Who Should Run For President on the Democratic Side?

[Bofferbrauer2]

Snoopy said:

Replicant said:

Yeah, that seems to be the case sometimes unfortunately. Naturally, the American people should be the ones shaping their own future without any interference from any other country, and I won't pretend that I know what's best for the US. The Scandinavian model may not be suitable (at least not without adjustments) but as a Dane I always struggle to see why some people hate the idea of creating better conditions for their fellow countrymen.

1. People like you have been saying that since its inception 100 years ago. Our public AND private sectors are as strong as ever.

2. The US national debt is increasing $1 trillion a year since 2007. Interest is increasing rapidly and is likely to surpass military spending in 2023. At some point, the US has to address its debt. Being able to pay a rising interest won't be sustainable forever.
Regarding bold, I'm certainly not hoping for the US to collapse. Please don't confuse this as some kind of aversion to the US. Initially, I was just commenting on your "Danes don't like paying high taxes," remember? I've enjoyed my travels in the US, and the Americans I've met when traveling in Australia and Asia have been the best.

3. Many Americans do indeed get student loans but even though 85% work paid jobs while enrolled, many struggle to ever being able to repay.

1. Pretty sure most people don't even know where Denmark is so I think you're lying. Hell, the State I grew up in has a bigger population than Denmark four times over. How can your public sector and private sector be so strong, when we have to defend you all the time? Not to mention your GDP hasn't even hit HALF a trillion yet. One bad disaster and your country is ruined and you know it.

 

2. So? We can pay the interest of the debt without breaking a sweat. Also, people don't know that most of our debt is money we owe ourselves lol. Not to mention you neglect something called inflation.

ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ugDU2qNcyg

 

3. Yes, they struggle because of 1. the federal government allows anyone to take loans out for any degree. So if a kid is willing to put himself thousands of dollars in debt for a liberal arts degree, why would a university lower the price? 2. Americans suck at saving money and investing. I know plenty of people who blew all their money, then when they were laid off/fired they went bankrupt and blamed America. However, speaking of college you can get degrees pretty cheap (~30k) actually if you know where to shop and look. For example, you can get rid of almost all your basic classes by going to straighterline.com for around ~2k.

1. If the US wouldn't have a higher GDP despite having over 80 times as much population, the US would be amongst the poorest countries in the World, if not the poorest. Better compare GDP per capita, and there both Denmark and the US are about the same level (56K for Denmark, 59K for the US)

2. That's funny, when the Republicans are not in power they make huge waves about the debt but once they are in power they just increase spending and cut taxes left and right, ensuring the debt increases further and further. And last year, they suspended the debt ceiling to avoid hitting that, but that could only last one year and got reinstated just yesterday. Now the government is shuffling around the money to avoid hitting the ceiling, but in early fall it will be unavoidable - and good luck getting that one solved quickly after the record shutdown over the holiday season and early this year.

Yes, the debt can be repayed pretty easily - for now. but at the rate it's increasing, it will get more and more difficult, especially if there's a recession in between. And it's already the fourth-biggest item on the paylist of the US with 350 billions a year (after Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security and Defense), and growing faster than those except Medicare/Medicaid, which grows at the same speed. In a couple years it will overtake the defense budget at the current rate of growth.

The biggest problem is that if the debt gets too large, then the rating firms will downgrade the US debt, which results in higher interest rates. Once that happens then there's almost no way out anymore, as a rising debt will be needed to cover the rising interests on said debt. That's still a ways off, though, that won't happen during this or the next decade (unless something totally unforeseen happens)

3. According to you only the elites have any right for higher education? Since that's what you strongly imply with your first sentences.

Besides, the degrees could be much cheaper, but they are spending all the money on prestige objects like lazy rivers, and the amount of non-teaching staff, especially executives of all kind, spiraling out of control (I'll check if I can find the Forbes article I read a couple weeks ago, where in one state in the 80 there were 12000 faculty personnel and 1600 in administration, but now the faculty members are at 12500 and those of administration at 14000). MBA degrees are ridiculously overpriced now at over 200.000$, you practically need to become a well-paid executive right away after that of struggle forever to pay your bills.