Then the doctors won't complain so much about setting reasonable prices for procedures.

Where does the money come from to pay back the doctors' student loans?

It comes from sick people. That's where.

WE are paying back those loans - through medical insurance, through medicare, etc..

You know who benefits most from lawyers being expensive? Guess. It's not people getting screwed by big businesses.

It's not like I can charge whatever I want to take your gallbladder out, or offer discount pricing or end of year specials.

Sanders' debt forgiveness plan requiring those doctors to lower their prices.

he cant seem to see enough grey to grok a sliding scale.

just take the bankruptcy protection away from these lenders. how they get that on guaranteed loans would be a mystery to me, but i know they bought that fair and square.
but just strip that shit.

i have a friend who went to northwestern law school in the 80's. he got a cheap bs, then took loans for law school. he was doing great till, 10 years in, he got cracked for weed.
he surrendered his license, lost his private practice, and went broke.
also got divorced and lost custody/visitation of his daughter.
he went through bankruptcy, but couldnt dump the loans for a now worthless golden sheepskin.
he is 56, and still paying on his paralegal salary. he has very little saved for retirement.
sorta his fault, but still. he could get it back now if he wanted to go through the hassle, but he is happy in the job he has.
he wouldnt lose it today, tho.

this is just the sort of thing bankruptcy is for.

It's like having a mortgage hanging over your head. I started Med school at 21 and finished residency at 30. I would say most physicians entering practice are even older than I was. Committing to a graduate degree and the subsequent years of training removes many years of earning potential. Now, making those years up can be done within certain medical specialties but not all or most. All that said, I think that a reasonable middle ground for student loan forgiveness would be if one were to commit to practicing in a rural or underserved area, Indian reservation, or military service for a period of years then those loans could be forgiven.

to practicing in a rural or underserved area, Indian reservation, or military service for a period of years then those loans could be forgiven."

I posted about Biden's plans for higher education yesterday, and they include forgiving $10,000/yr of student debt for up to 5 years for public service.

Given the high cost of medical school, I don't think it would be unreasonable to up that to $25,000/yr debt forgiveness, or more.

It's addressing the problem in a meaningful way and bettering our communities at the same time.

Back when I got my BS, I was in a program where the Navy would pay my tuition, fees and books in full in exchange for for an equivalent year of service (civilian engineer). It was a good deal.

Seems kinda unfair, no? At least according to the op.

He is over 300K in debt. He tells students “don’t get into this for the money”

He said he and his wife will ultimately life comfortably, happily, but will be by no means “rich”

In the other hand, I know a surgeon, very nice guy, who took his kid to high end colleges to tour which ones they might like. Kid had the grades, did the work, but not many people get to assess their choices so personally.

just seems like feeding income inequality even more. Their earnings prospects as a group are great! Are you doing anything for waitresses, bakers, factory workers, retail clerks?

For example I know some lawyers doing paralegal work due to saturation of lawyers. Also lawyers are big time discriminated on looks. If you don’t look good for the partners, forget it. I’m not saying all, but it is there unproven of course.

It's not equitable at all.

We could start by simply reducing the interest rates that are charged on student debt. That would help everyone, then go on to do debt forgiveness for those who really need it.

Nt

Every social program, there's going to be a few "underserving" people who get benefits, like able-bodied people who get disability, people who buy steaks with food stamps, etc.

Progressives see people in need, and want to help them. Right-wingers don't want to help people in need, and so they focus on the "welfare queens" in order to ensure that the needy don't get any help.

Treasury for Tax Analysis.

He explains why Warren's plan is regressive.

And the Sanders plan is much worse, much more regressive.

I want people in need to get help.

If you think I don't, you don't understand my OP at all, or the replies here.

Helping people in need doesn't require wiping out student debt for lawyers, doctors, and business execs with MBAs from the best and most expensive schools.

It's 1988 all over again. The more things change...

And, no, the plans are obviously not regressive when the revenues are included. Everyone knows this. Centrists and right-wingers like to slice up any social program to try and find one piece of it they can describe as "regressive" or "benefitting the underserving". Like saying social security is regressive because the payroll tax is capped. I mean, yeah, the tax itself is regressive, but the entire social security program is not, and just like the debt relief, everyone knows this also.

It's the same game.

if you want to classify the wealthy as "welfare queens." What a crock.

Conservatives bring that up in order to trigger jealousy and resentment. The purpose is to fight against any kind of social benefit for the needy. It's an old playbook.

A few decades ago, the story was "we are all too familiar with the stories of welfare mothers driving luxury cars and leading lifestyles that mirror the rich and famous." Now it's about rich kids with student debt.

They didn't have to be wealthy, just black and getting benefits... but spending them frivolously. Wealthy people already get plenty of benefits others don't. We don't need to add to that inequality.

That same tired argument was used by the right against Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and any other useful progressive social program.

I mean, we get it, Biden is a centrist, some people like centrists, maybe it takes a centrist to win against Trump. Fine, make that argument. Makes sense.

But actually tearing down progressive policies using right-wing memes is weird. Like, is anyone going to actually believe that Biden is the "real progressive" and Bernie and Warren are pushing policies that favor the rich?

IF one successful doctor or Lawyer gets his student loan forgiven for every 10,000 people who are teachers and programmers and whatever...I am ok with that.

The OP looks like concern trolling to me.

The GOP is inevitably going to attack this. Why hand them the tools to do so right off the bat?

Nt

Poor people never go for a Business major?

That alone seems a fatal flaw in your argument as it presupposes that anyone who enters these fields was from a wealthy family, to begin with. And that such a degree is a guarantee of wealth. College was always supposed to be a path to higher social mobility. Though that is not a guarantee, especially if you start out with crushing debt.

I am reminded of my friend Bry who has 100,000 in debt.. from a law degree.. and is working at a crappy exploitative job that only just helps him pay his student loans. That is, after years of being unemployed. If he didn't have that debt he could start to pull ahead.

A few other problems with this argument

Sanders loan forgiveness only applies to Public Universities. Rich families don't' send their kids to the local school.

We have a shortage of Doctors so personally I don't' care even if they will get rich in the end. Though more likely not having crushing debt will mean some of those doctors will be ok working at clinics and rural hospitals.

Rich people are the ones paying for this. So who cares if they benefit when their success means they will pay it right back into the system?

Finally, universality makes for a stronger system. Once we do means testing, we habd Republicans the tools they need to start dismantling it. Just like they do with food stamps and other programs.

So yeah... I can't really accept your argument here. It has too many flaws.

And since you're a Sanders supporter you should know more about his plan than you apparently do, judging by this incorrect statement:

It has zero chance of ever becoming law. It's nothing a pie in the sky policy that sounds to some during a campaign.
Bernie doesn't even know who he'd pay for such a promise.

There are too many law schools and not enough jobs. After the financial crisis, there were a LOT of law school grads who couldn't find legal work at all or who were doing document review for $20 per hour while trying to pay off six-figure loans. I don't see why they are any less deserving of forgiveness just because some people in the field make a lot of money.

Even those who did find legal jobs often were making salaries that were way too low to pay off the loans. Most lawyers don't start out making six figures, and some never get there. Law salaries are very bimodal - you usually either start at $180,000 or $50,000-60,000.