Biden To Forgive $10k In Student Loans -- In Unrelated News, Nation's Colleges Raise Tuition By $10k
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
CAMBRIDGE, MA — President Biden announced plans today to forgive $10,000 in student loan debt for anyone making less than $125k per year. In completely unrelated news, the nation's colleges and universities announced plans to immediately raise tuition by $10,000.
"Look, Jack! Here's the deal! No malarkey at all! Not a joke!" said Biden before an aide had to step in and explain he was signing an order to forgive student loan debt.
Dr. Charles Moneybags, director of the National Association for the Advancement Of College Professors (NAACP), said he applauds the president's decision to cancel student debt for so many borrowers. "We're very excited that a college education will be more affordable for the next generation of art history majors," he said.
Moneybags then went on to explain why immediate tuition increases were necessary. "Due to an unfortunate concurrence of high inflation, global warming, and, uh, the upcoming solar eclipse in 2024, we've all had to raise our tuition by $10k," he noted. "Plus, we've had to spend a ton of money building safe spaces and bathrooms for all the new genders."
Shelia Johnson, a 45-year-old Harvard student working on her ninth degree, said she is excited for her loans to be forgiven, but worries about the ever-increasing cost of education. "I'm nervous that I might need to leave school one day to get a job and start paying my loans," she said. "Hopefully President Kamala Harris can find a way to solve this problem."
At publishing time, Moneybags had invited the press corps to his summer home in the Hamptons to show off the new helipad he had installed next to his swimming pool.
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Alllrighty then...
Unfortunately this won't be satire soon.
Colleges have increased their tuitions every time the Federal government has offered any type of reprieve. Thinking this time will be any different is plain insanity.
Biden's rewarding their price gouging and people will borrow money going forward expecting to be bailed out.
So . . . I paid for college with my own money. Can I just get a check for 10 grand?
And if not, why TF not?
Didn't work at Kmart,
But I just bought it yesterday! It's on sale today! Can't you retroactively give me the extra money I spent?
...doubt it will now either.
Capitalism is an inherently exploitative and unfair economic system. We have many Americans who get rich by pushing paper around and manipulating the financial system. Then they get away without paying taxes. We have private equity firms and hedge fund managers who help no one but themselves. There is white collar crime everywhere that goes unpunished. Company owners commit wage theft.
There is a lot in our economic system that could and should be corrected, but never will be because people are making money off the system. Now this loan forgiveness is part of the system too. Is it fair? Not really, but join the club.
At least Biden wants to help regular people.
“At least Biden wants to help regular people.”
by making other regular people pay their debts. This is total bs.
Regular people? With graduate degrees?... Please, this was an attempt to bolster the party and himself with younger people before the midterms.
It's about time someone started looking out for those poor Harvard law grads. They've been oppressed too long.
This mostly only helps rich kids
How do you figure $10,000 mostly benefits the rich, for whom it is a relative pittance?
Does it apply to those who took out loans to go to trade school?
It doesn't.
Who’s doing that?
That's quite profound. Is JoJo one of Snookie's advisors?
I hope it does. It should.
They're gonna take my liberal card away from me because this is one subject I agree with the cons on.
We need plumbers, electricians, and carpenters way more than we need philosophers and art historians
That is a matter of opinion.
People who are familiar with the most basic philosophical principles would not start wars, would not be racist, and would treat everyone with the golden rule. Whether or not you need a college degree to understand philosophy is another story too.
I don't look at the world thru rose colored glasses, John. I see reality. Life is hard and it's even harder if you don't have skills or talent to make a living.
There's nothing wrong with a little philosophy or art to brighten an otherwise dull life. But a hard, dull life, is...well....hard
Have you read the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius? I think that he was both a philosopher and a warrior and emperor. A philosopher with deep personal experience of human life in all its complexity.
Warriors having a philosophical discussion:
Josie Wales: You be Ten Bears?
Ten Bears: I AM Ten Bears.
Josie Wales: I'm Josey Wales.
Ten Bears: I have heard. You are the Gray Rider. You would not make peace with the Bluecoats. You may go in peace.
