Brunot Kano
Robert ReichTotal student loan debt that would have been erased for millions of Americans: $400 billion
Total cost of the Trump tax cuts that largely benefited the wealthy and corporations: $1.9 trillion
This is what I mean when I say the system is rigged.
Michael Bishop ☕@rbreich clearly rigged and it's frustrating that the public falls for it.
Franz@MichaelBishop @rbreich the same public that voted for Trump?
CJ Palomado we? or do a few propagandists allowed to work at billionaire owned media keep shoving that fiction down our throats so it -looks- like we do?
Pusher Of Pixels (old account)And millions of average americans spending that money in local economies would produce FAR more tax revenue.
Literally shooting ourselves in the foot for purity
@pixelpusher220 @rbreich I am not surprised. If the middle and lower class got actual help from the government (in this form) it would set a precedent that some groups besides the bourgeoisie can benefit from socialism.
Yeah, I do think that generally people should pay debts they incur (first and foremost those corps and PPP loans!). But the predatory lending that occurred and our society's general askance looks at trade labor that pushed so many to get useless degrees mandates a societal scale rectification.
But along with the loan forgiveness we also need to make basic college AND trade schools gov't funded - so we don't end up here again.
And while I'm neck deep in the pie in the sky solutions...maybe just maybe remind people that the gov't is supposed to help US, not prioritize corporations.
@pixelpusher220 @rbreich Very good reasoning. I agree. Unfortunately, corporations get some of the rights as citizens. Like speech. I wholeheartedly disagree with this. My version of a better country would be a mix of (actual) non-profit and government run institutions. Like banking, utilities, education, etc. The profit motive of giant corporations is killing the quality of everything around us.
@Jdahl @rbreich the problem IMO isn't that profit motive exists, but that we've been convinced that profit is the entire end game.
Capitalism was sold as a system, when its only a tool. Even a hammer can be used for doing harm.
Strong govt regulation is essential control that's sorely lacking unfortunately
Morgan ⚧️@pixelpusher220 @Jdahl @rbreich plus we have rules in most other subjects that minors can't sign contracts and be held to them, but I'll still be expected to pay for loans I took out as a minor
shay plura@rbreich can we find ways to un-rig it? I’m genuinely wanting to know.
JasmineNope. It's working as it was designed to. No money, you literally die. The feature not the bug😕
@MysticaRose @rbreich why support that and be complicit with what’s good for the 1% when there are 99% of us that design doesn’t work for? Strength in numbers could be a start to something favorable.
That's why they utilize the divide and conquer strategy. They have some white people hating POC and anyone who isn't like them, so much that they vote against their own best interests.
@cla3ja33r @rbreich vote D and convince others to vote D…
@UncleCharlie @rbreich need something more aggressive than just voting D. Not advocating violence, but there’s got to be something we could all do if there’s 99% of us versus them 🤔
@cla3ja33r @rbreich The NEW DEAL was one approach that worked well to alleviate Depression-era suffering, while the Second World War forced the hands of the ultra-rich to contribute more, but only after they realized that Hitler's World Fascism would harm their financial interests. The rich are generally extremely stingy and greedy. It would take Congress to create another New Deal, but the SCOTUS would likely shoot that down as well. END THE SCOTUS! The USA can't take any more of this nonsense.
Capitalism is the world's largest pyramid scheme.
intelati
stillnotahero@rbreich sure wish we had representatives that… represented us. And not donors.
@stillnotahero @rbreich We could form a "National Voter Coalition", but it would have to take on all the negative characteristics of the corporations that are doing the most harm - in order to compete with the evil corporations in terms of lobbying (bribing and extorting) for control of our politicians. It would have to be the "Exceptional, GOOD Corporate-Coalition-of-Voters".
TAI@rbreich the wealthy hoard that in assets and starve the economy. We've removed that much more from the economy. They are all deceiving the public, the media and the politicians. The wealthy are vampires, just draining the life blood from the economy, from any chance at prosperity for others. You could put a stake in their hearts except they don't possess one, THATS HOW THEY GOT WEATHY!!
costrike@rbreich And the SBA estimates there was up to $200B in EIDL and PPP related fraud.
https://www.sba.gov/document/report-23-09-covid-19-pandemic-eidl-ppp-loan-fraud-landscape
https://www.sba.gov/document/report-23-09-covid-19-pandemic-eidl-ppp-loan-fraud-landscape
COVID-19 Pandemic EIDL and PPP Loan Fraud Landscape | U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this review to provide a comprehensive estimate of the potential fraud in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) pandemic assistance loan programs. Over the course of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, SBA disbursed approximately $1.2 trillion of COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds.
Alex Maxham@rbreich it'll always be rigged
@alexmaxham @rbreich It is now coming to a head though - like a pressurized submersible going down into the depths of Ultra-Right Conservatism, preparing to implode the entire US system - the economy, the justice system, Congress and the Executive Branch. This is what Trump MAGAts want: FASCISM with Trump as their Forever Leader. It's so close they can TASTE IT!
AC@rbreich Guarantee that if we cancelled the Trump tax cuts, Republicans would bitch about spending $400 billion on student loan debt instead of more F-35s and aircraft carriers. Even if that’s where the other $1.5 trillion went.
