The 2020 Presidential Election Primary Thread

[Jeff Lebowski]

People can already declare bankruptcy

Which is night and day different than blanket forgiveness.

[UVACoug]

While I agree that a blanket forgiveness of all student loan debt is dumb and never going to happen, I do think there is justification for some type of relief. It's pretty well established that the insane increases in tuition prices over the last two decades were largely the result of idiotic federal policy of backing loans that were extended to pretty much anyone who wanted one:

https://www.nber.org/papers/w21967.pdf

https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/staff_reports/sr733.pdf
https://www.forbes.com/sites/preston.../#7695fb8352b6

This resulted in the rate of tuition increases far outpacing inflation:

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2017-09-20/see-20-years-of-tuition-growth-at-national-universities

Notably, if you look at the chart in the last link, the 2008 recession did not slow the rate of tuition growth at all. Federal policy effectively insulated the market for student loans, and thus college tuition, from the effects of the market completely. This, in my opinion, was a massive mistake by the federal government and I think a decent argument could be made that steps to remedy it are justified. Maybe the colleges and universities that benefited from this massive windfall should foot the bill. Not complete forgiveness, but some kind of reduction in interest rates or mechanism for writing off part of the debt for those that truly need it.

Full disclosure, I'm one of those "irresponsible" people that have six digits worth of outstanding student loan debt. I had almost no financial support from family while I was in college, but managed to get through BYU with minimal debt through scholarships, grants, and working part time. Law School was a different story. Working during law school wasn't really an option and it would have been virtually impossible to pay the out-of-state tuition (which significantly increased each year) without going into significant debt. When I started law school, it was practically unheard of that anyone would graduate without a job that paid a salary that would make it relatively easy to handle even the large amount of debt I accrued. Obviously I was aware of the risk that the economy would crumble and that jobs would dry up. I had the option to accept full scholarships from other schools that would have allowed me to graduate almost debt free. I chose to take the risk and, along with more than 50% of my class, graduated without one of those high paying jobs (or any real job at all, to be honest). The year following law school was very difficult, financially and otherwise. Luckily, I was able to get a clerkship and later a job that allowed me to handle the minimum payments on the student loans, but I'm only now starting to actually work on the principal, despite over 8 years of payments. No one is to blame for my situation but myself. And, although I wouldn't say its fair that I still have piles of debt to pay off while similarly situated people who happened to graduate a few years before or after me were debt free in a shorter amount of time, that's just how life goes sometimes. Fortunately, I should be able to handle it and I don't regret the choice I made at all.

Many people, however, are not able to handle it. I generally don't think the government should be in the business of bailing out private individuals or companies. But is giving some aid to individuals that are still suffering from the negative effects of the recession really all that different than bailing out the auto industry, the mortgage industry, or financial giants on Wall Street?

I would never in my life vote for Sanders or Warren, but I do think there is justification for some type of assistance with student debt. Maybe something similar to the mortgage modification programs implemented after the recession.

[LiveCoug]

Mr. Bloomberg meets a dog

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[myboynoah]

Mr. Bloomberg meets a dog

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Awesome. He was nice to the dog.

[Uncle Ted]

Alan Dershowitz confirms that his former colleague is dumb...

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Of course, we already knew that.

Dershowitz isn't all that bright as well. He teaches at that same overrated law school and is a lawyer.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Haha.

[Uncle Ted]

Lobbyist bought tropical land from Biden’s brother

In 2005, Joe Biden’s brother bought an acre of land with excellent ocean views on a remote island in the Caribbean for $150,000. He divided it into three parcels, and the next year a lobbyist close to the Delaware senator bought one of the parcels for what had been the cost of the entire property. Later, the lobbyist gave Biden’s brother a mortgage loan on the remaining parcels.

The Virgin Islands land deal, reported here for the first time, furthers a pattern in which members of the Biden family have engaged in financial dealings with people with an interest in influencing the former vice president.
[...]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...islands-099318

It's good to be a Biden!

[PaloAltoCougar]

I received my sample ballot for California's March 3 Primary, which includes ballots for each party. I was surprised and delighted to see that one of the presidential candidates on the American Independent Party ballot is Charles Kraut. At first I thought it was just happy coincidence, but after an exhaustive three-minute internet search I determined that Herr Kraut is a former classmate (BYU MBA Program Class o' '78). I'd probably vote for Sanders or Warren instead of him in November, if those were my only choices, although I'll never vote for any of them.

[Uncle Ted]

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Anyone want to be Joe's running mate?

[Uncle Ted]

Yep, Drumpf wants to be impeached... He is afraid of Joe!

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[Uncle Ted]

Young people should not be saddled with mortgages that it takes them 30 years to pay off! All homes should be free!

Credit card debt is debilitating. Let's pay off everyone's credit card debt!

If Warren becomes president and gets her way we all should just quite our jobs and go back to school, financing it all with massive student loans. I could finish my PhD and then get a MD and JD!

The Dems like to buy votes by promising to give away "free" stuff with other people's money... Only the stoopid folks fall for this sh*t:

[Walter Sobchak]

The DNC is doing it again.

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[falafel]

The DNC is doing it again.

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Isn't it about polling percentage? Who cares about donors.

[Uncle Ted]

The DNC is doing it again.

Yeah, they will just screw over Bernie with the super delegate BS again. If they do that and hand the nomination to Biden or Bloomberg then he should just say, "screw the DNC" and run as an independent or as the green party candidate and take all those millennial dreamers with him.

[frank ryan]

I received my sample ballot for California's March 3 Primary, which includes ballots for each party. I was surprised and delighted to see that one of the presidential candidates on the American Independent Party ballot is Charles Kraut. At first I thought it was just happy coincidence, but after an exhaustive three-minute internet search I determined that Herr Kraut is a former classmate (BYU MBA Program Class o' '78). I'd probably vote for Sanders or Warren instead of him in November, if those were my only choices, although I'll never vote for any of them.

They're one of those self-styled "third-way," parties, that really was just a vehicle for John Birch types. They had people like George Wallace and Curtis LeMay as candidates.