Economy gets a boost - finally

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Grudge
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Economy gets a boost - finally

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The U.S. economy added a whopping 916,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate fell to 6% from 6.2%, the government said on Friday.

Why it matters: The blowout job gains show how vaccines and the economic reopening are juicing the battered labor market. Economists had been expecting an increase of 675,000.

It comes after the economy added 379,000 jobs in February, far outpacing expectations.
President Biden signed a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package on March 11, which is expected to add another boost to the recovery.

https://www.axios.com/march-jobs-report ... 77006.html
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zim
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Re: Economy gets a boost - finally

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there are some recent articles about biden looking into canceling $50k worth of student debt

i'd be able to buy a house this year if they did that
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jawn galliano
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Re: Economy gets a boost - finally

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ill still never be able to afford a house as long as i live in new england, but i sure would like to chop 50k off my loans all the same
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Re: Economy gets a boost - finally

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I keep seeing that viewpoint emerge, (Biden will write off student loans) and don't know why people harbor that delusion.

Just do the math

There are about 18 million college students every year. Let's assume half of these - 9 million have taken out $50,000 in loans.

9 million x $50,000 = $ 450 billion. That's just for that batch of students. Factor in all the previous years of students, and the cost can approach $1 trillion at least.

Now from the political mileage standpoint, ask your self, what's more politically advantageous, to buy votes from a minority of the US population by forgiving their student debt or hand that out in smaller amounts to the entire US population and earn the entire population's goodwill? With that same $450 billion for just 9 million people, Biden could hand out $3000 each to half the US population.

Think about the frustration other people will feel that they got nothing, while a fraction of the US population gets $50,000.
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Re: Economy gets a boost - finally

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Instead why not subsidize industry and create jobs that Stormy can actually get and would really enjoy working at + increase minimum wage levels + institute greater job protection + do something on the back end with the banks to eliminate interest rates and restructure the loans favorably + bring about economic improvements that reduce overall costs for everybody - such as better and cheaper transport, more housing, better - cheaper healthcare?
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Re: Economy gets a boost - finally

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I know the $50,000 is a painful debt for you to carry, but aren't there roundabout-indirect ways your life could improve substantially in such a way that it also boosts the economy on a permanent basis for the wider population (that includes you)?
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jawn galliano
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Re: Economy gets a boost - finally

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Dirge wrote:
02 Apr 2021, 22:37
I keep seeing that viewpoint emerge, (Biden will write off student loans) and don't know why people harbor that delusion.

Just do the math

There are about 18 million college students every year. Let's assume half of these - 9 million have taken out $50,000 in loans.

9 million x $50,000 = $ 450 billion. That's just for that batch of students. Factor in all the previous years of students, and the cost can approach $1 trillion at least.

Now from the political mileage standpoint, ask your self, what's more politically advantageous, to buy votes from a minority of the US population by forgiving their student debt or hand that out in smaller amounts to the entire US population and earn the entire population's goodwill? With that same $450 billion for just 9 million people, Biden could hand out $3000 each to half the US population.

Think about the frustration other people will feel that they got nothing, while a fraction of the US population gets $50,000.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/01/biden-a ... -debt.html

there is certainly pressure mounting and the fact that they're floating the 50k figure after months and months of holding the line at 10 is a positive sign.

my view is that he will not forgive a penny under any circumstances unless he is absolutely forced to. as i'm sure you know, biden is one of the primary architects of the current political/economic structure that enshrines creditors' absolute right to profits, and by design entraps an ever-growing number of people in various forms of debt. it is practically a matter of faith to biden that the wider economy should serve the needs of financial capital. so on that basis of what biden personally wants and believes, i am skeptical we will see significant movement.

the political calculation i think you might be overlooking though is that the dems want to remain the party of the educated, they want to maintain their image as the party of & for the smart guys in the room. now, that might be a stupid political calculation, BUT: democrats are also generally very stupid. probably there is some faction that's finally recognizing that decades of runaway debt that will never be repaid risks alienating a large chunk of that bloc (not to mention the wider drags on the economy that those debt overhangs entail). so i think internally, dem leaders who are otherwise disinclined to ever do anything for anyone (most of them) can probably rationalize it along those lines.

there's also very little cost in terms of political capital. yeah OK you'll lose the votes of the board of navient and a handful of other finance goons in 2024, oh fuckin' well. that's mostly it though, i think; there's no vote corralling or favor trading that needs to be done, it's achievable by executive will alone.
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Re: Economy gets a boost - finally

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Thank you for your perspective. I see merit in a lot of what you are saying, and while you are indicating that you do not expect Biden to actually follow through with writing off student loans, you have not replied to the financial cost aspect. The cost seems gargantuan.
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Re: Economy gets a boost - finally

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Interesting: if you type "US Economy" on Google news, it's just an avalanche of upbeat news about a massive recovery coming up.
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Re: Economy gets a boost - finally

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there is no cost, the US is a monetary sovereign. you write the debts down and they're gone. if for some arcane budgetary reason the government's profits from student lending operations are tied into budget calculations, they can just will those profits into existence like they do with any other form of spending.
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Re: Economy gets a boost - finally

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We underestimated the tuition debt. It is infact $1.7 trillion. Yea, good luck with the US government finding that much money for that.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56545540
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