Telling people that forgiving student loan debt will improve everyone's lives isn't true.

[Kaleva]

Climate change is going to make everyone's life a severe hardship and a struggle for survival. The future for all young people today is bleak and eliminating or reducing student debt isn't going to change that. One may be saddled with student debt today but today is still going to be a lot better then what is coming.

I'm not against reducing or eliminating student debt but just be honest about their futures.

[ck4829]

1. Think of it as an opportunity... maybe without the specter of student loans over their head

They can focus on technologies, that while they are not money-driven, they could mitigate climate change.

[Tree-Hugger]

2. Cool

Let's just give up on everything then.

The doom around here lately....

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Consumerism is never the way out of environental problems

Green consumption is still consuming, and while more efficient use of resources, it still uses energy, has by-products. Even gardening consumes resources.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. lol okay

[AntivaxHunters]

5. I very much disagree

In fact, I disagree greatly.
One of the problems with sustainability and the products tied directly to it (climate friendly) is cost.
Green products almost always cost more and those with student loans, the generation which happens to now be the largest voting bloc, doesn't have the money to purchase those products because they can't afford to.

Are we trying to lose elections or what? Because not forgiving student loans is how that happens and one of the biggest gifts Republicans could ever ask for. As it is, Biden is underwater with Gen Z and millennials, the 2 generations absolutely strapped with student loan debt. And you better believe that this is a big reason why. Even young Republican voters support student loan debt forgiveness!
I believe Joe Biden will do the right thing here. He knows what's up! Thank God he's in office.

Link to tweet

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Link to tweet

?s=20&t=ji7DcmmkIAGNlsSnZ_FwmA

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=ji7DcmmkIAGNlsSnZ_FwmA

[Tree-Hugger]

8. This

You have great points about the financial cost of sustainability/green products.

I also think that this style of messaging sucks. "None of it matters because then world is burning and we're going to die," is NOT an effective message by any means and does not get people to the polls.

While we've been subjected to the absolute stupidity of many GQP people, we need to remember that a majority of people are good. And many people are quite capable of caring about more than one thing. I don't mean to brag, but I am able to care about the environment AND student loan forgiveness.

[Kaleva]

14. The only way to combat climate change is by a world wide effort

Biden alone can't do it. Nobody in the past several decades had been able to do it. Time is running very short.

[hunter]

38. If someone finds a clear path forward the rest of the world will follow.

Unfortunately, hybrid natural gas / wind / solar power systems won't save us.

Elon Musk won't save us.

Batteries won't save us.

We've got to quit fossil fuels entirely. The only energy source capable of displacing fossil fuels entirely while supporting a world population of 8 billion or more is nuclear power. That's going to become increasingly obvious as catastrophes caused by global warming increase in number and intensity.

China, Russia, the United States, and a few other nations are actively developing new nuclear technologies, including relatively foolproof small modular reactors that could be mostly built in factories and shipped out to replace fossil fuel power plants. Once that revolution begins I suspect build-out will be rapid, on the order of twenty years or less. It will be easier to drop a nuclear plant where it's needed and not futz around with gas and oil pipelines, huge ultra-high capacity electric grids, and LNG supertankers.

Until then we'll have to cope with the damages that are already in the pipeline and headed our way.

Most of all we have to figure out how to deal with the millions of people displaced each year by global warming. Some technical fixes are possible, for example desalinization and water recycling technologies, restructuring our cities to make automobile ownership unnecessary, shifts to vegan diets, etc., but some things can't be fixed. If your house falls into the ocean you have to move. If your farm has no water and there's no work available locally you have to move.

I think a lot of U.S. Americans are going to be surprised when they lose the global warming lottery.

[blogslug]

6. Mr. Bowie said it best about the kids

They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

[Tree-Hugger]

9. The whole verse is perfection

"And these children that you spit on
as they try to change their world
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through."

Genius. And he wrote this in 1971. Times change, yet remain the same and all that.

[Celerity]

22. prefer Sham 69

Sham 69 - If the Kids are United - Reading Festival 1978

[Johnny2X2X]

7. So eliminate all governement services?

Climate change is going to make people's lives worse, so let's get rid of Social Security? Medicare and Medicaid? Sure, people might end up destitute, but it's better than what's coming...

The two have 0 to do with each other.

Student debt is a crisis, I find it very telling about how effective the ruling class's propaganda is when no one blinks when Wall Street needed $Trillions in bailout money, but when regular people could use some help it's "not fair."

The Student Debt crisis is going to explode some way or another, it's basically going to keep millions from joining the middle class or retiring at a reasonable age. Better options for payback is the very least we should be implementing.

[Kaleva]

12. Where did I ever say eliminate SS, Medicare it Medicaid?

It'd fine with me if student debt is forgiven and I said I'm not against it. Just be honest about it though as it won't make people's lives better as the calamity of climate change is going to make everyone's lives worse.

