Forget for a moment your political opinions about Nancy Pelosi; the fact that the Speaker of the House flew into a country under Russian invasion to appear with Zelensky is important symbolism. https://t.co/CbmQEaVqcK
— Jeff B. is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) May 1, 2022
… soooo glad I’m not a Republican, not even a Never-Trumpist!
I am singling this out only because it is representative of how some miss the pt. It's not about the November elections. This is about America in the world, about the Western alliance, not domestic politics. If McCarthy were Speaker I'd want him to go too. https://t.co/a1F5ur70Cx
— Jeff B. is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) May 1, 2022
Remembering this chapter from Hellworld for no particular reason… https://t.co/AHX83IjtdY
— zeddy (@Zeddary) May 1, 2022
Kevin McCarthy is absent because he could not blackmail Zelenskyy by demanding fabricated dirt on Joe Biden in exchange for releasing arms shipments. https://t.co/IoZlww1lGV
— Fred of Fred Hall (@LesserFrederick) May 1, 2022
Yes, and because Pelosi is a lifelong pol and neither unintelligent or inexperienced, she knows this won't move a single vote here in America to the Democrats, and she doesn't really care.
Americans are not the audience here. https://t.co/qmjoCkDwms
— Jeff B. is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@EsotericCD) May 1, 2022
Remember when Peter Meijier ‘dropped in’ without authorization to ‘supervise’ the American airlift out of Afghanistan? (Mike sure does!)
Just parachute in again without any coordination, what's stopping you
— Mike Black (@MikeBlack114) May 1, 2022
https://t.co/OSLvt2fmqE pic.twitter.com/PQtLtmlb0L
— Jort-Michel Connard ?? (@torriangray) May 1, 2022
Illustrative sidebar on Our Failed Mainstream Media’s weekend, courtesy of Jada Yuan…
“I’m the only one who knows this is insane, I alone sense the spectre of death in this very room, you may call him COVID-19 but pestilence is his name”
“Are you wearing a mask?”
“No I need to do tv interviews with my face fully visible” pic.twitter.com/vbUvdJAlTO
— brittany wilson ?? (@sameoldstory) May 1, 2022
The centrifugal force of Kim Kardashian walking into a room + @MarthaStewart, @desusnice and more… our scene report from #whcd parties till 3am https://t.co/KpDef8JvJ1
— Jada Yuan (@jadabird) May 2, 2022
I’ve kindly been asked not to show up in the office for a week after covering WHCD weekend, which shows how much faith we all have that this won’t be another superspreader ??
— Jada Yuan (@jadabird) April 30, 2022
(Also, nobody wants to listen to your ‘war stories’, get over yourself, lady.)
zhena gogolia
Can somebody explain the Jort-Michel Connard tweet to me?
satby
The right wing went on and on about how we lost standing in the world under Obama (false) and how TFG “restored” it (so false it’s in flames). But Pelosi (and Biden) moving to shore up alliances is all about internal politics and not about our standing in the world? The MAGA crowd is completely incoherent in every single way.
satby
And, I’ll light a candle for poor Jada Yuan, who apparently has no free will and just HAD to go to the WHCD.
Cameron
Was curious, and looked up a bit about Princess Olga online. A super-badass who also achieved sainthood. Very cool.
taumaturgo
A quick question: Should democrats favor (a) mean testing any reductions in students loans, or (b) a complete debt elimination?
Kay
I got a voicemail from CNN – they are looking for “interesting” stories on redistricting- “how the potential of being represented by a Democrat” (Marcy Kaptur) “rather than a Republican” (how it was prior to Republicans redistricting and taking Kaptur from a + 15 Biden district to a +3 Trump district ) affects me.
I have a lot of opinions on this! :)
Jinchi
It’s a nice contrast to TFG who, after getting caught hiding in the WH bunker, needed an armed guard wielding batons and firing tear gas, to cross the street for a 60-second photo op.
lowtechcyclist
Not exactly impressed by someone who would write that
ETA: And even knowing where Michael Tracey is coming from, I can’t figure out what stupid-ass point he’s trying to make with that tweet.
The sooner Tracey enters his hard-earned obscurity, the better.
