Biden / Harris Focused Discussion

[Jtbrig7390]

So didn't know where to post this, I figured this was the best place.

Any idea when congress will get off its ass and pass the relief bill?

[Jtbrig7390]

They’re in the process of reconciliation with the house expected to be done as early as next week. The senate will take a little longer due to the GOP delaying the impeachment trial.

So we are looking at closer to the start of next month before anything gets done.... Lovely.

[Omega10]

I listened a bit to President Biden's town hall.

Explain to me again how this election was close?

The best answer he gave was to a pro-Trump supporter. The pro-Trump supporter tried to ask his questions in strong emotional terms, and Biden thwarted his attempts by just going into rational logical nerd mode, talking in detail about facts and figures and anecdotal stories. The pro-Trump supporter was not deterred, asked multiple questions all in the same emotional way, and Biden was persistent in maintaining his low keyed nerdy approach. Biden came across as Presidential, the pro-Trump guy came across as petty.

imho, he knocked this event out of the ball park. His demeanor was perfect. He made being nice a positive and something really good, and something that America needs more of. And he did it well.

His well prepared answers and calm demeanor are exactly what this country needs right now. And I loved his detailed answers.

[Breccia]

Biden came across as Presidential, the pro-Trump guy came across as petty.

Sounds about right. He did once say that we didn't have a vaccine when he was elected -- but past that minor slip, he had a realistic time frame.

[Omega10]

Sounds about right. He did once say that we didn't have a vaccine when he was elected -- but past that minor slip, he had a realistic time frame.

This was a chilling statement (from the article you linked).

Biden added that it is "highly unlikely that by the beginning of next year’s traditional school year in September we are not significantly better off than we are today."

Compare this town hall meeting with the Trump press conferences and tweets and comments.

Trump: mostly false (like 90% false), everything said for maximum emotional impact, quite theatrical
President Biden: mostly true (like 90% true), lots of details, downplayed emotional impact, very matter of fact and to the point

Trump: a clown masquerading as the leader of the country
President Biden: a decent President dealing with the cards that he was dealt as best he could, and explaining as many details as he could in the time he had.

President Biden will benefit hugely from being compared to Trump.

[Kallisto]

I listened a bit to President Biden's town hall.

Explain to me again how this election was close?

The best answer he gave was to a pro-Trump supporter. The pro-Trump supporter tried to ask his questions in strong emotional terms, and Biden thwarted his attempts by just going into rational logical nerd mode, talking in detail about facts and figures and anecdotal stories. The pro-Trump supporter was not deterred, asked multiple questions all in the same emotional way, and Biden was persistent in maintaining his low keyed nerdy approach. Biden came across as Presidential, the pro-Trump guy came across as petty.

imho, he knocked this event out of the ball park. His demeanor was perfect. He made being nice a positive and something really good, and something that America needs more of. And he did it well.

His well prepared answers and calm demeanor are exactly what this country needs right now. And I loved his detailed answers.

You answered your own question unfortunately. Too many people are like that trump supporters. Facts don't matter only feels does.

[JohnBrown1917]

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5...-new-questions

Never got around to this but it doesn't really look like he is ending support but instead just reframing it around defence in stead of offence which... could lead to exactly nothing changing as he said..

"We are ending all American support for offensive operations in the war on Yemen including relevant arm sales"

Which isn't to say we Arne't arming them... we aren't going to arm them with weapons relevant to offence, but what about defence? Those operations will continue as well as American support of those operations.

When you note that the pentagon already considers most of the action around Saudi Arabia and Yemen to be defensive what changes?



So the question then is what does Biden think of it and how does Biden view it? If the pentagon views it as defensive and ergo arm Saudis... is that going to happen or will Biden deem it offensive and stop it?

Jake Sullivan also confirmed this will not stop Americans bombing Yemen war on terror and all that.

This comes as no surprise, the military industrial complex has bipartisan support in the US.

[NED funded]

Based Biden dunking on the college students

[Elegiac]

Based Biden dunking on the college students

In a fashion as moronic as suggesting that one favors private helicopters over public roads because a billionaire might drive on the latter, sure.

