If the student loan vote purchasing scam actually happens, it will set a new precedent in election politics that will be the beginning of our country's death spiral. There is simply no justification for paying $10K to, as the left loves to castigate, privileged citizens, that want to breach their contract with the US to repay their debt.
If the student loan vote purchasing scam actually happens, it will set a new precedent in election politics that will be the beginning of our country's death spiral. There is simply no justification for paying $10K to, as the left loves to castigate, privileged citizens, that want to breach their contract with the US to repay their debt.
The only way this becomes fair is for every tax payor to receive a check for $10K that didn't have student loans to forgive. I only type that so as to show how ludicrous the concept is. We've entered into a time where the left is dismantling the fabric of bipartisan governance. They are using impeachment as a political tool, raiding former President's homes, attempting to stack the SCOTUS, changing election laws on the fly, introducing systemic racism into our education and federal bureaucracy, and weaponizing our federal agencies to destroy citizens that disagree with the status quo.
Common Sense, and Substack, and some other rogue podcasts, are our only hopes to fight back, as conventional media are actively helping to destroy our country through their blind advocacy of the progressive movement.
John hit it on the head. I understand the problem it's trying to solve, but this "student loan forgiveness" plan just feels a little banana-republic-ish. In Latin America the politicians don't even bother trying to hide that they're buying votes; this feels the same.
Jon, you say: тАЬIf the student loan vote purchasing scam actually happens, it will set a new precedent in election politics that will be the beginning of our countryтАЩs death spiral.тАЭ the definition of a scam is: to deceive and defraud: (to deprive of something by deception) there is no deceiving or deception here, itтАЩs in front of God and everybody.
Nearly 90% of those receiving relief earn less than $75,000 a year. Democrats are helping out the average worker, not the rich. What really upset you is there might be a bunch of folks who vote for a Democrat because a politician actually helps them!
My daughter, who is in her 2nd yr of law school and who just got a job offer at the equivalent of $140k just got 2/3 of all her student debt wiped out.
How you ask?
Well, she worked all the way through college and still managed to graduate in 3 yrs, Phi Bets Kappa, with a degree in neuroscience and a minor in economics from Virginia Tech. Got some small scholarships but mostly she paid for it herself. Then she earned a full ride to law school.
Her entire debt after 2 yrs of law school, because she has worked and saved was only $16k. Biden just wiped out $10k because she is still a student and has not yet started her career. That $140k will start next year.
SO....she will walk out of law school making $140k with only about $10k in debt for her entire education. She can pay that off in 6 months.
And precisely WHY should we have to ask taxpayers to cover the stupid decisions of others?
If you went to college and got a degree in literature or XXX Studies, and then realized that the only jobs you were gonna get were in academia but for that you need a doctorate, and then blow $100k in loans to get a job paying $50K as an adjunct, that is YOUR stupid fault.
If you went to college for a degree in social work and spent $80 grand to do it without considering that the best you could hope to earn when you graduate is $40k, then you are a MORON.
SO yeah, I got an issue with covering people who make stupid decisions. I have an issue with throwing people money, even my daughter, who just got lucky and who are heading to be in the top 10% of earners in their early 20's. I got an issue with people who are unwilling to do what my daughter did, work through school, during school, full time on breaks, never went on trips or Spring Break, skipped to social scene at college,but busted her ass and started saving for college with summer jobs as a 15 yr old.
I got an issue with people who borrow stupid amounts of money on a hope when I had to enlist to qualify as independent for financial aid and serve 4 yrs to earn the GI Bill. I got an issue with people who do that and go to the school they dream of and not the one they can afford, the way I did. I could have gone to BC or Northeastern, Amherst, but I chose a small state college because it was affordable. I worked almost full time while carrying a full load. Sure, it took me 5 yrs instead of 4, but I graduated with $2,500 in debt and walked into a job paying $33k a year. That was 1994.
I got an issue with people who are too IGNORANT to realize that college is a business decision. Where you go, when you go, how you go is all about ONE thing, getting out with a useful education and the piece of paper to prove it, with the absolute minimal amount of cost and as close to no debt as you can pull off. People who borrow a ton of money on degrees with no immediate return and who go for the college experience, get what their stupidity deserves.
"If you went to college for a degree in social work and spent $80 grand to do it without considering that the best you could hope to earn when you graduate is $40k, then you are a MORON." As a retired educator, who left college with a $5,000 loan (which was actually very hard to pay off at the great salary of $8900 -- but I did), I had to chuckle when I learned that my nephew's now wife got her elementary education degree at Vanderbilt University. Thing is, her dad is a doctor, so she has no student loans but if her parents hadn't paid for it, she likely wouldn't have a degree from Vanderbilt. Parents are also MORONS for the absurdity of a degree that costs more than the salary from that degree.
