The Biden Presidency - 2020

[molson]

Student loan cancellation seems to have been gained support over the last few years, but one other thing that would act a little less as a stimulus, but would be incredibly helpful for millions of people, would be to hack everybody's interest rate, or eliminate the interest rates entirely. There are federal student loans out there now that are over 10%. 8% is very common. Often on six-figure debt. That's basically impossible to ever dig out of. Plus it's had the impact of influencing people to re-finance into 5% private loans, thus disquaflying themselves from any loan forgiveness or cancellation in the future.

I was very fortunate to get my federal loans locked in at under 3% back in 2006 after law school. I focused paying the private loans off first. I still owe around $40k on the federal. With the low rates, and the interest being paused over the last year, I've slowed down payments - that also makes sense to do in hope of future cancellation. But I would definitely being living a different life, and contributing to the economy a lot less, if I had higher interest rates, and didn't have access to some public service grants that knocked off some of the balance. I started at around $125k. And my first job as a misdemeanor prosecutor paid under $40k. It was brutal starting out then, even in professional employment, and it's even worse now.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Democratic norms? You know the 60 vote filibuster is only 20 years old? They used to have to actually filibuster to stop votes. The 60 vote super-majority is a very recent add on to the Senate, and is an abject failure. It needs to go.

Republicans dropped it for Supreme Court justices just a few months ago. Its a silly rule.

[PilotMan]

If people really want to understand what the freedom of speech looks like and differentiate between the real thing, and getting kicked off twitter, they should pay attention to Russia today.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by molson

Student loan cancellation seems to have been gained support over the last few years, but one other thing that would act a little less as a stimulus, but would be incredibly helpful for millions of people, would be to hack everybody's interest rate, or eliminate the interest rates entirely. There are federal student loans out there now that are over 10%. 8% is very common. Often on six-figure debt. That's basically impossible to ever dig out of.

I actually didn't realize Fed student loans had rates that high? I always thought it was a low/favorable interest rate deal (like at prime + 1). Yeah, 8-10% is pretty bad so I like your option.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I live on the south end of Atlanta. It often takes two-three months to see specialist. Heck, my wife and daughter both work for different eye doctors and they are both filled up three months in advanced. There are large portions of south Georgia that there are no specialist with one hour driving distance and long wait times. That largely comes from high uninsured population.
edit: Notice that article is only listing major metro areas that will have a higher concentration of doctors. How about the outer suburbs or rural areas?

Fair observation. Here's another link, no idea how credible it is. If someone else has studies, please share it.

The Truth on Wait Times in Universal Coverage Systems - Center for American Progress

Where a patient lives has a significant effect on their wait time, largely due to provider concentration in more urban areas compared with more rural ones. For example, a 2017 analysis of hospital wait times found that mid-size metropolitan areas—cities such as Hartford, Connecticut—had 32.8 percent longer wait times than large metropolitan areas such as Washington, D.C.3 A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association further supports this idea.4 The study found that wait times at private-sector hospitals ranged from 16.5 days in New York City to 57.33 days in Boston, Massachusetts.

Comparing wait times with other countries, not sure how good the comparison is but a hint on "specialist appointments ... 6% waiting 2 months or longer". Not sure if you can extrapolate to mean 94% had less than 2 months to see a specialist.

in the United States, 4 percent of patients reported waiting four months or longer for nonemergency surgery, compared with only 2 percent of French patients and 0 percent of German patients.16 For specialist appointments, the situation is even worse: 6 percent of U.S. patients reported waiting two months or longer for an appointment, compared with only 4 percent of French patients and 3 percent of German patients.17

[Edward64]

No idea how credible of a threat the Alexey Navalny mass demonstrations are.

It's pretty obvious Putin is a dictator for life but still enjoys 60+% favorability ratings. I do think Putin did help Russia in the early days after the incompetence of Boris Yeltsin so he should definitely get kudos for that.

Western style democracies don't work for all countries and not surprised it didn't work for Russia.

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/20...ests-in-russia

Russian police have arrested more than 3,000 people in nationwide protests demanding the release of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, the Kremlin’s most prominent foe.

