News Aug 12, 2021 at 10:00 am

What’s the winning message for Democrats if they want to retain their majority in 2022? "Deliver for the people."

Comments

1

Thank God for Representative Jayapal!
Congress actually getting something done - shocking after 4 years of Orange Hitler!

2

No matter you feel about Pramila, she's left pouty Patty and missing Maria far behind in the dust in the congressional history of our state.

6

@5 "The main objections are that it would be unfair to those who have paid their debts"

"No one helped me so no one else should get any help" is a really shitty train of thought.

7

@4, agreed. We really need to get rid of that stupid qualification. Being born in America doesn't make you special, and as we've seen it sure as shit doesn't mean you are qualified to be president.

8

@5, I'm not sure that's the best objection. How about that a college degree translates to about an extra million in lifetime earnings on average? How about that rich kids are more likely to go to college than poor kids? A group of people who skew towards the rich and who already have the best prospects in life don't strike me as the ones who should be first in line for debt forgiveness.

9

@8 It's not the kids of wealthy kids who run up significant student debt. It's the smart kid with poor folks who gets to be the first in his family to go to college that gets stuck with debt. I was one of those who was lucky enough to go to college when it was still relatively affordable, and my parents and I didn't need loans.

See, that's why I support forgiveness of almost all student loans, fairness. I, and virtually all of the boomers, started out with college degrees and no massive debt. That is something every American should enjoy.

10

@9, That is completely untrue. In households with someone 25 or over, the lowest income quartile holds 12% of student debt, the second lowest holds 24%, the third holds 29%, and the highest income quartile holds 34% of student debt. Almost half of student debt is held by those with graduate degrees.

https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/which-households-hold-most-student-debt

Those who have the largest student debts and are in the best position to benefit are those who got really expensive graduate degrees such as law, medicine, and business. The average household that would benefit from forgiving student debt has an income of $76,359 and would get an average benefit of $26,046. Of these recipients, 7% live in poverty. The program would cost a bit more than what has been paid into Supplemental SSI between 2000 and 2019, whose average beneficiary had an average household income of $23,233 and received $8,795, 40% of whom lived in poverty. Forgiving $50K of debt would cost about 2.5 times as much as has been paid into Welfare (TANF) between 2000 and 2019, whose average beneficiary had a household income of $23,440, received $3,625, 49% of whom lived in poverty.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/02/12/putting-student-loan-forgiveness-in-perspective-how-costly-is-it-and-who-benefits/

Unless debt forgiveness is means tested in some way, this is a bigger giveaway to the upper middle class than Trump's tax cuts.

12

Student loan forgiveness = improved economy. That's the best argument for it. Less people throwing significant amounts of their income at loans means more people going on vacations, buying homes, buying cars and appliances, doing home remodels/repairs, saving money for retirement/emergencies, going out to concerts and restaurants, etc

In my household, it would mean around $800 more per month in expendable income. Come on Grandpa Joe!

13

I'll s the d (or p) of anyone who can get student debt canceled. I would actually have money to do stuff...and things! might even have the money to go out to eat more than once every two months. won't have to feel guilty about hitting-up katsu anymore!

me 8 years ago: yes, the accelerated payment plan with higher monthly payments is the wise financial choice to be rid of the debt early
me now: fuck these $400/mo payments

14

@1 pat L, @4 Professor_ Hiztory, @6 & @7 Brent Gumbo and @9 Greenwood Bob for the WIN! So well said and spot on, all of you. I have nothing more to add. Agreed, seconded, thirded, fourthed, and fifthed. :)

15

@10,

"Unless debt forgiveness is means tested in some way, this is a bigger giveaway to the upper middle class than Trump's tax cuts."

I'm going to go off on a tangent and remark on this specific line from your comment, and my remark doesn't have anything to do with student loans, forgive me... but what you wrote above struck me.

Trump's tax cuts did almost nothing for the upper middle class. His tax cuts were designed specifically to benefit the wealthiest people and wealthiest businesses in the country. Not even the 1%, but the 0.1%. The upper, upper, upper, UPPER, UPPER! class.

https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-irs-files-reveal-how-much-the-ultrawealthy-gained-by-shaping-trumps-big-beautiful-tax-cut

The upper middle class probably got a few crumbs like the rest of us, but for the most part, they were just as fucked by Donnie's plutocratic tax cuts as the rest of us.

So, you're absolutely correct. Student loan forgiveness WOULD be a bigger giveaway to the upper middle class than Trump's tax cuts, but that's only because his tax cuts weren't a giveaway to that particular class in the slightest.

/rant over, carry on.

