The Biden administration gets an F- on fiscal policy.
The student loan one.. woof. The timing is rough. I know it’s not popular to say, but all those dollars not going to loans are going to contribute to inflation.
My impression of the US is that it's already too far gone into various collapses to really recover, but I don't know what that means for its future.
The main problem with young people financially establishing themselves isn't the loans, it is their choice in careers/degrees.
That was the post above me in the tree.
I can pour gas on house fire, but that doesn't mean it depends on the gas.
The federal government receives about $70.3 billion in payments for student debt per year[1]. In relation to the 4.4 Trillion in revenue that is about 1.5% of revenue.
What is more meaningful is the total amount forgiven, which is around 300 billion of debt of the students balance sheets, essentially immediately [2]
That is about 7% of the entire federal revenue.
Essentially folks have 70 billion more to spend this year, and also don't need to worry about payments on 300 billion in coming years.
The numbers being thrown around during the pandemic are truly staggering and people don't have the context to judge their size in relation to federal revenue.
For example, the US spent about $11 Trillion on pandemic relief. That was more than 3 times federal revenue in 2020, which was already a trillion dollars over budget.
https://slate.com/business/2021/03/student-loan-total-annual... https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2022/8/23/forgi... https://www.covidmoneytracker.org/
One of the problems is labor shortages.
We've had policies that have led to the highest prison population and incarceration rate in the western world. There's been little effort on making those in prison employable. 2 million prisoners, many non violent stuck there unable to help with the massive problem society has post COVID. We could fix this to everyone's benefit.
Daycare. It allows a small number of adults to enable a much larger number to work. There's no federally funded program towards this yet it's a massive societal force multiplier. Especially for single parents.
It's amazing to think we have corporations complaining about labor shortages who also back politicians that promote policies that create labor shortages.
Beyond helping to fund daycare for the parents' sake, we should recognize that early childhood education workers are often paid less than a living wage and finding workers is very challenging. The government should fund living wages as well as subsidies for the parents.
Early childhood education is important for child development, and investing in that is investing in the economy.
The next day, October 12th: "I'm concerned about the loss of adequate liquidity in treasuries"
Keeping a pause on student loan payments during a time of high inflation and record low employment is absolutely asinine.
I also think that most people that think our infrastructure is bad haven’t been outside the United States. Our roads - especially our interstate system - are among the best in the world. Where we have problems is usually down on the state or lower level due to misallocation of funds.
Our internet isn’t great, but Starlink has been a real kick in the pants to other providers. Mass transit is lacking but that’s mostly due to people’s choice along with the sheer cost of building out such things in the US.
The entire government failed over 3 different administrations and numerous legislatures leading to this. No one wants to do what's necessary. They just want to score meaningless points for their team, meanwhile our lives continue to get worse.