taxing 100% networth of the top 50 billionaires will not wipe out student debt

[win win]

If you tax the top 50 billionaires their entire net worth, it won't be enough to wipe out all the student debt in the US. And that's a one time tax, not including future debts incurred. You would need to find more billionaires to tax? Do Sanders supporters care? Or they just want to feel good about empty promises?

[Mechavada]

If you tax the top 50 billionaires their entire net worth, it won't be enough to wipe out all the student debt in the US. And that's a one time tax, not including future debts incurred. You would need to find more billionaires to tax? Do Sanders supporters care? Or they just want to feel good about empty promises?

I guess that's a fair point.  What would you do about it?

[atheist4thecause]

The Student Loan Debt issue needs to be separated into multiple issues. There are the people who went to school, built up debt and then couldn't get a job, can't go bankrupt to get rid of the debt and have no way of ever paying back the debt. There needs to be some sort of debt forgiveness option for these people. Right now, the Loan Forgiveness program is nearly useless.

Then there are others who are currently going to school or are recently out of school and found a job. These people will be able to pay back their debt eventually. These people shouldn't qualify for debt forgiveness. Why should they? They benefited from going to school, they usually make good money or will eventually, and so they should pay their own debt back. Giving these people debt forgiveness is really just a way to benefit the upper middle class and rich even more.

What could be done? Well, don't put too much into the details I'm just quickly coming up with something off the top of my head, but you could say anybody who makes less than X amount and is over X years-old can have their debt forgiven, or can have X amount of debt forgiven per year. The government would pay the loan off.

Maybe the government could tax any school charging over X amount/year/student for tuition and that could be put towards paying off debt. Right now, some schools are getting insanely rich while other schools have a tough time surviving.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

If you tax the top 50 billionaires their entire net worth, it won't be enough to wipe out all the student debt in the US.

The Forbes 400: The Definitive Ranking Of The Wealthiest Americans (October 2, 2019)

Amid a year of big gains and big losses, The Forbes 400 richest Americans are worth a record-breaking $2.96 trillion, up 2.2% from 2018.

Wikipedia: Student debt

As of 2018, a total of 44.2 Million borrowers now owe a total of over $1.5 Trillion in student debt.

[bagelman]

Taxing 100% of the net worth of the top 50 billionaires will wipe out the fortunes of the top 50 billionaires, an ends of itself.

[President Johnson]

Yes, a billionaire/wealth tax is something that looks good on paper for some people, but it (1) doesn't work in pratice and (2) doesn't raise as much revenue to pay for stuff folks on the left are proposing. It's also worth noting that the concept "taxing billionaires out of existence" doesn't make a lot sense to begin with, since their capitol is often in companies that employ thousands of people. And turn them over to the state entirely isn't healthy either.

[Antonio the Sixth]

If you tax the top 50 billionaires their entire net worth, it won't be enough to wipe out all the student debt in the US.

The Forbes 400: The Definitive Ranking Of The Wealthiest Americans (October 2, 2019)

Amid a year of big gains and big losses, The Forbes 400 richest Americans are worth a record-breaking $2.96 trillion, up 2.2% from 2018.

Wikipedia: Student debt

As of 2018, a total of 44.2 Million borrowers now owe a total of over $1.5 Trillion in student debt.

^^^

All that means is that we need to tax more billionaires.

[T'Chenka]

I hate to defend Sanders, but a problem being difficult to solve and being complex should have little or no bearing on how big we perceive the problem to be, or how we measure the need to solve the problem somehow. Maybe his plan is stupid, maybe not. I don't support it. He's on the right track by at least attempting to solve a problem that IMO should be looked at and possibly fixed. I'll give him that.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I know this might not be the fiscally wisest course of action, but since the federal government is the biggest creditor for student debt, it doesn't actually have to have any means of fixing the problem other than just...well...forgiving some or all of the debt.

[afleitch]

Agreed. The worst thing neoliberalism did some 30-40 years ago was tie in the public consciousness understanding national debt and government spending to 'just like the home' or 'like a small business.' When in reality countries can wipe out debts or take, in some cases, two centuries to pay them off. Wiping out student debt isn't going to harm the economy, certainly no worse than forcing what will soon by the vast majority of the working population to pay them off. Rather than spend it to stimulate the economy.

[Hermit For Peace]

How about if Big business and Big Pharma and Big pocketbooks of all types start growing a conscience.

How about these large money-making entities start giving back to the country they use all sorts of resources from? How about they start willingly and voluntarily help solve the homeless problem, the student debt problem, the high cost of education problem, the high cost of drugs problem.

I mean, many of them (and I'm being kind by saying many instead of most) rip off the American public in huge ways by the financial practices they entertain. When do they start giving back to the rich country that has given them such incredible opportunities for wealth making?

