Two conservative groups are asking a federal court to block the Biden administration’s plan to cancel $39 billion in student loans for more than 800,000 borrowers.
conservatives view social hierarchy as a necessity which must be enforced. if you’re at the bottom, you deserve to be there, and if you’re there, you suffer because you deserve it, and because you’re at the bottom, you deserve to suffer. cruelty is the point, and without it, there can’t be the joy of their success.
anything else, to them, is profane and must be fought/destroyed. anyone who tries to climb above their position must be punished.
The only thing baffling about any of this is that somehow, millions of ordinary, working/middle-class Americans believe that this system benefits them more than the alternative.
I don't need student debt relief, it won't affect me. But I am extremely for it - it's called wanting a better life for your fellow human being.
Compassion - it's not a difficult concept if you're not a narcissistic a$$hole.
And as an added bonus, the money currently going to banks would actually get better distributed to businesses (both big and small) and act as a net gain to our economy. But screw that - we don't want some bank stocks to dip and affect some wealthy pension plans! /s
Along with the usual "the cruelty is the point" responses, I'd like to remind people that this is a direct strategy championed by Mitch McConnell, who has been championing this strategy long before Biden came along.
First, McConnell believes that the GOP should not have any policy positions on anything at all. If you have a policy position, that position is subject to criticism. Rather than champion policies that he fully admits would be unpopular with the voters, McConnell believes in simply pointing to the Democrat policies, pointing out the flaws in those policies, and just making vague promises that the GOP can do better without actually defining how. Ever seen the meme of the guy tapping his own head while saying something profoundly stupid? That's exactly what this is. Picture McConnell doing that while saying "Can't be criticized for your terrible ideas if you just don't have any ideas at all!"
The other part, also championed by McConnell and others, is that no matter what it is, if it originally was a Democrat idea, then a Republican must be against it at all costs. Not only must they be against it, they must treat every Democrat policy as a threat to American society as we know it. Take a look at Romneycare in Massachusetts. A healthcare bill created by a Republican that was considered widely successful and basically the cornerstone to Obamacare. But the second a Democrat suggesting nationalizing the program, it was suddenly the worst program in the world that would collapse our healthcare system and lead to death panels.
And sad to say, but it's been a very effective strategy for them. It's easy for the GOP to get their voters to blame Democrats for problems because deflecting blame is easy, and people are always looking for someone to blame for whatever problems they have in life. People tend not to do their own research or critical thinking and often just prefer to be "told" what the "right" answer is, especially if what they're told jives with their own personal worldview. If voters want to believe that Democrats are the root of all evil, and their elected leaders are saying that Democrats are the root of all evil, it's not much of a stretch to get them to believe that anything or any ideas associated with Democrats are also evil and must be eradicated.
It's all about maintaining political power through obstruction. Doesn't matter how bad your own policies are just as long as you continue to make sure voters believe that the alternative is even worse.
They've become so focused on political "points" and afraid of the other "team" scoring a "point" that they're willing to do anything, regardless of the optics.
Because they don't stop and look at the bigger picture - it's just political capital they can push around or dangle as a carrot in front of voters for future elections.
Totally cool for government to help those poor billionaires though.
Well, Elorn bought Twatter and can't afford to pay rent (or severance, or server fees, or lawyers), so it seems right that he should get a handout. How's the guy even gonna pay for his next lunch?!
Meanwhile, my grandmother can't afford insulin. That bitch better figure it out!
Wilholt's law, "Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
Yeah I see a lot of "cruelty is the point" comments here, which might not be entirely false, but if they sue it mostly means someone is pissed off about losing revenue.
Simple answer I think is GOP don't want anyone in their base to think any form of government assistance is good and will always label it as hand outs. More government assistance/social safety nets means it's harder for their capitalist overlords to maintain and build their control over citizens. Also "liberals bad!"
That's why it drives me nuts when people get a cynical and say both parties are the same or that your vote doesn't matter. Pay attention to how the different parties vote!
It's absolutely true that they are not identical. Although they are far too similar. Only really differentiating on the subject of social democracy. Where the Democrats at least pay lip service to it. Which is a big plus for the Democrats. Whereas Republicans openly show disdain for it.
Other than that they are both far right wing economic parties. Who have both actively attacked labor. Although in the Democrats defense they are often just eager to go along with what Republicans are doing. And don't actually take the initiative on their own.
If it wasn't for the Democrats loose Pro social democracy stands I wouldn't vote for them there's very little you can point to and recent history that they have accomplished that's been truly good. Outside of civil rights same-sex marriage Etc. They seriously need to stop waiting the better part of a century before fighting for things to people need.
It's so sad, people who were hurt growing up and then rationalize it as that's the way the world is supposed to be. Too hard for some people to admit their parents made some mistakes.
The majority of the federal budget goes to welfare and entitlements. I'm on the "no standing army" side of things, but it doesn't help to propagate incorrect information.
Edit: this is absurd. There's no opinion here: the comment I replied to is factually wrong. You can't dislike facts until they're not true.
you failed to engage with their actual argument, which was that military spending is absurdly high but always univocally supported by everyone in the establishment and increased with every new budget, but that it's an uphill fight to get anything new for people who actually need help.
I think you're getting down voted for two reasons.
OP's comment didn't state anything factual. It was rude to accuse him of attempting to "propagate incorrect information."
You're lumping together two very different types of spending and it feels like you're making a disingenuous argument. The vast majority of spending you're talking about is Social Security/Medicare which has received near constant increases. Welfare programs on the other hand have been under attack since the 90s. I can say that Social Security, Medicare, and the FAA together make up almost half the budget but it doesn't make a good argument for cutting the FAA.
All that said, I do think you make a good point that there's other programs to look at. Maybe we can cut the military budget while also looking at saving money on Medicare.
I think you just misinterpreted the OP's statement. Conservatives also don't want welfare and entitlement spending and try to cut those back all the time. OP's statement is a characterization of conservative opinions on spending. Conservatives don't support spending on student debt relief, welfare, or entitlements. They do support military spending. That's not factually incorrect. And, it is irrelevant how much of the budget those categories represent because conservatives didn't choose those levels and don't support them.
By far, the biggest category of discretionary spending is spending on the Pentagon and military. In most years, this accounts for more than half of the discretionary budget. In 2020, because some discretionary spending passed through supplemental appropriations went to pandemic programs, the share of the discretionary budget that went to the military was smaller – even though the amount that went to the military was just as high as in previous years.
Most "welfare" falls under discretionary. Medicare, medicaid, and social security (also "welfare") fall under mandatory spending. Social security and medicare make up the largest categories. This organization explains how "welfare" spending increased in recent years due to pandemic spending on things like stimulus checks and increased unemployment.
The bottom line thoughis that people pay into it for years so that it's available when it's their turn to need it. If they never do, then great. It can help someone else, god forbid.
I know so many people that have no issues paying what they borrowed, but at this point, they've already paid back the initial amount and still owe more than they initially borrowed and it's fucking ridiculous.
That's how my loan is. It's an absurdly unfair loan. Preditory. And the government is who I got it from. Makes no sense. When I was 18 I thought the government were trustworthy. Maybe not fully but I never thought they would do something like this to their own children.
I would be okay if it were set to a mandatory percentage, like 2%.
It's federally backed so the risk to lenders is incredibly low. What right do they have to charge some of these new students 9 percent interest on a loan that the government is paying them to give?
Yep, cap education cost if you don't want to make it free, have the federal government provide zero interest loans if states don't want to do it, reap the reward of having a more educated population, including better salaries which means more taxes paid which compensates for the zero interest loans.
The student loan interest rates are exuberant, while I support the nullification of times past, I'd also like to see the core issue being taken care of
Here's one thing I don't understand: does loan cancellation consist of the government paying off the loan, or is it a legal nullification of somebody's loan? If it's the former, I get economic concerns. If it's the latter, then I really don't see arguments against loan cancellation as very credible.
So debt relief when, then? I was smart enough not go to college because the job opportunities are the same regardless, but my dumbass brother could really use the help.
If you think your brother is a dumbass for simply going to college, you may be the dumbass in the family. If he is a dumbass for other reasons carry on.
Some people don't want to work a job that they hate even if it pays well, so they go to school to specialize in something that they like. Not everybody wants to work a trade job, or be a salesman or whatever.
But yea debt relief would be nice. Anybody who wants to further their education shouldn't have to go into debt to do it.
Just one more tax break for the rich bro, trust me bro, it's gonna work this time bro, it's gonna trickle down like craaaazy bro, the rich just need one more tax break bro, bro please bro, trust me it's gonna trickle like huge bro
Stop voting for Republicans. They don't want the government helping students and workers. All they have is hating on people who are woke. The Woke are minorities, LGBTQ, and non Christians.
Using similar logic we should be able to use for that. It's a load of bullshit. The government is constantly giving money directly to rich people, but God forbid we do the same thing for regular people.
They just need to make student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy. High earners who can afford their student loans will be dismissed like any bankruptcy court applicant who makes enough money to pay their debts, and the people who are actually struggling will get relief at the penalty of 7 years very bad credit.
Bankruptcy works for every other kind of debt, it was written into the Constitution by the founding fathers, and it's the perfect system designed exactly for problems like the student loan crisis.
Who would ever get a loan as they do now if that's the case. You get a student loan. Four years later you declare bankruptcy and seven years after that your credit returns to normal.
"Bankruptcy is really bad on your record" not when every college student does it. It would be stupid not to do it.
Or you will get more scrutiny on what major you take and what grades you get as that will be part of the risk factors if you will ever pay it back.
I know you mean well but what you propose basically will change how college plans are given out and give the middle and upper class an advantage to even go to college.
Who would ever get a loan as they do now if that’s the case. You get a student loan. Four years later you declare bankruptcy and seven years after that your credit returns to normal.
Even better - if students won't be able to get loans, collages and universities will be forced to tone their tuition down.
It's not insane to think you couldn't have limits to the situation. It could be as simple as having a time limit and/or only under extreme circumstances such as medical emergency debts (which can be insane) for which to impose on anyone that takes a loan. Just like they give you a buffer after graduating before you have to start paying on the loan. It's not hard to have some limitations in this idea. It's not all black and white here.
I just want to say I was surprised and so fucking happy when I got a notification that a payment did not go through for my student loan and logged into my loans website and seeing that the 7100 I had left was suddenly paid off.
Two conservative groups are asking a federal court to block the Biden administration’s plan to cancel $39 billion in student loans for more than 800,000 borrowers.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in Michigan, the groups argue that the administration overstepped its power when it announced the forgiveness in July, just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down a broader cancellation plan pushed by President Joe Biden.
The Education Department called the suit “a desperate attempt from right wing special interests to keep hundreds of thousands of borrowers in debt.”
It’s part of a wave of legal challenges Republicans have leveled at the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce or eliminate student debt for millions of Americans.
Under the one-time fix, past periods in forbearance were also counted as progress toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a program that offers cancellation after 10 years of payments while working in a government or nonprofit job.
Biden’s action was illegal, the lawsuit says, because it wasn’t authorized by Congress and didn’t go through a federal rulemaking process that invites public feedback.
The number of times I've seen people complain about Biden not doing anything about student loans begs to differ. Republicans drag their feet or block, and democrats suffer for not doing enough.
While I understand your frustration and see that trend on a lot of topics with Republicans obstructing and Democrats taking the heat and I am sure there's a lot of rhetoric among loudmouths about this, surveys suggest most people know who to blame.
Okay so for starters I am for cancelling this debt.
But this thread is full of people in this thread making false equivalencies with regard to why people might oppose this. Things I've seen:
"Fuck you I got mine"
"My dad died of cancer so it'd be wrong if them to continue cancer research"
"Just evil"
"A bunch of people who don't have debt"
Etc.
And for all of you this applies to I offer this: What is the plan for preventing it from continuing after the current orders of debt are cancelled? Is there anything? I genuinely haven't heard it if it exists. If there isn't a plan on stifling the lending rates forever more, then the issue will just resurface, likely worse. I'm all for cancelling the debt but is there a plan for preventing the debt?
That's literally always been the goal, and conservatives have pounded their chests and dragged their feet, and now liberals have had to back up to doing subtle payment plans and exclusive relief measures that require a person to be in debt for decades.
Same. I paid off my loans but I'd love it if my friends and wife had an easier time. To say nothing of the millions being dragged down by over a trillion in debt.
But I get why people who may have invested in Student Loan asset backed securities might not want student loans forgiven. SLABS may be part of 401Ks or pension plans. I think debt shouldn't be something people can even invest in, but for those who did, I get why they oppose it. It could even potentially harm a student paying back a loan who also has a retirement account that invested in SLABS.
And this absolutely is just a band aid on a gaping wound. It doesn't actually resolve the problem, and with no attempt to remedy it in the future, I can see it just making college access even more difficult for the less fortunate.
Biden should do everything he can to push it forward, but that is just a first step, and the people opposed to it may have some valid concerns.