As a transgender man who served 3 of my 4 years of my TEACH grant before my state made it defacto if not de jure illegal to be a transgender teacher -
I’m fucked lol. I’m just going to have to work under the table the rest of my life. My billionaire ex managed to dump his credit card debt on me, so I’m fucked hopelessly. It’s entirely legal to fire me for being trans in any job. Doesn’t matter whether it’s cleaning vomit after a basketball game or working at a group home - my uterus renders me a non human.
If I do lose my apartment, I’ll make the news in the best way I can though.
You may just want the leave the country at this point my dude
Running away and giving up. Is cowardice. Don’t give these people that pleasure. We must rise n fight back. Collect yourself, prepare and just be ready. 1860s isn’t far off and if its our turn to lead a revolution then so be.
Fuck the traitor rapist felon Donald Trump. Dude deserves capital punishment for treason.
That’s a reasonable thing to say, but not to trans people who are being actively persecuted by the US government. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be in that situation and it is the responsibility of society to stand up for trans people.
I disagree.
If you’re being targeted then you fight back. Im willing to fight and die for their freedoms but they aren’t. So people will ask themselves why should I fight for them if they dont even wanna fight but run away? Cowardice from any group is unacceptable.
Literally just bunker down and prepare yourself fleeing somewhere isn’t gonna be any better considering how so many countries are at war and there is civil unrest.
But to each their own. When the revolution begins I’ll be there. I bend the knee to no traitor fascist rapist.
Running away and giving up. Is cowardice.
Standing proud and dying in a gutter and being forgotten because a cop decided to break your skull open for the fun of it is not courage either.
I really want to keep my books. I love my books and leaving them behind would feel like death. I’ve thought about Costa Rica or a few other places. The cost of the plane ticket is unrealistic; the likelihood of getting the books over is doubtful.
I’ve realized that I probably won’t survive this administration, and I’m just going to go down fighting. I lost everything I care about, and the least I can do is try to make it so no one lives a life like mine again.
Uhaul -> Canada
Canada doesn’t want poor (let alone trans) refugees any more than any other country wants poor refugees. It’s a much more progressive country than many, but “just leave” isn’t any more of a realistic option for persecuted groups under Trump than it was for the same groups under Hitler.
Are they actually taking anyone though? Everywhere I’ve looked has been like “the us isn’t actively killing LGBT people, so we don’t count it as refugee.”
I also just simply do not have the liquid resources. I can sell some stuff - but what then? Sleep on the streets in a country I’ve never lived in before? I guess people cross the Darien gap, but I’m also just physiologically broken now. My nervous system doesn’t work correctly - I have experienced actual torture. I can’t organize a plan to finish my graduate degree, much less get across a National border.
Wait it out for as long as possible, there’s a non- zero chance that you will be accepted for asylum in the future if things keep going the way they are.
Well, by your own words the alternative is death. So if you truly believe that you won’t survive this administration then yeah, hop across the border as a tourist and just don’t leave.
So 5.3 million Americans are going to be given less incentive to work and less to lose?
This cunts daddy paid for his college were he bought his degree of course he lacks empathy for normal hard working people
I don’t know how anyone can be optimistic about this economy. This isn’t death by a million little cuts. we are headed for an unprecedented economic depression.
The guillotine got applied to the economy instead of the… Proper target…
This ain’t nazi sympathizing Reddit bro - you’re allowed to say that a treasonous Russian asset in our government deserves to be executed by guillotine, even if somehow that treasonous Russian asset is the president.
Time for the under the table economy to rise sgain
💯
Another benefit is no income tax on under the table income
The better, correct term is, “resuming regular collection.” This is just what is expected no? The abnormal behaviour was the pause on repayments. Which contextually made sense.
If I default on a loan, a bank can totally garnish my wages if I do not or refuse to pay it back. How is this any different? Was there ever an expectation of not paying back a loan they signed up on?
Hell, they could do much worse, a bank could recall the loan in full, and without means, to pay they could take all my assets by court order. This is not being done here. Which is much better. Worse case could be jail time which won’t happen here as far as I read here and elsewhere.
