Biden / Harris Focused Discussion

[Kaleredar]

When I graduated from my state uni, the tuition per semester was at 6k, and had been rising rapidly every year since I entered that university. This was over a decade ago.

About 5 years ago I went to a local community college and got a good education that helped me improve on skills I already have and acquire new skills I didn't have, all for about 800 to 1000 a semester, depending on my course load.

I too want the system fixed, and forgiveness for people who had no choice but to go into debt to pay for post secondary education... BUT he does have a point. Lots of people go to out of state ivy league schools and go into debt for tens if not hundreds of thousands and then can't pay it off? This isn't the blue version of "welfare queen". This is "You needed a car to get to and from work, and instead of getting a modest used car for about 5 grand you chose to buy a custom luxury vehicle for 200 grand."

I frankly have no issue forgiving a chunk of debt no matter where they went to school. Every cent of that debt forgiven is something they'll spend on something else instead, which then pays actual people working in actual jobs and industries instead of paying off a handful of loan sharks so they can repeat the cycle.

I'm disappointed by Biden's line on this, but it's possible that 1) he changes his mind (he's been president for a... day short of a month now) and 2) this puts it in the political narrative regardless.

And, of course, it beats whatever Trump would do about it, which would most optimistically be "nothing" and, at its worst, would be "actively make the problem worse in an effort to enrich himself"

[Zantos]

I have got to say, it is getting so hard to take anyone seriously. So many maga supporters are now plastering facebook with lie after lie for what Joe Biden is doing. Just today, one uncles posted a 1min long youtube video, taken Severely out of context, saying that its Joe saying that he doesn't care about the human rights violations in China and that he wont do anything because its different cultural norms.

The Actual interview is much longer then 1minute, and naturally, includes his full statement that goes in the opposite direction to condemn them and say they will face repercussions.

Then facebook is circulating a "news" article saying that Biden pardoned a bunch of protestors. Problem is that the article is from a satirical website. So nothing they say is real.

Goes to show that people will hate Biden despite the amazing job he is already doing. They will find anything they can and wont fact check a single statement and will believe anything that paints him in a bad light.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Paywall site but the title says it all: Ford says it will phase out gasoline-powered vehicles in Europe (by 2030).

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/b...dfa9dae3cc2ae2

Ford is not the only major company gearing up to a renewable energy future.

I was thinking about this the other day. There's been a steady progression of conservative denial when it came to electric vehicles.

70's - "Purely electric vehicles will never be a thing."
80's - "Purely electric vehicles will never be road-worthy."
90's - "Purely electric vehicles may be able to go on the road, but they'll never go fast enough."
"Purely electric vehicles will never be able to be mass produced."
"Battery technology will prevent purely electric vehicles from having a long enough range."
"OK all of that stuff may have ended up coming true, but electric vehicles will never be affordable by the average person."
"OK there might be economic electric vehicles, but people will always prefer combustion engine vehicles."


It's been quite a ride of denial from the anti-renewable climate change deniers who just love to hate on electric.

I wonder what's next? Considering that in about 2-3 decades I predict that combustion engine cars will only be made as niche custom models, and most cars will likely be electric.

[DarkTZeratul]

I was thinking about this the other day. There's been a steady progression of conservative denial when it came to electric vehicles.

70's - "Purely electric vehicles will never be a thing."
80's - "Purely electric vehicles will never be road-worthy."
90's - "Purely electric vehicles may be able to go on the road, but they'll never go fast enough."
"Purely electric vehicles will never be able to be mass produced."
"Battery technology will prevent purely electric vehicles from having a long enough range."
"OK all of that stuff may have ended up coming true, but electric vehicles will never be affordable by the average person."
"OK there might be economic electric vehicles, but people will always prefer combustion engine vehicles."


It's been quite a ride of denial from the anti-renewable climate change deniers who just love to hate on electric.

I wonder what's next? Considering that in about 2-3 decades I predict that combustion engine cars will only be made as niche custom models, and most cars will likely be electric.

Shit, even when those drawbacks prevented me from considering one for myself it was always because "they aren't there yet" rather than "they will never be there."

[Kathandira]

Shit, even when those drawbacks prevented me from considering one for myself it was always because "they aren't there yet" rather than "they will never be there."

I think the only thing holding them back is more accessibility of charging stations. There are many, but the more and more appear, the more likely I will be to buy one.

[Breccia]

I think the only thing holding them back is more accessibility of charging stations.

Agreed.

The day the NJTurnpike installs these at gas stations, you'll know we've hit the tipping point.

[Kathandira]

Agreed.

The day the NJTurnpike installs these at gas stations, you'll know we've hit the tipping point.

Absolutely! 95, and Rt1 should be littered with them.

[Breccia]

Absolutely! 95, and Rt1 should be littered with them.

Hey wait, is NJ allowed to pump their own electricity?

