Jill Stein vs. Hillary Clinton Plans For College Debt & Student Loan Forgiveness

With total student loan debt reaching $1.3 Trillion and overtaking all other types of U.S. debt, surpassing mortgages, the 2016 Presidential Election could hinge on this very issue.

Bernie Sanders, and the Political Revolution behind him, was fueled by young millennials, many of whom carry significant amounts of student loan debt.

However, with Hillary Clinton literally taking the primary election from him and his over 13 million supporters to be the Democratic nominee for president (until a long overdue legal process intervenes), what can we expect of Hillary Clinton on this subject.

The answer is: not much (so far, anyway).

Hillary Clinton, like on many other issues is late to the party on Student Debt.

At the Democratic National Convention, she usurped Bernie Sanders platform of tuition-free college and she reiterated a half-baked idea to try to promote entrepreneurialism by offering students who become entrepreneurs a rebate on their loans of about $10K, which shows how out of touch she is with middle-class Americans, who hold an average of $80K+ student loan debt and rising.

Clinton also "adopted" Elizabeth Warren's proposal to allow students to refinance their student debt at lower interest.

Like many other common proposals, these are half-measures that fail to address the 43 million people who have student loan debt, ranging in age from 17 years old to their 60's, who are absolutely drowning in student debt.

And that is why when it comes to Student Debt, Green Party Presidential Nominee Jill Stein has the boldest and most progressive plan to tackle student debt. And it begins with student loan forgiveness for all folks with outstanding student debt.

Too good to believe? Listen to Dr. Jill Stein tell Tim Black why we should and must forgive student loan debt on No Sell Outs:

Dr. Jill Stein's plan not only helps future borrowers, but it addresses the 43 million people already drowning in student loan debt in the most fair and just way possible, a blanket forgiveness of ALL outstanding student loan debt via a similar mechanism to the bailout that was provided to the financial industry following the housing crash.

In her paradigm, the student loan forgiveness is an economics stimulus package and an investment in the human resources of our country.

Whereas the Wall Street bailouts went straight into the bank accounts of the wealthiest 1% of Americans, and therefore had next to no effect in boosting the overall economy, by removing this $1.1 Trillion Dollar debt load from the shoulders of middle-class Americans, there will be a huge effective injection of cash directly into the U.S. economy.

Young people who put off life milestones such as getting married, having a baby, or buying their first home due to the incredible burden of student loan debt will now be bigger participants in the economy, forcing businesses produce more, to hire more employees, stimulating the economy the way politicians were promising that the trickle down Wall Street bailouts were supposed to.

But confronting the student loan debt crisis will have an additional effect. Removing the yolk of student loan debt from young Americans and making the additional investment of free in-state college tuition for all future generations, as Dr. Jill Stein has outlined, will recommit the United States to fighting to provide all of our children with the best education through college in the world.

If we are to lead the world in technology and innovation, we can not do it by squandering the abilities of children who are not born to wealthy parents and into more well-funded school districts. We must reinvigorate the American Dream by renewing the promise of upward class mobility. Since the Reagan administration, public education has been sabotaged and defunded in a concerted effort to undercut the American Dream for children of limited means.

And that is why Dr. Jill Stein's plan must be pushed to the collective American consciousness.

Not only would 43 million Americans who are completely ignored by Hillary Clinton benefit directly from Dr. Jill Stein's plan, but the overall effect on the U.S. economy in the immediate and long term future would rescue America from the precarious edge of an economic downturn that we may not be able to recover from for a decade.

What are your thoughts about Clinton's vs. Stein's student loan plans? Whose plan do you support and why? Will a candidates plans for addressing student loan debt and the economy be important in determining who you will vote for? Tell us what you think in the comments below!

Opponents of Student Loan Forgiveness Programs Out of Touch With Reality

Currently, there are only a few ways of getting your student loans forgiven: become a teacher, work in the public sector, or work for a non-profit.

One program, known as Pay As You Earn, allows borrowers to pay 10% a year of their discretionary income in monthly installments. The unpaid balances for consumers working in the public sector or for nonprofits are then forgiven after 10 years and those working in the private sector after 20 years.

Supporters say the plan is working as it was designed and that it teaches students responsibility while allowing them to pursue careers in fields that are historically low-paying.

The Wall Street Journal reported on one such benefactor, Jacqueline, a 2012 graduate from Syracuse University, who now works as a public defender in New York.

By using the income-based repayment plan, Jacqueline pays about $350 per month toward her $180,000 in debt. With a salary of $58,500, without the plan she would not be able to continue working in the public sector.