Not sure where you are from. You can declare bankruptcy and restructure a normal loan or take a full on credit penalty for the next decade which severely restricts you from borrowing. It depends on your state laws and what chapter you file under . Yes they can take assets to pay the loan but in some states certain assets are restricted from being part of payback. Student loans are not normal loans and are outright predatory. You cannot declare bankruptcy if you fall upon hard times to help make it more reasonable to payback if not eliminate it.
If someone wanted to have a decent career and life, and signed for some student loans not really grasping the implications, and now they’re subject to neo-slavery for the bulk of the part of their adult life when they’re even trying to get themselves established, that’s fucked. Especially since a lot of the time, the promised job security that was supposed to provide the income to pay back the loans hasn’t materialized, and a variety of interest and related fuckery have come into the picture to mean that they’re on a more or less neverending treadmill of servitude they didn’t sign up for.
There are wide varieties of scenarios where a democratic government is supposed to step in and realize that even though “the rules” are being followed, the outcome is horribly unjust, and they fix it. Forgiving student loan payments is one of the obvious ones of those in the modern day. “The rules” is just something we all made up.
Just because it’s written down, doesn’t make it right.
Roughly 2.9 million people who have student loans are age 62 or older. I’m very curious as to how many in that demographic are within this defaulted status. Mostly because any change in social security benefits for a retiree is life altering and if any significant portion of that group that’s defaulted is also this 62 or older group, the changes this will have a massive impact on the population. Retirees that get caught into money troubles not only brings them down, but usually the family that ultimately has to catch them from completely falling through the cracks.
If this affects retirees i hope they choose to protest with open carry in front of government buildings rather than letting themselves get homeless and starved to death.
Cant do that in a lot of states. CT, California, ny, and others.
What are they gonna do? Shoot at the armed people who have nothing to loose as they are destined to loose everything anyways?
Yes. That is exactly what they will do.
Cops are not military. They are poorly trained panic strike thugs and children.
Thanks, Obama!
/s <- you dropped this
Oh, thanks. I was looking for that
The US total population is about 340 million. Those 18 and older is about 254 million.
With 5.3 million defaulted, that means 1 of every 68 adults has defaulted on a student loan.
At any given time, a large grocery store has 1-5 people who defaulted on a student loan.
There is clearly something wrong with the US society with that many people who can’t pay for an education, which is needed to barely get a job.
Once again I’m happy to inform you that yes, it’s Ronald Reagan’s fault. Damn his evil soul.
In pants shitting fear of “Creating an Educated Proletariat” Reagan took our system of basically free college and turned it into this mess we have now.
(P.S.: If you piss on Ronald Reagan’s grave in California and are caught by police its a misdemeanor charge carrying a $1000 fine. I don’t know about you but I can budget for this particular bucket list item)
If you piss on Ronald Reagan’s grave in California and are caught by police its a misdemeanor charge carrying a $1000 fine.
I mean if I was a millionaire YouTuber who farms outrage, based somewhere other than the US, I know what I’d spend a hundred thousand on…
As it stands, I’m not American and don’t live in the US, so I can’t really partake in the fun. I hope some people do, though.
Joe Biden was the Senator most responsible for making those loans undismissible. There is plenty of blame to go around.
That would be relevant if Biden were currently president, and it would have been somewhat less relevant had Biden even been the Democratic nominee for president in 2024.
But Biden wasn’t even on the ballot. It’s almost completely irrelevant.
When people talk like this, it just reminds me of how they talked about Hillary for Trump’s entire first term.
It just gives off the air of bad faith. We’re talking about things that are happening right now and are relevant to millions of people. Former politicians can’t be anything except a diversion.
That would be relevant if Biden were currently president
LOL, is Reagan currently President? Read what I replied to before telling me if my comment is relevant.
- Reagan did this in the 1980s, Reagan as always, was a big source of modern issues in America.
“Yeah that makes sense, he was the 2nd worst Republican.”
- Biden did this in 2005, and was okay with it until recently.
“Why are you bringing up someone who’s no longer president? Why do you hate the guy who didn’t try hard enough to fix his mistakes?”
Weird how calling someone out from a while for their actions works, but not calling someone out for their actions.
