I wished that TYT as a network would give more attention to the student loans problem Biden continues to ignore because I saw the video that Cenk and Ana praised Biden to doing barely anything meaningful for the American people. I didn’t like it because for a progressive news network like TYT to do that shows that problem would get ignored until it becomes unsolvable. I don’t know about you, but I feel Biden doing next to nothing is downright despicable for Biden allowing the pause to end without broad cancellation of the debt even though the HEA (Higher Education Act) allows him to do so.
Also it is not just Biden, it is the “progressive” members (AOC, Bernie, etc) in Congress are prioritizing politeness over concrete action regarding canceling student debt. When I saw Alexandria Ocasio Cortez post an Instagram video regarding the student loan situation a month ago, I was furious that he is basically Biden’s talking points rather than what she will do to demand at least extending the pause. But I grew more and more hopeless that leaders, especially progressives would rather inflict untold financial harm on to the American people rather than making an effort to at least making the student loan pause permanent.
I think this is a great direction. Part of the problem is public private research partnerships as well. There should be transparency and public benefit IP standards in these partnerships.
One thing people don’t know is that when they cancel the student loan debt it is counted as “income” by the IRS so you have to pay income tax on it!! I know this because the very tail end of my student loan debt was forgiven due to my being on disability for over 5 years (yes, if you’re on SSDI for over 5 years you can apply through NelNet? to have your student loans forgiven if approved, you must be permanently disabled (there are guidelines for that, it doesn’t mean you’ll never work again but assumed that you won’t for a handful more years) and not work for at least 3 years after they have forgiven the debt, for obvious reasons. You also can never take out another student loan again or you have to pay back the original student loan they forgave (that is crazy). If you’re low income you can apply for a waiver for that income tax penalty by stating that you’re indigent and can’t afford to pay the tax on the forgiven amount.
There is too many obstacles for millions of Americans to get the necessary relief that they need. The first step to properly reform higher education is for Biden to make the pause permanent via HEA (Higher Education Act). The Young Turks can do a lot of good just by having 2 hour long special discussing a path to canceling student loan debt and pushing Biden to at least create a new pause on payments. The economy wasn’t negatively affected by the pause so he can definitely do so. Paid Family Leave hasn’t gotten any traction because It’s doesn’t apply as much people as student loans. Granted the goal was to cancel students loans but creating a new pause and making it last for years would be a great first step! I feel if TYT as a network wanted to. They can sway a lot of people who are saddled with students loans. This isn’t a left/right issue. Everyone is affected by it one way or the other. And if people with student loans are being heard, it empowers them to help the community even more.
Just to chime in a bit late, the point of this thread is still pertinent. TYT has done a poor job by giving Biden too much unwarranted credit on this issue.
TYT should have the debt collective on every week, to galvanize popular support against our debt driven economy in general, and not focus on only student debt (even if student debt is the simplest start). Such a wider coalition is needed, because not everyone is a worker or union member, but (nearly, and increasingly) everyone is a debtor.
I stopped being a member of TYT because they hadn’t done a single investigative report on student loans and why Joe Biden hasn’t utilize the full extent of the Higher Education (either because he’s weak, corrupted or both).
If TYT wanted to earn my subscription to their channels again! (Like you said) THEY MUST PUT THE DEBT COLLECTIVE on their programming to talk about the issue. They could alap ansk Nina Turner to come on the program to discuss the student loans annd Biden’s lack of meaningful action. This issue should not be left in the dark or else they’ll lose the country. Can’t buy memberships if your paying student loans
Here is some of the hashtags I would recommend. Feel free to use it!
Yeah, I doubt Creditor Biden could go “full extent” on anything, maybe except when Jack is jacked to mask imperial genocide.
Still I can spare some to support TYT. Maybe for TYT to have the Debt Collective on more, they could add a segment to host various other media outlets (eg: Democracy Now, The Majority Report, The Great Simplification, etc.) for conversations. Wider issues would be explored. Some subscribers could be featured as well. We would hear from TYT about debt more often. Communities could grow to share space and ideas, so more people would hear about debt.
TYT can do many things to get the ball rolling! But it has to start right now!
For starters they can start a petition called Release the debt! Get people involved and add a show in the afternoon talking about people in debt and how it shackles the American people. I wonder if they have the show “The conversation” on air?
My thought on this is that we stop paying them all together. I won’t pay mine. Not after I watched PPP loans being forgiven and we can’t even declare bankruptcy to get them off our credit reports. The credit system is a scam too, but that’s a whole other topic.
But if we all stop paying that will send a clear message. They can then do one of two things:
They’ll cancel all of it and begin working to make education beyond high school publicly funded. This is the smart option.
They’ll try to garnish the wages of a population already angry and desperate. To choose this is to choose poorly.
