Biden delivered remarks from the Oval Office outlining his decision not to seek reelection, his first on-camera remarks since making that announcement on Sunday. In addition to explaining why he is ending his candidacy, he listed off his priorities for his remaining time as president.
“And I’m going to call for Supreme Court reform, because this is critical to our democracy,” Biden said.
Multiple outlets have reported that Biden is considering proposals to establish term limits for Supreme Court justices and an enforceable ethics code for those on the high court.
He should work on all of these:
Term limits for Supreme Court
Abolish Electoral college
Restrictions on corporate real estate investing
Forgive student loans
Restrictions on members of government trading stocks
He’s been working on #4 pretty consistently at least
What’s the average amount of student loan forgiveness that students have received? Do you think it is more or less than a months rent?
Unfortunately blanket student loan forgiveness keeps getting blocked by republicans in congress or judges they’ve appointed. They’ve only been able to provide relief to those who need it most. I know I haven’t gotten any. But that’s why average isn’t a great metric to use here-- I don’t need it, others do. Not to mention, average in terms of what-- absolute monetary value? Proportion of money received compared to total loan balance? Compared to original loan balance before interest?
Because I’m bored though, I’ll humor you.
Total direct loan forgiveness (not counting repayment pauses during covid or other relief measures): $167 billion
Total US outstanding student loan debt: $1.77 trillion
Total US outstanding student loan borrowers: 42.8 million
Average student loan debt per outstanding borrower: ~$40k (same source as above)
Total percentage of debt cancelled: 167m/1770m = 9.4%
Average debt relief per person: $3,900 (!)
So yes, it’s paid for multiple months worth of rent, and relieved about 10% of everyone’s debt on average! Better than I expected.
The first two of those will require constitutional amendments. That’s a years-long process.
Better get started then
The best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago. The second best time is today.
They need to get on it!
Hopefully Kamala would continue that process
Not really. There’s a popular vote interstate compact that is designed to bypass a constitutional amendment. Basically, the law says that once enough states agree to it, meaning to total electoral votes reaches 270, their votes go for whichever candidate won the popular vote.
I am well familiar with that one, but that is a state-level endeavor, and I’m not sure that Biden, as a federal office-holder, should be involved in that.
He could encourage states to join
There’s already a state-level effort on #2 that’s pretty far along: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
Ranked choice voting in all national elections.
Electoral districts by GIS hexagon mapping.
NTRA, National Railroad Trackage Rights Act, which allows any railroad to run on any other railroad’s trackage and service any customer to promote competition.
Death penalty for any self-identified religious person violating any rule in their religion.
1 million dollar fine for each falsehood or misleading statement on broadcast media, including entertainment and drama. Normalizing lying has to stop.
All theft and burglary convictions, including white collar, require making whole of all consequences to the victims instead of incarceration.
National Police Registry (NPR) for all enforcement personnel.
That’s a wild list haha. You’re a dreamer.
Regarding RCV, it has to happen at the state level. I support that tho