My point was that the relevance of Reagan and Biden go hand in hand. If one is relevant then they both are. We either examine the past and learn from it, or we continue to repeat the mistakes.
Exactly! Both are relevant to the topic.
There is one type of person who looks at a fucked up situation in the world, and things “Who can I talk about who is responsible?” They often pick the biggest, or most recent or relevant target.
There’s another type of person who looks at a fucked up situation in the world, and thinks “Can I connect this to Joe Biden or Kamala Harris in some way?”
It really looks a lot to me here like you are doing the second of those things. You’re allowed to, sure, just like we’re allowed to tell you that it’s a weird thing to do.
Have I said anything that’s not true?
I have no particular personal animosity towards Biden or Harris, except perhaps their handling of the 2024 campaign - and I put that way more on Biden than Harris. I do, however, think that Democrats need to accept that they lost to Trump twice now and start grappling with the question of how they failed so spectacularly. It’s easy to blame MAGA and voter apathy, but how does that lead to better outcomes in the future? What led to the sociological problems that gave rise to the far right in the first place? How did a populace that voted in the first black president suddenly become so racist and bigoted again? Maybe we can blame Republican disinformation, but I don’t see that going away any time soon. The question we have to ask is, what did Democrats do, or not do, that contributed or made things easier for the Republicans? That’s the important question, because it’s the one thing Democrats can actually do something about.
Have I said anything that’s not true?
According to logicbomb, you’re misrepresenting Biden’s involvement with the student loan bill you’re talking about. Was the 2005 bill the one you were talking about? What was in it that you didn’t like and how was Biden responsible for that part of it?
Joe Biden forgave half a trillion dollars worth of student loan debt, the Supreme Court told him he couldn’t, and he still managed to get a couple of hundred billion forgiven.
All this stuff Trump is now undoing is stuff that Biden did. All these people having their wages garnished, are suddenly having problems because of Biden’s people losing the election.
I don’t know what or when you’re talking about here although I assume it is roughly accurate. Biden did all kinds of fucked up stuff from supporting segregation to supporting Clinton’s neoliberalism to the Iraq War and all of it, sure. Israel too, even up to the present day. If you want to tell me we need to get rid of every one of those 1990s Democrats I will 100% agree with you because they are fucking everything up. Biden somehow turned himself into not one of them (except on Israel) even though he was the same age.
I think people are still attacking Biden just out of habit at this point, because what’s done is done. But if his party had won, this particular instance of bullshit (along with an incredible amount more) would not be happening. That’s what is most relevant here. If you want to look at a broader scale, then let’s say that if not for Reagan and for a generation of young people too cool to vote for Democrats because they thought it would help end the Vietnam War if they stopped voting, maybe we’d still be able to support a family on a single income and go to the doctor when we needed to.
Joe Biden forgave half a trillion dollars worth of student loan debt
President Joe Biden did. Senator Joe Biden was responsible from preventing that debt from being forgiven through bankruptcy. It’s absolutely true that Biden doesn’t get enough credit for his progress as President. It’s also true that certain supporters don’t want him held to account for what he did as a Senator.
All this stuff Trump is now undoing is stuff that Biden did.
Biden was a shitty Senator and a much better President. Trump is a demon from the pits of hell surrounded by much smarter demons than himself and committed to destroying everything good and beautiful in the world.
I think people are still attacking Biden just out of habit at this point.
I’m not attacking anyone, just calling balls and strikes. The rise of fascism today is a direct result of the neoliberalism of yesterday, and the reign of fascism will last until the Democratic party turns into something capable of defeating it. That, and a desire for truth to matter, are what motivates me to speak honestly about Democrats.
Yeah, I generally agree with all of this. It’s a little confusing to me because:
Biden was a shitty Senator and a much better President.
the reign of fascism will last until the Democratic party turns into something capable of defeating it
Is a weird juxtaposition. If someone in the Democratic party did turn himself on a personal level into something capable of going good things, why would you want to emphasize how shit he was 30 years ago? I mean, it is true, but also, these were some of the things that a lot of people used to attack him and pretend he wasn’t good now and help lay the electoral groundwork for the horrors we’ve got going on now.
