2024 Presidential Election Thread

[Copelius]

If he wants to refund payments I made to my student loan, I will vote for him. My vote wouldn't be that expensive. I left law school with only 35k.

[Donuthole]

If he wants to refund payments I made to my student loan, I will vote for him. My vote wouldn't be that expensive. I left law school with only 35k.

My law school borrowing was roughly the same, maybe a couple thousand less than that. It would have been more than that, but I made what I thought was a wise financial decision when I decided not to take my last semester FAFSA loan because we had about $5,000 in the bank I had saved from my prior 5 semesters. I was feeling pretty flush, and I figured there was no need to borrow more than we needed to. What I failed to consider was just how much it would cost to move once law school was over, and how quickly a a couple small emergencies (new tires on one car and a transmission repair on the other) would quickly have us in the red. I had to put about $2,500 on a credit card and carried a balance for a few months (the first and only time i've ever carried a balance on a CC, thankfully). It ended up making for an uncomfortable financial start to my legal career. Mrs. D and I basically did not eat out or enjoy any luxuries at all for about 6 months, as we paid that off and then built up a $2,500 emergency fund. It was pretty miserable, and I remember a few times wishing I had just taken the extra $7,000 loan payment.

I paid my private BYU loan off as fast as possible because the interest was at 6% or something like that. But even today, I still have about $3,000 in student loans left which I have intentionally not paid off because it is locked in at 1.75%. That's just free money, yo.

[Maximus]

I wonder if the tax cut trump implemented was buying votes

[Bo Diddley]

Oh, for sure. Republicans like to spend money just as much as democrats. They like to disguise them as tax breaks.


And I'm not against all tax breaks. But I'm also not against all spending.

[All-American]

I wonder if the tax cut trump implemented was buying votes

Absolutely it was. There is bipartisan support for giving money to the people who don't need it.

[chrisrenrut]

Biden out there buying more votes with taxpayer money. This man has no shame.

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I can’t remember you’re serious or sarcastic here. But almost everything he has forgiven (forgat?) so far were loans eligible for forgiveness or close to it.

he has been chipping away at student debt by fixing and streamlining existing programs that have been plagued by bureaucratic and other problems for years.

Footnote- “forgat” does work. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/forgat#

[LVAllen]

Biden out there buying more votes with taxpayer money. This man has no shame.

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Cutting red tape for forgiveness programs that already exist, like Public Service. Not adding new programs, just ensuring the ones that exist operate as intended.

Thought conservatives were always in favor of reduced red tape and bureaucracy?

[Commando]

Cutting red tape for forgiveness programs that already exist, like Public Service. Not adding new programs, just ensuring the ones that exist operate as intended.

Thought conservatives were always in favor of reduced red tape and bureaucracy?

Not when it comes to Student Loan Forgiveness Beetlejuice!

[Commando]

I wonder if the tax cut trump implemented was buying votes

No it was buying campaign support. Know the difference!

[Jeff Lebowski]

The New York Times isn't trying to sugarcoat this.

President Biden canceled $7.4 billion in student loan debt on Friday as he tries to shore up support with young voters who are disproportionately affected by soaring education costs, but who may be drifting away over his policy on Israel and the war in Gaza.

The latest round of relief is part of a strategy by the White House to take smaller, targeted actions for certain subsets of borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down a far more ambitious plan to wipe out $400 billion in debt last year.

Mr. Biden said this week that he would make another attempt at large-scale debt forgiveness for about 30 million people, despite Republican opposition and legal challenges. But in the meantime, he has been chipping away at student debt by fixing and streamlining existing programs that have been plagued by bureaucratic and other problems for years.

Remember when democrats used to be the champions of the working class? This is as regressive as it gets. Buck up, you folks in the trades. You get to pay off the debt for middle and upper class folks who went to college.

[Maximus]

fixing and streamlining existing programs that have been plagued by bureaucratic and other problems for years.

Sounds terrible...

If Biden had an R next to his name , no criticism would be made

[falafel]

fixing and streamlining existing programs that have been plagued by bureaucratic and other problems for years.

Sounds terrible...

If Biden had an R next to his name , no criticism would be made

I'm sure the Times wouldn't have a problem with criticizing an R.

[Maximus]

Despite the claim they "weren't sugarcoating " it doesn't seem critical at all.

Conservatives should welcome decreasing bureaucracy

[LVAllen]

The New York Times isn't trying to sugarcoat this.



Remember when democrats used to be the champions of the working class? This is as regressive as it gets. Buck up, you folks in the trades. You get to pay off the debt for middle and upper class folks who went to college.

Right. Right. Folks like those famously well-off school teachers. Or the fabulously wealthy lawyers working as public defenders. Or your local librarian.

The program was passed back in 2007, under Bush, with 40+ House Republicans voting for it. Yet despite its noble intentions of helping those who chose to going into public service, the denial of forgiveness rate was 98.5%. It was absolute crap. Yeah for Biden for being willing to actually improve government.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Right. Right. Folks like those famously well-off school teachers. Or the fabulously wealthy lawyers working as public defenders. Or your local librarian.

The program was passed back in 2007, under Bush, with 40+ House Republicans voting for it. Yet despite its noble intentions of helping those who chose to going into public service, the denial of forgiveness rate was 98.5%. It was absolute crap. Yeah for Biden for being willing to actually improve government.

You guys are killing me. The relief for people in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) is a small fraction of the total. And the parts announced today is only a portion of the bigger plan Biden announced a few days ago.

https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releas...ions-americans

This is part of the plan:

More than 25 million borrowers owe more than they originally borrowed, including many who have made years of payments, due to the interest that accrues on Federal student loans. President Biden will announce plans to cancel up to $20,000 of the amount a borrower’s balance has grown due to unpaid interest on their loans after entering repayment, regardless of their income.

^Be sure to note the last 4 words.

Carried your debt for 20 years without bothering to pay it off? Your debt is forgiven, regardless of income. Even for graduate school! (med school, law school).

Borrowers would not need to be on an income-driven repayment plan to qualify.

This is straight from the intro:

The plans would bring the total number of borrowers eligible for student debt relief to over 30 million

That is a far more than a few poor school teachers and librarians.

Furthermore, when Biden's original debt relief plan was initiated (the one the supreme court killed), my son-in-law with a Harvard Law Degree was notified that part of his debt would be forgiven. It would have only excluded the top 5% of the income bracket, and it would have extended to 43 million people. He has since vowed to find other court-proof avenues to accomplish the same thing, piece by piece. And some of the promises he is making are likely DOA, but he is promising anyway. Absolute crap is right.