[madville]

26. They should also ban future student loans

If they are predatory and crippling they should not allow the practice to continue. It makes no sense to cancel current debt while still allowing the next generation of students to get in the same trouble.

[Johnny2X2X]

28. Reform is needed

Better repayment options, and some type of system where future loans will be much smaller if at all.

[USALiberal]

10. So if we forgive all the loans.....

Does that mean in five or 10 more years we will have to do it again and then again and then again and then again?

Because once we have forgiven all the loans why would anyone even think about paying it off when it happens again?

[MichMan]

11. I predict many will likely borrow even more than they would have, & stop paying what they do owe

Hoping it will also be forgiven.

[USALiberal]

13. I agree, so I'm still not sure why everyone thinks it's such a great idea.

[MichMan]

20. Tuition will rise even higher as well

Why would students care how much the cost of tuition is, if they think they won't be paying for it anyway?

[madville]

25. There are two types of debt forgiveness advocates

Those with a personal interest and those that think it will score political points

[madville]

23. The only way it makes sense

Is if they also ban future student lending. If the argument is that these loans are crippling and predatory then they shouldn’t be allowed to continue.

[USALiberal]

24. I agree! Nt

[MichMan]

29. Why is the federal government making predatory loans?

The student loan program (and interest rates) were taken over directly by the government in 2010. It was passed as part of the ACA Health Care act to provide a revenue stream to help offset the cost of health care subsidies.

[tritsofme]

15. This brand of fatalism is ridiculous.

[Kaleva]

17. Climate change isn't going to be bad then?

[tritsofme]

19. Their lives aren't doomed. But your millenarianism is not as novel as you might think.

[Kaleva]

35. So climate change won't ever be much of an issue? Few, if any, will face severe harship?

[tritsofme]

36. We're not the first or last generation that has convinced themselves they live in the End Times.

[Kaleva]

37. I didn't speak of End Times

I said climate change will make everyone's life a severe hardship and a struggle for survival. You won't find a post of mine that I made over the past many years discussing the issue where I said that climate change will wipe out humanity. You'll find several where I said climate change can be survived but it will be tough.

[Happy Hoosier]

16. This is an odd post.

Eliminating crippling debt will certainly help people. A LOT of people. That doesn't mean there aren't other problems, But we can do more than one thing at a time.

[Kaleva]

18. Climate change is going to have a catastrophic impact on us all

Being free of student loan debt isn't going to make survival any but easier.

[Happy Hoosier]

21. I beg to differ.

Money ALWAYS makes coping easier. But that is beside the point.

Just because climate change is a huge issue does not mean that student debt ISN'T. We should address things we can do something about when we can. Not to mention the student debt issue will tend to make a segment of the population more engaged politically if they see it can fix problems that immediately affect them.

[Kaleva]

32. Climate change is the biggest issue the human race will face since the beginning of recorded history

Your comment:

" We should address things we can do something about when we can. "

I agree but we need to be honest about it too. All young people today are facing a bleak future regardless of what is done with the student loan issue.

[inthewind21]

30. Well

By that rationale we may as well just all quit our jobs, let our financial lives bottom out and just live in the street because it's not going to stop the fact we're all going to die. And we absolutely WILL die. One way or another.

[Kaleva]

33. It's your choice if you decide to not try and just give up

You won't find a single post of mine over the past several years where i advocate taking such an action when discussing climate change. I've been saying we need to prepare to adapt to what's coming.

[AntivaxHunters]

31. There's intersectionality

And one of the biggest is with Crypto.
Many young people are heavily invested into Cyptro because it's seen as a way to make money without it being tracked. And they do it because why? Drowning student loan debt.

Incidentally, Crypto is also incredibly awful for the climate.
Here's a great article on it published by the University Of Colorado.
Crypto Woes: Cryptocurrency and Climate Change, from Coal to E-Waste

[Lancero]

27. All the more reason to.

Give them some chance at happiness in these final couple of decades of relative stability.

[Kaleva]

34. I wrote this post last year

"Don't get too bummed about today because climate change will make things much worse soon enough

Deal with the problems of today but also enjoy the positive's too as climate change is here and things are getting rapidly worse. It won't be long before we DUers and millions of others will be facing hardships on an epic scale.

We are passengers on the HMS Titanic. A number are squabbling about accommodations, the food and the price of the tickets but we also need to know where the life rafts are and practice getting to them and on them because it's pretty much a sure thing the ship will collide with an iceberg. Don't be the guy who can't hang on any longer and he falls and bounces off the propeller on the way to his death.

Take the time to get out on the deck and enjoy the sunshine because it won't be long before one may be facing death or will be on a lifeboat with others trying to stay warm."

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216159743