Dangerman
@taumaturgo: I don’t recall there being a means test when we needed to save the Auto Companies.
Just wipe it out.
Jerzy Russian
@zhena gogolia:
I am sure somebody can, but it won’t be me. Also, am I the only one who thinks “Jorts the Cat” when I see his name?
Mike in NC
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has a book coming out next week called “A Sacred Oath”, in which he describes how the Fat Orange Clown wanted to just shoot unarmed protesters who annoyed him. Republicans will do everything in their power to anoint this piece of shit as our dictator in 2024.
Ken
@lowtechcyclist: Exactly. Everyone knows it’s centripetal force.
Kay
I think I have to call back because if they called Republicans they will all be “we don’t want no Democrat!” so I have to be the Democrat. But it’s complicated, because while I am thrilled that I have a chance of being represented by a Democrat, I think Ohio Republicans overriding the redistricting plan that Ohio citizens overwhelmingly supported is outrageous and unlawful.
lowtechcyclist
@Ken: I didn’t even need to hover my cursor over the link to know what it was going to be. One of my all-time favorite XKCDs!
no comment
@Jerzy Russian:
@zhena gogolia:
It seems to say that someone is smug on the outside and crying on the inside. I have no idea who it is referring to.
Alison Rose ???
@zhena gogolia:
A dumb meme:
Jeffro
Could we ask that someone from the Administration pop out on a weekly basis, just to remind terminally amnesiac America that a) trumpov praised Putin’s “genius” at the start of this bloody war, and b) Tucker Carlson really, really wants to know why he should hate Putin – after all, Putin ‘never called [him] a racist’.
It doesn’t have to be a huge deal. Maybe every 4:10 p.m. on Wednesdays, just call a quickie news conference, announce the above, and step off the podium.
Speaking of Carlson…I know it requires reading the NYT but that 3-part series on him, “American Nationalist: How Tucker Carlson Stoked White Fear to Conquer Cable”, is just stellar. Horrifying too (but that’s how you know it’s spot-on). A really good piece to forward to your normie friends and relatives.
Ken
@Alison Rose ???: Ah, from before Unicode broke down and allowed emojis.
Joe from Lowell
Imagine being that guy who thinks he understands electoral politics better than the repeatedly-elected Speaker of the House.
Thanks so much, “EMM,” for your insights. Nancy freaking Pelosi would never have realized that public appearances overseas about foreign policy issues don’t swing Congressional elections if you hadn’t come along to tell her.
Ken
@Dangerman: Maybe we should handle it like the 2007-2008 financial collapse, when (mirabile dictu) it turned out that all of the bad derivatives happened to be held by Bear-Stearns, and the rest of the big financial firms were in great shape, only requiring a few hundred billion dollars in zero-interest loans to tide them over.
So — and I just recalled, South Park did it first — we transfer all the student loan debt to one unlucky debtor chosen by lot. Then loan them the money to pay off the whole thing as a normal loan, after which they declare bankruptcy and discharge that debt.
patrick II
@lowtechcyclist:
Me neither. Centrifugal force throws things away, it does not attract them which I think the author was going for. Might have tried gravity.
Chief Oshkosh
@satby: Truly they are just reprogrammable meat sacks (as first announced by a Republican campaign consultant).
apocalipstick
@Ken: No, I think it’s centrifugal; I know if I was present when she entered a room I would be propelled to the edge.
citizen dave
@Jerzy Russian: No, you’re not, Re: Jorts the Cat. Jorts the Cat is a legend in my mind.
trollhattan
@satby:
I remember geometry lessons with wingnut bloggers measuring Obama’s “bow angles” in pictures of him greeting (i.e., kowtowed) to foreign dignitaries. Nucking futs, each and every one of the lot and Trump only made them worse.
Let me just say I’m glad the current Finnish PM never had to meet with Trump. Lord knows what he might have done.
Sure Lurkalot
@Jeffro: I overruled my boycott of the FTFNYT to read the Carlson expose (accessed through my library account).
It is everything you said. Well written, researched, cogent and terrifying. It shows the sheer ugliness of Carlson’s words and beliefs. Is he doing this out of true belief or for money? Both equally bad.
