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!
