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Sanders to propose canceling entire $1.6 trillion in US student loan debt

Renae

Renae

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WASHINGTON - Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will propose on Monday eliminating all $1.6 trillion of student debt held in the United States, a significant escalation of the policy fight in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary two days before the candidates' first debate in Miami.Sanders is proposing that the federal government pay to wipe clean the student debt held by 45 million Americans - including all private and graduate school debt - as part of a package that also would make public universities, community colleges and trade schools tuition-free.




Sanders is proposing to pay for these plans with a tax on Wall Street his campaign says will raise more than $2 trillion over 10 years, though some tax experts give lower revenue estimates.
Sanders will be joined Monday by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who will introduce legislation in the House to eliminate all student debt in the United States, as well as Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who has championed legislation to make public universities tuition-free.
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Sanders to propose canceling entire $1.6 trillion in US student loan debt - StamfordAdvocate

"The American experiment in democracy will end when the politicians realize they can bribe the voters with gold from the treasury.

All you suckers that did without, paid your loans off, fools the lot of you, you should have just waited for the Dem's to force everyone ELSE to pay for your college degree!

PS A main push to get kids to enlist/join the military is the promise the military will help pay for it, what will this do to recruitment?
 
Renae said:
Sanders to propose canceling entire $1.6 trillion in US student loan debt - StamfordAdvocate

"The American experiment in democracy will end when the politicians realize they can bribe the voters with gold from the treasury.

All you suckers that did without, paid your loans off, fools the lot of you, you should have just waited for the Dem's to force everyone ELSE to pay for your college degree!

PS A main push to get kids to enlist/join the military is the promise the military will help pay for it, what will this do to recruitment?
Click to expand...
He's been talking about that or something similar since like 2016 or earlier, so I find this unsurprising.
 
There's a reason Sanders has no major (or minor?) accomplishments in the Senate.
 
Renae said:
Sanders to propose canceling entire $1.6 trillion in US student loan debt - StamfordAdvocate

"The American experiment in democracy will end when the politicians realize they can bribe the voters with gold from the treasury.

All you suckers that did without, paid your loans off, fools the lot of you, you should have just waited for the Dem's to force everyone ELSE to pay for your college degree!

PS A main push to get kids to enlist/join the military is the promise the military will help pay for it, what will this do to recruitment?
Click to expand...

I don't know what you're worried about. Free college and paying off debts won't cost taxpayers anything. We'll see improved economic growth by attracting more/better jobs and better productivity and I'm pretty sure that the program will pay for itself over time. And if it doesn't we can just cut tax rates some more and raise the new revenue that way. Seems like a good plan to me.
 
JasperL said:
I don't know what you're worried about. Free college and paying off debts won't cost taxpayers anything. We'll see improved economic growth by attracting more/better jobs and better productivity and I'm pretty sure that the program will pay for itself over time. And if it doesn't we can just cut tax rates some more and raise the new revenue that way. Seems like a good plan to me.
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Your sarcasm is amusing, if you're serious... well... /smh
 
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren today called for reparations for same sex couples.

Will the pandering ever end in this pathetic parity?
 
Renae said:
Sanders to propose canceling entire $1.6 trillion in US student loan debt - StamfordAdvocate

"The American experiment in democracy will end when the politicians realize they can bribe the voters with gold from the treasury.

All you suckers that did without, paid your loans off, fools the lot of you, you should have just waited for the Dem's to force everyone ELSE to pay for your college degree!

PS A main push to get kids to enlist/join the military is the promise the military will help pay for it, what will this do to recruitment?
Click to expand...

Sanders ain’t never gonna be President.
 
Renae said:
Your sarcasm is amusing, if you're serious... well... /smh
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I'm partly serious. We've passed tax cuts several times by making the same arguments, and there's at least as much evidence that free college will pay for itself as there is that lowering tax rates does. So why not use the same argument for the benefit of the proles versus to pass tax cuts mainly flowing to the top 1% or so?

