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Obama Is Forgiving the Student Loans of Nearly 400,000 Permanently Disabled People (marketwatch.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Hundreds of thousands of student loan borrowers will now have an easier path to getting their loans discharged, the Obama administration has announced. The Department of Education will send letters to 387,000 people they've identified as being eligible for a total and permanent disability discharge, a designation that allows federal student loan borrowers who can't work because of a disability to have their loans forgiven. The borrowers identified by the Department won't have to go through the typical application process for receiving a disability discharge, which requires sending in documented proof of their disability. Instead, the borrower will simply have to sign and return the completed application enclosed in the letter.
Having a student loan does not qualify as news for nerds.
Sure it does if you properly frame the problem:
Government help IS socialism!
3... 2... 1... FIGHT!
I know that it's good to be charitable in personal views, and public policy. And you should not make the process onerous. But having no verification of disability by some authority is going to lead to abuse of this entitlement. And it just has to be a small fraction of people who take advantage, to undermine trust that the taxpayer is not being ripped off.
This is significant money being given forgiven. The administration would serve themselves better if they put up even small, reasonable checks on who is able to actually get this benefit.
Just like how you start to get very mad at people who are able to abuse handicapped parking spots because the govt is totally lax about who get to use this benefit (not just who has the placard, but who uses it). Trust in the appearance of public institutions is just as important as actual functioning -- a small number of cases of fraud and abuse can undermine it.
Is not it awesome, when you can spend other people's moneys and get all the credit for your "generosity"?
Are single mothers next on the list? Their's is a difficult lot too.
How about racial minorities — we know, they are economically disadvantaged as well?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I know everyone's going to scream "evil socialism! disability fraud!" but people who actually qualify for a permanent and total disability are never going to be able to fully benefit from their education. Whether it's the inability to do physical work or acknowledging the discrimination that disabled people encounter in the workplace, the result is the same.
In this case, it makes sense to make it easy to get rid of the debt. If I recall correctly, student loans are almost impossible to discharge any other way. Bankruptcy doesn't get rid of them, nor does crippling financial hardship. There is a process to forgive them due to hardship but it's so onerous that no one in a normal situation would qualify.
Someone has to pay for it.
People who cry out socialism at the drop of the hat don't want their tax dollars being used to help those OTHER people. That don't mind if the government pays for the programs that they care about, say, Social Security benefits.
This program has been around since 2010. The only difference now is that the administration is sending out letters to people they see as eligible for this program. Up until now there have been few who have applied for it. It could be they do not know about it, think it is too difficult, or that they do not qualify. All the letter does is emphasize that they can apply and sets out the process. This is not a straight out forgiveness. Each disabled person must apply and be approved to have their loan forgiven.
Ever known someone who was disabled who applied for Social Security benefits based on it? It's not easy to get them to admit that they are disabled. It seems unlikely to me that successful disability fraud would be all that common, because it's so damn difficult to get disability payments with a genuine disability. Got any references?
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
No, in the year the $100K balance is forgiven then they have $100K of income and they're pushed into the 25-28% brackets (give or take filing status, other income, deductions and credits).
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Disability Fraud is a different thing. Root cause and all. That should be addressed BAU, regularly.
This feels awful, ;like these former students are getting away with something. But the truth is, they are incapable of paying off their loans, and to pretend otherwise is to just wait until they die, and then saddle their heirs or such with the bill. Which isn't much of a solution. Unless you really, really want to collect from anyone, by any means. We've outlawed many of the most grievous debt collection methods elsewhere, so why not let the gummint go ahead and use those, right?
I don't see the downside to this.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
97% of student loans (or something close to that) is from the Federal Government, not a bank. The loss is on the taxpayer, banks did not loan out this money.
The ACA passed by placing all the interest collected on student loans to pay for the ACA. In order for that to be enough they had to take over pretty much every single student loan in the country. If they forgive student loans that means the ACA will not be fully funded. So we are taking money away from giving health insurance to poor people in order to give it to disabled who have student loans that they are not paying back.
The poor are paying for it. If you think that is the best you can do, go ahead and cheer for it.
They are still unable to pay.
Horse left the barn. No one is closing the doors.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
student loan need the old bankruptcy rules.
Under the rules in place the schools are jacking of there rates and are willing to take just about any one with the banks giving out loans to just about any one with pulse.
100K before interest for a masters in medieval studies we don't care that will not get much then working at Walmart.
80K before interest for a BA in women studies sign hear.
Combine that with food stamps and other perks (like cable and cell phones) and dope is the only thing you have to pay for out of pocket.
My disabled friend gets disability. He doesn't get food stamps or anything else from the government because he doesn't qualify. The cable and dope bills comes out of his disability money.
Don't believe everything that you hear out of the right-wing echo chamber.
.
Someone has to pay for it.
People who cry out socialism at the drop of the hat don't want their tax dollars being used to help those OTHER people. That don't mind if the government pays for the programs that they care about, say, Social Security benefits.
Uh, I'm the one paying for Social Security.
If you aren't reporting this fraud. You are part of the problem.
https://oig.ssa.gov/report-fraud-waste-or-abuse/fraud-waste-and-abuse
Of course, it is shaming.. our society doesn't really like disabled people. Just look at these comments about 'my money' and what not.. no wonder, these people don't want to admit anything..
News for Nerds... STUFF THAT MATTERS. quit bitching
Amen its my money going into Social Security not a freaking handout!
That's not correct. Your money in Social Security is paying for today's retirees. When you retire tomorrow, tomorrow workers will be paying for your benefits. Unfortunately, 20 years from now, there won't be enough workers to pay for retirees.