16

Change the law and let people declare bankruptcy on student debt. Sure, their credit gets ruined, but at least we aren't basically turning every person who paid for their loans into suckers. It would also put more skin in the game for the loan servicers who are notorious for screwing lenders over every chance they get and the gross trend of academia gold plating every god damned thing and massively inflating the cost of a degree. You also avoid the rightfully disturbing class conflict of making non-college educated tax payers cover the debts of the upper middle class.

17

What's up with the "Democrats can't get anything done" framing of the headline? Are we really still doing this after 8 months of big Biden wins?

The URL shows that the original title was "Jayapal on her strategy to pass the president's agenda through congress." Why was it changed to something much more dumb?

Yes, the Democrats have "only" passed about $6T worth of legislative agenda items so far this year. I hope they can get their act together soon!

18

The democrats need to reign in their far left agenda and reach out to the middle class who I suggest is tired of paying higher and higher taxes in return for lawlessness, police bashing, wasteful government spending and a class of politicians who completely ignores their needs. If they did so they (Democrats) might be a bit more popular.

Seattle is an excellent example of far left politics run wild.... a downtown and many livelihoods destroyed, homeless encampments doting the city, ineffectual "social programs", a wasteland of law and order and an ever lower confidence in our elected leaders to the the right thing.

In 40 years of living here I've never seen such a "hot mess" in this city. Reprehensible.

20

@10 Given how much funding for programs that benefit the middle class have been gutted over the course of my life, I'm all for Federal programs that put money into the middle class. I'm especially fond of such programs if they are funded by raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. At the very least, we need to make medical and educational debt the easiest to dismiss by bankruptcy, and cap interest on such debt to no more than 10% per year.

23

Thank goodness for Rep. Jayapal, who would make an excellent presidential or vice-presidential candidate alongside Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris, or whomever is running on the Democratic ticket.

President Biden may require copious quantities of Viagra if he is to reclaim the presidential mantle for a second term.

Probably Harris will get the nod, who has been unfairly burdened of late due to handling all of Biden’s dirty laundry, like this border debacle or the voter identification rights issue.

Regrettably, Harris is a tough-sell because she does not interview well, and tends to dig in when challenged, such as when Lester Holt asked her why she hadn’t actually visited the border to address the southern-exodus-crisis there.

Jayapal deserves credit for slamming this infrastructure package through with bi-partisan aplomb, and actually helped to inspire moderate Republicans to jump on board and push the yes-votes over the top.

The Jayapal work-ethic puts our MIA senatorial delegation to shame, although they may be at a ribbon-cutting ceremony somewhere or dealing with the leviathan machinations of the federal governmental monstrosity they helped create.

Notice how Jayapal does not resort to twitter-wars or the despicable way Trump would hang his dick out the window and try to screw the world and soil himself, then alienate Congress and wind-up ruminating about what a shrimp-dick failed steak salesman he was and get nothing achieved politically, which was all for the better because he had fascist aspirations, a small intellect and chanterelle mushroom-like penis.

The student forgiveness debate is tantalizing, although we have to realize that students are adults, mostly, and must take responsibility for going into hock for a humanities degree that does not pay the bills.

A Master’s degree in filmmaking from Columbia University is not strictly speaking a negative on your resume, however, if you pursue that degree, which often is not remunerative, you should do so at your own expense and face the student debt music.

This crushing, optional, prestige-related student debt is a driving force behind financial ruin and delayed prosperity for many students entering the workforce, who may in fact never be able to purchase a home and start a family, should they so choose.

As a Sticker-Patrol artist recently stated “This is Why we Can’t Have Nice Stuff”.

Pollysexual used lots of line-breaks to improve readability so The Stranger aficionados up there in Edmonds don’t get exasperated and burn their anus with an overheated vibrator.

24

Re Harris' potential as a Presidential candidate in 2024, I think the biggest issue is she doesn't sell well in the middle of the country. She's very much of a corporate pants suit big blue coastal state candidate. If senile Reagan could do two terms, so can Joe, assuming the GOP voter suppression doesn't take him out. Up his adderall dosage when campaign season rolls around.

25

@21 & @22: Willful misinformation, gerrymandering, lies, propaganda, and Russian hacking, NOT Primala Jayapal, brought us Donald Trump.
Oh, were you trolling lil MAGA? Try harder next time.

26

"Seattle's very own Congresswoman, Pramila Jayapal"

Note to reporters: Rep. Jayapal is not Seattle's very own. Neither is she Seattle's only.

27

@23: "Thank goodness for Rep. Jayapal, who would make an excellent presidential or vice-presidential candidate alongside Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris, or whomever is running on the Democratic ticket."

Yeah. But the birthers would go nuts. This might be why Jayapal is getting work done instead of maneuvering for the next step up the political ladder.


Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.