If a fraction of this level of journalism existed across the board at the major dailies, we might actually get somewhere better.
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: I haven’t read it yet (it’s in my “saved for later” file), but I was mad about the fucking headline. Fishsticks gleefully posed with the “American Nationalist” headline visible in the print version. It was the bolded text in the NYT news alerts too. That’s exactly the framing Fishsticks wants.
The subheads I saw were good in that they pointed out Carlson’s in-your-face racism, and I’m hopeful the series talks about the open shilling for Orbán and importing his style of hard-right, Christianist authoritarianism.
Annie
Proud that she is my Representative! Been happily voting for her since she first ran in 1987.
jonas
@Dangerman: The government didn’t wipe out car companies’ debt; they offered them loans to forestall bankruptcy and keep their factories open. They had to pay them back — with interest — which the government made a tidy profit on, iirc.
Ohio Mom
@taumaturgo: I don’t have an opinion on how to best do student loan forgiveness because I don’t have any data, just the anecdotes that are all over the web (like I would know what to do with the data, I’m no David Anderson). Agree that something needs to be done.
Even more so, the entire college loan system needs overhauling to solve this once and for all.
I’m making these numbers up but the stories I see all over are, someone takes out $20,000 in loans, pays back $60,000 and still owes $80,000. These aren’t education loans, they are a super-sized version of payday loans.
It is absolutely criminal.
no comment
@taumaturgo:
Doesn’t have to be either/or. They could choose to eliminate up to a certain amount for each borrower. That would avoid the means testing & still pay off most or all of many of the smaller loans.
Just as important is addressing why tuition costs have increased so much, especially for public universities. If we don’t address the root causes and find a workable solution, we’ll just have to go through this again with new student loans.
gene108
Republicans do not understand that sometimes a person does a thing, because it is the right thing to do, and not because of any short term political gain a person might accrue from it.
I think this is driving some of the Tweets in the OP.
apocalipstick
@Ohio Mom: Student loans should never have been made for-profit. When I was in college (1,000 years ago), loans were direct and the interest rate was, I believe, something like 1.5%. Just enough to pay for servicing the loan. Someone like Betsy DeVos would never be interested in that.
JoyceH
Does anyone else think that Pelosi didn’t even tell the Republicans about this trip? For fear they would leak it, trying to get her killed. “Russia, if you’re listening…”
Soprano2
@jonas: I think it was the same with the bank loans. Somehow people have gotten the idea that the government just gave them money, but that’s not what happened.
Sure Lurkalot
@Betty Cracker: The Carlson expose is interactive with video to back up the text. His embrace of Orban is noted.
Ken
@apocalipstick: Or if student loans must be made for-profit because Capitalism, then remove the government guarantee and make them dischargeable in bankruptcy like any other debt. Because Capitalism.
Soprano2
@Mike in NC: Link to said article. He was so scared of them, he wanted police to “shoot them in the legs or something” to keep them away from the WH. Horrifying, but I’m sure all the MAGA’s I know would nod along in agreement, “That would keep them from destroying everything!”. *rolleyes
Alison Rose ???
@apocalipstick: OT but your nym would make an EXCELLENT feminist punk band name
Alison Rose ???
@JoyceH: 100% believe that, because we know they would, because they are trash.
trollhattan
@apocalipstick: My neolithic student loans were 5% (NDSL) and 6% (private lender), roughly the yield of passbooks savings accounts then.
Pre-Reagan, consumer interest payments were all tax-deductible, which made a big difference in one’s federal income tax. Then that bastard and his henchmen did away with deducting everything but mortgage interest, I presume because the Right Kind of People paid cash.
CliosFanBoy
@taumaturgo: Forgive the loans up to a certain point, and give big tax deductions for those that paid their loans off over the past few years.
AliceBlue
@JoyceH: Yesterday I read–don’t remember where–that Pelosi extended an invitation to the GOP but no one took her up on it.
Cameron
@trollhattan: Given his prior statements, “grab ‘er by the pussy” is a distinct possibility. I doubt she would have been amused.
lollipopguild
@Betty Cracker: There is nothing “Christian” about Orban or anyone like him. Their Holy Trinity is Money, Power and Control of anybody they do not like.
trollhattan
@JoyceH: Yep, it was specifically cited when she was still there. Absolutely they could not chance it and Nancy SMASH knows this to a level of detail we cannot begin to imagine.
