• Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    Biden’s already eliminated a ton of it. I’m glad to see he’s still going on this despite the Supreme Court ruling, and I don’t even have student loans.

      • neidu2@feddit.nl
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        8 months ago

        As opposed to the conservative/regressive approach: “I suffered, therefore you should too. Fuck trying to make things better for people who aren’t me.”

    • boonhet@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      I’m not American and have no student loans and even I’m glad he’s doing it. There might be a common stereotype internationally that Americans are fat lazy assholes, but to tell you the truth, the Americans I know or have met have been the absolute nicest people I know. The ones I work with regularly are also crazy hard workers. There’s a lot of potential for good in the US, but oppressive economic systems get in the way for a lot of people and it’s just heartbreaking to see.

      I myself would love to live in the US, I’d live a very comfortable life as a software engineer, but I just couldn’t do it to my future children (there’s one well on the way) - the knowledge that they might have to go into debt for medical or education reasons is just too much for me. And while I have a good career, I’ll probably never be truly financially independent to the point I could just handle any unexpected expense regardless of magnitude.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Don’t think of it as either-or. I doubt I will ever retire but if I do it won’t be in the States. I hope my kids go to higher ed and if that happens I am most likely going to push them to go to Germany for it. I have to get dental surgery so the next time I am abroad is when I am going to get it done.

    • june@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      He never stopped. As soon as the SC struck the original plan down he started the longer process. It’s been in motion the whole time.

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    8 months ago

    Mine will likely never be eliminated unless it all goes away because I make too much, and that’s totally fine by me. I want as many people to get relief as possible! Public colleges and universities should be free, and student debt should not be a thing. At least not the way it is now.

    • Doxatek@mander.xyz
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      8 months ago

      I feel happy when someone in this position can say this instead of the ol’ “I did it so you should suffer too” to type logic haha

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Another guy who won the job lottery here. I agree that in principle we deserve relief, but we should be at the absolute back of the line. We may deserve it, but we don’t need it. A lot of people need it. Those tax dollars are better spent on the less fortunate.

        • GhostFence@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I mean, with that relief he could buy more stuff and help keep employment high, or invest his money in an ethical business to spur more job growth… which is more likely if that poster walks the talk. Regardless, college debt is just economic parasitism.

      • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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        8 months ago

        I think it’s really worth noting that in the end, the most egregious abuse is the usury. Having to pay multiple values of the principle is the trap most people fall into.

        Hey, Y’all Qaeda. Why aren’t you focused on that sin against Gaaaaaaawd?

        • Osito@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Interest on student loans is crazy to begin with

          If I go to college and get a better job, then the country is already benefitting from a larger tax base from me having a better job than I would otherwise.

          So not only am I getting taxed on a larger tax base, but I’m also paying interest on a loan to get the better job lol

          I’m getting hit twice

    • Random Dent@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      I don’t know how many times exactly the Republicans have tried to repeal Obamacare but it’s at least 70, so yeah I have no problem with Biden hammering on this issue for as long as it takes to get it done.

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        8 months ago

        They’ll complain about it until Obama becomes white in 2008. I’m cool with Biden continuing to hammer this issue.

  • Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I definitely sympathize with people in college debt, but this feels like just temporary wins and doesn’t address the real problems. This won’t solve the overpriced cost of education. Forgive debt now, a new crop of students will just go into debt next, right?

    We need universities to be completely free, universal single payer health care, drastically cheaper housing to rent and own, etc.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      When someone is having a heart attack you don’t give them a lecture on the importance of diet and exercise.

      There is a problem now, solve it. Fix the root cause next.

    • OpenPassageways@lemmy.zip
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      8 months ago

      I agree but that would require Congress to do something. Trying to accomplish this through executive actions alone might not actually work, but it at least shows voters clearly which party is willing to take action on this issue, and hopefully we will end up with a Congress that is more in line with the will of the people.

      • Dragster39@feddit.de
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        8 months ago

        I think this might be my key takeaway. He is wiling to address exactly this problem and might continue in the future. Even if you don’t benefit from it, it shows a clear path he is willing to take.

    • CableMonster@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      Why do you want free universities for degrees that actually give a net benefit?

      And the reason housing is so expensive is directly due to government intervention in housing.

      • ᗪᗩᗰᑎ@lemmy.ml
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        8 months ago

        because I’m not a piece of shit and want to see my fellow Americans do better. a rising tide lifts all boats.

          • nomous@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Wow TIL all degrees are useless.

            What’d you get your degree in? Maybe you got a useless one.

            • CableMonster@lemmy.ml
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              8 months ago

              Where did I say all degrees are useless? I got my degrees in engineering and science.

