Comments

2

‘fuck student loans’?

What?

if they were a Mistake in
the first place and some
peeps paid ‘em off well
then EVERYone’s got-
ta do the Same.

Why on Earth would we
Want an Educated fucking
Workforce? they’ll just want
More MONEY! (And pay MORE
in taxes but who cares about that?!)

3

"Biden the Coward" is a sure recipe for success in the Midterms. Keep it up, Millennials.

Biden "promised" to sign legislation that cancelled 10K of debt, not to cancel it by Executive Order or some other quasi-legal regulatory machination. there has been no legislation because, as you may have noticed, REPUBLICANS ARE MOTHERFUCKERS.

incremental change is better than regression. a disappointing democratic congress is infinitely better than a GQP congress. did you not pay attention from 2011 to 2018?

4

"a national analysis of tweets per 100,000 people"

That's some solid statistical analysis! I'm sure there is a direct correlation between the amount of complaining that takes place on social media and what is actually happening in the real world.

5

Out of curiosity is there a reason you wrote out the entire slur?

6

@1:

Granted, it's been a few years, but my experience was that dog excrement was way more prevalent in Germany, particularly in the north, than in France or even Paris. It was so bad the group I was traveling with developed a hand signal so anyone walking ahead could forewarn those behind they were approaching a large pile of poop on the sidewalk; it got used so frequently in places like Bremen or Hamburg we looked like some sort of amateur mime troupe walking down the straße.

7

mmmm – Microplastics!

they may Make you Lads
a bit Sterile but look how
Easy they make it to get
your Groceries Home!

who wants More?

"Four Burger King customers are suing the chain over its marketing, claiming that the company makes the burger look about 35% bigger in its advertising than it is in reality."

maybe Burger King
needs those Mirrors
that make you look 35%
Bigger than you really Are

on the other hand:
it’s Good to recognize
Propaganda when you see it

8

The figure "5mm" is incorrect for the microplastics - 5mm is visible. Maybe 5mmm?
I think you meant "slick", not sick, in the Bothell piece, Jas.

So the Secretary of the Interior is spending, perhaps millions, to change the names of dozens of places solely because a once acceptable noun is now politically incorrect. I trust she discussed this over with the president and they determined this ranked as a "must do" instead of a "nice to do".

9

but if Biden Did cancel student Debt
the entrapped could maybe buy
Homes or start Businesses
&/or Families. just think
about those Midterms
then...

11

well whattaya Know:

And it turns out that this is one of the campaign promises that the president can deliver on on his own, without being stymied by Republicans or members of his own party.

He has the authority to cancel student debt, thanks to the Higher Education Act. Congress already granted the president and the education secretary the authority to cancel student debt.

In fact, President Biden, during his career as a senator, voted to authorize the Higher Education Act multiple — to reauthorize it multiple times.

https://www.democracynow.org/2022/2/23/pressure_grows_biden_cancel_student_debt

12

In a surprise to literally no one: Seattle is terrific at complaining. What a great use of time.

14

Oh Dear ... @2 got out of his cage.

Yikes... all the anger over simply paying your student loan back. I guess it doesn't fit in with "The World Owes Me A Living" manifesto.

Now this may be a little old fashioned:

When when you borrow money and promise to pay it back ... Then you should honor your promise.

In exchange, you rec'd something very valuable ..an education which was financed at excellent terms from the taxpayers.

15

ah good ole Manlytoes

Always ready to
Harvest the Citizen-
ry at Every Opportunity.

16

@13: Sure, go ahead, tear Katie Herzog yet another new pussy. No need to be so coy blip.

19

mentioning her name

20

I find myself thinking that anyone who advocates canceling student-loan debt should disclose if, and how much, they owe. Jas? blip?

20

@15... Other way round... you seem quite willing to "harvest the taxpayer" at the drop of the hat.

I'm not sure why you think paying back a student loan is objectionable or unfair... you never really answer that question in any meaningful way.

At least @17 tries to make an economic argument, which when translated, is the same old song:

"the world owes the millennials and gen z a living".

Its a catchy little tune, but in the end its really a tedious and discredited cry for the Welfare State.... which is a ticket to nowhere.

21

and yet Long Live the
Corporate Welfare State

yeah we Get in Mr. toes.

22

it

23

@20 -- One
point Eight
TRILLION

26

I bet if you ran that same dog shit analysis, Seattle would also have the 2nd highest student loan problem. Stop complaining, get a room mate to lower your bills, and pay your debts.

Completely agree with Blip on the 0% interest however.

28

People act like if student loan debt is forgiven it will somehow take away from what they accomplished. Who gives a shit? I finished school owing nothing to no one, and I wouldn't lose one goddamn minute of sleep if everyone else's burden got wiped away. I'm very evolved that way.