Unrelated: CEO confidence is at a 17-year high, yes it's mostly vaccine-related. The US is also pledging two billion to the global vaccine development and distribution department of the WHO, which Trump left.

[Kathandira]

Hey wait, is NJ allowed to pump their own electricity?

LOL! Great question.

I think we are. We have charging stations at Wawa in some places, and it is not near the pumps so there is no attendant to provide service.

[Kathandira]

The amount of time it can take to charge would make having an attendant silly. Also, you don’t have the risk of someone spilling it everywhere or sparking a fire so no real reason for one. Yes, the reason you have attendants is because they think people in NJ aren’t able to pump gas without starting a fire.

Just saying though, we pay less or the same for gas as other states, and we have attendants. So i don't mind at all = )

[Kathandira]

You’re above the national average and actually one of the highest cost states...

https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/

That was 2 years ago. Currently, we are in the $2.30 range.

For a very long time we had expensive gas, but the past few years it has been steadily dropping.

[Kathandira]

That’s as of today... your area is lower than your state’s average. Which isn’t uncommon.

Scratch that, the thing I saw at the bottom is just the copy right date.

- - - Updated - - -

The map is odd.

https://gasprices.aaa.com/?state=NJ

I look at my county, and it shows an average of $0.04 higher than any gas station i've seen around here. Even on the highways where it is usually higher than more local gas stations. Perhaps they add in the Parkway and Turnpikes stations which would skew the average greatly.

[Cthulhu 2020]

What a silly argument. “Lots go to out of state Ivy League schools”

There are only but so many of those! Ffs there are millions upon millions of students.

It's not just Ivy Leagues, anyone who goes to a uni where they'll be put hundreds of thousands into debt that they have no way of paying back over a <10 year period (or any amount of student debt that people are unable to pay off within 10 years or so) should probably reevaluate why they even went to that uni in the first place. That's the thing, a lot of people do end up being able to pay it back, and as I've stated before, college tuition has risen far too fast and is fairly ridiculous at the moment. This has to do with many problems that exist within the entire system. BUT students should also be conscientious and research the cost of the place they're going to. A lot of people who get saddled with crippling student debt either didn't consider the cost down road and just signed their name on the dotted line, or they overestimated how much money they'd be making in their career.

Going to a uni and making either of those mistakes is a crippling amount of foresight. And see, that's the thing, as much as you like to misrepresent people's arguments and positions on this and other matters, you seem to think the students are above reproach, that they hold no responsibility simply because post secondary education is required in today's society. Most people I know with crippling student debt (far above and beyond what they could ever pay in their lifetime) were exactly as I described above, they either didn't really think about the amount they were signing on to borrow, or they overestimated their earning ability, or both.

Just because the system is broken as fuck and bordering on predatory doesn't mean we can't to some degree hold people responsible for the poor choices they've made. I went to uni largely through a combination of scholarships, grants, and money from my part time job. Getting really good grades can get ya a lot of free money ya know? Who'd'a thought. And then when I decided to go back to school, I found a community college whose degree has gotten me even more money than my super expensive public university degree.

Short version: Teach kids to better evaluate the cost of the school they're choosing to go to. "My online friends are all going to this out of state uni that costs 15k a semester," is probably one of the poorest life choices I tried to talk someone out of and ultimately failed at doing.

[Elegiac]

IJust because the system is broken as fuck and bordering on predatory doesn't mean we can't to some degree hold people responsible for the poor choices they've made.

That's... exactly what it means, dude.

Part of the way systemic oppression perpetuates itself is through inculcating a culture of 'poor choices' like, say, putting large sectors of a demographic into debt because you've gated social mobility behind a for-pay education system and sold people on the notion that student loans can pay for themselves if you get the "right" degrees and make the "right" career choices.

[Milchshake]

It's not just Ivy Leagues, anyone who goes to a uni where they'll be put hundreds of thousands into debt that they have no way of paying back over a <10 year period (or any amount of student debt that people are unable to pay off within 10 years or so) should probably reevaluate why they even went to that uni in the first place. That's the thing, a lot of people do end up being able to pay it back, and as I've stated before, college tuition has risen far too fast and is fairly ridiculous at the moment. This has to do with many problems that exist within the entire system. BUT students should also be conscientious and research the cost of the place they're going to. A lot of people who get saddled with crippling student debt either didn't consider the cost down road and just signed their name on the dotted line, or they overestimated how much money they'd be making in their career.

Going to a uni and making either of those mistakes is a crippling amount of foresight. And see, that's the thing, as much as you like to misrepresent people's arguments and positions on this and other matters, you seem to think the students are above reproach, that they hold no responsibility simply because post secondary education is required in today's society. Most people I know with crippling student debt (far above and beyond what they could ever pay in their lifetime) were exactly as I described above, they either didn't really think about the amount they were signing on to borrow, or they overestimated their earning ability, or both.