              • GhostFence@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Dude you must think they get their degrees in feminist dance or some boogeyman degree. News flash you want some people to get good jobs with that “useless” feminist dance degree. Because if not, they’re going to crowd into degrees like engineering and greater numbers of engineering grads creates greater competition for engineering jobs… which drives down the pay that most engineers get, plus it reduces the odds of actually getting a starter engineering job. Supply & demand.

                Signed, 100% NOT a feminist.

                • CableMonster@lemmy.ml
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                  8 months ago

                  The market pretty much tells us what are useful and useless degrees. The issue with your theory is that people do crowd into engineering and then the joke is after they fail they do business.

      • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 months ago

        And the reason housing is so expensive is directly due to government intervention in housing.

        Fuck off you conservative dipshit, try your incredibly wrong talking points somewhere people aren’t gonna see right through it

        • constantturtleaction@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          While it is certainly not the only reason, government intervention via zoning laws is definitely a factor in the house crisis. If mixed use zoning was more universally a thing, then that would be the government not intervening in the housing market.

          • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            It’s even more so due to the ultra-low interest rates that were the “temporary” “solution” to the post 2008 crash recession (only they weren’t all that temporary and didn’t really solve the problem, more pushed it along).

            There is a lot of info out there about how such monetary policy pushed money up the yield-scale out of Treasuries and Bonds and into things like Stocks and Realestate.

            Another point is the wealth concentration we’re seeing: as a bigger and bigger fraction of GDP ends up in the hands of the already very wealthy the fraction of GDP that’s seeking investment opportunities (rather than being spent: poorer people spend all or most of their income, whilst rich people spend but a tiny fraction and the rest they invest) exploded and all that has to go somewhere and Realestate is perceived as safe (especially if governments will do all they can to not let prices fall) and has a lot more yield than treasuries.

            This shit goes all the way back to Obama, and was just as much pushed by Republicans as by Democracts.

            • GhostFence@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Oh please. None of that even PALES in comparison to the outright supply crunch being caused by housing investors. It doesn’t even compare to the damage being done by the rampant construction of expensive luxury/multifamily homes.

              • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                It explains why there are so many house investors now when there were way less about a decade or so ago.

                It also explains the record-setting stockmarket valuations even though most people feel things have gone backwards.

        • GhostFence@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Yup! Housing investors >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> zoning laws or all the other narratives about government interference.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Why do you want free universities for degrees that actually give a net benefit?

        It is in your sentence. I want things that offer a net benefit. That’s why I like fire departments for example. We all benefit from not having uncontrolled fire about.

      • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        That’s 100 percent, certified bullshit.

        Government could fix housing SUPER fast. Tax rental payments on single-family homes at 100% to make SFR build-to-rent impossible.

          • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I work in municipal development.

            100% of new single-family developments approaching the city over the last 2 years have been for build-to-rent exclusively. The existing SFR homes are being bought up at massively inflated prices to convert them into rentals.

            The only reliable way to buy a home for your family to live in within 50 miles of the city is to buy empty land and have a custom million+ dollar house built, because the existing inventory is being grabbed up by rental investors and new inventory isn’t even being made available for sale.

            • CableMonster@lemmy.ml
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              8 months ago

              If that is true then your area is very different than the rest of everywhere, because SFH are terrible investments. And taxing them is just going to make housing more expensive and fix nothing.

        • CableMonster@lemmy.ml
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          8 months ago

          Sure, in short housing is too difficult and too expensive to build to keep up with demand. All this is due to government requirements on housing which adds over $100k on average per single family house, as well as it just being a general headeache. And this doesnt even get into the currency manipulation issue.

          • jeffw@lemmy.worldOPM
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            8 months ago

            What requirements though?

            And the government doesn’t control monetary policy, so can you expand on that too?

            • CableMonster@lemmy.ml
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              8 months ago

              There are probably 1000 different requirements for each small town and then add the state and national ones to that. The requirements will be things like getting an engineering report if you remove more than 10 yards of dirt, or add a roof element that makes the house look good.

              The government does control the supply of money via the Federal Reserve. If you are interested I can tell you how it directly makes the rich richer and takes the wealth of the middle class and poor.

              • jeffw@lemmy.worldOPM
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                8 months ago

                The fed is independent. If you’d like, I can give you a primer on how that works

                • CableMonster@lemmy.ml
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                  8 months ago

                  Let me get this straight, the US controls and funds all kinds of governments around the world but they wouldnt control the fed? “But its a private company!!!” Sure it is, its totally not completely controlled by the government…

              • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                8 months ago

                waaaaaaa regulation makes stuff more expensive to do, get rid of it so we can make money at the expense of the ppooooooooorrrrrrssss

                Classic conservative

    • festus
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      8 months ago

      Are you talking about Biden’s efforts specifically or more generally? Because Biden is constrained by:

      1. Having to act in the framework of what existing laws let him do as Congress won’t pass anything.
      2. Most colleges are regulated by individual states and the federal government’s power to regulate them is very limited.
      • Tonycorn@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        You’re not wrong. But there are still tools available at the federal level. States also have control over their legal drinking age, but if they want federal assistance for maintaining their roads it has to be 21.