29

The problem for Biden is that he didn't just make the $10k cancellation promise off-handedly, in a one-time, unscripted answer to a question. He deliberately made it a centerpiece of his campaign, hammering away at the issue every chance he got. Now he's trapped between millions of young (and not-so-young) voters who expect him to make good on his oft-repeated promise, and Republicans who'll demagogue such a move to kingdom come (along with investors in student loan-based securities (SLABs) who'll loudly demand a bailout that only Congress could provide, which of course it won't). Nobody in his administration has any idea how to solve this dilemma, so we can fully expect the can-kicking to continue at least past the midterms, and probably throughout his term in office. If we're lucky, maybe it'll be the last thing he does before heading out the door (especially if a Republican wins in '24).

31

@14 "financed at excellent terms"? Uh my student loans are at 6.8% - my mortgage, which I couldn't get until my 40's due to my student loan burden, is at 3.5%. Heck, my car loan is at a lower interest rate than my student loan. My mortgage is more than 1/2 paid off after 9 years (15 year note). However, I currently owe more on my Student loans than what I borrowed (and more than I owe on my mortgage + car for that matter). I graduated 20+ years ago. Student loan debts are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, if you ever default they add 25% to your outstanding balance, and student loans are one of the only types of debt that can garnish your social security or SSI disability income. But hey, at least in my case, after 5 more years working at my Public Interest job and making payments based on my income, the balance will be wiped out. If congress doesn't decide to do away with the PILF program (as they were threatening to do under Trump) before then.

32

The issue with student debt forgiveness is that there are a LOT of people out there who were sold a bill of goods by shady, fly-by-night operations selling useless credentials (e.g. Forensic Investigator or mail order law degree or whatever) paid for with these federally guaranteed, un-dischargeable loans. There is no prospect they will ever pay off their loans so they are in serfdom to the banks forever. This is a severe impediment to things like family and household formation.

So this is where the 10,000 bucks mentioned above comes from. It'll leave all those Starbucks baristas with humanities degrees on the hook, if that makes the churls and scolds any happier.

But 10,000 is just a number, entirely arbitrary. Thinking the number should be higher and maybe a lot higher for all the same reasons is a perfectly sensible opinion.

And for the benefit of @20: 0 dollars. I was lucky enough to have gone to college at a time when all four years at a state school came in under $10,000.

35

@29: inaccurate. he said he would sign legislation to cancel 10K of debt. have you seen the legislation?

is this a reason to put Repukes back in control of Congress?

36

@1 @3 @6 are all correct.

Everything else is commentary, signifying absolutely nothing.

Cool Sticker Patrol!

37

@ 21 -23, You should rejoice with all that assistance to corporations, you have much, much more of "other people's money" to try an spend on yourand your minions.

I tried to explain this in adult terms and economics, this time lets try a children's book...

Remember the "Ant and the Grasshopper" --- "the world owes me a living". sound familiar>

I'll leave to you to figure out who the grasshopper is in this story.

38

Debt is very much a real thing sweetie pie - whether based on fiat currency or some other form of money/store of value. Nothing is free in this world. Or are you implying debt is simply a social construct like gender.

39

@37 What's tragically left unsaid in that story is that ants work until they die. Is that the society you want? If so, congratulations, that's pretty much what we've got. If not, then put that hoary old book aside and join the reality-based conversation over how we might rebalance things a bit.

40

It's also worth noting that Biden canceling debt administratively under an untried theory of a relatively obscure HEA provision is unlikely to actually benefit anyone with student loans any time soon due to the injunctions granted by the reshaped judiciary pending the inevitable Republican lawsuits.
The president "cowardly" kicking the can, on the other hand is financially beneficial now, but he could lose that ability if he gives it over to the courts as well.

41

@34 & @35

1) An 18 year old should be able to master the concept of a loan and paying interest. Its not that hard to figure out. If they can't then they probably shouldn't be borrowing money or even thinking of higher education.

2) I have to call "bull plop" on the rest of your "explanation" or better yet "excuse" ... No we are not better off teaching our children not to be irresponsible, not to honor their obligations... Good God... that was gave rise to the millennial entitlement hot mess we have today.

Further, I'm perfectly fine with Medicare and Social Security being scaled back, reducing benefit... its time to roll back these programs which further create welfare dependency ...programs which will shortly require the use of borrowed money and which are not sustainable.

Winter is coming my dear little grasshoppers... Wake Up.

42

Anglicizaion of words change their pronunciation, a LOT, and their meaning. The local folks liked to include the modifier -ish to a lot of things, people and places. Skuak, Squak was 'the sound of birds'. Issiquah is the place of the sound of birds, but it sure sounds like Squah, or squaw.
And the federal government is spending our money on this initiative. I hope they are as slow at that as Washington is at renewing driver's licenses.