Recalling also that one day after meeting in person with the UN secretary-general, Putin shot cruise missiles at the UN secretary-general while he was visiting Kyiv.
No Bond villain quite matches the real item. I don’t think Putin even has a lap cat.
WereBear
@gene108: Republicans do not understand anything. Devolution in action.
trollhattan
@lollipopguild: I’m beginning to have my doubts about the head of the Russian Orthodox “Church” who seems Jim Jones-level bloodthirsty. Ukrainian blood, naturally.
CliosFanBoy
@lowtechcyclist: The mouse-over text is good too.
title=”You spin me right round, baby, right round, in a manner depriving me of an inertial reference frame. Baby.”
Bill in Section 147
@zhena gogolia: He was sharing a joke about Tracey (smug mask but actually crying). Tracey masks his feelings with a know-it-all smugness but is really just upset that the Democrats are able to actually get something done. In this case Pelosi showing American support for Ukraine is not a good thing because really all Democrats want to do is be at war with Russia. Because Democrats are the real warmongers. Putin is just reacting to the American threat to world peace because Democrats.
scav
@patrick II: I want it to be whatever force is exhibited by objects circling the drain. Acting on the author ad well as the objects so described of course.
Brantl
You can see both sets from space, Zelenskyy’s & Nancy’s!
cain
@satby: The reality is whatever shit comes out of their mouth now. Not was said before. That’s pretty much how they work. It’s calvinball.
Kay
@apocalipstick:
Obama already reformed the private lender problem with student loans in 2010:
Now private loans are used to supplement, but not replace, direct loans for people who are borrowing more than the max, which is 30k a year, I think. Biden isn’t going to be able to cancel private student loans because they are private. I also don’t think they will ever cancel graduate level student loans and if you cut them out the total student loan debt eligible for cancellation drops dramatically and is, roughly, “means tested” at the same time.
If you have a private student loan for graduate school no one is ever going to cancel it. That’s just not ever happening.
Kay
First- has to be public. Next- has to be undergrad. The universe of student loans eligible to be cancelled just got dramatically smaller, and is much more “middle class”.
artem1s
@taumaturgo:
Your asking the wrong question. What measures should be taken to prevent another 3 decades of fly-by-night, Trump and Liberty universities grifting the student loan program by running up tuition, providing low quality educations, and then let the grifters and the banks off the hook for driving up the costs for education in the first place. Ultimately wholesale debt forgiveness benefits the banks, not the students who got caught up in the tuition inflation game.
Let’s talk about keeping it from happening again instead of just letting the banks make massive profits off the next generation of students all over again. Put the Feds back in control of the lending again. Require the banks and universities participating in the guaranteed and private loan programs to help pay off those debts too. Let students include student loans in bankruptcy. You’ll see a lot of the grifters move on to the next mark if they can’t maximize their profits and have to take on some of the risks.
address the real problems of privatization of education and student lending instead of just slapping a bandaid on it.
germy
This photo shows how deeply Carlson was hurt by the NYT article:
jonas
@Soprano2: That’s right. The government served as a liquidity provider of last resort when private markets dried up due to the mortgage crisis. It wasn’t debt forgiveness and the government actually made money when the loans were repaid. What pissed people off at the time is that while the taxpayers extended a huge lifeline to the big banks, they weren’t forced to do the same to millions of underwater homeowners who subsequently lost their homes (and in many cases their life savings).
Kay
germy
Sure Lurkalot
@jonas: And the homes that the underwater homeowners lost were snatched up by private equity funds to be fixed and flipped for tidy profit or placed in their rental portfolios, such that underwater homeowners/renters (regardless if they are the same people or different) are again facing predatory practices, and while different, lead to the same homelessness and despair.
Subsole
@taumaturgo:
Short answer? Means testing b/c the gen pub is terrified of being suckers, and means testing assuages those fears. It’s counterproductive and doesn’t actually have the effect people think, but that’s democracy sometimes. I don’t think people will go for straight forgiveness. Better to get help to some than none.