        You could set a functional tuition cap by saying Federal Student Aid is only available if tuition is <$15k/year

    • cordlesslamp@lemmy.today
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      8 months ago

      If that happens, I believe there will be some idiots protest it. Something like “I paid for my full tuition, and so must you!”.

      • FlaminGoku@reddthat.com
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        8 months ago

        More like a lot. The “fuck you, got mine” mindset is unfortunately a common outcome of the “rugged individualism” propaganda perpetuating America.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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      8 months ago

      Here you go, friend.

      President Biden will announce a new effort on Monday to reduce or eliminate student loan debt for millions of borrowers, an election-year attempt to revive his goal of providing large-scale relief for Americans struggling to pay off their college loans, a person familiar with the plan said Friday.

      Mr. Biden is expected to preview new regulations by the Education Department targeting millions of borrowers, including those whose loans have ballooned because of accrued interest and others who can demonstrate financial hardship impeding repayment, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the regulations have not yet been formally proposed by the department.

      The proposed regulations are set to be published over the next few weeks. Mr. Biden will speak about the effort during a visit to Wisconsin on Monday, which will coincide with an event on student loans with Vice President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia.

      The push is a recognition by Mr. Biden and his allies of the disappointment felt by his supporters — especially young voters — when the president’s first attempt to wipe out student debt was blocked by the Supreme Court last summer. The court said that the government exceeded its authority under federal law when it attempted to cancel up to $400 billion in student loans.

      Since then, the Biden administration has used existing laws to provide debt relief to smaller pockets of borrowers. Monday’s announcement is expected to eventually reach a larger group, though officials said it would still be more targeted than the across-the-board relief that the Supreme Court already struck down.

      Understand Student Debt Relief Under President Biden

      Key initiatives. Since he took office, President Biden has had a broad initiative aimed at alleviating the pressure on federal student loan borrowers. Here is where the plans stand:

      Income-driven repayment. On August 22, the Biden administration opened for enrollment its new income-driven repayment plan, known as SAVE, in which borrowers’ monthly payments are tied to their income and family size. It will enable millions of borrowers to significantly cut their monthly federal payments, eventually by as much as half.

      Once the proposed regulations are officially published in the Federal Register, it will still be months before they can go into effect because of a required public comment period. Biden administration officials expect that the new rules are likely to be challenged in court, which could further delay any reductions in debt.

      Officials have said they believe the new proposed regulations would be more likely to survive legal challenges because they are based on a different federal law and they are more targeted to people in specific situations. The president’s previous effort was based on the Heroes Act, which allows the education secretary to waive debt during an emergency; the current regulations would be authorized by the Higher Education Act.

      Politically, the timing is critical for Mr. Biden as he battles former President Donald J. Trump for another term in the White House.

      The president’s popularity among young people, a group that was critical to his 2020 victory, has dropped significantly in the past several years. A December poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College found that Mr. Biden is trailing Mr. Trump among voters 18 to 29, which is a dramatic turnabout. In 2020, Mr. Biden won that group by 20 percentage points.

      Officials at the White House and the Education Department declined to comment on the expected regulations, which were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

      What you should know. The Times makes a careful decision any time it uses an anonymous source. The information the source supplies must be newsworthy and give readers genuine insight.

      Learn more about our process. But details about the proposed rules have been discussed and debated for months in a series of public hearings with stakeholders. Transcripts of those meetings and drafts of the proposed regulations provide a road map for the administration’s announcement.

      On Feb. 22, the department released a draft of a regulation titled “Forgiveness due to likely impairment of borrower ability to repay or undue costs of collection.”

      The proposed language in the regulation said that the U.S. education secretary could waive student debt when it was determined that “a borrower has experienced or is experiencing hardship related to such a loan such that the hardship is likely to impair the borrower’s ability to fully repay the federal government or the costs of enforcing the full amount of the debt are not justified by the expected benefits of continued collection of the entire debt.”

      That regulation listed 17 factors to consider when assessing whether a borrower qualifies for the hardship waiver. Those include: household income and assets, student loan balance, total loan balance, age, disability, high cost burdens for essential expenses such as health care, and “any other indicators of hardship identified by the secretary.”

