President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[Northwestcoug]

Props that he didn't say anything about shithole countries I guess?

[frank ryan]

So what's going on with the Kennedy Center? Trump's wrecking it because he couldn't put his name on it?

[BlueK]

Taking Nate Silver's aggregation of all the current polls asking about approval of Trump, he is now 22.7 points underwater: 60.1% disapprove and only 37.4% approve. It's been dropping like a rock. And with all the stupid things he's been saying and doing over the last several weeks he keeps digging a deeper hole. Some think if the Republicans lose badly that he'll resign but I can't see it.

https://www.natesilver.net/p/trump-approval-ratings-nate-silver-bulletin

[USUC]

Taking Nate Silver's aggregation of all the current polls asking about approval of Trump, he is now 22.7 points underwater: 60.1% disapprove and only 37.4% approve. It's been dropping like a rock. And with all the stupid things he's been saying and doing over the last several weeks he keeps digging a deeper hole. Some think if the Republicans lose badly that he'll resign but I can't see it.

https://www.natesilver.net/p/trump-a...ilver-bulletin

Trump resign? That's some "spineless but secretly anti Trump" fantasy porn right there. There is no easy way out for the GOP now. A reckoning will come and they deserve every last bit of it. A narcissist like Trump will not give them an easy way out. I wish it wasn't the current democratic party dishing out the reckoning. But Trump rode the wave of right wing populism so he'll be drowned by left wing populism strengthened through his actions. Again, deservedly so.

[BlueK]

Trump resign? That's some "spineless but secretly anti Trump" fantasy porn right there. There is no easy way out for the GOP now. A reckoning will come and they deserve every last bit of it. A narcissist like Trump will not give them an easy way out. I wish it wasn't the current democratic party dishing out the reckoning. But Trump rode the wave of right wing populism so he'll be drowned by left wing populism strengthened through his actions. Again, deservedly so.

There is definitely plenty of populism in the democratic party right now but it doesn't engulf them as completely as maga populism has taken over the republicans.

[USUC]

There is definitely plenty of populism in the democratic party right now but it doesn't engulf them as completely as maga populism has taken over the republicans.

Let's hope it stays that way then. There isn't a cult of personality leading the Democratic Party who calls all the shots. But the progressive movement is prone to hyper religious zealousness on the current thing in activism. I'm not necessarily pro Israel but the Free Palestine movement is bordering on summer 2020 BLM levels at the moment. If that level of flavor of the month hysteria isn't tamed, things could be just as dire.

[Jeff Lebowski]

OK, I guess you have to grudgingly give the guy credit here. This is way overdue:

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Apparently they are looking at earnings of people with certain degrees compared to similar people with HS degrees. If there is not a bump from the degree, you can't get a loan for it. I can't argue with that logic.

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[LVAllen]

Apparently they are looking at earnings of people with certain degrees compared to similar people with HS degrees. If there is not a bump from the degree, you can't get a loan for it. I can't argue with that logic.

I can. It assumes that the sole reason universities exist is to make people higher-paid members of the working class. That's not the purpose of a university. It's not the purpose of student loans, either.

Are law school student loans going to be based on whether the student intends to work for peanuts at non-profits or as a public defender?

[tooblue]

I can. It assumes that the sole reason universities exist is to make people higher-paid members of the working class. That's not the purpose of a university. It's not the purpose of student loans, either.

Are law school student loans going to be based on whether the student intends to work for peanuts at non-profits or as a public defender?

Almost everything we wear, drive, use to brush our teeth, hang on our wall, sit on, watch for entertainment, or listen to was shaped, in some way, by an artist or designer working in an arts-related discipline.

And what about Lawyers—is their access to loans on the chopping block:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/o...egal-jobs.html

In a technocracy, debate is stifled by tech elites who control the economy which leads to the erosion and dissolution of democracy—very much what we are seeing right now. Further, a technocratic society is perpetually caught in cycles of updates and improvements to technology, at the expense of human well being—let me go see if Adobe has another update for me today.

Cost-benefit analyses becomes the norm and technocratic rule reduces complex human and social issues to data points for which there must be an obvious solution, or easy fix, like an update to a machine. But of course, humans are not machines.

Can you imagine a world where engineers and scientists create all of the art we consume daily

[Jeff Lebowski]

I can. It assumes that the sole reason universities exist is to make people higher-paid members of the working class. That's not the purpose of a university. It's not the purpose of student loans, either.

Are law school student loans going to be based on whether the student intends to work for peanuts at non-profits or as a public defender?

We have a student loan default crisis in America. We have to do something to fix it. Blanket forgiveness is not the answer. That makes the problem worse. We have been giving out student loan money far too freely, and that in turn has ramped up tuition, etc.

The premise of a loan is that the borrower will pay the money back. That is a foundation of the system. It is not a grant. We have an epidemic of people racking up huge student loan debt for degrees like gender studies. This is a rational response to that problem.