The unprecedented demonstrations in more than 60 cities – in temperatures as low as -50 Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit) – highlighted how Navalny has built influence far beyond the political and cultural centres of Moscow and St Petersburg.

In Moscow, an estimated 15,000 demonstrators gathered in and around Pushkin Square in the city centre, where clashes with police broke out and demonstrators were dragged off by helmeted riot officers to police buses and detention trucks. Some were beaten with batons.

[miked]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I actually didn't realize Fed student loans had rates that high? I always thought it was a low/favorable interest rate deal (like at prime + 1). Yeah, 8-10% is pretty bad so I like your option.

My brother graduated in the early 2000s (maybe 2002), he had a rate of like 3% locked in while he was in school. As soon as he graduated, the company that held his loan sold it to a different servicer and they increased his rate to nearly 10% saying he did not have a long credit history (no shit). After years of paying it and fighting, he finally got them to reduce it to like 7% if he accelerated and paid it off in 2 years or something.

Mine was like 4% and I got deferrals while I was in grad school, and then paid it off as soon as I could. Hard to do when you are making $15k as a grad student and then $35k as a postdoc for 4 more years after that.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by miked

My brother graduated in the early 2000s (maybe 2002), he had a rate of like 3% locked in while he was in school. As soon as he graduated, the company that held his loan sold it to a different servicer and they increased his rate to nearly 10% saying he did not have a long credit history (no shit). After years of paying it and fighting, he finally got them to reduce it to like 7% if he accelerated and paid it off in 2 years or something.

Mine was like 4% and I got deferrals while I was in grad school, and then paid it off as soon as I could. Hard to do when you are making $15k as a grad student and then $35k as a postdoc for 4 more years after that.

Changing rates seems pretty shady, especially for one who hadn't missed a payment.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Changing rates seems pretty shady, especially for one who hadn't missed a payment.

Happened to me, too, on 2 of my loans. I consolidated them but it still was at a significantly less favorable rate (6%?). There's a lot of shady stuff going on in that industry and it genuinely is crippling the wealth of a significantly portion of younger generations.

SI

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Happened to me, too, on 2 of my loans. I consolidated them but it still was at a significantly less favorable rate (6%?). There's a lot of shady stuff going on in that industry and it genuinely is crippling the wealth of a significantly portion of younger generations.

SI

Same here. All my loans were ~3% through college, and shortly after I graduated, they were changed to ~6%. Not too big of a deal for me, though, since I'm old to enough to have gone to college when it was affordable. What I had in 4.5 years of loans is what someone takes on in just 1 now.

[sterlingice]

Yeah, I was fortunate as well - this was back in 2004 and I "only" had about $40K in loans. Made my last payment the month before I turned 30 and that was an amazing feeling.

Problem is that boring old public university cost is more that double what it was when I went and that was only about 15 years ago. In-state for most schools now costs more (sometimes significantly more) than out-of-state did when I went.

SI

[Ghost Econ]

We finally finished paying off my student loans last year at 1.25%. Took 16 years. I didn't even have that much (~50k). Thankfully my wife's parents paid for her college and grad school, but about 40% of the reason I decided not to skip law school acceptance was I knew we'd never have a family if I went.

[kingfc22]

Can we get back on point. There’s a caravan of brown people coming!

Oh wait, Fox News hasn’t focused on it since the inauguration. Almost like it was a nothing burger all along.

It’s funny to check their website daily to see what impending doom is coming while they try to sweep an insurrection under the rug.

[Edward64]

Biden is pretty organized, he's got key themes for each day next week. Immigration and brown people this Fri.

In the meantime, he has supposedly proposed $4B to Mexico and LATAM.

[JPhillips]

At least Sinema and Manchin are strongly opposed to changing filibuster rules.

I know it's a little more complicated than this, but it's crazy how the GOP will do what it takes to enact a largely unpopular agenda while Dems won't do what it takes to enact a largely popular agenda.

[JPhillips]

Sarah Sanders' announcement that she's running for AR Gov contains the perfect summation of the emptiness of GOP policy.

