JonnyF

I wonder how he can say this with a straight face ????. It's like Keith Richards telling people to end recreational drug use, or else.

So many reasons to leave California right now. What a mess that place is in. There is pretty much a traffic jam to get out at the moment as residents flee to saner states. Too many environmental laws, high taxes, virtue signalling "progressives" everywhere, loads of gun crime, high cost of living and worst of all, Harry and Meghan. Can't blame Ozzy. Welcome back to Blighty son, welcome back.

Soft power? Really? Reminds me of one of the big billboards near Phuket Airport at the first major set of lights as you turned right towards Phuket Town. It was an advert for a major seafood restaurant on the island and in massive letters about 6 foot high it proudly stated "The best cr@p in Phuket".????

The debt isn't eliminated. It's just the repayments are passed on to people who didn't receive the education the loan paid for and didn't agree to take on the debt. A bit like paying off everyone's mortgage and let people who rent foot the bill for it. Like Robin Hood in reverse. Steal from those who didn't receive an education to pay off the debts of lawyers who attended Harvard. Socialism. Biden style.

Yes it's public knowledge. No need to post links stating the obvious. However, students know the cost before they attend. It isn't sprung on them on the last day like some kind of nasty surprise. So if they know the cost and still choose to invest that amount in their future, they should pay what they agreed. There is no need for governments to start arbitrarily writing off agreed loans at taxpayers expense in order to gain favour with a particular demographic prior to elections. Free gifts for voters prior to elections is the type of thing that third world countries do. A bit like state sponsored raids of homes of political rivals.

You obviously presume way too much.

Yes my total amount owed at graduation was much lower than that which today's student's face, but I was fortunate enough to go to University during the latter stages of a long Conservative reign and they were looking after students relatively well (although working as a labourer on construction sites during the holidays was still necessary to keep my head above water). I certainly didn't expect the loans that I took out to be paid off by poor, low paid workers while I was reaping the benefits of a well paid job post graduation. I paid them off myself, and rightly so. This is an ill conceived policy by a failing government looking to secure votes. Shameful stuff.

Amusing ????. I hate to disappoint you but I am well aware of what a Pell grant is. I received a similar grant myself when I attended Uni in London in the 90's. However, unlike these students I paid back my own student debt when I went on to a career earning very good money, and I was happy to do so since I had agreed in good faith to pay off the loan and the degree had served me extremely well in terms of present/future earnings. I certainly wouldn't have supported the minimum wage waiter who was serving me my steak at the restaurant paying off my debt as I lorded it up on a Friday evening with workmates, simply because the left wing government was trying to buy my vote. But then, I have actual principles, unlike the virtue signallers who drop them as soon as it becomes expedient for them to do so ????.

So what is your point? That's simply even more debt to be paid off by ordinary, working class tax payers. These students already received the Pell grant and will most likely to go on to very well paid jobs. Much of the debt they agreed to pay back themselves will now be paid off by people on minimum wage jobs who never signed up to any debt and got no benefit from the loans. Is that supposed to make this ridiculous scheme OK? An absurd argument. Biden buying votes with other people's money. Wealth transfer from the working classes to the middle classes. But you pretend to think it's OK because you know it will help keep your boy in the white house (or more accurately, stop the Republicans winning back control of the US house of representatives in November). Hypocrisy in the extreme. All the left wing "Progressives/Socialists" supporting this wealth transfer from working to middle class remind me of that Groucho Marx quote "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them, well I have others". ???? 400 Billion. Wow.

Not really surprising. Pretty much every policy of this Junta since 2014 has been designed to make the mega rich richer and the ordinary man poorer.

Oh my mistake, I got the 7 and the 9 the wrong way around. So sorry ???? Yes, Biden taking taxes from poor working class people to re-distribute to wealthy, Democrat voting graduates is part of the topic. Leftists making the poor poorer and the rich richer and buying votes in the process. Care to justify it?

Whataboutery at it's finest. I'd have thought Biden would have matured by the age of 97, but it would appear not. I just feel sorry for the poor, working class in the US, seeing their taxes used by the Dems to buy votes from wealthy graduates on 6 figure salaries. I guess your socialist principles are "flexible" when it comes to buying votes to keep the lefties in power. Take from the poor and give to the rich. How kind. How socialist. Way to go - addressing inequality, "Progressive" style.

Yeah I'm sure those waitresses and cleaners earning minimum wage are thrilled that their tax dollars are paying off the debt of graduate couples earning 240,000 USD a year. But then, who is more likely to vote Democrat? I'd suggest the graduates that have been through the left leaning University system. Yes' let's give money to wealthy, young Democrat voters at the expense of the struggling working class. This is an ill thought out bribe for votes in November, and it's not even very subtle. Even a lot of Dems are disagreeing with it. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/embattled-us-democrats-riled-over-bidens-student-loan-forgiveness-2022-08-25/ The Dems are going full on banana republic. First raiding the homes of political rivals, now bribing voters. How terribly 'progressive'.

Ardern is ruining the place with her Woke politics and "single source of truth" nonsense. Couldn't pay me to live there. Australia is going the same way unfortunately. I'm more than happy here in Thailand.

The evidence you quoted (from 1980's America) to disprove the theory is inadequate.

37 Billion was the budget, not the amount spent.

Truss is a conservative. It is unrealistic for you to expect her to adopt some irresponsible lefty socialist 'tax and spend' policy to give 'free' money (collected from hardworking successful people) to any dosser on benefits who claims they need it. If you want that type of government, you must start praying Labour can get their act together, ditch the likes of Abbott and Rayner and make themselves electable again.

Correct.

No - your summary was the last sentence and completely inaccurate based on what was quoted in the rest of your post. Truss has a limited pot of money. She can't just magic it out of nowhere like some kind of Labour manifesto.

If the only thing affecting investment and productivity growth during that decade was the corporation tax rate, that might be conclusive. Of course, there are many factors at play. It is also possible that investment and productivity would have been much worse had the corporation tax not been cut.

With the greatest respect, this thread is about Truss and the UK leadership race. Not Reagan, Bush etc. The US in the 80's and the UK in 2022 are 2 different beasts.

It's too simplistic to blame it all on underfunding. Also it is completely partisan to suggest these issues were not present while Blair was in power - imagine if Blair had spent those billions investing in UK services instead of using it to murder people during his illegal war in the middle east. The NHS and it's funds are chronically mismanaged. The Police are doing the macarena at LGBT marches while people are being knifed around the corner, or busy arresting people for 'non crime hate incidents' or offensive tweets. Many people on social benefits are frauds who are perfectly capable of working. Just a few examples.

Your summary of his comments is inaccurate. What he is actually saying is correct. There is not enough money in the pot for everyone to get unlimited funds. People like me warned about the long term damage of lockdowns and now people like you are seeing it for yourself.

I support low tax across the board. Low tax for low/average earners encourages spending and drives the economy. Low tax for corporations encourages investment within the country, re-investment of profits into businesses and increased job creation/lower unemployment.

Because tax cuts boost the economy by putting more money into circulation. I'm guessing you favour the big state, borrow, tax and spend model so loved by the left and Corbynistas.