Long answer?
I would prefer they leave the debt but kill the interest.
Interest seems to be what makes the loan utterly crippling. Some rates are downright usurious.
It grants relief, while preserving enough political capital to keep us in office so we can provide further relief.
Because right now? I’m seeing people hopping mad about “I paid off my loans, went to community college, and lived in an affordable community. Why does some socialist liberal arts major in Brooklyn need ME to pay their debt?”
I also see a lot of black folks pointing out that forgiveness will benefit one crop of (predominantly white) people, while doing nothing to actually help people coming after. I cannot speak to that as I am not smart enough, but the perception seems widespread and needs addressing.
Basically, forgiveness is just jubilee for one group, and is seen as rich kids mooching.
Yes, the conservatives will shriek that line whatever we do. No, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. It DOES mean figure out how to sell it to the mushy middle, or you ain’t gonna do jack about squat.
Sorry, long answer to a short question.
@trollhattan: Yeah. Crazy how quickly the bow angles people graduated to skull calipers, ain’t it.
lollipopguild
@trollhattan: True Christian churches should not be part of a Govt. power structure. A church selling it’s soul never works out for the church.
Subsole
@Sure Lurkalot: The most damning indictment of today’s press is today’s press when they actually do the work.
@Betty Cracker: Case in point.
“White Nationalist”, Baquet. The word you wanted was “white”, not “American”. You smooth-brained jackass…
germy
@Subsole:
WaterGirl
@germy:
I just needed to see that again.
germy
Where are you seeing that? I’m curious
Subsole
@Ohio Mom:
@no comment:
Seconding both of these very good points. Better to fix the systems, rather than just let one cohort off the hook. Yeah, that cohort will appreciate it ….maybe. They might even actually show up and vote…. maybe.
The folks outside that cohort? They WILL be showing up, and you won’t be happy when they do.
Subsole
@trollhattan: Eh. Considering how atavistic that nation has become, I am chalking that up to reversion to mean.
A medieval church for a medieval government.
zhena gogolia
@Jerzy Russian: You are not the only one.
@Alison Rose ???: Thanks!
zhena gogolia
@apocalipstick: That was all I could think of. I didn’t read the article.
geg6
@Ohio Mom:
Federal student loans do not work like that. At all. Which is why anecdotal claims from anonymous posters on the internet should not be taken seriously. Most students qualify for subsidized loans and unsubsidized loans. The subsidized portions of their loans are no interest while the student is in school and for six months after graduation. The unsubsidized loans do accrue interest while the student is in school. However, for many years now, the interest rates have fluctuated between about 2-4%. So anyone who has paid a substantial portion of their federal loans would never see their principal increase like that. Anyone who claims this is a fucking liar.
I won’t presume to claim these are not educational loans, but they aren’t federal loans. The only loans that could possibly work like that would be from private lenders and I don’t even think they are that transparently criminal.
ETA: Although, in retrospect, it could happen to someone with private educational loans, who was not making satisfactory academic progress for financial aid, who had a co-signer who had risky credit (or one of those new private loans that now don’t require a co-signer) and was on academic suspension. But again, not a typical situation.
Mo MacArbie
Wow, this thread, subtitled “Proud to be a Democrat,” has been successfully diverted by someone who…isn’t.
dm
@Ken: Oh, I thought she meant that people wanted to flee the room when Kim Kardashian walked in. Seemed a little weird, but I suppose with he earlier expressed concerns about COVID and all…
geg6
@apocalipstick:
They are not for profit, at least the federal ones are not.
Lots of ignorance about this issue and I think I need to step away because my head is about to explode.
Subsole
@germy:
Thank you for the additional information.
@germy: Mostly twitter, which, I know, not real life. They seem to skew older millennial and gen-x.
The folks mad about freeloaders? That I have seen, from Dallas to Amarillo. That’s more Boomer and Gen-X, but a lot of folks my age, too. And they aren’t all Republicans, either.
geg6
@Ken:
FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS ARE NOT FOR PROFIT.
WhatsMyNym
@WaterGirl: @germy:
Not everyone is a Christian.