It was a bad answer from Biden.

[Omega10]

In a fashion as moronic as suggesting that one favors private helicopters over public roads because a billionaire might drive on the latter, sure.

It was a bad answer from Biden.

In my pro-President Biden giddiness, I will concede this point.

Both President Biden, and republicans led my McConnell, are putting forward the point:

We can't do things that help middle class and poor Americans because a small portion of the help might help people that make between 100k and 200k a year. McConnell and the republicans are using it to try to put restrictions on who can get stimulus aid, and now President Biden is using it to justify not forgiving student loan debt.

Republicans started the meme that 100k salaries makes one rich. It does not. Well off yeah, but still working from paycheck to paycheck I'm not sure why President Biden thought it was a good idea to pick up and expand on this idea.

It's clear why republicans are pushing this idea now. In the future, they want to fight back on all of this by saying that democrats like to punish middle class Americans that do reasonably well for themselves. They pushed this idea for a long long time. They are trying to make policies into law now that give them talking points in the future, especially if it hurts America in the meantime. After all, they need something to rage about.

It is not at all clear why President Biden thought it wise to make this a main reason against $50k student loan forgiveness. He is mortified that people will use it that went to Ivy League schools?

[Elegiac]

In my pro-President Biden giddiness, I will concede this point.

Both President Biden, and republicans led my McConnell, are putting forward the point:

We can't do things that help middle class and poor Americans because a small portion of the help might help people that make between 100k and 200k a year. McConnell and the republicans are using it to try to put restrictions on who can get stimulus aid, and now President Biden is using it to justify not forgiving student loan debt.

Republicans started the meme that 100k salaries makes one rich. It does not. Well off yeah, but still working from paycheck to paycheck I'm not sure why President Biden thought it was a good idea to pick up and expand on this idea.

It's clear why republicans are pushing this idea now. In the future, they want to fight back on all of this by saying that democrats like to punish middle class Americans that do reasonably well for themselves. They pushed this idea for a long long time. They are trying to make policies into law now that give them talking points in the future, especially if it hurts America in the meantime. After all, they need something to rage about.

It is not at all clear why President Biden thought it wise to make this a main reason against $50k student loan forgiveness. He is mortified that people will use it that went to Ivy League schools?

It's almost as if crusty old people that haven't ever actually had to take out a student loan themselves might not be very well acquainted with the realities of student debt in the US.

That and this country has a deeply pathological hatred for the "undeserving", a term which does a lot of work regardless of which party utters it.

[Kathandira]

Though i'm happy we havre Biden rather than Trump. I am going to put much more focus on a younger candidate for the next election cycle.

I would like to see someone in office that has a bit better of a grip on the younger generations.

[Elegiac]

Though i'm happy we havre Biden rather than Trump. I am going to put much more focus on a younger candidate for the next election cycle.

I would like to see someone in office that has a bit better of a grip on the younger generations.

Someone who doesn't cling to that reefer madness bullshit still, at least. Lol.

And that's the thing which irks me: "he's a product of his time" isn't really a defensible position when "his time" was one marked by systemic racial injustice over drug enforcement.

[Kathandira]

Someone who doesn't cling to that reefer madness bullshit still, at least. Lol.

And that's the thing which irks me: "he's a product of his time" isn't really a defensible position when "his time" was one marked by systemic racial injustice over drug enforcement.

With all of the access to information in today's world, being a product of one's time is no longer a valid excuse. People learn and grow. If someone stays set in their ways they aren't a product of their time, they are willfully ignorant.

I think Biden has grown a lot over the course of his career. But there are a few areas where he is still out of touch. Next cycle, i'm definitely looking for a younger candidate who hits the markers of the needs of the modern adult.

[Grapemask]

It's almost as if crusty old people that haven't ever actually had to take out a student loan themselves might not be very well acquainted with the realities of student debt in the US.

That and this country has a deeply pathological hatred for the "undeserving", a term which does a lot of work regardless of which party utters it.

