Tim Walz

That’s actually a really good way of looking at it, IMO.

I am in agreement with free school lunches and my state did vote to do it. Are you from Minnesota? Does your state do this? There aren’t many that do. We did the work and there was debate about how to get it done. That’s legislating. I was sharing the discussions that were taking place as the legislature was working through this issue. I am a Democrat and I attended the town hall of two Republican representatives. I will attend every time they do this because I learned things. My greater point was that it’s good to learn why people believe what they do and what their solutions might be. One of the things MN did learn is that universal free breakfast and lunch cost a lot more than what they budgeted for - $81 million the first two years and $95 million the next two. This was not a small thing to do. 

Not a one.

A new one I saw this morning is that every school has a school nurse and people can go to them for period products, don’t leave them in the bathroom. I could argue — no, schools don’t all have nurses or full-time nurses. That it is embarrassing to ask an adult. That you are going to use the product in the bathroom so it makes sense to put it there. But the truth is that person was not arguing in good faith. None of it is in good faith. It is arguing to argue, to muddle the waters, to create a whiff that there is a problem. That is all it is. It’s all they’ve got.

This is an excellent point. 

My school district issues Chrome Books to every single student in all schools.

Can most families could afford to buy that Chrome Book themselves?  Yes, they can. But the school has decided that use of that item is now part of the school environment and therefore is covered as part of the public school education in my district.

And no one is suggesting that it's an issue.  No one is saying "You should only give those out to kids with a household income of under $XX,000.00"

So, in my opinion, you're completely correct in asking why can't food just be part of the school environment covered by a public school district, too.  

I have to wonder if we’d have more young people go into teaching if they didn’t leave college with $30k in student loan debt. The starting salary already makes it hard for them to live independently. This is only going to get worse. A lot of people have been faithfully making payments on their student loans and then many years later they have more than paid off far more than the amount they borrowed, but they still have an incredible amount of debt. It seems like it would be better for the economy if they had that money to spend on other things. We made saving for our kids college one of our priorities. We were in a situation where we could. Had my husband’s parents not died when he was young, we couldn’t have done that. I am ok with someone else having their debt cancelled. It’d be great if people got outraged about tax cuts that benefit extremely wealthy people, but they don’t. People have been trained to turn on each other.

Newsweek headline…. It should.

 “Tim Walz's Approval Rating Surges as JD Vance's Falls”

Skilled labor should be taught at local community colleges, which are becoming free in more and more places (and should be in all, IMO). In fact much of it could and should still be taught in high school. I hate the for-profit vo-tech schools that prey on kids who just want to get a stable job, but saddle them with ridiculous amounts of debt in the process. 

But let's not perpetuate the myth that taxpayers will be paying off debt that is forgiven. What is being forgiven is the years and years of interest paid beyond the capital in those loans. That doesn't cost anyone anything.

That's not how it would work. I think Merge explained it very well. If more people would educate themselves on how it will be forgiven we wouldn't have all these people so against it.

A little more on the criticism of Walz and tampons and where they were placed...


The claim was also spread this week by former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, who claimed that Walz "forced 4th grade boys to have tampons in their school bathrooms."

However, Minneapolis Star-Tribune editorial writer Jill Burcum did some digging into this claim and found out that it simply doesn't hold water.

"So I did this thing called journalism (Megyn should give it try) where I did interviews, research," she wrote in response to Kelly on Twitter. "Turns out MN's new law does NOT mandate menstrual products in boys' bathrooms."

She then linked to an editorial at the Star-Tribune that explained exactly what the law in question does.

"The law’s actual language provides considerable flexibility for school districts to implement it, according to Deb Henton, the executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators," the editorial notes. "That might mean making these products available for free in various locations for all who need them, such as unisex bathrooms, girls’ bathrooms, the school nurse or the front office, but not necessarily in boys’ bathrooms. Henton, in an interview, lauded the 'local control' the law provides for implementation, and said she’s fielded no concerns about its rollout."

www.rawstory.com/i-did-this-thing-called-journalism-minnesota-writer-debunks-megyn-kellys-smear-of-walz/

I don't have mixed feelings at all about student loan debt. I don't agree with forgiving it. Any of it. Period.

With that said, I absolutely take issue with not only charging my son more while his taxes could potentially go toward repaying someone else's debt. The training he starts in November is $26,000 for 14 months of 5 hours a night, M-T classes. He will do this in addition to his job (where he is earning his apprentice hours.) To do his job he does need a car, and he needs a car to get to his classes, as well. He also provides his own tools (now- that was a ramp up.)