Subsole
@Mo MacArbie:
Eh, I don’t really see a diversion.
We are debating the direction we want our party to go. I see no “democrats suck and this is bullshit argleblahburblargh”. Just people talking over a problem, trying to find a good solution. That’s the most Democrat thing I can imagine.
Thread’s on track, I think.
germy
@Subsole:
Lots of white conservatives use Black avatars on twitter. “Black people don’t want student loans forgiven!” “We Blacks don’t want higher wealth taxes!” etc. It’s always good to proceed with caution on social media, though not always easy.
geg6
@Kay:
Thankfully, I see there is one person here that even a morsel of understanding of what student loans are about and who would actually benefit the most from forgiveness.
Jager
@Sure Lurkalot:
30% of the single-family homes in LA County are rentals and the vast majority are owned by big investment groups.
germy
@Mo MacArbie:
Who isn’t proud? Guards, seize him!
Subsole
@geg6:
As someone who has likely contributed to that cranial pressure, is there anyone you would recommend as a good source/background on this, ideally for a layman’s understanding?
gvg
@Kay: Direct loans started when Clinton was in Office. Schools got to choose of they stayed government backed bank loans or went to direct loans. The 2 kinds of loans hated each other and immediately the banks started improving service like electronic instead of paper drafts and petitioned the government to be allowed to lower the interest rate. Then direct loans lowered theirs more and the students and the schools benefitted. That continued until the 2008 fiscal crisis when …apparently the banks doing the lending were in too much trouble to keep lobbying Congress or keep doing what wasn’t their biggest revenue source (student loans) and things temporarily went all direct loans but only about 2 years. Its back to both kinds and competition. See back when it was all bank loans (backed by the government), the banks kind of had an unofficial understanding and didn’t try to compete with each other much. No better service or lower rates. After direct loans, they were always lobbying Congress to get rid of direct loans so DL had to be really good on service and rates too. They didn’t get too rule bound and bloated, such as they might have if they were the only one for a long time.
The yearly max is much lower than you said. 1st year undergrad dependants get a max of 3500 combined sub and unsub. Juniors and seniors get 7500. Grad students get 20,500 all unsub.
Bush made grad students only get unsub. There is also grad plus and I don’t remember who did that but it is payments and interest immediately. Terrible idea.
Student loans don’t have credit checks. That is why the government had to get involved from the beginning. There are private loans, but they aren’t as common because those need credit and most students don’t have it yet.
The government also does parent loans but there is a credit check for that.
geg6
@Subsole:
Federal interest rates have, for about the last decade, fluctuated between about 2-4%. Hardly usurious.
Since what you are talking is private educational loans, realize they will not be a part of any loan forgiveness.
Soprano2
@geg6: I think people way overestimate how many people would actually be substantially helped by loan forgiveness, because the ones who would be are loud on the internet.
I agree with those who say we need reforms to keep the current problems from recurring. If you don’t do that, what’s the point of one-time forgiveness anyway?
germy
@geg6:
My son’s fiancé got a private loan. It will be forgiven in ten years because she’s working as a special education counselor.
Soprano2
On Point had a pretty decent program about student loans this morning, where many of the points I see here from Kay and geg6 were made.
Alison Rose ???
@WhatsMyNym: It’s…a joke? About the argument against student loan forgiveness. I’m Jewish and I found it funny as hell.
Subsole
@germy: Very true, and good advice.
Most of the accounts are regulars I follow with no huge platform, who routinely push democratic/centrist framing and talk about stuff besides politics.
I have seen some of those accounts you’re describing. You can kind of smell the mayo on some of those accounts, sometimes. Kind of like you can tell when a bot in a comment section is autoposting rote talking points. There are little cues. These folks don’t come off that way.
But you are right, it’s always good to be cautious.