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander supports bailouts for banks but not for students, as some might abuse the program.

While the popularity of Student loan forgiveness programs, such as this one, demonstrates not only their popularity, but their absolute necessity, with the quickly growing tab for such programs, opponents of forgiveness programs are, of course, voicing concerns that students and colleges could exploit the plans.

Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is one such opponent. While he stated that he can see the benefit of the [student loan forgiveness] program, he supports proposed changes.

“Income-based repayment can be a way for students responsibly to manage debt, but it should not be a bailout for students who borrow too much or for schools who charge too much,” Alexander says.

It sounds logical enough, but fails to connect policy with reality.

The student loan crisis is at $1.3 Trillion and growing daily.

One of the few student loan forgiveness programs, which have been "destroying the budget" and has congress grabbing for the purse strings, is expected to reach $14 billion next year, exceeding government expectations by 90%, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The debt forgiven by the government, while adding up more quickly than anticipated, belies the reality that college degrees are not the great value or investment, as was promised.

The unacknowledged reality is that few degrees are priced according to one's income prospects, and the people or entities with the statistics and facts to provide insight into which degrees are a value or not had a disincentive to do so. And each and every time there is fraud on a grand scale, we as a nation have chosen to punish the victim rather than the the perpetrator.

When will we hold the appropriate parties responsible?

Going back to Senator Alexander's remarks, he sternly put his foot down about bailouts for students.

However, on October 1, 2008, he sternly raised his hand YEA to cast his vote for H.R.1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, otherwise known as the bailout of the financial institutions that ruined the U.S. economy.

Hypocracy? Or once again a case of corporate bailouts and handouts, but no bailouts and handouts for the American citizens.

The appropriate parties will never be responsible so long as they run our government with their money and financial "free speech".

In Senator Alexander's very words, we see the subtle but effective tactics used by congresspeople when calling for cuts in the few basic social safety nets, like food stamps and unemployment, which are now being employed and exploited to force changes to the only significant program dealing with the $1.3 Trillion Student Loan Crisis-- the fear of program abuse and prospect that someone might get something they don't deserve.

The financial institutions didn't seem ashamed when they lined up for handouts, and corporations don't seem ashamed when they get billions of dollars in tax breaks.

Unfortunately, without lobbyists and congresspeople in our pockets, we the people are having our needs shoved to the side once again.

In response to the illegitimate opposition posed by corporate-influenced congressional members, the administration is proposing a cap for debt eligible for forgiveness of $57,500 per student and extending the forgiveness window to 25 years.

And while this proposal may keep the cost of student loan forgiveness down, it fails to recognize the magnitude of the student loan problem.

What about the economic consequences of not dealing with this $1.3 Trillion problem?

The truth is, we absolutely can deal with this problem. And Senator Lamar Alexander and others in congress should know better.

Congressional members like Senator Alexander voted for the emergency bailout for banks in the initial amount of $760 Billion, however addendums and additional, unpublicized Fed funding of financial institutions put the total amount of the bailout of the failed financial institutions at nearly $4.7 Trillion.

This is well over triple the cost of forgiving all outstanding student loan debt, allowing for a complete reset and redesign of the educational system.

That is if we were only able to come to terms that education is indeed a right of all citizens, and not just a privilege for the few.

Sign The Petition to Support a Debt-Free University of North Carolina (UNC) System

This Petition to Peter Hans, Chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, respectfully requests that he support a Debt-Free University of North Carolina System and is presented by the NC Student Power Union out of Goldsboro, NC.

Education is a right, an investment in our people, and the most important part of our future as a state. Furthermore, we believe UNC should honor the voices of students, faculty, and staff who make it what it is. The Board of Governors, along with our NC General Assembly holds the legal power to create a UNC system that is accessible to all students and guarantees its graduates be debt-free. We at the NC Student Power Union call upon the University of North Carolina Board of Governors:

        -To reduce tuition and increase financial aid incrementally so that, by 2020, the incoming class of all NC public universities will graduate free of student debt;

        -To ensure that the funding for these tuition cuts do not compromise the quality of our public universities, we call for a moratorium on cuts in faculty pay and funding for departments, especially those cut in recent budgets;

         -And to hold forums open to students, faculty, staff, and community members at every Board of Governors meeting so as to include the voices of those who make the university run in decisions about our shared future.

The mission statement of our university system cites section 9 of the North Carolina Constitution, stating one of its primary missions is “ to provide that the benefits of The University of North Carolina and other public institutions of higher education, as far as practicable, be extended to the people of the State free of expense.” While the language of “free as practicable” leaves room for debate, we as students and residents of North Carolina can be sure that the writers of our state constitution did not envision a UNC that forces young people to take on significant debt to access college. Under current policies, however, we are asking them to do just that.