I find it absolutely ridiculous that federal student aid (paid for by tax payers) and state school financial aid (paid by tax payers) and goodness knows what I am not thinking about- has allowed the cost of college to balloon and skyrocket needlessly and everyone pays into the machine.

I find it ironic that so many people don't realize that people who go into the trades ALSO have to also pay for schooling, so they act as if "going into the trades" is a magic salve. My son works harder than I EVER have and his apprentice hours don't pay a living wage in our area, not even close. If he wants to ever earn more than that, or open his own business, etc, he has to get licensed. I cannot understand why a guy who has been working full time for the last 4.5 years has to have his parents income figure into his financial aid calculation. Further, based on the fact both his dad and I earn too much, he will only be able to take out about 8k in loan, and must pay the remaining 15k. But--- of course, they are happy to work with me on a parent plus loan. Eye roll.

If politicians (any of them) truly cared about making education affordable/attainable for people who are willing to work their asses off for it, the conversation wouldn't be about clearing or reducing debt of people that signed up for it and have benefited from it (or could have should have) for years and decades. It would be about reining in the cost and making education attainable to people who are willing to work for it. I have NO idea why the government considers me a payer for a 22 year old grown ass adult who is living a 22 year old gown ass adult life. 

When my daughter went to college (State School) her roommate (who I absolutely love and has made an amazing go of her education and career and is an awesome human) was in the same program, and because she had one parent that died, and another that was low income, had every penny of her schooling paid for. Including dorm and meal plan. My daughter is still paying off her (modest because we helped) loans. 

College and healthcare are huge business- they both provide for the wealthy (via all the other ways they are able to squirrel away money) and low income. Everyone else.... the overlap just crushes. That's where the rub is for me. My son has put years into his trade. He literally just finished plumbing an entire new dorm building with his mentor- yet for him to get the schooling for his license, he has to go into debt, whereas his peers who managed to get some girl pregnant have their schooling paid for. Granted, that's a whooooole other ball of wax.. but the point is- why would he get aid if he had a kid, but if he is a responsible person, he doesn't. 

Gah. It's Friday... I'm putting this stressor out of my mind.

I hear you. I have two college kids as well. And when I was in grad school (necessary for my job/major and also where I I took out my loans) we had some friends who got pregnant and then the man decided to go back to school because it was paid for. It was really frustrating. The part of me that thinks paying off loans (of people who have paid in for years, like myself —just to be clear, I haven’t gotten any loans paid off) is that it does help those of us in the middle. But I get what you are saying.

There definitely is no right answer and there is absolutely no way to make everyone happy. I am able to make peace with forgiving interest beyond the initial committed amount for accounts in good standing. Not a penny of principle should be forgiven (in my perfect world.)

These loans are predatory and make many very important roles (jobs) in our society undesirable because not only is the pay considered low- but the student loans often necessary to make it happen are crushing.

My daughter has fallen into every trap imaginable and she has been trying to pay off her loans for almost 10 years in good faith. But it isn't easy. And- not everyone makes it a mission in life to get that monkey off their back immediately, then it drags out, sadly, seemingly forever.

I'll help my son, because I planned for it before he was born, and I can. I recognize not everyone can. But education was a massive hurdle for me, and I had to figure it out from the dirt up. "Figuring it out" resulted in paths that delayed me, changed me, and ended up defining my life. I am incredibly salty that I never had the chance to have "the college experience" and choose my career path. Meanwhile, social media shows me how many of my high school peers squandered their opportunities and rail on about student loan forgiveness.

Education costs and housing are going to define this country for years to come. Supply and demand (and greed) keeps driving the price of education up up up. The government giving out money like Oprah has allowed them to do it, and the people that paid the price are the ones that had to take out big loans. I like seeing enrollment is down. Maybe the colleges will dial it back a little and the people that pay with real dollars- that *they* earned, will see a benefit.

You are absolutely right about that! I'm one of those who said I didn't like the idea of food being provided for my kids when we could afford it. But I didn't think about the technology being provided. And I also didn't think about how it could cost more money to run the eligibility program (several people have mentioned that in this thread) than to just provide food for everyone. I've learned some things from this thread, that's for sure. -- And although learning to use technology is important in today's world, personally I think food is more important. How about we cut back on providing iPad to every elementary child (my district) and put that money into providing food instead?