Day: August 25, 2022

Closing Thought–25Aug22

We all have our opinion of what is happening in the state of Florida…..I would like to talk about the election that just happened….the rest can wait for a later post/s

First there is the representative that is under sex crimes investigation wins his….Matt Gaetz…..

Despite the federal sex trafficking investigation he’s facing, Matt Gaetz easily won his primary Tuesday night in Florida. The Republican congressman had 67.5% of the vote with 92% of the vote in, NBC News reports. His main GOP challenger, former FedEx exec Mark Lombardo, had 26.3%. Gaetz went hard on campaigning as well as on ads, spending $1.1 million, and he was endorsed by former President Trump. The district is among Florida’s most conservative; Trump carried it in the last presidential election by more than 33 percentage points. That means Gaetz is likely to be re-elected in the general, the Hill reports.

I am trying to wrap my head around the hypocrisy here……a Dem senator pretended to touch a woman’s breast and he is forced to resign and yet someone that may well have committed sex crimes wins his primary.

Florida is the land to contradictions…..like that in Central Florida….

The US has its first Gen Z winner of a congressional primary, NPR reports. Maxwell Frost, a progressive activist, is at 25 just old enough to serve in the House of Representatives, and he won the Democratic primary to do so in a solidly blue district in Orlando, Fla., meaning he’s also likely to win in the general election this fall. Members of Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, were able to run for Congress for the first time in this election, and Frost, who has worked as an organizer and activist with the ACLU and March For Our Lives, is one of the first to do so. At least one other Gen Z candidate, former Trump White House aide Karoline Leavitt, is also running in the midterms in New Hampshire, which holds its primaries next month.

Frost, whose campaign issues include the cancelation of student debt, stopping gun violence, Medicare for All, and Green New Deal, said in a statement following his victory, “Today’s election is proof that Central Florida’s working families want representation that has the courage to ask for more. I share this victory with the nurses, forklift drivers, teachers, caregivers, social workers, farmers, union organizers, cashiers, and other members of this vibrant community who supported this campaign.” He’ll face off with Republican military veteran Calvin Wimbish to fill the seat of Rep. Val Demings, who is running for Senate, ABC News reports.

It would be great to have another progressive in the House….but we need many more for a difference to be made.

Florida is interesting from a political perspective…..

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I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Did Students Win?

For several years there has been a push to do something about all the massive student debt…..like forgive some or all of the debt that going to college has heaped upon the student.

Progressive been at the forefront of the proposals…..and Biden needs a win to boost his numbers and help Dems with the mid-terms.

And presto change-o the Dems come through…..

On Wednesday President Biden made good on his campaign promise to ease the burden of federal student loan debt. Under Biden’s plan, many Americans will be granted $10,000 in debt cancellation; those with the greatest financial need could see an additional $10,000 wiped away. The specifics, per a tweet from the president and the AP:

  • Borrowers who earn less than $125,000 a year, or families earning less than $250,000, will be eligible for the $10,000 loan forgiveness. For recipients of Pell Grants, which are reserved for undergraduates with the most significant financial need, the federal government will cancel up to an additional $10,000 in federal loan debt.
  • Biden also extended a pause on federal student loan payments for what the White House calls the “final time” through the end of 2022.
  • If his plan survives legal challenges that are almost certain to come, it could offer a windfall to a swath of the nation in the run-up to this fall’s midterm elections. More than 43 million people have federal student debt, with an average balance of $37,667, according to federal data.
  • Nearly a third of borrowers owe less than $10,000, and about half owe less than $20,000. The White House estimates that Biden’s announcement would erase the federal student debt of about 20 million people.
  • Proponents say cancellation will narrow the racial wealth gap—Black students are more likely to borrow federal student loans and at higher amounts than others. Four years after earning bachelor’s degrees, Black borrowers owe an average of nearly $25,000 more than their white peers, according to a Brookings Institution study.
  • The Washington Post cites previous estimates that put the cost of canceling $10,000 per borrower at about $230 billion; that doesn’t include the Pell Grant relief.
  • CNN points out the problem of college affordability is a big one that’s unchanged by today’s announcement. To wit, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found total federal student loan debt, currently at $1.6 trillion, will be back at that level within four years of wiping out $10,000 per borrowers

This will be good news for most of those that accrued the massive debt to get their education.

It is a good start but I do think it is not enough.

If they want to protect students then try doing something about the predatory lending practices ….but that is not happening because of the cash that pays for a do-nothing Congress.

At least $10,000 of debt will be canceled…..

Whatcha think?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”