Students and families across North Carolina are increasingly burdened with debt or lack the resources to attend a university due to high tuition and cost increases in higher education. Nationwide, education debt now represents over $1 trillion dollars, higher than credit card debt. While UNC system graduates on average take less debt than their peers in other states, roughly two-thirds of students still leave school with an average of over $15,000 debt.

Rising costs and debt has also disproportionately impacted women and students of color. A campus progress study stated that 81% of African American students leave with school with debt, compared with 65% of their white peers. The same study cited that of latino students who chose not to attend college, 74% list financial burden as a primary factor in their decision. While debt numbers for women are consistent to men, the persistent wage gap means women often face a higher burden in paying off their student loans.

We are called as young people in North Carolina to ask how this is allowed to happen in a state where the constitution calls for an education free of costs as practicable. The answer lies in whose voices participate in decisions about our financial future. Our UNC  Board of Governors has 32 members, including nearly two dozen businesspeople and political donors. Of these members only one is a student. This student cannot vote or speak without permission of other board members and is not directly elected by the young people they serve.

We call upon the Board of Governors to create an open public forum around rising costs and debt at their meeting on April 11th, 2014, at which time they will hear policy alternatives for a debt-free UNC offered by students, faculty, and policy experts in the field.

The Petition reads as follows:

To:  

Peter Hans, UNC Board of Governors Chair
Tom Ross, UNC System President  

Please join us to support a Debt Free UNC System. Education is a right, an investment in our people, and the most important part of our future as a state. Furthermore, we believe UNC should honor the voices of students, faculty, and staff who make it what it is. The Board of Governors, along with our NC General Assembly holds the legal power to address these concerns. We at the NC Student Power Union call upon the University of North Carolina Board of Governors: 

• To reduce tuition and increase financial aid incrementally so that, by 2020, the incoming class of all NC public universities will graduate free of student debt;
• To ensure that the funding for these tuition cuts do not compromise the quality of our public universities, we call for a moratorium on cuts in faculty pay and funding for departments, especially those cut in recent budgets; 
• And to hold forums open to students, faculty, staff, and community members at every Board of Governors meeting so as to include the voices of those who make the university run in decisions about our shared future.  

We expect the board to call for an open public forum around rising costs and debt at their meeting on April 11th, 2014, at which time they will hear policy alternatives for a debt-free UNC offered by students, faculty, and policy experts in the field. 

Sincerely,  

[Your name]

Thank you in advance for signing this important petition in support of our right to education.

Please use the comment section below to tell your views about education and to let your friends know that you support this petition!

Student Loan Debt Crisis More Pressing Issue Than Minimum Wage Debate

All the recent corporate press coverage of the minimum wage debate distracts from the issue that is really truly responsible for the slow recovery of the economy, and that is student loan debt.

If this country's leadership wanted to be responsible, they would know to address the question of the debt level carried by Americans before working to increase their incomes; even though without a doubt, the issue of raising the minimum wage is long overdue.

We The People are waiting for redress regarding student loan debt forgiveness and increasing the minimum wage.

There is indeed a proper order to dealing with these things.

To address the matter of student loan forgiveness before increasing the minimum wage would mean having 100% of the minimum wage increase would flow back into the American economy.

Increasing the minimum first and then working on student loan forgiveness would amount to students getting a bump in pay, only to have a percentage of that increase go back to the government as a bigger Income Based Repayment on their federal student loan.

In addition, without a change in the tax code, the increase in the minimum wage, in both scenarios, also results in a bigger tax bill from the government, making for a double slap in the face if the minimum wage were increased before student loans are forgiven.

Surely, all this must be obvious to the smart men and women who run our government, and so they must be planning to propose some form of student loan debt forgiveness imminently before taking up the issue of raising the minimum wage.

Unless the intention of the government is to continue to drag their feet on student loan debt forgiveness because of the profound profitability of student loans to the government.

Whether intentional or not, the now $1.2 Trillion Student Loan Debt Crisis is THE most important issue before Congress, to which there is no further postponement of action.

"Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education."   - Franklin D. Roosevelt

And as a democracy, the threat to our freedom and democracy is not from foreign terrorists and invaders, but the threat is the ignorance and illiteracy of its citizens.

FDR had planned to enshrine Americans' Right to Education in a Second Bill of Rights.