Oh...your reading comprehension skills are off. Must be a recent grad.
No, what I am saying is that nobody is entitled to go to the college of their dream right out of HS and expect to do nothing but focus on studies and the "college experience".
I am saying that nobody is entitled to go spend stupid money on a worthless degree because it interests them or inspires them unless they are willing to write the check.
College and getting a college degree is a BUSINESS decision, not a personal growth one.
You want to borrow $90k on an engineering degree from MIT? Maybe that is a good business investment.
You want to borrow $90k to get a doctorate in Sociology from Florida State? Maybe not so smart.
College is too expensive and takes too much time to think of it as anything but a business choice.
Maybe you have to enlist to qualify as independent and get the GI Bill as I did.
Maybe you got to work multiple jobs or even a full time job and take 5 yrs to graduate.
Maybe you go get a trade, work full time and string together enough classes at night over a decade to get a degree.
What you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT DO, is go to a school where you are going to have to borrow so much money that you are going to be destitute for a decade.
You absolutely do NOT pick a degree that leads to jobs with very narrow career options and those career options are all low paying.
You pick the school you can most easily afford, you work as much as you can to pay as you go, you scrap for every scholarship you can, you do not party, you do not take trips, you work and you study and pick a degree that will give you a track toward a higher paying career.
College is an investment. Nothing more. You want to maximize your return.
While getting my hair cut yesterday, my Polish immigrant stylist was updating me on her kids. Her 18 yo son just entered an electrician apprenticeship program because she can't afford to help pay for his college and does not want him to be saddled with so much debt. Her older daughter completed law school and she helped as much as she could. So now, with this absurd wealth transfer, the 18 yo will be paying for help the older sister/lawyer pay off some of her debt! I suggested her son should negotiate with his sister to provide free legal services in exchange.
To be fair, I blame a lot of people beyond just these borrowers, who, in large part, were just teens when they started borrowing.
1. I blame parents who do not take the time to teach their kids to look at college as a business investment but instead tell them to get into the best school they can and figure out how to pay for it. I blame parents who do not take the time to teach their kids financial literacy, to help them understand the long term financial consequences of their choices in school, how they pay for it, and what that looks like AFTER graduation. I blame them for telling these kids that they can be anything they want without consideration of what that means in terms of life style after school.
2. I blame HS teachers and guidance counselors for insisting to every single kid that they MUST attend college and they MUST do it right away after graduation. There are a lot of good choices in trades and other careers that either do not require a degree or if the career might require one it is not necessary to have it completed until your either ready to move into some form of management or to start your own business. You can go make a pretty penny as an airline mechanic, take management courses at night over a number of years at a community college, then move up into management if that is what you want. There are LOADS of jobs in IT where all you have to do is take a couple of training courses, get a couple of certifications, and walk into a job paying $70k. Toss in some classes at night, and you can move up nicely and be making 6 figures in 5 or 6 yrs.
3. I blame the universities who pitch their services with slick advertising to HS juniors. They sell the "experience" of going to their school. Anyone who has actually attended college knows that after the first semester anyone with any sense is just working to get that paper and get out. The "college experience" is not real for most people after that and it is a very very expensive luxury.
I blame all of the above for not teaching kids that when they look at a college or a major the first thing they need to ask themselves is "What kind of job is this going to lead to?" followed immediately by "What is the market for those jobs and how much do they pay to start?".
We have GOT to STOP selling kids on college as the golden ticket or an absolute necessity. We have GOT to STOP telling them they should follow their dreams and embrace the college experience. NO....NO...NO......College is a SERIOUS business decision with a huge price tag and we are lying and manipulating and selling it to 17 yr olds to get them to go without helping them to see the consequences of their choices or really letting them know what all their choices are.
Right, the Right will just answer with their own bonanza giveaway.
I borrowed $8000 through 1994 and by 2014, after literally twenty years of paying $250 per month, still owed ***$12,000.*** This was before the predatory lending habits of colleges really set in. My husband and I were glad to refinance our home in 2020 to take care of this debt (and others) - that part of our refinance is already paid off, and we didn't have to try very hard.
So I'm super sympathetic to people getting absolutely abused by college loans, but I think the answer is - just cancel it. No repayment, just sorry, guys - we're cancelling all the interest over 3% on student debt, retroactively and permanently. Tell all the colleges with huge endowments they have to pay it. Stop the problem as well as offering a solution. This is a bad solution but better than what Biden just gave us.
