I don't know whether I'm suppose to think that's not so bad or that's really bad.

Apples and oranges. Canceling the national debt would cost each and every American $100,000 but we’re not doing that either.

I never understood why military spending was considered "different" from other kinds of government waste.

That said........

Throwing good money after bad

Or..

Two wastes of money (does not mean less waste) than one waste of money.

I believe the op was just posting a fact.

Its up to you and your political belief's to decide if that is good or bad.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Is there a point you're trying to make?

I think they were presenting a fact. Not trying to make a point

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Yeah, that is nuts.

I still wonder if this will actually happen. How is this not a separation of powers issue?

Grass is green

Sky is blue

Water is wet

I think that the point is this...

That in comparison with the biggest sh#t show of wasteful, bureaucratic, socialist government spending in the history of the world......

Erasing student debt would be small potatoes.

But who cares...

Just because the DOD is burning cash at an almost unfathomable rate.

Doesn't mean we should set even more money of fire

Well that and the DoD provides some utility

Let's do it Sleepy Joe. Cancel it.....Cancel it all and make it free for anyone to go to any school in the country. There will be a price cap on all college tuition of course at every university in the country. Like medicare, the US pays the rate they feel is right for anyone that wants to go to college.

LET'S GO JOE.

Your comment reminded me of something, and I had to check before posting.

Many have held Germany's Health care plan as a pretty good model to follow, and they offer Free University for all....

So maybe Sleepy Joe can get both done.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Free Healthcare for all, Free College for all, open and unlimited immigration, housing equity for all, equal pay for all, defund the police because we dont need them, and bunny rabbits on every corner with rainbows in the sky all day. Sounds like a great place.

I believe he eliminated partial debt using his covid-19 emergency powers. But last seek he said the pandemic was over so it might be hard for him to do it by himself again. Perhaps Congress should address it if it is a good idea.

You seem to just ignore other nations are capable of doing some of these things, our we not the greatest nation in the world??? Should we not be able to give our people the best of things also?

God forbid we treat everyone as a human being.

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Americans aren’t monsters. We just have a few bad apples. So I’m in favor of police reform, bad bunnies on ever corner, 🌈 all day every day, free healthcare, free college & trade school, housing equity, and immigration reform. It sounds like my kind of party!

Congress address a difficult issue? Shirley you jest.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Yes the last line was in pink.

None of this is free. All paid for by tax payers. America is going broke fast eventually this has to be dealt with. Approaching levels of debt to gdp same as post WW2 without a post war baby boom and an economy limited by what the environment can take. Great to be the world's reserve currency which allows you to do this longer than in other circumstances.

America already spends close to the same amount of gdp towards public healthcare when you look at medicare, medicaid, and other programs.

America doesn't run gov't programs particularly efficiently. There is no way they can do like Germany at the same cost.

I am Canadian and we rather suck at running public healthcare so we cannot brag either.

On the other hand good thing America spends lots of money on defense. If it didn't Ukraine would have rolled over by now. And who would be next? Again as a Canadian our anemic defense forces would last about ten minutes against a large modern well equipped army, thank God for America next door.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

How do some states offer free/minimal cost college tuition for in-state students? Friend in Georgia has 2 kids at U Georgia and I believe he is only paying a couple of thousand/year for each child. I'm assuming part of his taxes for the last 20 years have been going to fund this but not really sure. Don't understand why all states wouldn't be doing this?

Are they good students? If so, the people buying lottery tickets are funding their education. If people wouldn’t feel compelled to gamble or if your kids didn’t qualify for HOPE, they would be paying $28k/yr for the basic tuition plan.

Yeah, there are costs associated with everything. There are also costs associated with a poor, uneducated, unhealthy population who lack innovation and are vulnerable to attack. Think of spending tax dollars on health and education as an investment in Americans themselves. It’s our money anyway.

At least we aren’t the UK. Their latest strategy of cutting taxes for the rich, increasing subsidies for the poor and raising interest was noted as the worst macroeconomic decision making of any nation in history.

Free Healthcare for all
Free college for all (or trade or coding)
Allowing some immigration from south of the southern US border legally
Affordable housing though zoning and government policies to encourage development
Equal Pay for same job
Take some of the funding we spend on police and put it to prevention and help for people who get arrested repeadedly
Voting rights for all
Abortion for all who want it...

Sounds like a great place to me. What's it sound like to you?

Your title is misleading. According to your article cancelling all student debt would be $1.6T. $440B is just the debt that Biden has already agreed to cancel.

Comparing to the DoD budget is just silly. Wiping out the DoD will go about as well as defunding the police.

Better to compare it to something that was a complete waste like the US invasion of Iraq. The unjustified war has been estimated to cost the US over $2B. If we just chose to stay home we would have had half the national debt going into the 2008 recession. Or we could now wipe out all federal student debt and have plenty left over.

Delaware does this via their Seed Program. It is only for lower income students. You only need a C+ (2.5 GPA) HS average and you get college credit at the local community college, then you can transfer to the University of Delaware to finish out your degree. A good student can probably get into UofD directly on scholarship based on need. I don't know how successful students are in completing an associate or bachelors degree. when my kids graduated from the public HS, almost all of HS students students graduating had plans for furthering their education. So it is getting people started.

There is that. The pound has cratered. Although worst decision is a high bar.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

The unjustified war has been estimated to cost the US over $2B. //

I know it is just a few 0's, but it is Trillions, not billions. I wish it was 2 billion, we have probably 500 folks just in this country alone that could have written a personal check if so. Add a few 0's and there is no one.

To illustrate, a billion seconds in 31 years, a trillion is 31,000+ years...

Of note this assumes that 90% of those eligible for this actually get it. That is very unlikely that many actually get it.

Georgia is one of the few (or only?) state that actually used Lottery money for education instead of just putting it in the general fund. "Hope Scholarships" are funded by the Lottery and pretty much any student who is a Georgia resident and graduates high school with a B average gets a scholarship to a school in GA. I don't know if it's a full scholarship, but it is very generous.

HOPE | Georgia Student Finance Commission

yea, - i don't know why more states didn't do this.

Not in GA, but have kids in high school and they have decent grades - U Alabama has generous scholarships to attract smart kids. Out-of-State Freshman Scholarships – Scholarships | The University of Alabama (ua.edu)

I just read an article that heavily referenced U of Alabama. They recruit heavily out of state, from IL in particular, because tuition is in the range of 2x-3x. Many universities are getting incoming freshman classes as 60%+ out of state for the out of state premium on tuition. It costs nothing more to "educate" those kids.

To reference other posters....On the topic of Germany, I'm pretty sure they determine who goes to university, and then it is free. If you don't qualify during testing, you're in a trade (absolutely nothing wrong with that) or directed to non-professional employment for the lowest tier. I also wonder if western European countries would have free health care if they solely bore the cost, over the last 70 years, to prevent having to speak Russian.

Reminds me of this.
https://www.youtube.com/...mp;ab_channel=MBtits

it would also cost one-fourth of the F35.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Pretty sure UMaine is doing just the opposite and offering in-state tuition rates to get out of state students to come.