On a more serious note, I'm not in favor of his proposal as stated, but I'm all for extending public ("free") K-12 to at least through 2 years of public college/community college or technical training. My own red state does that now because employers are finding it hard to hire enough qualified workers for the new jobs coming online, and I suspect that's going to get worse. That was the state's conclusion at any rate. When we set up public schools, K-12 was all the jobs market needed. Now employers require more training, although not necessarily a 4 year BA or BS, and I don't know of a good reason for the state not to fund that.
 
Oh no! What will happen next, young people will be free to invest in our economy again? What a horrible outcome! :roll:
 
This is why Bernie will never be POTUS.
 
JasperL said:
I'm partly serious. We've passed tax cuts several times by making the same arguments, and there's at least as much evidence that free college will pay for itself as there is that lowering tax rates does. So why not use the same argument for the benefit of the proles versus to pass tax cuts mainly flowing to the top 1% or so?

On a more serious note, I'm not in favor of his proposal as stated, but I'm all for extending public ("free") K-12 to at least through 2 years of public college/community college or technical training. My own red state does that now because employers are finding it hard to hire enough qualified workers for the new jobs coming online, and I suspect that's going to get worse. That was the state's conclusion at any rate. When we set up public schools, K-12 was all the jobs market needed. Now employers require more training, although not necessarily a 4 year BA or BS, and I don't know of a good reason for the state not to fund that.
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I agree with this, particularly technical training for the reasons stated.

Having said that, yes, I do think there would be material economic benefit to debt forgiveness of people who now can and will indeed put money back into and bolster the economy via demand push; certainly more than supply side tax cuts
costing trillions for those who spend the least as a % of their income (i.e. the rich). It's an indirect, de facto stimulus.

However I don't know if I fully support the plan as it exists either, and I think it should be at the very least income/means indexed.
 
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Phys251 said:
Oh no! What will happen next, young people will be free to invest in our economy again? What a horrible outcome! :roll:
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They are investing by paying off their loans.

Where did this idea come about anyway that you should have the government cancel debt you voluntarily agreed to take?

This is the problem with unfettered democracy, expanding the right to vote beyond the landed gentry was a mistake, not progress.
 
Renae said:
Sanders to propose canceling entire $1.6 trillion in US student loan debt - StamfordAdvocate

"The American experiment in democracy will end when the politicians realize they can bribe the voters with gold from the treasury.

All you suckers that did without, paid your loans off, fools the lot of you, you should have just waited for the Dem's to force everyone ELSE to pay for your college degree!

PS A main push to get kids to enlist/join the military is the promise the military will help pay for it, what will this do to recruitment?
Click to expand...

It'd be a lot simpler to just cancel the loans outright. No need to make the taxpayers foot the bill.
 
EMNofSeattle said:
They are investing by paying off their loans.
Where did this idea come about anyway that you should have the government cancel debt you voluntarily agreed to take?
This is the problem with unfettered democracy, expanding the right to vote beyond the landed gentry was a mistake, not progress.
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Frankly, I agree. Only people who have no motive to enrich themselves should get to vote. I think we should only get to vote when you have a NW of 5 million or 10 million
 
JasperL said:
I don't know what you're worried about. Free college and paying off debts won't cost taxpayers anything. We'll see improved economic growth by attracting more/better jobs and better productivity and I'm pretty sure that the program will pay for itself over time. And if it doesn't we can just cut tax rates some more and raise the new revenue that way. Seems like a good plan to me.
Click to expand...

Imagine Republicans being against something that would stimulate things like purchases of goods and services, homes, etc.
Why are Republicans so anti-business? Don't they want a booming economy full of young healthy people with a lot of energy?
Don't they want these healthy young people to breed like rabbits and make lots of babies?
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Imagine Republicans being against something that would stimulate things like purchases of goods and services, homes, etc.
Why are Republicans so anti-business? Don't they want a booming economy full of young healthy people with a lot of energy?
Don't they want these healthy young people to breed like rabbits and make lots of babies?
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Stimulus is acceptable only when it benefits the rich obviously.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Imagine Republicans being against something that would stimulate things like purchases of goods and services, homes, etc.
Why are Republicans so anti-business? Don't they want a booming economy full of young healthy people with a lot of energy?
Don't they want these healthy young people to breed like rabbits and make lots of babies?
Click to expand...