It's at times like this that I think Slashdot needs a "WTF?" mod.
Fanatically anti-fanatical
It seems unlikely to me that successful disability fraud would be all that common, because it's so damn difficult to get disability payments with a genuine disability
Do YOU have any references?
2) We only assisted with non-military aid on a number of conflicts, and we put no troops on the ground. I think the only significant event that we bombed was Libya. Even with ISIS we've reacted with restraint. Compare that to the last guy in office.
US forces have been directly involved with both Libya and Syria. There's nothing magical about "boots on the ground" as direct involvement is direct involvement. Our planes or ship flown and sailed by our pilots and sailors have send shells, missiles, and other ordinance into those conflicts. Thus far, Obama has been responsible for lobbing ordinance at Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Syria, and the Philippines.
Also interesting of note is that the usage of ordinance in Afghanistan rose under Obama.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
The only thing Obama is doing is proactively canceling disabled people's loans. Its always been the case that if you are officially disabled that your can get your loans forgiven. The only thing he is doing is making the loan servicers proactively do it instead of waiting for the disabled person or family to do it.
OMG Ponies!!! with Glitter!!!! I miss Pink
No. We just realize that the money has to come from somewhere. The ultra-wealthy are a poor target because they can defend themselves. That leaves the rest of us.
Once you've been around the block once or twice, the mere promise of rainbow ponies isn't enough anymore.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
"Since Reagan, Democrats have moved to the right and the right has moved into a mental hospital.
So what we have is one perfectly good party for hedge fund managers, credit card companies, banks, defense contractors, big agriculture
and the pharmaceutical lobby - that's the Democrats.
And they sit across the aisle from a small group of religious lunatics, flat-earthers and civil war re-enactors who mostly communicate by AM radio and call themselves the Republicans" - Bill Maher
Which article of or amendement to the Constitution puts the president in charge of student loan payments?
The Administration (i.e., the officials in the executive branch of government under a particular chief executive) is responsible for implementing the law and regulations that Congress approves.
Yeah you just fill it out then they get the docs from SSD. Instead of you getting the docs from SSD. Docs from SSD are still required. Its just on them to get them now. If you owe them 100k they will check the docs.
OMG Ponies!!! with Glitter!!!! I miss Pink
I dunno. Why don't you go and actually look.
Yes, that's my contention as well. You don't know.
You see, if YOU are going to make an argument, the burden isn't on me to prove your point. If you want to make baseless statements, well, good for you, but you aren't going to convince too many people that way. I had assumed incorrectly that you posted here to try and make a point, not just waste the Internet's bits. My mistake.
You: Did you know that Idaho has the largest number of people with an IQ > 150?
Person: Really? Where'd you hear that?
You: I dunno. Why don't you go and look it up yourself.
Brilliant.
40 million Americans have outstanding student loans. About 5% of working age Americans collect federal disability benefits. Assuming those two are independent variables, the expectation value is 2 million disabled American with student loans. So 400,000 is actually below expectation.
You are begging the question, when you claim "isn't coming back".
Disability does not mean insolvency, and the insolvent — whatever the reasons for their misfortune — should all be treated the same. Why are the disabled singled-out?
Unless, of course, you are trying to score political points for your "compassion" and "generosity" with other people's money...
But it is even worse, than I thought:
See? It is their right to have the loans forgiven, just as it always has been their right to obtain the loans. Do the disabled have a right to free college education? They do now...
Oh, no you don't. The nationalization of student loans is very recent — it happened during Obama's second term.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Not treating loan forgiveness as income is a great way to pay someone without it being taxed. "Would you rather I pay you $100,000 for this job (out of which you'll have to pay taxes, etc) or I 'loan' you $90,000 and then forgive that when the job's finished?"
There's a reason the IRS treats forgiven loans (under some circumstances) as income. Ditto if the interest rate on the loan is unusually low.
I have the same feeling about senior citizens.
If you are lucky, someday you are going to be one. I bet that you will be just as adamant then that the promises that were made to you while you were working and having money extracted from your paycheck based on those promises be honored, as you are adamant now that senior citizens who have had their money taken with the promise of benefits when they get old are "lazy losers".
Your reply to the OP is a non-sequitor. People paid into social security their whole life and they have a right to expect the benefits from that. That those benefits will be coming from current taxpayers is irrelevant to that statement.
I see the problem here. You didn't actually READ TFA (or the summary), you just saw that some poor schmuck might get something for nothing and went to DEFCON 1.
This is for people who have been found to be Totally And Permanently Disabled. That is, medically incapable of any sort of gainful employment. It also means there is no reasonable expectation that the situation will change. I'm guessing that involves more than a 35% drop in after tax employment income.
It is not for people who now need a cane or a wheelchair.
So, with that glaring error patched, tell me, what would be the point in needling such a person to pay off the student loan? How would you expect them to manage that given the lack of a time machine?
What's going to happen then is anyone's guess but I bet it wont be pretty.
If nothing is done. The quickest — and perhaps easiest — solution is to abolish the wage cap at $118,500, tax all earned income for social security and build up the trust fund for future generations.
That's not correct. Your money in Social Security is paying for today's retirees. When you retire tomorrow, tomorrow workers will be paying for your benefits. Unfortunately, 20 years from now, there won't be enough workers to pay for retirees.
Funny that you should mention that. In the early 1980s, congress passed a law saying they could "borrow" from the Social Security fund using treasury bonds. So no, you are wrong, even if you are effectively correct since the government has no intent on ever paying back the money they plundered from the Social Security fund.
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen