This is a topic that’s been mulling around in my brain for a while. Most of the serious people have proclaimed that Bernie Sanders is far to liberal for the main stream of this country. Well perhaps he is when compared to the right wing and how far the dialog of our country has shifted over the last 40 years in terms of ceding ground to conservative thought. What has bothered me though and a few people in my circle is where Bernie Sanders isn’t progressive enough. You’re going to say guns right? No. Whilst Bernie’s gun positions do not align with my own I don’t think they will hamper him in the general election and Bernie has shown a willingness to be moved on the issue. Oh; you’re gonna subject Bernie to a progressive purity purge and all that cutting off your nose to spite your face business. No?
If the picture above has not clued you in as to one of the topics of this then let me clear.
Bernie has been talking about student debt while making his pitch for tuition free public colleges and universities. He has had several audience members scream out how much they have — 100,000 — 200,000 dollars in debt. It makes for great rhetoric but his solution to the problem is severely lacking. What Bernie’s plan does is pave a path forward for students currently or will be in the future attending these schools. It does little for the millions of older millennials who have had to hold off on many of the same milestones that boomers or gen xer’s enjoyed.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/
- SUBSTANTIALLY CUT STUDENT LOAN INTEREST RATES.
Under the Sanders plan, the formula for setting student loan interest rates would go back to where it was in 2006. If this plan were in effect today, interest rates on undergraduate loans would drop from 4.29% to just 2.37%.
While I am for any and all reductions in student interest rates; I find the call for a reduction in rates to be a casual acceptance of debt slavery. If you have 100,000 or 200,000 dollars in student loans will reducing that interest rate from 4.29 to just 2.37% really make a yuge difference in your life? Will you be able to start a family? Will you still be saddled with debt through out your entire adult working life and then if you die that debt can be passed onto your family?
We all know the answers to these questions.
What Bernie Sanders needs to be talking about and what progressives in the country need to do be talking about is:
Debt Forgiveness.
This is a radical concept. Student loans should be forgiven and everyone should start with a blank slate. What you say? Debt forgiveness? You mean we should treat student debt like any other debt and give former students the same advantages of multi national corporations? Damn straight I do.
Well wouldn’t the big banks crash if all that debt was forgiven at once?
No; not if the federal government assumes all the debt ( upwards of 1 trillion dollars now) and pays all the interest rates for the next ten years.
Imagine that. That’s where the debate should be in this country. Not how much we are going to reduce. Not how much are we going to nibble on the edges. The debate should be focused extensively on debt forgiveness and ensuring that we get private corporations and banks out of the business of education.
Some people might be put off by such a message. “Oh you’re just rewarding people for their bad decisions in life.” or “I had to pay my loan off so why shouldn’t everyone have to?” We’d have to accept the premise that every person comes from the same socio economic background without distinctions of class and race and that’s just rubbish.
If corporations can discharge their pension obligations through bankruptcy restructuring; then why can’t students be forgiven for the crime of trying to get an education? If the Donald Trump’s of the world can fail over and over again and get rewarded with million dollar loans from his father without having to pay it; then why can’t students who increasingly have to have a BA even for entry level positions?
Bernie Sanders should come on board with this idea. Stop talking about just lowering interest rates and start talking how we are going to make up for the gross inequality between how we allow corporations to shirk their social responsibilities while making it impossible for working class people to get ahead.
http://college.usatoday.com/2015/04/08/national-student-loan-debt-reaches-a-bonkers-1-2-trillion/
Kyle Craig wants to go to graduate school, but just being an undergraduate is already drowning him in debt.
“I’ve got student loans just like everyone else walking around,” says Craig, a senior at Old Dominion University. “I expect my debt to be around $30,000 by the time I’m done here.”
“Yes, I have student loans,” says Kyle Coghill, a junior at Old Dominion. “I’m a 22-year-old studying communications at a university. Of course I have them. I have absolutely no clue how long I’ll be paying them off. I don’t really want to think about that.”
Craig and Coghill are just two of the 40 million people across the United States who have monumental student debt, as reported by CNN. In fact, student loans have increased by 84% since the recession (from 2008 to 2014) and are the only type of consumer debt not decreasing, according to a study from Experian, which analyzed student loan trends from 2008 through 2014.
The analysis also finds that in total, a staggering $1.2 trillion is bleeding students dry.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/specialfeatures/2013/08/07/how-the-college-debt-is-crippling-students-parents-and-the-economy/#48ee85731a41
Two-thirds, that’s right, two-thirds of students graduating from American colleges and universities are graduating with some level of debt. How much? According to The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) Project on Student Debt, the average borrower will graduate $26,600 in the red. While we’ve all heard the screaming headlines of graduates with crippling debt of $100,000 or more, this is the case for only about 1% of graduates. That said, one in 10 graduates accumulate more than $40,000.
It’s a negative sum game for both student-borrowers and the economy. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, student loan debt has reached a new milestone, crossing the $1.2 trillion mark — $1 trillion of that in federal student loan debt.
This pushes student loan debts to dizzying new heights, as they now account for the second highest form of consumer debt behind mortgages. With the federal debt at $16.7 trillion, student loan debts measure at 6% of the overall national debt. This is no small figure, and national debt carries many consequences including slowing economic growth (translating into fewer jobs being created) and rising interest rates. Capital will not be as easy to access.
This is just one area that I believe Sanders should be moved on and moved loudly. I hope he will be able to listen and that others will amplify this message. I want all peoples in this country to be able to attend higher education without being shackled to pointless debt slavery. I also however want those who have had to run the gamut of dealing with our corrupted and unfair system the chance to start fresh and have a new life without crippling debt.
If Bernie Sanders has done nothing else over the last few months he has shown a great willingness to listen. Don’t let the serious people tell you this could not happen. Don’t let the politics of the impossible become the reality of the day. Getting for profit institutions out of education should be a goal of a Sanders administration. Do not forget those students that bought into hope and change and now “A future to believe in.” I want to believe that these things can happen and that with the right movement we can overcome the grid lock of congressional republicans in the House and Senate. What we have learned over the Obama years is that it is better to ask for a mile and get a yard than ask for a yard and get an inch.
It’s time to start the conversation off at the right place:
Debt Forgiveness.
Let’s start the debate in a place where this can happen then.