How absurd.
 
Renae said:
Sanders to propose canceling entire $1.6 trillion in US student loan debt - StamfordAdvocate

"The American experiment in democracy will end when the politicians realize they can bribe the voters with gold from the treasury.

All you suckers that did without, paid your loans off, fools the lot of you, you should have just waited for the Dem's to force everyone ELSE to pay for your college degree!

PS A main push to get kids to enlist/join the military is the promise the military will help pay for it, what will this do to recruitment?
Click to expand...

I don't know, the Republicans seem to have success in bribing their voters with tax cuts, which work to reduce revenue, which has the exact same effect on the deficit. BTW, the last one cost the US Treasury an estimated $2.3T. Last time I checked, $2.3T was a bigger giveaway that $1.6T.

POLITICO analysis: At $2.3 trillion cost, Trump tax cuts leave big gap - POLITICO

I am not advocating for Sander's plan; merely admonishing you for not be outraged when the Republicans do the same thing.
 
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what's another $1.6 trillion on top of $22.4 Trillion debt :roll:
 
Renae said:
Sanders to propose canceling entire $1.6 trillion in US student loan debt - StamfordAdvocate

"The American experiment in democracy will end when the politicians realize they can bribe the voters with gold from the treasury.

All you suckers that did without, paid your loans off, fools the lot of you, you should have just waited for the Dem's to force everyone ELSE to pay for your college degree!

PS A main push to get kids to enlist/join the military is the promise the military will help pay for it, what will this do to recruitment?
Click to expand...

And liberals accuse Trump of being a populist. Bernie is out to buy all the votes he can get. Along with his list of rights and other give-aways, Sanders is pandering. Just plain, outright pandering. He ain't even trying to hide it anymore.
 
Bernie could fund this with a tax on dumb people who aren't smart enough to get into college or faculty who never leave.

"Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities, we didn't have to produce anything! You've never been out of college! You don't know what it's like out there! I've WORKED in the private sector. They expect *results*." --Dan Aykroyd in Ghostbusters.
 
JasperL said:
I'm partly serious. We've passed tax cuts several times by making the same arguments, and there's at least as much evidence that free college will pay for itself as there is that lowering tax rates does. So why not use the same argument for the benefit of the proles versus to pass tax cuts mainly flowing to the top 1% or so?

On a more serious note, I'm not in favor of his proposal as stated, but I'm all for extending public ("free") K-12 to at least through 2 years of public college/community college or technical training. My own red state does that now because employers are finding it hard to hire enough qualified workers for the new jobs coming online, and I suspect that's going to get worse. That was the state's conclusion at any rate. When we set up public schools, K-12 was all the jobs market needed. Now employers require more training, although not necessarily a 4 year BA or BS, and I don't know of a good reason for the state not to fund that.
Click to expand...

As someone who holds a college degree in a field people generally consider important, the degree is barely worth the paper it’s printed on. Employers don’t need people with more schooling they need they type of smart driven people who get a degree. Flooding the K-12 system into college isn’t going to produce many more of those.
 
upsideguy said:
I don't know, the Republicans seem to have success in bribing their voters with tax cuts, which work to reduce revenue, which has the exact same effect on the deficit. BTW, the last one cost the US Treasury an estimated $2.3T. Last time I checked, $2.3T was a bigger giveaway that $1.6T.

POLITICO analysis: At $2.3 trillion cost, Trump tax cuts leave big gap - POLITICO

I am not advocating for Sander's plan; merely admonishing you for not be outraged when the Republicans do the same thing.
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Allowing people to keep more of their own money is not a bribe.
 
First, with regard to the proposal of forgiving student debt, it's one thing to state a concept and another thing entirely in having it come to pass.

Next, we appear to have come to the point where a college degree is seen as a means to a job and nothing else. Colleges can, believe it or not, be something more than trade schools.
 
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