Just because the system is broken as fuck and bordering on predatory doesn't mean we can't to some degree hold people responsible for the poor choices they've made. I went to uni largely through a combination of scholarships, grants, and money from my part time job. Getting really good grades can get ya a lot of free money ya know? Who'd'a thought. And then when I decided to go back to school, I found a community college whose degree has gotten me even more money than my super expensive public university degree.

Short version: Teach kids to better evaluate the cost of the school they're choosing to go to. "My online friends are all going to this out of state uni that costs 15k a semester," is probably one of the poorest life choices I tried to talk someone out of and ultimately failed at doing.

There's a whole ecosystem of second and third tier "selective" universities that charge way more tuition than they're worth. Paying them off would only reward their predatory practices.
It would be better to send more resources to state schools to help them accommodate a larger student population.
I'd rather fight for allowing student bankruptcy again. It helps the former students and forces the predatory schools to eat it.

But honestly, we're arguing with people that got the Social Work degree from Reed or USC. When they coulda gotten a comparable degree from Portland State. Alas you dont get to socialize with that slightly higher level of gatekeepers. Was the higher tuition worth it? Does it come with more clout in online spaces?

Sorry they got duped by the recruiters. Here's the same $10k that everyone else is getting.

[DarkTZeratul]

The amount of time it can take to charge would make having an attendant silly. Also, you don’t have the risk of someone spilling it everywhere or sparking a fire so no real reason for one. Yes, the reason you have attendants is because they think people in NJ aren’t able to pump gas without starting a fire.

I always felt that the way to go would be to use easily removable batteries. You go to the gas station, swap your empty one for a full one, pay for the service, and drive away while they charge your old one for the next guy.

[Bodakane]

I always felt that the way to go would be to use easily removable batteries. You go to the gas station, swap your empty one for a full one, pay for the service, and drive away while they charge your old one for the next guy.

It probably is the way in the future, but right now the battery pack in a tesla is about 1200lbs, for example.

[Shadowferal]

Those type of batteries weigh half a ton...literally.

[Zardoz541]

Hey wait, is NJ allowed to pump their own electricity?

As a resident of the only other state where I can't pump my own gas, I appreciate this being called out.
I don't know how they plan to do it in "Joizee", but here on the left coast we are perfectly capable of pumping our own wattage.

Yes, the reason you have attendants is because they think people in NJ aren’t able to pump gas without starting a fire.

I think there's a bit more to it than that. Here in Oregon, the only other state that requires attendant-pumping (oh jesus... phrasing...) there's apparently 17 "justifications" in the law that makes it so, but it really comes down to 3 basic things:

Safety – As a class 1 flammable liquid, some basic safety procedures should be followed. Since a cashier can’t watch all the pumps all the time, trained attendants are there. This also allows people to reduce personal injury or exposure to the fumes. In addition, attendants are likely to notice safety issues on a vehicle such as a low tire or faulty windshield wipers and such report to the driver to keep them safe. The law specifically mentions the weather we have in Oregon as a safety reason: the risk of slipping in the rain. Supposedly, all these benefits reduces insurance liability to the service stations.

Equable Treatment of Seniors & Disabled – A senior or a disabled person my find it harder to get out of their vehicle and perform the functions of pumping their gas. Because of this they would be forced to go to a full service station and pay a premium for this service, which isn’t equitable.

Jobs – This is the most commonly cited reason for continuing to employ service station attendants and is part of the statue. The cost that an attendant incurs per gallon wasn’t considered to be excessive especially since Oregon doesn’t have a sales tax. As minimum wages increase, this may change.

SRC= Here.

I kinda hate that for the last 15 years, I couldn't pump my own gas. Waiting 10 minutes for the singular pump attendant to finally get to me was an annoyance, especially since i typically got out of my car to go inside for a drink or a pack of smokes anyway. And I have a locking fuel filler cap, and I sure as hell wasn't handing keys over to a stranger.

Since COVID, at least in the rural-ish area of the state I'm living in, the station I go to most often stopped having any fucks to give and have just let people pump their own if they want. I most often choose not to, because I highly doubt those pump handles are being sanitized, I don't trust my cohabitants to wash their goddamn hands, and getting people to actually wear a mask is like pulling teeth.

[Theodarzna]

So a quick recap so far:

- Min Wage going up? Don't count on it!
- Kids in Cages? Don't worry we renamed those "Overflow facilities" but mass deportations that were 'LITERAL FASCISM' before are continuing with gusto.
- Student Debt? AHHAHAHAHAHA You are lucky he doesn't double the interest rate and spit on you for asking.
- All that is left is for him to fully renege on the 2k checks which already are 1.4k checks.

Can't wait to be told this is all a good thing by the DNC Super Fans in here.