Edit: To be clear: they didn’t oppose loan forgiveness per se, they just want it structured in an equitable way that includes their community. Which is…NOT what I’ve come to expect from GOP in digital blackface.
germy
@Subsole:
Bob Schooley used to do reverse image searches of some of the “I’m a Black person!” avatars and he’d usually find them on stock photo websites. Sometimes the person would have a blank sweatshirt and the conservative tweeter would add a conservative slogan.
geg6
@Subsole:
Generally speaking, there is very little out there for the public to help them understand this better. I know a lot about it because I am a financial aid officer and read professional publications like the NASFAA (National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators) newsletter and website and the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Students do go through both entrance counseling and exit counseling when they borrow from the feds that explains all of this in great detail, but…well….students.
gvg
@geg6: Technically the bank ones are, but the profit isn’t that much. Because they are government backed, they are very very safe and sure and all banks need some loans like that. This is basic finance. Sure things only need a tiny profit and banks and such are supposed to have a mix of safe, medium and risky with higher rates for the risk.
Before direct loans, the banks had lobbied their way to higher than justified interest on the student loans. They weren’t competing and keeping rates down for the students. As soon as direct loans existed and schools started picking DL’s, the banks lobbied Congress to be allowed to lower their rates. I was a new financial aid officer then, and a finance major. It was funny to watch what my professors had taught, exactly come true and the interest rates drop like a rock for students. The banks were NOT competing. They had a defacto understanding, nothing to prove in court, but watch what really happened….they all wanted those rates to stay high for no risk of course. If they ever lobby direct loans out of existence, you will see the profit again. They always lobby for this by the way.
VeniceRiley
@Soprano2: Hillary had that as central to her plan.
Subsole
@germy: I’ve seen that. Always nice seing those guys get dragged up and down twitter by their underwear.
It’s wild to me how much effort and time and money conservatism puts into astroturfing, dirty tricks, and lies. I mean, it’s a party full of Bull Connors riding around on the shoulders of an army of Roger Stones and Jerry Falwells.
You’d think that would be a sign, having to lie so much about what you’re doing.
I mean, you’d think.
Kropacetic
That’s our main problem.
Subsole
@Kropacetic: In so many, many ways.
Subsole
Also, lord knows I have my disagreements with Taumarurgo, but this thread has been very informative and thoughtful, in response to a good question. So thanks to them for sparking that.
Geminid
@taumaturgo: Now I’m curious. How would you answer the two questions you posed?
dm
@Jerzy Russian: You mean it’s not a reference to Jorts the cat?
Sure Lurkalot
$1.5 trillion of tax cuts to benefit the wealthy…no moral hazard there, nope, none. But try to alleviate an unconscionable situation that we created, making higher education highly recommended for success and yet unaffordable to most without debt, we get the lesson in personal responsibility, good and hard.
Shalimar
I don’t buy that the White House Correspondent’s Dinner is anything more than a small symptom of the problem of journalists being too close to the politicians they cover.
I grew up going to Gridiron every year in Alabama from 1975-1995, in addition to numerous Christmas parties every year where the guests were a mix of journalists and politicians. All of this mixing didn’t stop the parade of politicians going to prison in that era for various crimes, or journalists from exposing what they had done. Journalists could and did keep their jobs separate from personal lives.
Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me the changes stem from what publishers expect from their employees now. The rich people who own the news want their journalists to value access above everything else, and they do. Holding shocking stories for books a year later couldn’t happen if media owners valued publishing those shocking stories.
Eunicecycle
@Kay: I just found out that I might get to be represented by a Democrat, too! First time in forever. It’s Tim Ryan’s old district. There’s a pretty well known state legislator named Emilia Sykes running on the D side and 6 no name Rs running. Most of the district is in Akron, Sykes’ home turf, so I’m hopeful. She won’t win around here but Akron may pull her in.
Kay
@geg6:
I learned most of it from you. You should do a guest post.
Kay
@Eunicecycle:
I haven’t called him back yet. I want to talk about the Right wing federal court that overturned the clearly expressed will of Ohio citizens and imposed a wingnut map on us, although I believe we made it quite clear we wanted a nonpartisan districting process and I don’t think he wants to talk about that :)
SiubhanDuinne
Do we trust a paper called the Business Standard?
Because they are reporting that Putin is about to undergo cancer surgery, and is nominating the former FSB head, Petrushev, to take charge of military operations in Ukraine.
Has anyone else seen similar reporting today?
SiubhanDuinne
@Kay:
That’s a terrific idea, Kay! I would love to have geg6 write a nice clear “Student Debt for Dummies” explainer piece for us. Great suggestion.
