Bernie Sanders in Forbes Magazine 2016 Candidates
On Education:
College loan repayment is regressive; refinance & forgive
In my view, the most revolting aspect of the student loan crisis is that every year, the federal government makes billions of dollars in profits off of student loans--$127 billion over 10 years. We must end the practice of the government making billions
in profits from student loans taken out by low and moderate income families. That is extremely regressive public policy. It also makes no sense that students and their parents are forced to pay interest rates for higher education loans that are much
higher than they pay for car loans or housing mortgages. We must restructure our student loan programs to take the profits out of our system, and return them to borrowers in the form of loan forgiveness and lower interest rates.Today's borrowers
should be able to refinance their student loans at much lower interest rates. This will allow millions of people to pay off their debt sooner, and have more money to buy a car, buy a house, or invest in their own children's future education.
Source: Forbes Magazine on 2016 hopefuls: 2015 speech at U. Iowa
Apr 30, 2015
On Homeland Security:
Cut defense by $18B to pay for 55% of all college tuition
If the federal government were to invest $18 billion a year, with a dollar-for-dollar match from state governments, we would slash college tuition in the United States by more than half. Many of my colleagues in Washington would look at that number--
$18 billion a year--and tell you that we can't afford to make that kind of investment in our nation's young people. To put it simply, they are wrong. In the budget proposal President Obama released two weeks ago, he requested $561 billion for the
Department of Defense--$38 billion over budget caps that are currently in place. If we were to reduce the President's proposed increase in military spending by less than half, and instead invest that money in educational
opportunities for today's college students, we could cut tuition by 55%. So I challenge all of you. ask yourselves, where should our priorities lie?
Source: Forbes Magazine on 2016 hopefuls: 2015 speech at U. Iowa
Apr 30, 2015
On Principles & Values:
Registered Independent; calls himself a democratic socialist
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is challenging front-runner Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democrat party presidential nomination. Though he is a registered Independent and is proud to call himself a democratic socialist,
he will run as a Democrat.Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrants from Poland, Sanders, 73, spent one year at Brooklyn College, graduated from the University of Chicago in 1964 and then moved to Vermont.
Source: Forbes Magazine "2016 Candidates Want You to Know" series
Apr 30, 2015
Page last updated: Dec 07, 2018