"I took on the media, the radical left and their 'cancel culture,' and I won. As governor, I will be your voice, and never let them silence you."

[bob]

Originally Posted by bob

Two questions I haven’t answered about this potential $600 -> $2000 stimulus.

1. How does the calculation work. Right now, for every $20 of income you make over the threshold, you lose $1 of stimulus. Will this new $1400 be processed as a new stimulus payment subject to that same calculation or as an modification to the original payment?

2. Which payments go up to $2000? Just the parents or some / all dependents too?

To clarify #1.

Single person, no dependents. Original $600 Stimulus starts to phase out at $75k, fully gone at $87k. $600 - ($87k-75k) / 20 = 0

Let’s say a person makes $87k. Is this a change to the original stimulus, so this person would get the $1400, or do we run this money through the calculation again, which means they get $800?

$2000 - ($87k-75k) / 20 = $1400

Or

$1400 - ($87k-75k) / 20 = $800

To circle back on this, I haven't seen much lately about the stimulus, but one article did suggest that the additional $1400 would also phase out at $87k, meaning that a person that made $87k would get $0 from this overall $2000 while they did get something from the $1200 stimulus in 2020 (fully phased out at $99k).

[JPhillips]

At this point, with Dems refusing to even do what it takes to be the majority and GOP/Dem moderates complaining about the cost of the bill, I doubt we'll see anything close to 1400 if anything passes at all.

[albionmoonlight]

I have to think that McConnell threatening to filibuster the "Dems get to be in charge because they have the most votes in the Senate" resolution was kind of a "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" kind of thing.

I can't imagine that even he expected the Dems to be this inept.

[sterlingice]

Hello, darkness, my old friend

SI

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

At least Sinema and Manchin are strongly opposed to changing filibuster rules.

I know it's a little more complicated than this, but it's crazy how the GOP will do what it takes to enact a largely unpopular agenda while Dems won't do what it takes to enact a largely popular agenda.

Start investigating Manchin's criminal daughter and I have a feeling he will come around.

[albionmoonlight]

Biden moving quickly to replace Andrew Jackson (Democrat) on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman (Republican).

#Unity

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Biden moving quickly to replace Andrew Jackson (Democrat) on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman (Republican).

#Unity

Really this is the one putting it over the top? Nobody but racists would give a flying fuck over this.

[Atocep]

My wife's Facebook feed is full of doom and glooming Biden:

The pipeline order eliminated 50,000 jobs

Illegals will now count in the census

The stock market is dropping

China has a green light to take over our power grid

Biden has said he's not going to do the $1400 stimulus

China is crossing our air space and we're doing nothing

And on and on and on.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

Really this is the one putting it over the top? Nobody but racists would give a flying fuck over this.

So that's why it was put on hold for four years!

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Atocep

My wife's Facebook feed is full of doom and glooming Biden:

The pipeline order eliminated 50,000 jobs

Illegals will now count in the census

The stock market is dropping

China has a green light to take over our power grid

Biden has said he's not going to do the $1400 stimulus

China is crossing our air space and we're doing nothing

And on and on and on.

my sister in law with similar they must share posts somewhere

[Drake]

I keep seeing the one about the XL Pipeline and counter with, "So as long as abortion clinics stay non-union, you should be opposed to those closing too, right? Because the most important thing is jobs."

[cuervo72]

I keep seeing ads for Energy Transfer. Their argument is that without the pipelines, we won't get our sweet, gas/oil energy (so, alternatives?) -- at least not without more trains, and WAY more tractor trailers (so, jobs??).

[JPhillips]

Manchin now on record saying he won't change the filibuster rules even to pass a rules package. I guess the GOP runs things.

[GrantDawg]

I would have never predicted that Manchin would completely hold up the Democratic agenda. Oh, wait. I did.

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[JPhillips]

To be fair it's apparently Manchin and Sinema at least.

[RainMaker]

Like I said, investigate his crooked daughter and he'll come around.

[GrantDawg]

McConnell is going to allow the power sharing now. He says he feels assured by the two Democrats who promises to never allow the Fillibuster to end. McConnell still dictates the Senate.