RaflW
Did Rep. Meijer weigh in on Ron Johnson’s mono-partisan trip to Moscow to ‘celebrate’ the 4th of July?
geg6
@gvg:
There are no government backed bank loans. The feds extend all the credit and there are no banks involved at all. There are loan servicers who handle the repayments, but they aren’t banks.
geg6
@Kay:
Happy to if people want it.
Soprano2
Remember the conservative argument about abortion that it should be decided by the states? Well, we all knew this was bullshit, but now they’re saying it out loud. Kay was absolutely right about this – not talking about how radical the Texas law was, and the court allowing it to go into effect, has emboldened these people to now be open about their intention to institute a nationwide-ban on abortion. They actually think it will stop abortion!
Kay
@geg6:
I’ll ask WG. I know we talked about Obama’s student loan reforms on this blog! It was a BFD.
Tarragon
I love this telling of her story. https://www.idlethumbs.net/somethingtrue/episodes/ruska-pravda
zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m not seeing it in any reputable reporting yet. The New York Post has picked it up.
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
Yeah, I did a little more digging and the only media reporting it so far seem rather … sketchy, I think is the word. That’s if I’ve even heard of them in the first place.
Gravenstone
@trollhattan: One stylish boot of hers applied to his nuts would have resolved any overreach on his part, post haste.
Gravenstone
@SiubhanDuinne: Looks like an Indian paper. No idea on the quality of the product or any possible political slant to same.
Betty
@trollhattan:
I read rhat he is a KPG oligarch. This is apparently a poltical and not religious position.
dnfree
@jonas: we know someone who owned a lot of GM stock. The bailout somehow involved bankruptcy, and the value of the stock plunged to zero. I don’t think the stockholders were ever compensated.
MisterForkbeard
I read through the Michael Tracey tweet thread. It’s amazing when you consider that you’ve got your head so far up your ass that you’ve turned into an Ouroburan asshole – you can’t tell where it begins or ends.
Seriously though, that’s the sort of ‘commentary’ that makes me throw up my hands against the Far Left. There’s not even a semblance of thought there, just “Blame Dems” “Dems are wrong” and “It’s Democrat’s fault Russian is attacking a free country for obviously farcical reasons”.
Original Lee
@SiubhanDuinne: Me, too. I’ve tried explaining some of the differences between the different types of loans and have gotten a bit tangled up. My student loans were at 5, 6, 7, and 8 percent back in the Bronze Age.
RepubAnon
@lowtechcyclist: So, when Kim Kardassian walks in, people are mysteriously pushed away? Like water in a bucket spun on the end of a rope?
Gravenstone
Ah, a quick Google shows he works for the Young Turks (among other sites). Yeah, no wonder he suffers from terminal cranioanal inversion.
WaterGirl
@WhatsMyNym: It’s still a darn good analogy!
taumaturgo
For a bit of context around the student loan discussion, here are 2022 student loans debt statistics.
https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/
Ruckus ??
@satby:
That’s because the only color in their RW world is shit brindle brown, from having their tiny little noggins located in a tunnel that we all have an example of in our neither regions but not all of us stumble around with our heads stuck into like they do. It’s also why they are mad all the time, I imagine it stinks in there….
Ruckus ??
@Kay:
$201,490 for a medical degree.
This is why I didn’t finish premed and attempt to go to medical school. I couldn’t see the ROI and value of the effort. The risk was just too high at my age at the time. I would have been in my 30s, with no life when I got out and owing 6 figures. The risk just seemed not worth it.
AM in NC
@Kay: This makes me so happy! If they’re going to interview people from Ohio for the umpteen-thousandth time, it should darn well be you!
Citizen Alan
@Kay: Geez, thank God Ole Miss was dirt cheap. I’ll have racked up $50k in student loans for my LL.M in just one year, but I had more than enough put back from the sale of my house to pay it all off at once if need be. And no payments or interest thru August 31! Thanks Joe!
Citizen Alan
@Sure Lurkalot: I imagine a lot of the wealthy who benefit from those tax cuts also profit, directly or indirectly, from the problems suffered by the latter group.