Since it's the only proposal out there, and it beats the absolute living hell out of doing nothing, I am supporting it. This is a multi-faceted problem that requires a nuanced approach. This is definitely not nuanced. But for now I am happy with Bernie at least starting the conversation and getting people talking about the actual problems we're facing. This is politics 101. Control the conversation. Start negotiation from a position of strength.
Executive order buddy. We have had three straight administrations increasing the reach of Presidential power..... just have to have the Supreme Court and the Executive branch. The current President has laid the groundwork.
I don't blame the President since our Congress is designed for gridlock. Although Bush was particularly bad about it.
I think we need to do something, but this goes too far in my opinion. As an elder millennial in my mid 30s, a lot of us were pushed to go to college regardless of knowing what we wanted to do. None of this solves the issue of preparing individuals for the 21st century as I think we still have a very pre-internet educational mindset. The sum total of mans knowledge has been digitized, how do we teach people to use it?
LOL. Elizabeth Warren came up with her version of this stupid idea because her campaign was floundering and she needed attention (vs her normally very smartly crafted proposals). It did work, though she's now stuck with that terrible proposal the rest of her campaign. Sanders is doubling down on his usual stupid proposals now that his campaign is floundering a bit. These "give stuff away free" proposals are signs of struggling campaigns and unserious policy-making. How hard was this proposal to come up? "Hey, let's give away $1.5 trillion, and lets just tax all the bad people to pay for it!" Why doesn't anyone ever ask why these campaigns come up with these things only once their poll numbers start falling?
It cannot, or shouldn't........ except it doesn't matter, because at this point there is no real agreeable limit on executive power. We have the President of the United States saying that he cannot be investigated for criminal behavior....... what the President can and cannot do ultimately comes down to the will of the people and the Supreme Court. If something were to happen to someone like Thomas or Alito, and the President elect was savvy enough, he could absolutely continue to erode the checks and balances. Donald Trump right now is getting around funding issues and bypassing the congress.
Take 3 people: 1. Person who spend $100,000 to go get to a high end college. 2. Person who skipped college to go to trade school and not rack up debt to start their adult life. 3. Person who went to state school instead of Harvard to save money and make what they thought was a responsible financial choice. 4. Person who worked their ass off through college with part time jobs and maybe didn't do as well as their loan-taking colleagues. Now you're going tell people #2-#4 retroactively that they made a terrible life decision, and that you're giving #1 a lifelong advantage over them just because? That's a great way to win votes of group #1 and permanently piss off and disadvantage groups #2-#4. Beyond that, what about the next generation? Do they get free college? Did you do anything to make college cheaper for them? Or is it just this random group of people that have debt outstanding that suddenly get a bunch of free money?
Leave it to the neo-liberals to have an allergic reaction to this. Yall really are your own worst enemy.
This isn't how that worked. The banks ended up paying back all the money that was borrowed, making the cost to government actually zero. The costs of QE are a little more complex vague, but that was not money that was borrowed by the US government, and given the lack of inflation, it wasn't paid by taxpayers either. Beyond that, it's laughable to think it didn't do anything for the mainstreet economy? Right or wrong, the mainstreet economy in a great depression if not for that bailout. It literally saved many millions of jobs and avoided poverty for tens of millions of people (hundreds of millions, globally, through coordinated action with over central banks).
Capitalism is important..... very important. There are ways to blunt the side effects and to help society as a whole. I do not have an issue with loan forgiveness in certain circumstances. I do not have an issue with freezing interest on student loans. I do not support simply erasing all student loans.
Like I said, didn't improve their lives at all. It kept them from getting shot in the head through no fault of their own. You cannot frame that like they did the rest of us a favor.
I have no desire to jump down the Executive Order rabbit hole writ large. Specifically related to the issue at hand, I don't think Bernie or any other President imposing taxes on the public via EO will fly .. Also, with the making state schools free... that's going to have to take some legislative work. Bernie cannot waive a wand making state schools free. He could conceivably cancel the current debt but that doesn't really solve any problems.
I realize this. I'm criticizing people whom are normally liberal who suddenly either turn into conservatives or forget how government and politics works when proposals like this come knocking. In politics, if you need 5 cents, you ask for 10.