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[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

McConnell is going to allow the power sharing now. He says he feels assured by the two Democrats who promises to never allow the Fillibuster to end. McConnell still dictates the Senate.

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Schumer and the Dems let him dictate the Senate. Just another example in how incompetent Congressional Dems are.

I am happy with Biden getting running right out of the gate though.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Like I said, investigate his crooked daughter and he'll come around.

She is already universally loathed in the state. For those that don’t know, Manchin’s daughter was an executive at a locally founded (by a beloved West Virginian - WVU’s football stadium is named after him), successful generic pharmaceutical company. She was not well qualified, did not do the coursework but received an MBA that was revoked and resulted in the University’s president and department chair having to resign, and then became the president of the company. The company is/was headquartered in WV with great paying union jobs.

Under her watch, she moved the headquarters out of town, outsourced a lot of the manufacturing jobs, have had a few rounds of layoffs despite being very profitable and growing, and had a big scandal because they owned the patent for Epi-Pens and jacked the prices up to ~$700.00 (Epi-Pens are required for folks with allergies, so you need several for home/work/travel and they are rarely used because they expire in about a year). Last year, they merged with Upjohn and formed a new company and, right before Christmas, they announced they were closing most operations and laying off the great majority of employees (they will have laid off almost 1500 of their union employees in the last few years). She resigned last year and is now worth over $30-million.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

McConnell is going to allow the power sharing now. He says he feels assured by the two Democrats who promises to never allow the Fillibuster to end. McConnell still dictates the Senate.

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I really don't get it. If Schumer tried to do the same thing: drew a line in the sand and McConnell refused to budge and then Schumer said, oh due to statements by Romney, I'm going to be satisfied even though it wasn't agreed to by GOP leadership, you'd be all clowning on Schumer. But McConnell caves (because he was afraid that the longer it dragged on that Manchin and Sinema would at least agree to end the filibuster on Committee reorganization resolutions and they didn't want to set a precedent) and y'all are like haw haw, McConnell wins.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I really don't get it. If Schumer tried to do the same thing: drew a line in the sand and McConnell refused to budge and then Schumer said, oh due to statements by Romney, I'm going to be satisfied even though it wasn't agreed to by GOP leadership, you'd be all clowning on Schumer. But McConnell caves (because he was afraid that the longer it dragged on that Manchin and Sinema would at least agree to end the filibuster on Committee reorganization resolutions and they didn't want to set a precedent) and y'all are like haw haw, McConnell wins.

Because McConnell got what he wanted. He showed how weak the Democrats are. With the filibuster there is next to no chance the Democrats are getting voting rights passed, which is vital. The GOP lead legislatures across the country are sharpening their swords and are going to cut access to voting to rival the Jim Crow era. McConnell proved that Schumer has no way to even threaten removing the veto, which is one of the few ways to at least force negotiation.


Edit: Btw, even your comparison is flawed. Schumer would have at best threatened to hold up the rules, but he would have never actually done it. Instead he would have given "a grave day" speech, and then went to get McConnell his coffee and donut.

[bronconick]

50/50 means you don't get to ram much of anything, much less killing the filibuster through. I could have told you that months ago. They probably needed 53-54 seats.

[ISiddiqui]

Right. The last time there was a 50-50 split in the W Administration there was this exact power sharing agreement.

And once again, there was no agreement to commit to the filibuster. McConnell took statements from Manchin and Sinema saying they didn't want to get rid of it as " good enough". He didn't get the Democrats on record saying they were going to keep the filibuster, which is what he wanted so he could hammer them if they ever tried to limit it.

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[larrymcg421]

I see lots of criticisms of Schumer without concrete ideas for what he should've done instead.

[Atocep]

Dems got what they wanted without giving up on removal of the filibuster. This could easily be spun as McConnell caving before too much pressure was put on Manchin and Senima and risk them changing their mind.

The basics of this is one party got what they were originally seeking and the other didn't.

[GrantDawg]

Such a different vibe:

PETER DOOCY: Mr President, what did you talk to Vladimir Putin about?