I kind of get that. A lot of students were sold down the river, with promises of "get a degree, any degree, and you'll pull down a six-figure job at graduation." I just don't appreciate when I point out that I paid off my student loan, and I also worked to get through school, and the Millennial response is "sucks to be you".
You've heard from the left over the years that college should be free. This is the first step in going down that road.
Seriously, it starts with this $10K forgiveness. Biden's got two more years, so what's to keep him from bowing to the left again, and wiping out more/all of the remainder.
How do you possibly maintain an underwriting policy after that? How do you charge any student to attend, when the better option is to apply for a loan knowing that it's likely going to be forgiven?
At that point, we've just federalized colleges.
This is either the most ignorant and ill thought out decision made by a President in our nation's history, or the most evil tactic to take over control of our country by the left that's ever been attempted.
Are you really trying to sell the idea that taxpayers (like plumbers , truck drivers, and waitresses) benefit from the higher levels of education attained by students who major in things like gender studies? And then find that their higher level of education only gets them a job as a barista? So the taxpayers should show proper gratitude and pay for the attainment of this great education?
Please donтАЩt bother with the factoid links- they convince no one.
Then go about it the right way, through Congress. If it is as society-improving and noble as you say, it should be a popular issue and no problem to pass - especially with a D majority in the Senate.
The people you are talking about already have their education so all the things you talk about are going to happen. Now that they have their education it is time to be responsible and pay back their loans. they took out these loans with their eyes open. They knew the consequences of taking out a loan. Now it is time to act like an adult and pay it back.
Why should I as a taxpayer have to pay back the loans of a bunch of irresponsible leaches?
I mean, keep in mind this is a bluff. Pelosi has admitted that the President can't unilaterally forgive student loans.
The idea here is that it's a carrot to dangle in front of midterm voters "show up and vote Democrat or else those mean Republicans will take the House and kibosh your loan forgiveness".
Every single time, we assume that they couldnтАЩt possibly mean what they say. They will not really do what they propose- itтАЩs all a bluff.
And then, they actually did mean the ridiculous things they say, and they actually do the outrageous things they propose. They get away with it while we are all reassuring ourselves that itтАЩs only a bluff.
It's blatantly illegal, so what will happen is the courts will stop it, Democrats will blame Republican judges for ruining all the fun and turn this into an actual issue, Bob's your uncle.
I don't know how many people are going to believe it, thought... as we say in the aerospace industry, nothing's real until it comes with a check attached. And there's no way they can get the checks out before the election.
Yes, the democrats have put Saul AlinskyтАЩs tactics on steroids. Any means to the end. ItтАЩs obvious when looking at the events over the past 4 years. Expect more leading up to the November election.
This is basically Obama's third term. All the old Chicago politics 'any means to an end' scorched earth tactics. All the old players, from BHO, Michelle, Susan Rice, Samantha Powers, Valerie Jarrett, et al are behind the scenes promoting policies that they failed to enact during his term. The resurrection of the Iran negotiations are proof.
Yes, IтАЩve followed this issue very closely and know how much consternation this causes inside of Israel. ThatтАЩs why Obama and BidenтАЩs position on JCPOA is so puzzling. It is very frustrating to me that Jewish American democrats have not abandoned their party over this issue. Makes no sense.
It makes no sense Brian. However, whatтАЩs not puzzling to me is the position those two presidents have taken on the JCPOA, Biden just a puppet for Obama and both donтАЩt care about Israel. So maybe after Biden goes back to the deal and gives Iran the billions of $$$ they are bitching about and there is an escalation in hostilities for Israel and ultimately for America then the American Jews will finally realize what their Democratic Party has become and finally make a break from them, IтАЩm not holding my breath!
There has been much written on this subject, it comes down to one very simple fact. Democratic American Jews have separated their religion from their ancestral homeland. They live safely in America while practicing their faith and ignore the dangers to a land very far away. They are ideologically aligned with Democrats and this suites them well.
You right donтАЩt hold my breath, I could be dead by shabbes! After President Trump (who got a fortune done for Israel) left office, and with Biden in power things donтАЩt look good on the nuke deal. Biden knows itтАЩs wrong but he is very busy in the Ukraine at the moment, and on the domestic front his ratings are poor so he has his work cut out for him and his party. TG Israel has the survived so far and is a vibrant bustling country with amazing people But I donтАЩt have to tell you that I get a sense you have been there already!ЁЯЗоЁЯЗ▒ЁЯЗ║ЁЯЗ╕
I was in Israel this past spring for my first time. It was an amazing experience. Old City Jerusalem was an emotional day, started off with a moment of silence for Holocaust Remembrance Day standing on the Mount of the Olives looking over the Temple Mount. The history of that one 35 acre plot of land is astounding.
Nothing wrong with the universities according to the left...they're doing exactly as purposed. And debt "forgiveness" (i.e.; transfer) is the perfect way to energize and embolden them even more. They can now say: "Look! We got our enemies to actually PAY for everything we're doing!!! More please!"
Why stop at student loans? Let's forgive home loans, car loans, gambling addicts' dept. Hell, let's abolish all loans. Where does it end? If you watched the loan debate on IQ2US, you saw that it immediately degenerated into a racial problem. Why is everything and I mean everything on the left racial?
All it tells me is that the left panders to race. They can't debate you on the issues so they immediately scream RACE! The definition of a racist is anyone who wins and argument with a leftist.
On a side note, the author says he doesn't believe in God but he still uses TGIF. Here are two alternatives:
As an aside on the racial issue and debt, the black students in my state university system medical school received full tuition grants regardless of financial status. I was fine with the girl who grew up in a poor neighborhood across the street from the methadone clinic, but when the girl with 2 physician parents got a free ride, and her parents used the money they had saved for tuition to buy her a brand new 1990 Mitsubishi 3000, I really didn't think it was fair. But what do I know...
I graduated from college back when dinosaurs roamed the campus and the cost of college was affordable for my below medium income.parents. I worked as a waitress during the school year - worked during the summers and lived in dorm room whose main luxury was a closet big enough for my sparse collegiate wardrobe.
Nowadays from what I read, students leave their parents ' home for the college experience where they live in luxury with climbing walls, olympic size swimming pools, apartment size dormitory rooms, etc. Someone has to pay for all of this and I expect it is added to everyone's tuitiion and room and board >
I was a single parent and the only way my kids could attend college was to live at home, go to a local community college for their first two years before transferring to the state university for the last two years working as they went. They are both happily employed in decent jobs without student loan debt.
When I went school there were only a few dinosaurs left. My entrance exam was they put a mirror under my nose and if I fogged it, I was in.
They tuition for the whole year was under $1000.00 and that was tuition room and board. My dorm room was unairconditioned. I would buy used books for each course. Some cost as little as 2 dollars. Now books for basic courses can cost over 100 dollars.
College now is a racket.
I tell kids to go to a community college and live at home. Nobody cares where you spent your first two years. It is the last two that count.
be. a plumber. make a ton of cash. be a welder. ditto.. heck. collect garbage. do something that no one else want to do.. make a ton of money. go to night school. study whatever interests you. live a productive life
I believe Substack may be the Underground Railroad of our times. Perhaps we will reclaim our freedom through the courage of a few good men & women.
As for your suggestion of $10,000 for each of us .... emphatically, no! Don't be a piker. A million in cash, an electric car in the driveway, &, of course, a chicken in the pot is what we deserve.
If the student loan vote purchasing scam actually happens, it will set a new precedent in election politics that will be the beginning of our country's death spiral. There is simply no justification for paying $10K to, as the left loves to castigate, privileged citizens, that want to breach their contract with the US to repay their debt.
The only way this becomes fair is for every tax payor to receive a check for $10K that didn't have student loans to forgive. I only type that so as to show how ludicrous the concept is. We've entered into a time where the left is dismantling the fabric of bipartisan governance. They are using impeachment as a political tool, raiding former President's homes, attempting to stack the SCOTUS, changing election laws on the fly, introducing systemic racism into our education and federal bureaucracy, and weaponizing our federal agencies to destroy citizens that disagree with the status quo.
Common Sense, and Substack, and some other rogue podcasts, are our only hopes to fight back, as conventional media are actively helping to destroy our country through their blind advocacy of the progressive movement.
John hit it on the head. I understand the problem it's trying to solve, but this "student loan forgiveness" plan just feels a little banana-republic-ish. In Latin America the politicians don't even bother trying to hide that they're buying votes; this feels the same.
Jon, you say: тАЬIf the student loan vote purchasing scam actually happens, it will set a new precedent in election politics that will be the beginning of our countryтАЩs death spiral.тАЭ the definition of a scam is: to deceive and defraud: (to deprive of something by deception) there is no deceiving or deception here, itтАЩs in front of God and everybody.
Nearly 90% of those receiving relief earn less than $75,000 a year. Democrats are helping out the average worker, not the rich. What really upset you is there might be a bunch of folks who vote for a Democrat because a politician actually helps them!
That is so far off it blows my mind.
My daughter, who is in her 2nd yr of law school and who just got a job offer at the equivalent of $140k just got 2/3 of all her student debt wiped out.
How you ask?
Well, she worked all the way through college and still managed to graduate in 3 yrs, Phi Bets Kappa, with a degree in neuroscience and a minor in economics from Virginia Tech. Got some small scholarships but mostly she paid for it herself. Then she earned a full ride to law school.
Her entire debt after 2 yrs of law school, because she has worked and saved was only $16k. Biden just wiped out $10k because she is still a student and has not yet started her career. That $140k will start next year.
SO....she will walk out of law school making $140k with only about $10k in debt for her entire education. She can pay that off in 6 months.
And precisely WHY should we have to ask taxpayers to cover the stupid decisions of others?
If you went to college and got a degree in literature or XXX Studies, and then realized that the only jobs you were gonna get were in academia but for that you need a doctorate, and then blow $100k in loans to get a job paying $50K as an adjunct, that is YOUR stupid fault.
If you went to college for a degree in social work and spent $80 grand to do it without considering that the best you could hope to earn when you graduate is $40k, then you are a MORON.
SO yeah, I got an issue with covering people who make stupid decisions. I have an issue with throwing people money, even my daughter, who just got lucky and who are heading to be in the top 10% of earners in their early 20's. I got an issue with people who are unwilling to do what my daughter did, work through school, during school, full time on breaks, never went on trips or Spring Break, skipped to social scene at college,but busted her ass and started saving for college with summer jobs as a 15 yr old.
I got an issue with people who borrow stupid amounts of money on a hope when I had to enlist to qualify as independent for financial aid and serve 4 yrs to earn the GI Bill. I got an issue with people who do that and go to the school they dream of and not the one they can afford, the way I did. I could have gone to BC or Northeastern, Amherst, but I chose a small state college because it was affordable. I worked almost full time while carrying a full load. Sure, it took me 5 yrs instead of 4, but I graduated with $2,500 in debt and walked into a job paying $33k a year. That was 1994.
I got an issue with people who are too IGNORANT to realize that college is a business decision. Where you go, when you go, how you go is all about ONE thing, getting out with a useful education and the piece of paper to prove it, with the absolute minimal amount of cost and as close to no debt as you can pull off. People who borrow a ton of money on degrees with no immediate return and who go for the college experience, get what their stupidity deserves.
"If you went to college for a degree in social work and spent $80 grand to do it without considering that the best you could hope to earn when you graduate is $40k, then you are a MORON." As a retired educator, who left college with a $5,000 loan (which was actually very hard to pay off at the great salary of $8900 -- but I did), I had to chuckle when I learned that my nephew's now wife got her elementary education degree at Vanderbilt University. Thing is, her dad is a doctor, so she has no student loans but if her parents hadn't paid for it, she likely wouldn't have a degree from Vanderbilt. Parents are also MORONS for the absurdity of a degree that costs more than the salary from that degree.
HereтАЩs your rant, in ten words: I got mine, your stupid, you can rot in hell!
Oh...your reading comprehension skills are off. Must be a recent grad.
No, what I am saying is that nobody is entitled to go to the college of their dream right out of HS and expect to do nothing but focus on studies and the "college experience".
I am saying that nobody is entitled to go spend stupid money on a worthless degree because it interests them or inspires them unless they are willing to write the check.
College and getting a college degree is a BUSINESS decision, not a personal growth one.
You want to borrow $90k on an engineering degree from MIT? Maybe that is a good business investment.
You want to borrow $90k to get a doctorate in Sociology from Florida State? Maybe not so smart.
College is too expensive and takes too much time to think of it as anything but a business choice.
Maybe you have to enlist to qualify as independent and get the GI Bill as I did.
Maybe you got to work multiple jobs or even a full time job and take 5 yrs to graduate.
Maybe you go get a trade, work full time and string together enough classes at night over a decade to get a degree.
What you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT DO, is go to a school where you are going to have to borrow so much money that you are going to be destitute for a decade.
You absolutely do NOT pick a degree that leads to jobs with very narrow career options and those career options are all low paying.
You pick the school you can most easily afford, you work as much as you can to pay as you go, you scrap for every scholarship you can, you do not party, you do not take trips, you work and you study and pick a degree that will give you a track toward a higher paying career.
College is an investment. Nothing more. You want to maximize your return.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a fool.
Yeah, bravo. Lol at "Oh...your reading comprehension skills are off. Must be a recent grad."
Bravo Lemon, great post!
While getting my hair cut yesterday, my Polish immigrant stylist was updating me on her kids. Her 18 yo son just entered an electrician apprenticeship program because she can't afford to help pay for his college and does not want him to be saddled with so much debt. Her older daughter completed law school and she helped as much as she could. So now, with this absurd wealth transfer, the 18 yo will be paying for help the older sister/lawyer pay off some of her debt! I suggested her son should negotiate with his sister to provide free legal services in exchange.
To be fair, I blame a lot of people beyond just these borrowers, who, in large part, were just teens when they started borrowing.
1. I blame parents who do not take the time to teach their kids to look at college as a business investment but instead tell them to get into the best school they can and figure out how to pay for it. I blame parents who do not take the time to teach their kids financial literacy, to help them understand the long term financial consequences of their choices in school, how they pay for it, and what that looks like AFTER graduation. I blame them for telling these kids that they can be anything they want without consideration of what that means in terms of life style after school.
2. I blame HS teachers and guidance counselors for insisting to every single kid that they MUST attend college and they MUST do it right away after graduation. There are a lot of good choices in trades and other careers that either do not require a degree or if the career might require one it is not necessary to have it completed until your either ready to move into some form of management or to start your own business. You can go make a pretty penny as an airline mechanic, take management courses at night over a number of years at a community college, then move up into management if that is what you want. There are LOADS of jobs in IT where all you have to do is take a couple of training courses, get a couple of certifications, and walk into a job paying $70k. Toss in some classes at night, and you can move up nicely and be making 6 figures in 5 or 6 yrs.
3. I blame the universities who pitch their services with slick advertising to HS juniors. They sell the "experience" of going to their school. Anyone who has actually attended college knows that after the first semester anyone with any sense is just working to get that paper and get out. The "college experience" is not real for most people after that and it is a very very expensive luxury.
I blame all of the above for not teaching kids that when they look at a college or a major the first thing they need to ask themselves is "What kind of job is this going to lead to?" followed immediately by "What is the market for those jobs and how much do they pay to start?".
We have GOT to STOP selling kids on college as the golden ticket or an absolute necessity. We have GOT to STOP telling them they should follow their dreams and embrace the college experience. NO....NO...NO......College is a SERIOUS business decision with a huge price tag and we are lying and manipulating and selling it to 17 yr olds to get them to go without helping them to see the consequences of their choices or really letting them know what all their choices are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K8ZKkzNbD0
Right, the Right will just answer with their own bonanza giveaway.
I borrowed $8000 through 1994 and by 2014, after literally twenty years of paying $250 per month, still owed ***$12,000.*** This was before the predatory lending habits of colleges really set in. My husband and I were glad to refinance our home in 2020 to take care of this debt (and others) - that part of our refinance is already paid off, and we didn't have to try very hard.
So I'm super sympathetic to people getting absolutely abused by college loans, but I think the answer is - just cancel it. No repayment, just sorry, guys - we're cancelling all the interest over 3% on student debt, retroactively and permanently. Tell all the colleges with huge endowments they have to pay it. Stop the problem as well as offering a solution. This is a bad solution but better than what Biden just gave us.
On this issue, I'm a bad Libertarian.
I kind of get that. A lot of students were sold down the river, with promises of "get a degree, any degree, and you'll pull down a six-figure job at graduation." I just don't appreciate when I point out that I paid off my student loan, and I also worked to get through school, and the Millennial response is "sucks to be you".
Excellent post where to from here though?
Elect Republicans.
Across the board letтАЩs start in November!
You've heard from the left over the years that college should be free. This is the first step in going down that road.
Seriously, it starts with this $10K forgiveness. Biden's got two more years, so what's to keep him from bowing to the left again, and wiping out more/all of the remainder.
How do you possibly maintain an underwriting policy after that? How do you charge any student to attend, when the better option is to apply for a loan knowing that it's likely going to be forgiven?
At that point, we've just federalized colleges.
This is either the most ignorant and ill thought out decision made by a President in our nation's history, or the most evil tactic to take over control of our country by the left that's ever been attempted.
Jon, ignorance may be on your part!
How taxpayers benefit when students attain higher levels of education
1. More highly educated people contribute more in taxes.
2. Those with more education or less from social support programs.
3. More highly educated people are less likely to incur incarceration cost
Rising student levels of education used net benefit to the public budget.
Are you really trying to sell the idea that taxpayers (like plumbers , truck drivers, and waitresses) benefit from the higher levels of education attained by students who major in things like gender studies? And then find that their higher level of education only gets them a job as a barista? So the taxpayers should show proper gratitude and pay for the attainment of this great education?
Please donтАЩt bother with the factoid links- they convince no one.
Then go about it the right way, through Congress. If it is as society-improving and noble as you say, it should be a popular issue and no problem to pass - especially with a D majority in the Senate.
Jen, you say: тАЬтАжit should be a popular issue and no problem to passтАж.тАЭ But hereтАЩs the reality: https://youtu.be/5tu32CCA_Ig.
So youтАЩre saying the reality is so bad that a president can only solve problems by breaking the law?
Then why go after Trump about illegal behavior, if itтАЩs necessary?
So many assumptions, with so little rationality!
Why You *always* revert to being troll, TROLL?
When You gonna grow up? Never-never land to the end o' Your days?
The people you are talking about already have their education so all the things you talk about are going to happen. Now that they have their education it is time to be responsible and pay back their loans. they took out these loans with their eyes open. They knew the consequences of taking out a loan. Now it is time to act like an adult and pay it back.
Why should I as a taxpayer have to pay back the loans of a bunch of irresponsible leaches?
I mean, keep in mind this is a bluff. Pelosi has admitted that the President can't unilaterally forgive student loans.
The idea here is that it's a carrot to dangle in front of midterm voters "show up and vote Democrat or else those mean Republicans will take the House and kibosh your loan forgiveness".
Every single time, we assume that they couldnтАЩt possibly mean what they say. They will not really do what they propose- itтАЩs all a bluff.
And then, they actually did mean the ridiculous things they say, and they actually do the outrageous things they propose. They get away with it while we are all reassuring ourselves that itтАЩs only a bluff.
I would actually support totally forgiving all debt if the federal government would remove itself from the student loan program.
But again, Pelosi already said the quiet part out loud - "only Congress has the authority".
It's a bluff in the sense that Biden already knows Congress and/or the courts will crumple up his Executive Order and throw it in the trash.
It's blatantly illegal, so what will happen is the courts will stop it, Democrats will blame Republican judges for ruining all the fun and turn this into an actual issue, Bob's your uncle.
The courts will stop it but not until after the election. So the proposal will have served its purpose, which is to buy votes.
I have yet to read column from anyone on the right or left who's considering this a bluff.
I can only hope that it's a bluff.
Yeah well media is broken that way.
left-wing media don't want to say it's a bluff, because that would defeat the purpose of said bluff.
And right-wing media can stoke more outrage by taking it at face value than by admitting it's a bluff.
So nobody has any incentive to say it's a bluff, even though that's what it is.
I don't know how many people are going to believe it, thought... as we say in the aerospace industry, nothing's real until it comes with a check attached. And there's no way they can get the checks out before the election.
in real estate. it is "never spend the money until you see the taillights leave the escrow company"
This fits in with тАЬany means to an end.тАЭ
With the tactics the democrats have pulled over the past four years, sure - this fits in with that activity.
ItтАЩs being done on purpose.
With the intent to achieve the end you speak of.
Yes, the democrats have put Saul AlinskyтАЩs tactics on steroids. Any means to the end. ItтАЩs obvious when looking at the events over the past 4 years. Expect more leading up to the November election.
This is basically Obama's third term. All the old Chicago politics 'any means to an end' scorched earth tactics. All the old players, from BHO, Michelle, Susan Rice, Samantha Powers, Valerie Jarrett, et al are behind the scenes promoting policies that they failed to enact during his term. The resurrection of the Iran negotiations are proof.
Yes, JCPOA makes me sick.
ItтАЩs making a lot of people sick especially the Israelis
Yes, IтАЩve followed this issue very closely and know how much consternation this causes inside of Israel. ThatтАЩs why Obama and BidenтАЩs position on JCPOA is so puzzling. It is very frustrating to me that Jewish American democrats have not abandoned their party over this issue. Makes no sense.
It makes no sense Brian. However, whatтАЩs not puzzling to me is the position those two presidents have taken on the JCPOA, Biden just a puppet for Obama and both donтАЩt care about Israel. So maybe after Biden goes back to the deal and gives Iran the billions of $$$ they are bitching about and there is an escalation in hostilities for Israel and ultimately for America then the American Jews will finally realize what their Democratic Party has become and finally make a break from them, IтАЩm not holding my breath!
DonтАЩt hold your breath.
There has been much written on this subject, it comes down to one very simple fact. Democratic American Jews have separated their religion from their ancestral homeland. They live safely in America while practicing their faith and ignore the dangers to a land very far away. They are ideologically aligned with Democrats and this suites them well.
You right donтАЩt hold my breath, I could be dead by shabbes! After President Trump (who got a fortune done for Israel) left office, and with Biden in power things donтАЩt look good on the nuke deal. Biden knows itтАЩs wrong but he is very busy in the Ukraine at the moment, and on the domestic front his ratings are poor so he has his work cut out for him and his party. TG Israel has the survived so far and is a vibrant bustling country with amazing people But I donтАЩt have to tell you that I get a sense you have been there already!ЁЯЗоЁЯЗ▒ЁЯЗ║ЁЯЗ╕
I was in Israel this past spring for my first time. It was an amazing experience. Old City Jerusalem was an emotional day, started off with a moment of silence for Holocaust Remembrance Day standing on the Mount of the Olives looking over the Temple Mount. The history of that one 35 acre plot of land is astounding.
