not only doesn’t solve anything, but creates new and bigger problems going forward.
The government, via Biden, is handing you money. This is never a bad thing. Handing Americans money is a good thing.
Moscow Mitch is bitching this is unfair to people who saved for college, which itself is another issue, having to save thousands and thousands starting when my children were born just to send them to college. And to people who already paid off their debt, like my wife and myself.
We sold our house five years ago and used almost all the profit to pay off our school debts, against the advice of both sets of parents. My only issue with this is that it isn’t more for those who owe.
What I think is unfair is tax breaks for the rich which I am paying for with a tax increase starting last year and the threat of killing off SS to pay for them. I’d much rather have that extra money borrowers now have going to wards purchasing goods and services and helping the economy, building a nest egg and being able to purchase a home.
Lots of folks do it exactly because they’re pressured into it, despite not needing to go and not having the funds. The college movement is a predatory racket and good on Biden for this.
FWIW I went to college because it made sense for me, and I don’t regret it, but I’m not blind to the people tricked and forced into it.
Wow. Cannot disagree with any of this more. Especially point (2), which reeks of the “perfect being the enemy of the good” fallacy.
Point (6) especially feels like sky is falling pessimism. It’s up to Biden and the Democrats to explain why that is not the case. Especially given what you say in (5): most people aren’t in communities where they should even care.
Anyone know if this forgiveness includes debt for graduate school, or is it only undergraduate debt?
Leonard Leo gets a donation of $1.5 billion to fund a whole host of right wing foundations and institutions that distort our politics. The corporations owner who bequeathed the money benefited from the tax code and the generous provisions in it over the years.
Republican mega donor Sheldon Adelson and his wife got $400 million out of the Trump tax cuts also distorting our domestic and Middle East politics.
But canceling some student debt for folks making under $125k, quelle horreur!