I feel like if you’re motivated to speak honestly, but you’re only speaking about one side of the equation and the one that was less relevant and in fact actively misleading in the election, that’s dishonest. Maybe not. Maybe I am just sensitive about it because of the quantity and volume and variety of dishonest stuff that was levied at him. But that’s where I am coming from in it, at least.
If someone in the Democratic party did turn himself on a personal level into something capable of going good things, why would you want to emphasize how shit he was 30 years ago?
Much better than shit is still a far cry from being ready to deal with a rising fascist movement. I knew it would be a disaster the moment Biden won the 2020 primary. Still, he did surprise me in a whole lot of positive ways, and credit where credit is due.
Speaking only of winning elections and nothing else, the problem the Democrats have electorally is that there is no way to package and sell their neoliberalism. To a right minded policy wonk, Democrats are always the right choice, but most voters aren’t policy wonks.
Getting elected requires a strong narrative. The story Democrats offer is “history is over and it’s all minor improvements from here”. That works OK when things are good, but when people are struggling it comes across very differently. Hillary’s “America is already great!” is a perfect example, but she has a real nack for being out of touch. The only time Democrats have a narrative is when Republicans do something awful, which requires Republicans to be in power. This, we keep flipping parties.
Trump’s narrative in 2024 looked a whole lot more like the classic hero’s journey than I have seen in 50 years. Attacked relentlessly from all sides with his demise predicted constantly, he somehow kept moving forward. Meanwhile, I don’t know what the hell to make of Kamala’s story.
The usual split is a lot less dramatic but, Republicans always have a narrative with heroes and villains, and Democrats rarely do. People want to know why productivity goes up and up and life just keeps getting harder. The Republicans offer an answer, it’s the immigrants, or it’s trans people in the showers with your kid, or it’s DEI treating you unfairly. Democrats have a much better and truer answer, but they won’t articulate it because the oligarchs who fund them won’t like it. So, the answer from Democrats is a whimper.
The only time Democrats have a narrative is when Republicans do something awful, which requires Republicans to be in power.
Biden’s narrative was that we need to have a big raise in corporate taxes, spend almost a trillion dollars finally doing something about climate change, bring domestic manufacturing back to the US and give people working-class jobs again. I sort of suspect that’s why the corporate press was so silent about the good things he did, and so aggressive and loud about the various attacks against him (like that inflation was all his fault, things like that that would resonate with the voters). It’s practically a built-in reflex to them at this point: They know the Republican will set the economy on fire, but they’ll be fine even if some other people won’t be, so by simply setting a line that if anyone crosses them, they will tank that person’s chances even if they’re otherwise doing some good things (and even if doing those things is really necessary for the US to keep functioning) (and even if the alternative is active widespread destruction), they keep teaching the lessons that people in power need to have taught to them. So they can keep control.
You’re not wrong in most of your analysis, I don’t think. But the Democrats didn’t get this way overnight or by accident. It happened on purpose, through natural selection and legalized bribery and threat. And, also, any time they do do something good, someone like you comes along and makes sure to shit all over it and “call balls and strikes” and try to “put it in context” and try to cancel it back out again.
There’s a whole other way to respond to blaming Reagan which is “yeah sure but we have a lot of momentum in people who are sick to death of the same bullshit, Bernie and AOC are drawing record crowds and there’s not even any kind of election going on that would motivate it, we actually probably have a chance at building a framework to do something about this whole broken system. Certainly Trump trying to gut the country for its fixtures and send everyone to ultra-prison will galvanize some opposition, let’s do something with it.”
But no. Instead it’s just this drumbeat of “whoa whoa whoa if you’re talking about Reagan let’s shit on Biden instead” “Democrats are shit” “let’s get discouraged” “it’s all his fault” “no wonder people aren’t excited” “neoliberalism” “doesn’t have a story” “get sad” “it’s all his fault” “remember when he betrayed you?” “most voters aren’t policy wonks” in big discouraging paragraphs.
There’s always something you can dig up, to do it with. And in the end, isn’t demotivating any kind of action or hope or credit for good things, the most important thing?