There can be no democracy without declaring that education is an inherent human right of its citizens. Therefore, student loans were not only immoral, but illegal because it denies American students their Right to Education, a right that Franklin D. Roosevelt had planned to enshrine in a Second Bill of Rights, as the Allied Powers did in rebuilding the governments for the defeated Germans, Italians, and Japanese. FDR unfortunately passed away before having the chance to do so.

Therefore, we must forgive all student loan debt. Or admit that we are no longer a free democracy.

Sign the Petition to Adopt Sen. Warren's Plan To Refi Student Loan Debt

The following is the call to action from Van Jones, President and Founder of Rebuild The Dream, for the U.S. Congress to "End the Student Debt Crisis" by adopting the proposal put forth by Senator Elizabeth Warren to allow students to refinance their student loan debt at today's low interest rates:

Today, Americans hold an all-time record $1.3 trillion in student debt. Senator Elizabeth Warren has a smart plan to end this crisis: Let Americans with federal student loans refinance at today's low rate. When Senator Warren introduces legislation focused on refinancing student loans, I urge you to support the bill.

Why is this important?

Unlike almost every other type of loan, federal student loans are set in stone even if rates change for the better. That might not constitute a crisis if college cost what it did in the seventies. But with middle class wages flat for decades, the soaring cost of education has become a mammoth debt dilemma dragging down an entire generation.

In short, we are taking money from middle class students and handing it to the worst of the one percent. Sen. Warren's plan is to make up for lost revenue from student loan refinancing by making sure millionaires do not pay a lower tax rate than their assistants.

She is not the first to propose refinancing for federal student loans. Nor did she come up with the idea of the "Buffett Rule," a minimum tax on millionaires that The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates would raise $47 billion over 10 years, or an average of just under $5 billion per year. President Obama first proposed the tax in 2011, naming it after the acclaimed Warren Buffett, who notes that many millionaires pay a lower tax rate than their assistants.

Sen. Warren's step forward was combining the two. Suddenly, members of Congress worried about lost revenue no longer have an excuse. And those who oppose fair taxes now have to explain why they care more about hedge fund managers than middle-class families trying to pay for college.

We can save Americans thousands of dollars. Put money back in the pockets of families who invested in education. Create jobs from the middle class out. And do it without adding a dime to the deficit -- simply by putting in place a fair tax code and then allowing people to refinance federal student loans.

If we can refinance a flashy new sports car at today's low rates, we should be able to do the same for our student loans.  

In Solidarity,
Van Jones

Sign the Petition to Adopt Sen. Warren's Plan To Refi Student Loan Debt

PLEASE CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE TO GO TO THE PETITION PAGE!

Be proud and tell all your friends that you support helping students over more tax breaks for billionaires! Comment in the box below!

How We Can End The Two Corporate Party System In America

DUMB AND DUMBERER. It is not the movie that I am referring to. It is our ultimate choice for leadership as American citizens.

We once reveled in the freedom of having choices as members of a once-free democracy.

Then, as we grew complacent and permitted our human right to education to be taken away from us, we succumb to ignorance, and now we find only confusion in having choices. We gave away our responsibility to be informed, our most important responsibility in a democracy, and we gave it away to the people who narrow the choices FOR us, those who exercise the real power in this country.

And as we become less free, have you noticed that we are being offered less choices?

While we still have a Vote, use yours to make sure we have as many choices as we can.

At this very moment, states from sea to shining sea are contemplating legislation that will make it even more difficult for independent and third party candidates to get onto and stay on the ballot, let alone run along side the two corporate party candidates we tolerate every few years.

While we still have a vote to cast for ourselves, use yours to stop these measures from passing in your state! Keep the option of having alternative choices and ideas other than the ones corporate media wants us to adopt.

DID YOU KNOW? It used to be legal for more than one political party to support a single candidate. This practice was known as voting fusion.

Fusion voting was once ubiquitous in the United States, legal in every state of the union. However, with the rise of relatively powerful third party and independent political movements in the late nineteenth century, state legislatures dominated by the Democratic and Republican parties began banning the practice in order to eliminate alternative choices when their agendas displeased voters.

Today, fusion voting is prohibited in all but eight states. These states (Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, and Vermont) have strong third parties that have significant public support and influence on government policy.

While independents and third parties provide more freedom of choices in these states in an era when the majority of voters are disillusioned with the two corporate parties, states are now pushing through extreme bills and have taken upon themselves to pass legislation trying to stomp out any independent and third party dissent.

Do you despise the politics of division and extremism? There is nothing else when only two parties are fighting to divide us along ideological lines in order to carve themselves a 51% piece of the American pie. When was the last time either major party has run for election with a solution to a problem?