PRESIDENT BIDEN: You. He sends his best. pic.twitter.com/Fq0zglc9aK

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 26, 2021

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by AlexB

Not the case here FYI

Thank you for this correction. People with personal experience in the Canadian system have said it is the case there and I thought the UK system was the same; I've been told it's considered an essential cost-control measure due to the value of preventative care.

Originally Posted by IJ Reilly

Now we have gone full circle, this is what I was trying to say in my first post. All of the liberty infringements you name in the Canada/UK model exist in our current system, it’s just that a private insurance company is making the decisions instead of a government agency.

There is a huge, fundamental difference when a government agency does it though. If you don't like what a business does, you stop being a customer of theirs. You can't 'opt out' when something is the law of the land. In one case the government tells you how to live your life, and requires you to pay into the system whether or not you use it. In the other, you are able to make a decision as a consumer.

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Sincere question: have you attempted to purchase insurance or get a healthcare appointment with a specialist for yourself, child, or parent lately and what has that experience been like?

Where I live (high SES town of under 100,000 with two healthcare systems and a lot of private practices), there is a 3-12 month wait to get in to see most specialists, and those are often mid-level providers like nurse practitioners or physician assistants.

The choices for insurance are two state approved carriers that have a handful of coverage packages, the insurance provider your company contracts with and the handful of coverage packages they offer, or state provided Medicare or Medicaid with their standard coverages (if you make below a certain household income, are disabled, or 65 or over).

This is an excellent post, I apologize for taking so long to get back to it. I guess it depends on what you mean by lately. I had oral surgery a couple of years ago, and about 6-8 years ago I had an operation on my right foot to remove bone and reattach a tendon. The latter was more of the specialist variety, as the doctor who did the operation was, from what I'm told, the top foot-and-ankle guy in this part of the state. The wait was actually less for him, a couple weeks, while it was close to two months for the oral surgeon.

To get into the rest of your point, I think there is a clear and basic distinction between military, law enforcement, transportation, etc. and something like health care. But to repeat what I've said previously in the thread, I am in favor of universal health care. I think it's worth the price in liberty that is paid. This all came up because tarcone was asking what is wrong with it, I gave two examples of opposition POV, and then this discussion eventuated.

A personal example. In the case of the foot surgery I mentioned, I was uninsured due to all alternatives including ACA being prohibitively expensive. I burned through my savings getting XRays, bone scan, MRI, etc. to nail down the problem. I should have been able to have Medicaid cover the cost of the surgery, but I was unable to bludgeon my way through the beauracracy with repeated attempts including writing a letter at one point to do so, so I was in debt for years including getting sued by the surgery center before eventually paying off the amount in full, . Many people have suffered worse of course, but the point is that this is the kind of issue that those who oppose a government-based solution are concerned about. Beauracracy doesn't have to concern itself with satisfying customers. It's in their interest not to in fact, because that creates demand for a larger budget. Meanwhile, what you described as inadequate choice in the private system still affords them the opportunity to simply not participate in it.

[RainMaker]

Hope the news on Senator Leahy isn't bad. Goes to show just how small their margin is in the Senate. Time to stop fucking around and get stuff done.

[GrantDawg]

I can't find any kind of confirmation that people in Canada are forced to have physicals. You have some kind of verification? What they do if you don't? Fine? Prison? Execution?

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[BishopMVP]

Not sure what thread is the best, but good to see state Senator Jeff Jackson announce he's running in NC for Richard Burr's opening seat. It always should have been him over Cunningham against Tillis, but (not to pull a Rainmaker) he didn't like Chuck Schumer telling him he needed to spend his time fundraising over the phone instead of meeting voters or actually legislating.

It'll be interesting because you do have a black woman in Erica Smith who lost to Cunningham in the primary running again and arguing she can pull a Stacey Abrams, but from what I can tell she's not Stacey Abrams, and despite all the yankees moving in North Carolina isn't as ready for a flip to a black woman as Georgia is. (NC is still like 75% white, Georgia is closer to 60% according to my quick wikipedia research). More importantly, I think Jackson is a really good politician!

