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I live a few miles from Joe. Over the years, I’ve had friends who collected weapons- mainly hunters. But I know of no one with a full-on arsenal. Well, maybe my neighbor, who is ex-military. Myself, I considered purchasing a handgun after I became widowed. Living alone and all that. Then two things occurred to me. 1. I live in one of the safest cities in the US. My neighborhood is boring to the point of actually turning a watching as a police car cruised up the street. Why would I need one? 2. I did some research on gun control while in school. What I found was legal gun owners were 19 times more likely to injure or kill someone- themselves or others- by accident, suicide or murder- in their own homes than those who don’t arm up. And I have grandbabies now, so it’s just not an option. One thing, though….shooting IS a hoot.
2nd comment- I’ve lived in NoCal my entire life and have never met any Klan types or those individuals with relatives in the KKK.
I guess I live a very sheltered life.
Edit: I can honestly say that if I lived in the sticks, say California gold rush country I would own firearms, most likely a Glock and a shotgun. Police response times can be very long in those areas.
This is all I needed to know about Bernie.
“It makes no sense that students and their parents pay higher interest rates for college than they pay for car loans or housing mortgages.”
— Sanders, post on Twitter, Oct. 15, 2015
Clueless. Does he know the correlation between risk and lending in banking?
Ozone,
Remember, those student loans are secured by the Federal government, so they hold less risk than car and home loans. But even if we set that aside, I’m sure Sanders knows the way the competitive laws of motion work in capitalist economics, and that risk is a major factor, as is the need for a tangible, recoverable asset. He knows this.
He was objecting to the immorality of this. He was talking in terms of social justice, not strict Econ101. As in, it shouldn’t be the case that something as vital for kids as a college education generates a higher loan percentage than a car or a home. Education shouldn’t be a commodity, or reified, etc.
Also, I know conservative media had a field day after his tweet, but no one should ever pay one second’s attention to right-wingers on economics to begin with. They actually believe slashing taxes for rich people “creates jobs” and brings in more revenue to the Treasury. Talk about economic illiteracy. And then to make it even worse, they call for slashing spending in the middle of a recession or depression.
If right-wingers were ever allowed to implement their full economic agenda, without restraints, the capitalist system would collapse and we’d have blood in the streets. Now, as mentioned, I definitely want capitalism to die, but I don’t want it to die that way, with all of that suffering. We need to peacefully vote it out of existence instead.
In short, Ozone, I think you’re misreading Bernie’s tweet.
No, Billy, I don’t think I am. I mean, the tweet was Trumpian. Haha!
It’s pretty basic in any economy…the higher the risk, the higher the interest rate. I mean, look at the payday loans (which should be abolished, IMO)…Houses and cars are collateral. So if you don’t pay it back, which is immoral under most circumstances, you lose the house or the car.
Another factor…parental income is always part of the equation. Up to age 24. That’s part of the FAFSA application process. I think you know that there are public and private student loans. And correct me if I’m wrong, but those secured by the Feds can’t be discharged through bankruptcy.
This may surprise you, but I’m all for increasing taxes on the rich (a million and up on income unless it’s a small-medium family biz. They can easily handle it. I’m also for slashing taxes on the middle class if not anything more than spending power. Singles too. I started filing single last year and I got hammered pretty good. I’m not a guy that needs or wants a lot, but still…I’d contribute more to the economy if my tax rate was a bit less…what is it, 40% of the country is single? The downside is I’d be addicted to Amazon Prime.
This is all I needed to know about Bernie.
It makes no sense that students and their parents pay higher interest rates for college than they pay for car loans or housing mortgages.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 15, 2015
Clueless. Does he know the correlation between risk and lending in banking?
Thing about Bernie? He lost. If the Dems really had moved to the left (as you say), he would have won, easily. But the Democratic Party made sure he didn’t, and the Media helped them to boot.
I’m also guessing you and I will disagree about this, but maybe not. Sanders didn’t even run that far to the left in his campaign — not by historical standards. I think he channeled FDR and his New Deal and updated it for 2017. Nothing to the left of that. As in, roughly “social democrat,” not “socialist,” which means replacing capitalism. Bernie never give a whiff of a hint of a remote suggestion of a future possibility of that.
(And I wish SOMEONE would!! :>)
FDR, in his day, split the difference between actual socialists, plus small “c” communists and the establishment, which was center-right. His New Deal was a “compromise,” though it’s likely that today’s right-wingers see him as “far left.” He was solidly center-left in his own time. He had to look waaaay to his left to find the “far left,” etc.
And Sanders couldn’t even win over the Democratic Party faithful with a return to FDR.
From where I sit, the Dems have moved steadily rightward for close to fifty years. The only area where they’ve moved to the left is on “social inclusion” issues. What some might call “identity politics.” That’s it. Everything else — war, the economy, empire, capitalism, the surveillance state, etc. etc. — it’s been steadily rightward.
FDR never wanted to replace capitalism. He wanted social justice. Then ironically, he locked up Japanese Americans.
Bernie was\is clueless. I think even to leftists like you. His sole argument was “free stuff,” essentially. Tuition, medical care, school lunches…even cars, maybe? To a kid facing $100k in student loans, I can see his allure. It cost me over $200k to put my daughters through school (tuition, housing, books, etc- they got jobs to pay for food and entertainment) …one public, one private. But that front end cost would have been on the back end in the form of crushing taxes for my household.
Let me ask the board…what if they capped student loans at $25K?
Edit- What the hell is a “small c communist”?