And what is the result of this narrowing down of our political choices?

Gridlock.

Filibuster.

Obstructionism.

Corporate control.

With only two choices, we are constantly being left with voting for "the lesser of two evils" (and really, one or the other corporate candidate) rather than having the government WE want and the policies that serve US.

Why do you suppose the entities who run our country want us to have fewer choices-- do YOU really need an alternative to this?

These laws that are trying to remove independent and third party candidates are actively being pushed by corporate interests who would see their escalating bill for buying elections grow even higher if there were significant independent and third party opposition. While the bill for buying the election may increase occasionally because the third parties are paid off (one of many reasons given for the need to ban the practice of voting fusion), this should not necessarily be considered a bad thing.

Consider it the free market of buying elections. At some point, the price will become too steep, and corporations will no longer be able to buy up every side of an election.

So, by promoting more choices (and public education for the voting citizenry), ultimately, empowering independent and third parties will be the mechanism for breaking the corporate lock on the legislative process, something corporate interests will fight against tooth and nail.

Score voting, AKA Range Voting, is another method of voting that endeavors to keep independent and third party candidates in the game, and may even afford alternative choices a leveler playing field. It removes the "throwing away my vote on a third party candidate" voting bias, and ultimately, it could prove to be the best method of voting that has been suggested yet.

Reforming our voting system to a system like range voting, or restore Voting Fusion in all 50 states may be the first important step towards getting corporate money out of politics and truly making sure that our government serves the interests of its people.

Ultimately, anything that will lead us to a more honest and open dialogue and transparency in decision-making will receive my vote!

What are your thoughts on how to end the two corporate party system? Which method of voting do you prefer: voting fusion or score voting? Tell us what you think, and please share this and expand the discussion!

Obama's Legacy Will Be Defined By His Solution to the Student Loan Debt Crisis

At $1.1 Trillion, outstanding student loan debt has surpassed personal debt and home mortgage debt as the single biggest source of debt Americans have, finally making it THE most important issue before the President in addressing the still foundering American economy.

President Obama has mentioned the problem of student debt since he ran for his first term as President in 2008, but definitive action to improve the day to day circumstances of student loan debtors has yet to be seen.

Obama's legacy will be determined by his response to the single biggest problem facing the country: the Student Debt Crisis.

Many plans have been suggested for addressing the needs of students that will be taking out loans going forward along with two measures that would help students get loan forgiveness.

However, the current Obama student loan forgiveness programs have exceptionally strict requirements regarding repaying full payments on time for 10 years or more. This may help many students and possibly stem the problem if our current economy were not a depression disguised as a recession, and that the primary culprits responsible for destroying the economy were not uncapitalistically bailed out using taxpayer money, money that would have been better spent repairing the credit of taxpaying homeowners and students.

For the majority of current student loan serfs, there have been no solutions.

Instead, congress, acting against the interest of the people, played partisan games with the lives of student borrowers and in an irresponsible intentional act of inaction, permitted the doubling of the student loan interest rates for current borrowers.

To dig deep for a positive in the Obama administration to date regarding student loans, at the very least, students can still have "hope" since Mitt Romney isn't president, although our patience is all but exhausted. A Romney presidency would have been marked by willful ignorance of the issue, defining it as a problem of the 47%, requiring that you go to the ER for your stress induced heart attack from the lack of student loan relief and health insurance, or helpful suggestions like borrowing the money from wealthy family members to pay for tuition instead.

At the very least, the Obama administration has shown a willingness to pay lip service to the issue.

Obama has made several stump speeches about the plight of student loan debtors, as well as, referenced the issue in his State of the Union address.

It is also a well-known fact that his and Michelle's student loans were not paid off until he became president, along with the income from several books that became bestsellers as a result of his corporate funded campaigns. At least we student loan serfs know that he has a rudimentary understanding of the issue and possibly some empathy for those of us who have not yet gotten our turn to win the presidency.

On a more serious note, no other issue touches the lives of so many who will not only guide America's fortunes in the future but will also have to be the engines of our economy right now, and to allow young people to bear the burden of the cost of an education that stands to benefit all Americans is as unconscionable as taking from Social Security to bail out the banks when their next bubble bursts.

So, despite the economic collapse, homeowners underwater and the foreclosure epidemic, the BP oil spills, and the warmongering of Russia, it will be President Obama's response to the issue of the student debt crisis that will singularly determine his legacy.

Do you agree that the $1.1 Trillion in Student Loan Debt is the greatest burden on the economy and the greatest problem facing the country? Will President Obama be able to create a solution before leaving office? Tell us what you think in the comments below!