OMG you must have had the time of your life did you go to Tel Aviv? Did you also do the Yad va Shem? ItтАЩs harrowing to go thru it but one needs to
This could easily become the norm because it is so much easier than dealing with the hard problem of fixing our universities.
Regular debt jubilees.
I agree.
Nothing wrong with the universities according to the left...they're doing exactly as purposed. And debt "forgiveness" (i.e.; transfer) is the perfect way to energize and embolden them even more. They can now say: "Look! We got our enemies to actually PAY for everything we're doing!!! More please!"
Why stop at student loans? Let's forgive home loans, car loans, gambling addicts' dept. Hell, let's abolish all loans. Where does it end? If you watched the loan debate on IQ2US, you saw that it immediately degenerated into a racial problem. Why is everything and I mean everything on the left racial?
All it tells me is that the left panders to race. They can't debate you on the issues so they immediately scream RACE! The definition of a racist is anyone who wins and argument with a leftist.
On a side note, the author says he doesn't believe in God but he still uses TGIF. Here are two alternatives:
POETS - Piss on everything tomorrow's Saturday.
or
SHIT - Sure happy it's Thursday.
Have a great weekend all.
DidnтАЩt t know you had such a great sense of humor LonesomeЁЯдгЁЯдгЁЯдг
I am a laugh a minute. So far you are the only one to recognize my God given talent. Thank you.
ItтАЩs a pleasure. I think the problem is post Covid most people lost their sense of humor!
I am loving you guys and your replies. I friggen love TGIF and Nick here did not disappoint
Covid has changed our culture.
As an aside on the racial issue and debt, the black students in my state university system medical school received full tuition grants regardless of financial status. I was fine with the girl who grew up in a poor neighborhood across the street from the methadone clinic, but when the girl with 2 physician parents got a free ride, and her parents used the money they had saved for tuition to buy her a brand new 1990 Mitsubishi 3000, I really didn't think it was fair. But what do I know...
You know everything what really made me mad at your post was the folks allowed it to happen.
I graduated from college back when dinosaurs roamed the campus and the cost of college was affordable for my below medium income.parents. I worked as a waitress during the school year - worked during the summers and lived in dorm room whose main luxury was a closet big enough for my sparse collegiate wardrobe.
Nowadays from what I read, students leave their parents ' home for the college experience where they live in luxury with climbing walls, olympic size swimming pools, apartment size dormitory rooms, etc. Someone has to pay for all of this and I expect it is added to everyone's tuitiion and room and board >
I was a single parent and the only way my kids could attend college was to live at home, go to a local community college for their first two years before transferring to the state university for the last two years working as they went. They are both happily employed in decent jobs without student loan debt.
When I went school there were only a few dinosaurs left. My entrance exam was they put a mirror under my nose and if I fogged it, I was in.
They tuition for the whole year was under $1000.00 and that was tuition room and board. My dorm room was unairconditioned. I would buy used books for each course. Some cost as little as 2 dollars. Now books for basic courses can cost over 100 dollars.
College now is a racket.
I tell kids to go to a community college and live at home. Nobody cares where you spent your first two years. It is the last two that count.
be. a plumber. make a ton of cash. be a welder. ditto.. heck. collect garbage. do something that no one else want to do.. make a ton of money. go to night school. study whatever interests you. live a productive life
Excellent comments.
The policy is as gross as draining the strategic oil reserve in the run up to the election.
Biden & Co are desperate at this point - they need to buy the vote....and arrest Trump to get him out of the way...feels like 'FASCISM' to me...
Exactly!
I believe Substack may be the Underground Railroad of our times. Perhaps we will reclaim our freedom through the courage of a few good men & women.
As for your suggestion of $10,000 for each of us .... emphatically, no! Don't be a piker. A million in cash, an electric car in the driveway, &, of course, a chicken in the pot is what we deserve.
Good job Nick Gillespie. Well done.
I hope you know that I wasn't promoting a $10K check for everyone, only stating the ludicrous nature of Biden's demented policy.
Oh yes, your meaning was perfectly clear, as, I hope, was mine.
"dog whistle" = uncomfortable truth
"micro aggressions" = uncomfortable truth that hurts my feelings
"cultural appropriation' = I'm sorry, that concept is too stupid to even make fun of.
Haha, I know right? тАШCultural appropriationтАЩ is actually cultural appreciation
As Glenn Reynolds likes to say, if you can hear the dog whistle, you must be the dog.
cultural appropriation = sharing is not caring