AlWodz@rbreich https://r.g-omedia.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.theonion.com%2Fi-decided-to-become-a-slave-so-one-day-my-descendants-c-1850592638%3Futm_source=TheOnion_Weekly_newsletter%26utm_medium=email%26utm_campaign=2023-07-01/2/0100018911c3498e-b2525779-9366-4651-b6d6-76b4db4f4567-000000/k3Jw_TFmTZjIBQhP7gUQt9ymBkzK-uUmWdWP83_TyvI=307
Chief@rbreich I was recently talking to a Texan who is a strong climate change denier. I told him that I agreed with him when he said that climate change had nothing to do with the calamities that are befalling his state. There was silence on the other end of the line when I said, “It is clearly God's vengeance on the people of Texas for the obscenities that they and their government have become! I expect locust to show up any day now." As I began quoting verses from the bible, he hung up.
squeakytbone@rbreich I knew a guy who worked in a carnival, he said the games were not rigged, they were designed to make money.
The game is working exactly for who designed it, the house always wins.
America is a gigantic casino, and some come to the table with more chips.
Lou Katz@rbreich But, the wealth are (by definition) worthy, and the students are unworthy, QED.
@rbreich But the student loan debt is PART OF the banking system belonging to those corporate executives who received the $1.9 TRILLION from Trump's tax cuts, so... the rich don't just give their free money away. C'mon, Bob - THINK before you Mast.
dianea 🏳️⚧️@rbreich We, as a nation with a voting public, really need to vote those who perpetrated this atrocity completely out politics for life! No residual benefits, no anything!!! Especially those with millions who took loans which were forgiven and then voted against basic relief for anyone else.
Winter Stoat@rbreich מִקֵּ֥ץ שֶֽׁבַע־שָׁנִ֖ים תַּעֲשֶׂ֥ה שְׁמִטָּֽה׃
Every seventh year you shall practice remission of debts (Shmita)
Deuteronomy 15:1
Every seventh year you shall practice remission of debts (Shmita)
Deuteronomy 15:1
PhillGreen@rbreich I support student debt relief as a short term fix, but, without fixing how post-secondary education is funded in the first place, the fix is just temporary. The first step is electing democrats. The next steps are demanding more funding for state education and allowing student debt to be dischargeable in bankruptcy. I don’t know how to get universities to charge less, though.
voggix@rbreich What’s far more frustrating than the rigged system is the astounding number of working class people that are hell bent on defending the very system that is built to hold them down. They’ve swallowed the hook of the trickle-down lie when the reality is that full student loan forgiveness would be the largest economic boost since the New Deal.
@rbreich it's an illogical conclusion that the system is rigged.
DNA Digital@rbreich I had just finished my graduate degree in 2007 when the financial collapse occurred. Divorced father of three with a house and no Job - for two years - I had to use my 401K to keep everything on time. Still owing 40K the 10K relief would have been very helpful. Republicans aren't even Republicans anymore.
Wagdy WAGDE
Liv@rbreich Not to mention that Black college graduates have 188% more student debt than their white counterparts. By eliminating student debt entirely, more than 40 percent of Black borrowers would be free of debt.
@rbreich Agreed!!
ara@rbreich since day 1: this continent was born & bred on wyt supremacy and ALL the systems were created to protect the settlers. kanada's first pm started the defamation of the first nations character by only referring to us as savages & barbarians, to scare the public who allowed the govt free reign to do whatever they needed to keep the settlers safe. there has NEVER been justice for the first nations, instead faces of racists were carved on sacred hills by dogs trying to mark territory
Aviva Gary@rbreich priorities
Olaf The Ancient@rbreich not to mention the forgiveness of the PPP loans. We can forgive those which were a blatant ripoff of our tax dollars but we cant forgive the student loans.
Jeffy 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🇺🇦 ❤️🇱🇺@rbreich Given the hypocrisy of the GOP Congresspersons who celebrated the canceling of the student debt but who also hand hundreds of thousands (or millions) in PPP Loans forgiven, you should be comparing how much THAT cost.
Jay 👻@rbreich if only we said the magic words “tax credit” and framed it for college-educated workers on the basis that, over a lifetime, a college-educated worker will typically pay more in income taxes than their non-educated counterparts. A 10k investment in the life-long taxation potential of an individual… no wonder dems love it so much :P
Weasel
Jack Kissir@rbreich rigged indeed
Nicole ParsonsRepublicans refuse to acknowledge what causes young people to not have children at all.
All while promoting a forced birth social policy.
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/08/corporate-donations-to-gop-political-groups-boosted-candidates-behind-anti-abortion-rights-laws-in-the-states/
And taking donations from coup-plotting predatory lenders.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/02/stephen-schwarzman-blackstone-republicans-campaign-donations
& receiving funding from vulture capitalists like Blackstone who manipulate the housing market
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-01-20/university-california-blackstone-real-estate-fund-housing-prices
1. Student loan debt
2. Housing affordability
3. Low wages
4. Job insecurity
5. Expensive long commutes
6. No childcare
David W. Jones
Cris
benazirs_blog_@rbreich hello professor Reich i too am a resister i follow you all over the internet i agree his taxcuts for the wealthy is unfair