Yeah, the quote from Biden, that they 'shouldn't forgive debt for people who went to "Harvard and Yale and Penn"' was a moment of fist-clenching rage. None of the people I know with massive debt went to these colleges. People who go to ivy league schools are not the ones who have trouble with debt; they're the ones who have the easiest time paying it off or had their schooling fully covered to begin with.

A while back someone said something to the effect of, "If Republicans offered democrats 20 bucks, Democrats would talk them down to 10." I don't know about the Republican part, but I know democrats keep getting opportunities to do great things, then tell themselves "now wait a minute, let's do less." Stimulus checks? Let's lower the eligility. Witnesses approved? Nevermind, let's read it into the record instead.

Sure, it's better than the nothing we'd get from Republicans, but I'm getting tired of "better than nothing" when we have the power to do a whole lot more.

[Breccia]

Though i'm happy we havre Biden rather than Trump. I am going to put much more focus on a younger candidate for the next election cycle.

That wil be easy. Harris. I would be zero to negative surprised if Biden drops out and Harris runs.

[Kathandira]

That wil be easy. Harris. I would be zero to negative surprised if Biden drops out and Harris runs.

Younger, but I don't think i'd vote for her.

[Breccia]

Younger, but I don't think i'd vote for her.

In four years you might. Not only might she be groomed for the role, Trump could run again.

[Fugus]

Yeah, the quote from Biden, that they 'shouldn't forgive debt for people who went to "Harvard and Yale and Penn"' was a moment of fist-clenching rage. None of the people I know with massive debt went to these colleges. People who go to ivy league schools are not the ones who have trouble with debt; they're the ones who have the easiest time paying it off or had their schooling fully covered to begin with.

A while back someone said something to the effect of, "If Republicans offered democrats 20 bucks, Democrats would talk them down to 10." I don't know about the Republican part, but I know democrats keep getting opportunities to do great things, then tell themselves "now wait a minute, let's do less." Stimulus checks? Let's lower the eligility. Witnesses approved? Nevermind, let's read it into the record instead.

Sure, it's better than the nothing we'd get from Republicans, but I'm getting tired of "better than nothing" when we have the power to do a whole lot more.

As I have said before, it’s almost like they are paid to be weak and an illusion of choice that only does enough to keep the ship from sinking and has to be drug across the finish line against their will to actually fix stuff.

[Themius]

So why is Biden still on board with allowing crushing student debt to continue?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-2005-act-2020

Old story:

Despite his protestations, it is indisputable that Biden was an avid supporter of the 2005 bill as a whole and of its overall thrust of tightening up the bankruptcy code largely to the benefit of lenders at the expense of distressed families who would find it harder to file for bankruptcy.

“Biden was one of the most powerful people who could have said no, who could have changed this. Instead he used his leadership role to limit the ability of other Democrats who had concerns and who wanted the bill softened,” said Melissa Jacoby, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill specialising in bankruptcy.

Other leading Democrats and consumer advocates did say no. In the Senate debate on the 2005 bill, Ted Kennedy was scathing about its implications.

“This legislation breaks the bond that unites America, it sacrifices Americans to the rampant greed of the credit card industry,” he said. Kennedy warned that even before the new provision kicked in young people were dropping out of college “because of the costs of student loans – they can’t pay them”.

He's partly responsible for this bullshit and yet... he doesn't want to fix it while it is within his power. Wasn't getting rid of student loan debt one of the very few wide reaching things he could do by executive order because of some obscure rules?

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/16/polit...den/index.html

President Joe Biden made it clear during Tuesday night's CNN town hall that he disagrees with other members of his party who want to cancel $50,000 of student debt per borrower.

"I will not make that happen," Biden said after a member of the audience said his proposal to cancel $10,000 per borrower doesn't go far enough.
But top Democratic congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are calling on Biden to cancel $50,000 per borrower. Dozens of Democrats reintroduced a bicameral resolution earlier this month urging Biden to take action, arguing that he has the executive power to do so.
Biden argues that the government shouldn't forgive debt for people who went to "Harvard and Yale and Penn" -- and he's also indicated that he believes Congress should make changes through legislation, which would make them harder to undo.

People go to state schools and end up with 20-30k in debt... debt that can't be gotten rid of because what happened in 2005.