43

@35 Assuming you're right (I'm not entirely sure you are), I don't think that distinction is meaningful. Biden has the authority to cancel student debt by executive order, he knows he does, and there is little if any serious internal debate over that point. What he can't do by himself is bail out the investor class, hence the dilemma.

44

I'm all for cancelling debt as long as those of us that paid them off get a refund.

45

Biden appears to have no eyes in this photo, like a mask against a black backdrop.

48

90% of my generation graduated with zero debt. My tuition was $236 a quarter when I started. And about $380 a quarter when I graduated. My entire masters was less than $5,000. I could work summers and pay for an entire year of tuition. This is simply because the government still supplemented a much larger portion of higher education.

This is all but impossible now and it's not sustainable.

All the usual trolls can shriek the usual bootstraps bullshit that it's completely fair that three entire generations have incurred debt they struggle tor pay off, but the fact remains about 60% will never pay off this debt on current wage scales. Iit is a looming financial crisis and we have to deal with it.

Or I suppose when the bubble collapses you can take great comfort you stood strong against the lazy enticed debtors while you are forced to boil and eat your bootstraps.

49

@41:

You make several incorrect assumptions, namely: 1. that anyone in our currently woefully under-funded public education system has been given a mandate to teach things like financial literacy to high school students; a subject, which, when I was in high school a million years ago was barely touched on even then; 2. that lending institutions, particularly those operating in the for-profit sphere, have any vested interest whatsoever in cultivating an educated, knowledgeable borrowing population, and; 3. that Medicare and Social Security are "welfare dependency", something they are NOT, nor have they EVER BEEN. What they ARE, at their most fundamental levels, are insurance programs designed to ensure that older, retired citizens have the financial means to live out their post-employment years with some modicum of health, security and dignity; something you apparently seem to believe is tantamount to petulant greed and entitlement, because, presumably, you believe you'll never be forced by circumstances into ever having to rely on it.

50

Find a way to stop paying rent. That's the ticket.

51

ima call-up Biden like that guy trying to cancel his AOL account.
"listen... cancel the loans"
"sir, if you could ju..."
"ah bup bup bup...cancel. the. loans."

52

"I have student loans so forgiving student loans should be our top political priority, and I also have health insurance so Medicare for All is a pipe dream that we can worry about sometime between twenty years from now and never."

That's a pretty common viewpoint among the relatively affluent and educated. Non-college-educated working class people can see this. If you want their buy-in on a political program, maybe don't always prioritize social reforms that benefit you at their expense.

53

"I'm all for cancelling debt
as long as those of us that
paid them off get a refund."
--@44

hmmm.
and why not?
perhaps Incentives
to start new Business-
es should be on the Table

perhaps there's More that's
palatable to both parties

55

Toesy, you ain't Doin'
so well here & if you're
getting Paid for it you're
Cheatin' some poor sucker

say -- you didn't 'work'
for trumpf didja? did
he Shaft you too?

& I gotta know

did you
get your "De-
gree" @ Trumpf U?

57

'Federal court approves $25 million
Trump University settlement

A federal court approved a $25 million settlement with students who said they were ["oh, so Easily" Fake prez smiled as he said "I LOVE the easliy-] duped by Donald Trump and his now-defunct Trump University.'

ah, so you're Retired
(almost wrote
"retarded")!
[so sorry].

you've Done Well!

no Wonder you're
an Elitist -- who
Wouldn't be?

now go Out there
spend a couple
Hundred Gee$
and get that
Education
you so
Richly
Des-
erv
e
.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/federal-court-approves-25-million-trump-university-settlement-n845181

59

@13: If I have to be reminded of Katie Herzog's tenure, then I also get to spoil your day by reminding you of Ansel Herz. (Side note: what a weird commonality in their surnames.)

60

The system in place for funding higher and continuing education works perfectly. However, it is the symptom or byproduct of an educational system that has completely run amok. Why is college so expensive, and why do universities offer so many worthless/non-marketable degrees? This is the root of the problem. Not the debt.

Also, no debt forgiveness, but convert the loans to non-interest and credit back any interest paid to day against the principal.

61

and whattabout the GI Bill that sent Millions of returning WWII Veterans* TO COLLEGE -- FOR fucking FREE? They say that insidiously Pragfucking-Matic Program returned SIX dollars for every Single one invested. or was it Eight...

Pragmatic the so-
called "right" is NOT.

so busy sucking
Billionaire Dick
they've Lost
their Mar-
bles.

*(& I Know you're gonna getta
Kick outta this ToesyWoesy):
well the White ones anyway

62

metaphorically speaking

64

I am definitely in favor of cancelling student debt and I do have none of it (anymore). I didn't have nearly as much as kids these days do because the state school I went to was still state supported at the time, not just state located like they are now.