Not sure how much it will matter, because if the Senators keep being soft the Republican Party will quite likely nominate Lara Trump, wheeeeeeeeeeeeee can't wait to be THE battleground in 2022 along with Ohio.

[BishopMVP]

(But also yeah, this is why people hate Schumer)
Power to the Person - The American Prospect

If anyone doubted her assessment, Schumer’s interventions in North Carolina provided ample proof. First-term senator Thom Tillis is considered one of the most beatable Republicans in the country. After trying and failing to recruit a series of candidates last year, Schumer landed on moderate military veteran Cal Cunningham, a one-term state legislator in the early ’00s who lost the Democratic nomination for Senate in 2010, despite a DSCC endorsement, and hasn’t run for office since. The DSCC was determined to block state Sen. Erica Smith, who’d been running a progressive campaign from the start. “Sen. Schumer, for whatever reason, did not want an African American running for Senate in North Carolina,” Smith said. Just before they tapped Cunningham, Smith claimed that party leaders had told her, “unequivocally that they were not, had not, did not intend to endorse in the primary.” Smith stayed in, defiant but drastically outspent.

Toward the end of the campaign, a mysterious PAC—its funding later traced to the Republican Senate Leadership Fund—spent more than $2 million on dirty-trick ads touting Smith as the “true progressive” in the race and criticizing Cunningham’s stances on LGBT rights and climate change. But PACs supporting Cunningham, which put $7 million behind him, simply ramped up their spending in response. Cunningham won 57-35 on Super Tuesday.

Schumer’s quest for a non-Smith candidate in North Carolina produced the most embarrassing, and revealing, glimpse yet into the DSCC’s criteria for selecting the “strongest” candidates. Jeff Jackson, a 37-year-old National Guardsman who’s crusaded against Republican voter suppression and gerrymandering in the state Senate, met with Schumer early in 2019 to discuss his own possible candidacy. In September, long after he’d decided not to run, Jackson revealed why in a talk at UNC Charlotte. Jackson, all gung ho, said he’d outlined his plans for the campaign, telling Schumer he wanted to start with “100 town halls in 100 days” across the state.

Schumer responded brusquely, Jackson reported. “Wrong answer … We want you to spend the next 16 months in a windowless basement raising money, and then we’re going to spend 80 percent of it on negative ads about Tillis.”

That's two good D candidates in NC who were sidelined, and are now quoted in prominent political publications saying they were pushed out of the race by the Senate Majority Leader in their own party, while we had to watch Cal Cunningham blow another race vs Thom Tillis. But hey, the D's won because Trump was a uniquely unpopular candidate and the R side is more openly divided in some cases, so let's leave Schumer & Pelosi in charge.

[GrantDawg]

Good thread with lots of fun little minimum wage facts:

"$15 an hour will increase prices"

Costco: pays workers well, same prices as Walmart's Sam's Club

In-n-Out: pays workers well, same prices as McDonald's

Best Buy, Target & Home Depot: raised pay 20% in pandemic, same prices

All 5 pay over $15. They made $15B+ profit in 2020.

— Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) January 26, 2021

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I can't find any kind of confirmation that people in Canada are forced to have physicals. You have some kind of verification?

No I don't. It would be weird for actual Canadians to lie about that while touting the virtues of their system, but I suppose it's possible.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

No I don't. It would be weird for actual Canadians to lie about that while touting the virtues of their system, but I suppose it's possible.

Actual Canadian here. I've never heard of anyone being required to have routine physicals, nor denied healthcare for not doing so. I think you have to undergo a physical before certain procedures, but I believe that is so they have a proper health record to assess your treatment and care upon (but I'm not a doctor so I don't really know for sure).


I had to have a physical a couple years ago in order to qualify for private life insurance, but that has nothing to do with the universal health care system.


I'm no expert in these matters so I may be overlooking something, or perhaps there is some missing nuance in what your Canadian friends were describing that has gotten lost in translation. But as far as I can tell no one forces me to see the doctor nor will I face punitive repercussions of any kind for not doing so.