Josie Wales: I reckon not. I got no place else to go.
Ten Bears: Then you will die.
Josie Wales: I came here to die with you. Or to live with you. Dying ain't so hard for men like you and me. It's living that's hard when all you've ever cared about has been butchered or raped. Governments don't live together - people live together. With governments, you don't always get a fair word or a fair fight. Well, I've come here to give you either one or get either one from you. I came here like this so you'll know my word of death is true, and my word of life is then true. The bear lives here, the wolf, the antelope, the Comanche. And so will we. Now we'll only hunt what we need to live on, same as the Comanche does. And every spring, when the grass turns green, and the Comanche moves north, you can rest here in peace, butcher some of our cattle, and jerk beef for the journey. The sign of the Comanche, that will be on our lodge. That's my word of life.
Ten Bears: And your word of death?
Josie Wales: It's here in my pistols and there in your rifles. I'm here for either one.
Ten Bears: These things you say we will have, we already have.
Josie Wales: That's true. I ain't promising you nothing extra. I'm just giving you life and you're giving me life. And I'm saying that men can live together without butchering one another.
Ten Bears: It's sad that governments are chiefed by the double tongues. There is iron in your words of death for all Comanche to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life... or death. It shall be life.
[draws his knife, and cuts his hand; Josie does likewise. The two shake hands, their blood mingling in brotherhood]
Ten Bears: So will it be.
Josie Wales: I reckon so
Love that movie.
There are exceptions to everything. I think the great majority of the well known philosophers were not warriors.
I think that the European philosophical movement starts with the works of the Greeks.
Many of the greatest humanistic achievements of ancient Athens, a completely militaristic democracy, were born in a time of constant military conflict.
Looking at you, medical and pharmaceutical industries. Oh and thanks to the insurance industry as well...
“That is a matter of opinion.”
I’m not sure you thought that through. Philosophers don’t build or maintain. Philosophers are not essential to a functioning society. I know many consider construction workers to be scum, but construction workers build and maintain systems that are essential to a functioning society. Where would we be without fresh and waste water systems? How about electricity production? How about roads and highways and bridges? I could go on and on but you should get the gist.
I dont even know how to respond to that. In your world there would be zero deep thinking. Everyone would care only about their own current or future circumstances. Without a bedrock of Enlightenment philosophy, there might not even have been an American revolution and a United States.
“I dont even know how to respond to that”
yeah, your comment shows that.
“In your world there would be zero deep thinking.”
Where did i say that?
”Everyone would care only about their own current or future circumstances.“
Not sure how you got that out of my comment. I basically said philosophers are not as essential as construction workers. I did not say they are worthless or not needed.
”Without a bedrock of Enlightenment philosophy, there might not even have been an American revolution and a United States.”
oh yeah there would’ve been. You greatly underestimate the desire for freedom.
You can work construction and still be a deep thinker
No doubt, but it is also desirable to have formal study of philosophy, and many other subjects that arent worth much monetarily. This world would be a vastly different place if academics was not valued throughout human history.
nuh uh
Doing what?
Fine. Good luck getting a job as a philosopher
i'm know Sew Krates, but i've never been exactly your 'average' construction
worker
Of course you aren't. You're a poet.
Doing what?
What ? Are you saying that all Roofers aren't poets...? WTF
I dunno a lot of roofers. But I know you're a poet. Are you a roofer, also?
What your meme says - sending a million dollars a day to what I assume is Trump. Are you talking about one person who is sending a million dollars a day?
Anyway, almost every person who ever runs for office at the federal level has more money than people who have student loans. They still take donations. It's kind of a ridiculous system, but they all do it.
"What your meme says - sending a million dollars a day to what I assume is Trump. Are you talking about one person who is sending a million dollars a day?
Anyway, almost every person who ever runs for office at the federal level has more money than people who have student loans. They still take donations. It's kind of a ridiculous system, but they all do it."