Grow a conscience I say and start giving back.

[atheist4thecause]

How about if Big business and Big Pharma and Big pocketbooks of all types start growing a conscience.

How about these large money-making entities start giving back to the country they use all sorts of resources from? How about they start willingly and voluntarily help solve the homeless problem, the student debt problem, the high cost of education problem, the high cost of drugs problem.

I mean, many of them (and I'm being kind by saying many instead of most) rip off the American public in huge ways by the financial practices they entertain. When do they start giving back to the rich country that has given them such incredible opportunities for wealth making?

Grow a conscience I say and start giving back.

Treating businesses and rich people as evil is part of the problem. Businesses that create jobs and offer products/services are not just ripping the public off, they are giving something in return for the money they are getting. Americans benefit greatly from the products/services that businesses create. The reason Progressives can't solve our problems is because they vilify everybody with money.

[RINO Tom]

How about if Big business and Big Pharma and Big pocketbooks of all types start growing a conscience.

How about these large money-making entities start giving back to the country they use all sorts of resources from? How about they start willingly and voluntarily help solve the homeless problem, the student debt problem, the high cost of education problem, the high cost of drugs problem.

I mean, many of them (and I'm being kind by saying many instead of most) rip off the American public in huge ways by the financial practices they entertain. When do they start giving back to the rich country that has given them such incredible opportunities for wealth making?

Grow a conscience I say and start giving back.

This bold sentence just seems absurd to me ... they don't all meet in some room and come up with collective values that they all share.  Each and every executive and leadership team in every industry is somewhat at will to their competitors' actions and outlooks, and it's a loop.  The old, "CEOs shouldn't make this much," for example, requires every company to agree not to poach a more talented CEO by offering him or her more money.  And companies do a ton of that stuff already.  The fact that they all have to play the game of trying to attract the best talent as employees - inevitably leading to these high salaries, high profits and "greedy" reputations - does not take away from that.  Charity, environmental initiatives, diversity initiatives, community involvement, etc. are under taken by corporations and businesses all across the country, and this is in addition to the other more obvious economic benefits they provide the communities they're in.

If you want to argue that certain industries like "big pharma" should have additional regulations in place or a change to the system in which they operate, that is a worthy conversation to have, but industries - and even companies - do not have a collective conscience.  They're made up of people who are as diverse as any other walk of life, and they often take the actions they take with some in the leadership team disagreeing and voicing dissenting opinions.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

No one is asking to wipe out total student debt, but college students should have a helping hand as to get rid of debt. It should be charged as a Bankruptcy petition. Right now, it is a hardship discharge for disabled people who are totally disabled and for Seniors. Grad schools loans should be paid back

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

No one is asking to wipe out total student debt,

[Del Tachi]

Put student loans back in the private market where it belongs and force universities to compete for students by lowering their prices instead of letting them rob the federal government of what is essentially "free money" to build hotel-style dorms and hike administrator pay. 

We can expand Pell grants for students who need them (a sliding scale to determine grant awards for students up to 250% of the FPL sounds good to me) and give grants to states to promise debt-free, public four-year education to in-state, full-time undergraduate students who commit to working part-time while in school and paying at least a portion of their tuition each year (once again, based on a sliding scale with income from private grants/scholarships counting toward the total).  Private, corporate investment can be used to augment these state grants (this is the model that is letting a lot of states offer free community college now).

For example, let's say a computer science major starts out at his local state school and decides he wants to go the debt-free route.  Tuition for him is $8,000/semester.  Working through his school's career center, he finds a 15 hr/wk part-time job/internship with a local tech startup.  He's paid $15/hr.  The school commits to considering his tuition paid-in-full if he contributes 33% of the income from his part-time job ($3,900/yr) plus a family contribution based on his parent's income (assume family of 4 with $65k/yr makes an annual contribution of 8 percent:  $5,200).  Scholarships and grants would also be applied at this stage (his family benefits from an expanded Pell Grant program, since they're right below the mark at 248% FPL).  Assume he has $1,000/semester in additional grant/scholarship awards.  So he pays $3,550 in tuition payments (the calculated contribution less his $1,000 scholarship) and the school says he's off-the-hook for the remaining $3,450/semester.  This amount is being subsidized by his employer (which is owned by a major venture capitalist firm who has an agreement with the University) at $2,000/semester.  The remaining $1,450 is eaten by the University with help from a taxpayer-funded debt-free college program.  The student has $8,000 in scholarships over four years, pays $28,400, his employer pays $62,800 ($46,800 in salary; $16,000 in direct payments to the university), and the taxpayer covers the remaining $11,600 as the cost of producing a debt-free college graduate.  The state programs are partially financed by a federal block grant whose income is generated from a new tax on the largest private university endowments.