Discussion: Bernie Sanders Pledges To Erase Country's Entire $1.5 Trillion In Student Debt

I care less about what their plans are and more about how they’ll convince Congress to actually turn those plans into law.

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This is Bernie running scared from Warren. Which he should, because, she’s, like…competent.

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And a pony!

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Well, this is an idea that’s going nowhere and is going to piss off a lot of people.

I didn’t have money for College, so rather than go into debt, I enlisted, and ultimately took advantage of the GI Bill.

An opportunity cost which certainly impacted my lifetime earning potential from a young age.

Why should I, and many other people that made financially prudent decisions, not be rewarded as well as those who went ahead and loaded up on student debt?

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I want the New Green Deal…AND a pony!

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Warren’s plan is better, though will still leave a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouth who already paid off their debt or took measures to prevent racking up debt.

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All young people that desire a higher education should join the military! That’s the ticket! Of course, if your wounded in combat, loaded with PTSD, it guess it just sucks to be you.

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I don’t believe in “I had it hard, therefore everyone should always have it hard”, which is the least-nuanced criticism of these plans. At the same time, I do support some degree of relief or mitigation for the hardest-hit. Society benefits, and the economy benefits, when everybody is relatively stable and secure financially and has the flexibility to move to a new city or take a new job or start a business or whatever.

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I don’t disagree: but I accrued something like $40K in college debt (in the 1990s–fought it every step of the way, but it was what it was), in a field (Fine Arts) that is highly unremunerative. I neither regret the incurred debt, and the years it took to pay it off, nor do I resent the idea that young people in 2019, whose debt is much more rapacious and prospects are much dimmer, should have the burden reduced.

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Getting people educated should be considered a utility, like running water. We’re falling behind other countries badly, and it’s completely our fault.

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I agree with this. That said, I find myself wondering if the Americans who are most in need of a helping hand or a leg up are the ones with a college education.

(I don’t actually find myself wondering this.)

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This does nothing to address the out of control tuition increases.

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I’m not saying it always has to be hard-- I do support a move towards free college (although I think it should be paired with a public service bit, that could be filled either by military service or other things in the public interest like caretakers, etc.).

But just wiping out the debts of people who took that on and now have the advantage of having better jobs than others because of that extra education vice those people who couldn’t or didn’t take on that debt, that’s just going to exacerbate a lot of the disparities that we’re allegedly trying to address.

Measures to reduce and mitigate debt, like minimizing and regulating interest rates, for example, and arranging debt forgiveness in exchange for public service would be much more palatable to many, and fair.

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Plans? Pipedreams is a better description.

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And an actual democrat

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Comment cosigned enthusiastically and in full.

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I think Warren’s plan is more realistic but, they’re going to have a big fight on their hands to get something through congress

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Bernie Sanders Pledges To Erase Country’s Entire $1.5 Trillion In Student Debt

Heck no! That will take away one of the excuses that physicians use to charge five times what doctors in civilized countries charge! The malpractice insurance excuse by itself doesn’t cut it.

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Me, too (but in the 70s and 80s) and I agree with you completely.

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