Honestly I don't know - I think it means though the moneys(monies? spelling?) this alleged billionaire begs for on an almost daily basis under the guise/posing as campaigning/fundraising, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. and those who have contribute lots of money and anyone who contributes any money are contributing to the lifelong grifter/thug/thief (probably in the amount of millions a day).
Also, what other billionaires are you aware of begging for donations of any kind?
Billionaires? None that I can think of. There just aren't many to begin with. Bloomberg has way more money than Trump and I'm pretty sure he only spent his own money. After that, I don't know. Tom Steyer, I think. Ross Perot, I suppose. Kanye?
But millionaires? Lots of em. And they are happy to take donations. So much money gets pumped into the campaigns, and it's depressing to think of all it could do if it were just directed at people who really need it.
I wasn't asking about millionaires.
I was asking about billionaires and alleged billionaires like #45.
From my lowly status as a member of The Great Unwashed, there is no difference between millionaires and billionaires.
Or was it just your need to have the last word
Because there is no forgiving of a debt. Somebody else, in this case the taxpayer, will have to pay.
If it helps democrats in November, it's all worth it, right?
Yeah it really does look like "Vote for the guy who sent you a fat check."
Of course it does!
I'd bet you a whole box of donuts that they have polling data that shows some high percentage of people who have paid off their loans already vote Republican and those that haven't either vote Democratic or don't vote at all. But now they will!
Actually, that is quite doubtful considering that the current GOP base is primarily non college educated white people...
In which case, it has the same effect. The people who vote Republican don't need the government to excuse their debts.
You're right - the Democrats won't vote at all. The loan forgiveness is targeted to young borrowers - those who typically don't vote in minor elections. It will be two years before these attention-challenged voters show up at the polls and by then they'll be worried about the draft.
I thought that the WH reported that 1/3 of those forgiven had no degree.
Wouldn't surprise me. Since tuition is due up front, you need the loan up front. Graduating is something you do later.
And I expect that if you go multiple semesters in a row with shitty grades, they're happy to keep giving you a loan for new classes.
"At the White House in May, Mr. Schumer and Senators Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Raphael Warnock, Democrat of Georgia, presented data to Mr. Biden showing that debt cancellation would benefit borrowers who failed to obtain a degree, according to a person familiar with the meeting."
Apparently, a lot of them knew that three months ago.
So . . . If you didn’t go to college because you couldn’t afford it, and you weren’t so irresponsible as to take out a loan you weren’t sure you could pay back . . . Can you just get a check for $10,000?
Nope. That question was asked and apparently it has something to do with big corporations, taxes and just life being unfair.
That's really the only justification. Life is unfair and it helps people who vote for Biden, so screw everything else.
Speaking of unfair
inequality.org /research/trump-tax-cuts-inequality/
Eight Ways the Trump-GOP Tax Cuts Have Made the Rich Richer While Failing Working Families - Inequality.org
by Natalia Renta 5-6 minutes
Republicans repeatedly promised in 2017 that their proposed tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations would increase jobs, pay for themselves, give every family a big raise and would really hurt rich people like Donald Trump.
Two years after passage of this $1.9 trillion tax plan — officially named the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) — a new report by Americans for Tax Fairness catalogues the eight major GOP predictions about the benefits of the legislation and shows how each of those promises (ahem, lies) have proven false.
The richest 1 percent of taxpayers will get an average tax cut of $50,000 in 2020. That’s 75 times more than the tax cut for the bottom 80 percent, which will average just $645. These figures are comparable to estimates from the Tax Policy Center for 2018, which found the average tax cut for the richest 1 percent to be $51,000 and the average tax cut for the bottom 80 percent to be about $800.
A big reason benefits are tilted to the top is the law slashed the U.S. corporate tax rate on domestic profits from 35 percent to 21 percent and on foreign profits to about 10 percent. Wealthy people own most corporate stock.
Within the Fortune 500, 91 profitable corporations —such as Amazon, FedEx, Netflix and General Motors—paid no U.S. corporate income taxes in 2018, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. And 379 profitable Fortune 500 corporations paid just an 11.3 percent tax rate last year. That’s about half the rate established under Trump’s tax law, which slashed the previous rate by 40 percent.
President Trump and his family will benefit personally by millions of dollars from at least five features of the law: lower top income tax rates; the deep corporate tax cuts; a weakened estate tax; a tax break mostly benefiting wealthy business owners like Trump (see below); and real-estate loopholes the law opened.
Median family income grew by just $514 in 2018 after enactment of the tax law—much slower growth than occurred in each of the last three years under President Obama. The increase in the yearly wage growth rate is up just 0.4 percent over the roughly two years since the Trump-GOP tax law was enacted. The yearly wage growth rate under Obama’s last two years accelerated by 0.7 percent.
Almost half the benefits of this supposed “small” business tax cut are going to the tiny sliver of businesses with over $1 million in annual income. Less than a quarter is going to firms with income of $200,000 or less.
Economic growth (GDP) since the tax law was enacted has been in line with the Obama years. Growth hasn’t hit 3 percent under Trump , and growth during the first three quarters of 2019 is averaging 2.4 percent. The Federal Reserve predicts growth of 2.2 percent for the full year.
The total cost of the tax cuts is estimated at $1.9 trillion , according to the Congressional Budget Office, which will be added to the national debt. Conservatives claimed the law’s lower tax rates would raise a lot more revenue through greater economic activity. But largely due to the tax cuts (especially for corporations), the deficit has exploded, reaching nearly $1 trillion in 2019 , up more than 70 percent from the $585 billion during Obama’s last year in office.
Kansas activist Sarah LaFrenz, warning of the disastrous impacts of deep tax cuts on corporations in her state at a Washington, D.C. rally before the 2017 congressional vote on the GOP tax plan. Credit: Sarah Anderson.
Monthly job growth has averaged 202,000 in the two years since the tax cuts were enacted. Job growth in the last two years of the Obama Administration averaged 210,000 a month.
After just one-quarter of modest growth in 2018, capital investment has declined overall since then, falling into negative territory in the second and third quarters of 2019.
Corporations have instead used their tax savings for stock buybacks, which primarily benefit executives and other wealthy shareholders. Corporations bought back a record $800 billion-plus of their own shares in 2018, an increase of more than 50 percent over the $519 billion in stock buybacks in 2017.
Americans aren’t buying these failed promises. Polls show that more voters oppose the Trump-GOP tax cuts than support them.
Congress should go beyond repealing the Republican tax plan and embrace innovative new ideas for fair taxation. A previous Americans for Tax Fairness report, Fair Taxes Now: Revenue Options for A Fair Tax System , presents a menu of 40 progressive tax reform options that could raise about $10 trillion, demand the most from those with the most to give, and steer a better economic course for our country than the failed policy of cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations.
Of course, conservatives never complain about how the economic system is rigged in favor of the wealthy.
Like I said, loan forgiveness may not be ideal and not completely fair to some, but nothing in this country is totally "fair". Biden is doing the best he can.
[Deleted]
This has nothing to do with Trump.
Also, inequality.org? Really? You couldn't find a far more left wing site to get your garbage from?
Of course Democrats never complain when they reward the rich when trying to buy votes.
Our money is the Democrat's money after all.
Republicans vote to make the rich richer. It is an eternal feature of their party.
My taxes didn't go up significantly but my wages did. Now those higher wages buy less than before. I understand that you hate Trump, but this has nothing to do with him.
That's a clever way of saying, 'stick in the ass of middle man.'
Remember that when the usual creatures come along with their "the rich need to pay their fair share" bullshit. It has no real definition.
Pretending for a minute that private debts voluntarily entered into are the same as taxes, did trump unilaterally and illegally order the rich to pay less taxes, or were the laws cutting everyone taxes changed by congress?
Do Republicans cut the taxes for everyone? Yes or no question. There is no third damn option.
Remember when Obama threatened to end the Bush Jr tax breaks for everyone if he didn't get the tax increase on the rich he wanted. Republicans caved so at least the tax breaks for the poor and middle class could remain. This was during a damn recession no less! Now which party is for the poor and middle class again? Obama could give a shit about them. Same with all of the rest of the Democrats.
You scream Republicans are for the rich; but which party has lowered taxes for everyone repeatedly? It isn't the Democrats.
Let us know when Democrats do something that benefits all of the poor and middle class. Instead of rewarding a small select group of people they are trying to buy the votes of (and that includes the rich!)
In many cases they were not voluntarily entered into.
How can you say that? Deciding to go to college and take out loans is definitely a decision made by the individual. I've not seen any government agent forcing any student to take out a loan.
As I understand it, the students were first told that they would only need loans of about $10,000, and the rest would be in the form of grants, etc.. Then the schools had them sign a form that allowed the school to handle their financial aid on the pretense of making it easier for the student. The school would then run up the bill, and when the student left or graduated, they got a bill that was exponentially larger than they were told it was going to be.
In short, they were conned and defrauded. Kind of like Trump University.
Which schools? Your linked article is rather short on any details, much less what you mention. Are you talking about schools such as Corinthian Colleges or ITT Technical Institute which were already caught out and the student loans had previously been forgiven? Or is this something relevant to today's news?
One thing I dont like is the abrupt cutoff. If you make 124,999 dollars income you qualify, but if you make 1 more dollar you dont?
Like many things related to taxes and government benefits, it would be better if they were assessed or outlayed on a sliding scale. Which would not be difficult to construct.
If they're making that much and can't pay for it, why in the hell should American taxpayers that aren't making that much share the burden that they took on willingly?
"If you make 124,999 dollars income you qualify, but if you make 1 more dollar you don't?"
How much empathy do you think exists for that dilemma? Some asshole has to work overtime in a factory to hit a median income of $60k - just to pay for the irresponsibility of some kid making twice as much. AND, these jokers will laugh about it.
I dont have any "empathy" for them. I think all government financial programs , including taxes and social safety net programs should be designed on a sliding scale. Your taxes should not go up 5 or 10% because you made 1 dollar more this year than you made last.
Or a couple earning $249,999. These poor people have only had a moratorium on their loan for two years now - no payments, no interest and now Biden goes small when he could have canceled it all. $10K - no way!
I suggest that if you want a good higher education and no student debt go to Germany for your education.
Good point, what accounts for the vast difference in tuition costs?
It's free in Germany as my great nephew received an engineering degree at no cost to him. He is not a German citizen and 90% plus of all classes are in English. He was hired by MBZ as soon as he graduated.
The German government subsidizes higher education we do not, to the US it's a money-making enterprise.
I won't argue that ours isn't a money-making enterprise but we do subsidize higher education.
In 2019, state and local governments spent $311 billion on higher education, or 9 percent of state and local direct general spending. As a share of state and local direct spending, higher education was the fourth-largest expenditure in 2019 and roughly equal to spending on health and hospitals.
In 2018, higher education institutions received a total of $1.068 trillion in revenue from federal and non-federal funding sources. Investments from the federal government were $149 billion of the total, representing 3.6% of federal spending. This money flowed into colleges and universities through three main vehicles: federal student aid, grants, and contracts. In our analysis we focused on data from nonprofit institutions that offer a program of two years or more.
The big differences between German higher education and the US are:
Germany doesn't have a military we do. Germany is not responsible for it's own defense; we are Responsible for ours and the rest of the world's.
Germany will find out soon that they cannot have guns and butter again. That is if they are really serious about revamping their military; which I seriously doubt.
Actually, the big difference is that it's free in Germany. This means that my nephew's engineering degree leaves him debt free and with a position in a major corporation.
On that note Germany is far superior in higher education without a huge debt than the US is.
None of which has anything to do with my comment.
Actually, it's not free, but it costs less and different people pay for it.
Yes, the don't coddle their students.
Actually it is free to the student and that is what we are discussing.
I thought that we were talking about student costs and government subsidies and I additionally pointed out besides subsidies, why the cost in the US is so much higher.
And I pointed out that it was free to the student and that is student cost. It is good that you pointed out why US cost are so much higher.
Congratulations to everyone that didn’t have college debt. Now you do.