I have a buddy with a father who is a classics prof. When he was a teenager his dad pulled him aside and said, "Son, you need to understand that you cannot pick a major like I did. My father was a surgeon so I had the freedom to study the classics. You do not have that freedom. Go get a business, law, medicine, or engineering degree and then maybe your kids will be able to study the classics." The point being - you want to study something in the liberal arts? Knock yourself out - that is wonderful. But the government should not loan you $200K to do so. Find your own funds, because the financial ROI on that degree is terrible and that debt will burden you for decades.

And btw, if you get a Harvard Law degree and go into a public service low-paying career, Harvard pays off your law school debt.

[frank ryan]

Cutting off social work and counseling?

That's intentional and some creepy culture war bs.

[frank ryan]

We have a student loan default crisis in America. We have to do something to fix it. Blanket forgiveness is not the answer. That makes the problem worse. We have been giving out student loan money far too freely, and that in turn has ramped up tuition, etc.

The premise of a loan is that the borrower will pay the money back. That is a foundation of the system. It is not a grant. We have an epidemic of people racking up huge student loan debt for degrees like gender studies. This is a rational response to that problem.

I have a buddy with a father who is a classics prof. When he was a teenager his dad pulled him aside and said, "Son, you need to understand that you cannot pick a major like I did. My father was a surgeon so I had the freedom to study the classics. You do not have that freedom. Go get a business, law, medicine, or engineering degree and then maybe your kids will be able to study the classics." The point being - you want to study something in the liberal arts? Knock yourself out - that is wonderful. But the government should not loan you $200K to do so. Find your own funds, because the financial ROI on that degree is terrible and that debt will burden you for decades.

And btw, if you get a Harvard Law degree and go into a public service low-paying career, Harvard pays off your law school debt.

They are cutting off things that lead to viable jobs. This is very much project 2025 shit. Never attributed common sense or decency to this admin.

Some of it is targeting careers have a lot of females working in them.

[Donuthole]

I think a better solution is to make student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy, so the lenders have to actually underwrite loans and have some skin in the game. Instead of banning students from certain loans, put some impetus on the lenders to weigh and evaluate. I'm ok if a private lender says "Sorry, we won't lend you $65,000 for a year of liberal arts at Whittier college. But we will lend you $8,000 for a year of liberal arts at Chico State."

[tooblue]

We have a student loan default crisis in America. We have to do something to fix it. Blanket forgiveness is not the answer. That makes the problem worse. We have been giving out student loan money far too freely, and that in turn has ramped up tuition, etc.

The premise of a loan is that the borrower will pay the money back. That is a foundation of the system. It is not a grant. We have an epidemic of people racking up huge student loan debt for degrees like gender studies. This is a rational response to that problem.

I have a buddy with a father who is a classics prof. When he was a teenager his dad pulled him aside and said, "Son, you need to understand that you cannot pick a major like I did. My father was a surgeon so I had the freedom to study the classics. You do not have that freedom. Go get a business, law, medicine, or engineering degree and then maybe your kids will be able to study the classics." The point being - you want to study something in the liberal arts? Knock yourself out - that is wonderful. But the government should not loan you $200K to do so. Find your own funds, because the financial ROI on that degree is terrible and that debt will burden you for decades.

And btw, if you get a Harvard Law degree and go into a public service low-paying career, Harvard pays off your law school debt.

Liberal arts and the classics are not the problem—it's the price tag. Post-secondary education should not cost what it does. Make education affordable and there is no need for loans. That is the only responsible way to solve the issue.

Offering tuition free post secondary eduction in Germany has led to an estimated 15 billion Euros to their tax base by international applicants:

https://www.iwkoeln.de/en/studies/wi...ic-growth.html

[Copelius]

We have a student loan default crisis in America. We have to do something to fix it. Blanket forgiveness is not the answer. That makes the problem worse. We have been giving out student loan money far too freely, and that in turn has ramped up tuition, etc.

The premise of a loan is that the borrower will pay the money back. That is a foundation of the system. It is not a grant. We have an epidemic of people racking up huge student loan debt for degrees like gender studies. This is a rational response to that problem.

I have a buddy with a father who is a classics prof. When he was a teenager his dad pulled him aside and said, "Son, you need to understand that you cannot pick a major like I did. My father was a surgeon so I had the freedom to study the classics. You do not have that freedom. Go get a business, law, medicine, or engineering degree and then maybe your kids will be able to study the classics." The point being - you want to study something in the liberal arts? Knock yourself out - that is wonderful. But the government should not loan you $200K to do so. Find your own funds, because the financial ROI on that degree is terrible and that debt will burden you for decades.

And btw, if you get a Harvard Law degree and go into a public service low-paying career, Harvard pays off your law school debt.

Agree 100%.
The key word in all this discussion is LOAN. Just like if I want to borrow $1 million to buy a house on a $40k per year salary the bank would laugh me out of the room, if I try to get a loan that could not be paid off with the average expected earnings from a field of study nobody should give me a loan that I have a greater than 50% chance of defaulting.

I would be in favor of a grant system for public service jobs in which a large chunk of your studies are taken care of in exchange for a contract commitment to public service for x number of years after graduation, you know similar to an ROTC scholarship or the military paying for a professional school. States could fund them, cities could, feds could, even 501c3s.