      On Dec. 11, discussions about potential new regulations included a proposal to allow the education secretary to waive student debt when the total amount owed by a borrower exceeds the original principal on the loan because of accrued interest.

      “The secretary may waive the lesser of $20,000 or the amount by which a borrower’s loans cumulatively have a total outstanding balance that exceeds the original principal balance of the loans,” said the proposed text for the regulation distributed at the meeting.

      The actual regulations published are likely to differ, at least slightly, from the ones discussed in the public meetings, the person familiar with the discussions said. But Mr. Biden is expected to embrace help for those with financial hardship and those with high balances because of accumulated interest.

  • orcrist@lemm.ee
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    NYTimes is walled off. Can’t access. Update: Someone posted the article in the comments below. Thanks!

    • kent_eh
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      8 months ago

      The only thing standing in his way in previous attempts was the Republicans.

  • Beebabe@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I will maybe purchase a home before I’m dead. I don’t have a useless degree. In fact, it’s an in-demand field and the salary was considered respectable when I began. Cost of living increases have eaten away at that. But my other choice was to continue to be an assistant at poverty wage. So when the higher salaries and specialties are gatekept by a huge monetary sum you either get a bunch of people with some debt or only the privileged may access knowledge and a brighter future. We have to decide as a society which one we want and stop loathing our neighbors for the system they didn’t create.

    • jeffw@lemmy.worldOPM
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      8 months ago

      Pretty much all he can do when you have a far right court and congress

      • VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        He’s doing more than he really can, but I also feel this is his way of communicating that he is in fact trying. SCOTUS and the Department of Education has both said it is not within his power, and whether or not I agree, the SCOTUS will likely continue to prevent him from pushing this through.

        Realistically our government should be doing much more in aiding people through higher education, but at this point it’s like threading a needle.

  • Smeagol666@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    I am totally for free college. If we can’t agree on that, the price should at least be capped or seriously reduced. It seems kind of convienient that the topic is coming up again in an election year. The problem is that both parties are beholden to the military industrial complex. With military recruitment at an all time low, they can’t afford to just “give it away” (give it away, give it away, give it away now). The Rethuglicans will use their bullshit “bootstrap” argument, because they only give a shit about a problem when it affects them directly. The Demohypocrites will wring their hands and pretend to try to do something while ceding ground to Repubs so they can make a show of it. It’s the corporations that own both parties, and nothing is going to change until we kick these entrenched douchebags out on their asses.

    Also, look how easy it is for Congress and POTUS to approve billions for war in Ukraine and billions in money and weapons to keep the genocide in Israel going (with all of the afforementioned hand-wringing, of course).

    • Wrench@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Well, he has been very successful at it so far. Why doubt him this time around?

      • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Because it’s easier to rag on Biden than it is to actually educate oneself on what’s been accomplished.

        • caboose2006
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          8 months ago

          For me it’s a case of “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Not ragging on Biden, I believe he’s earnest in his desire to do something about student loan debt, but it’s all the road blocks that are put in his way. A lot of people don’t want student loan debt relief for whatever reason.

          • Wrench@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            That’s fair. I have experienced it 2nd hand through my wife, so I am believing it because I’ve seen it. That was a massive relief after she had faithfully paid her loan for 20 years, but due to dishonest loan advisers and refinancers, she was exactly one of the victims that John Oliver made an episode about.

            Biden fixed it and forgave her loan, which was still substantial after 20 years.

            • AA5B@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Yeah, my ex is still paying hers after 20 years, but does not fit any of the categories Biden has been able to help. We expect her to finally pay it off in the next couple of years without help.

              Of course we’re all for as many people as possible being helped, even if it’s not her.

            • caboose2006
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              8 months ago

              Hey man, I’m happy for her. Sometimes things do work out. But again, until that balance is reduced through something other than my paycheck, I won’t hold my breath

          • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            The problem is when it happens no one ever sees it.

            Biden does all kinds of good stuff and the media ignores it.

            • caboose2006
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              Yeah, agreed. The Biden administration isn’t great at banging it’s chest and boasting. Take out a full page and in the NYT kind of stuff.

        • hansl@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Good. So you’re fine with what he’s doing. He promised exactly what he did. The supreme court killed his original plan which he did try to execute, so that’s on the court, not him.

      • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Democrats “try” all sorts of shit they know has no chance of succeeding and then fumble golden opportunities. Joe Biden is a politician and a trash human being. He created the student debt problem.

    • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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      8 months ago

      The headline: “Biden passes new round of student loan forgiveness!”

      The article: “Asian American rail workers earning between $5000 and $7000 per year, who are veterans of the Vietnam War and are currently experiencing homelessness, will now have their student loans forgiven under Biden’s new sweeping legislation.”