65

So, to be more clear, it's not like cancelling student loan debt is radical redistribution, it's just retroactively restoring support to schools that has been peeled away over the last 30 years. And, it's trickle up, handing it to the overcharged students, not the schools (although that would be the solution for present/future students so tuition can be tamed before they go into debt to pay it)

66

Interesting that military college benefits are mentioned and skidmark is correct in that most parents would probably be horrified if their kids opted for that option. I also wonder how making career choices have changed. Dudes coming out of the military in the WW2 era probably chose practical majors as not having any $ didn't bode well for getting laid or marrying if that was the goal. How many career choices are made in the spirit of practicality rather than emotional satisfaction? How many degree majors in liberal arts were available post WW2 versus now?

68

Ha ha, wonder if anyone else was reading @67 and contemplating banging out an angry response that it's really an over-reliance on ridiculously exploitative credit cards, and dubiously calculated credit scores that's fueling this discussion in the first place before realizing that might be a waste of time.

69

@49 What ever you and kristofarian are smoking it is really mind altering... you are way past Pluto right now.

Just an aside, comparing the generation of GI's who fought in WW-II to entitled milk fed millennials in these terms is just wrong. When I thought you could sink no lower.

@54 You never fully funded it.... You see that is the problem. If the Medicare & Soc. Sec. were insurance companies with "policies paid up" they would be classified as Ponzi schemes. Unfortunately.... by the time this is actually accepted, realized and dealt with it will be too late.

@39 Its a Fable about being responsible. But let us assume for a moment you can't tell the difference, I'd rather work than be dependent on the state for a handout. That is a fundamental difference in this thread.... Those that do (ANT) and those who want others to do for them (Grasshoppers)

We have a lot of Grasshoppers who want the state to take care of them from cradle to the grave.... And as is often said Socialism works well until you run out of other peoples money.

Think about that as the US debt sky rockets to 23 trillion.... soon we will have to face that problem.

Yes, winter is coming... with inflation well entrenched..., that 23 trillion is really going to grow and be very hard to finance. I wouldn't want to be a grasshopper under these circumstances. .

70

@sixty-niner

didja pick out
a School yet?
spare no Ex-
Pence! find
something
that'll give
you Joy

such a Rare
Commodity
these days

"Just an aside, comparing the generation of GI's who fought in WW-II to entitled milk fed millennials in these terms is just wrong.” --@manytoes above

show me the Quote on that one if you will
you have a Propensity to make shit up. &
not some vague incoherent accusations

“When I thought you could sink no lower.”

yeah but I was Bound to be a Disappointment to anyone with your Impeccable stds and High Moralities. but

you and your un-Elected
Corporate Masters can
go take a L o o o o n g
walk off a very short
pier. Godspeed ..!..

71

@59: What was "bad" about Ansel?

72

Where does the money come from to cancel those loans? Taxpayers. Why exactly should people who pay their debts be forced to bail out those who don't?

73

What if College Were Free?
This State Is Trying to Find Out.

As states take the lead in the tuition-free movement after President Biden’s plans failed to gain traction in Congress, New Mexico emerges as a leader.

by Simon Romero
March 31, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/us/new-mexico-free-college.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Education

one retort on the Article: The student body at New Mexico State University, whose campus is pictured here, does not conform to the typical stereotype of "college kids."

Many are Hispanic or Native American. Many are commuters who live at home, not in a dorm. Many work to make money to pay their tuition and living expenses. Many do not fall in the 18-22 age bracket.

Many believe strongly in a dream of upward mobility that a college education can provide.

New Mexico's tuition-free program will be a godsend to many of these students. Some will find they can work less, or not at all, and focus on academics.

Some will bring relief to family finances, stretched tight to cover tuition. Some will see the stress drop in their lives as they realize some of the constant worry about money has been reduced.

It is easy to mock privileged kids who might abuse free tuition. But that does a terrible disservice to the vast majority of NMSU students.

In a grindingly poor state, they are the hope of the future. Anything we can do to make their college years a bit easier, a bit less stressful, a bit more likely to be successful, is an investment in New Mexico's and America's future.”
--Gary, Connecticut
March 31

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/us/new-mexico-free-college.html#commentsContainer

Investing in the Citizenry is
Investing in OURSELVES

76

@71: He was a liar and propagandist who blatantly cherry-picked to support his narrative and acted like a petulant child when called on his bullshit.

He was also an sanctimonious cyclist, but the Stranger still makes a habit of hiring people matching that description.

77

Also LOL at all the "boot-strappers" in these comments, blithely pretending the higher education system in the 70s - or the job market - in any way resembled what it's been like in the 21st century.


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