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FYI, I extremely don't care if to help everyone who needs it, we also help those who don't need it. Those who don't need it ALREADY get all this extra help the rest of us don't.
If worry that you might accidentally help a millionaire is what keeps you from helping poor people, I have to tell you that millionaires already have a ton of bailouts.
Is it inefficient to send, say, $600 to a millionaire? Yes. But it's less inefficient than all the cuts and bailouts and business loans the government is already giving that guy. Means testing right now is evil. Help everyone.
Oh, I'm sorry, eliminating student debt might help people from moneyed families? Did you think those people actually have debt?
I'll also note that sending $600 to a millionaire came up when the cut off is actually 99k two years ago, which does not suggest millionaires.
The ugly truth is that if you limit a program to those who can prove they need it, it's firstly very hard to get political support for it, and secondly when implemented, the hurdles you've created will keep out many who DO need it.
Including the social stigma that will inevitably attach to it.
Not loving this whole discourse that pretends to be from the left and supports massive means testing/extreme limits on helping people financially.
I also love this whole thing about how eliminating student debt would help lawyers and dentists or something. So, a few things.
Firstly, not all law and medical jobs pay enough to offset the costs of education. Shocking, I know. This is especially true for first generation students who are often supporting extended family in addition to themselves.
Secondly, discrimination still exists at the upper echelons, and it even increases there, so a lot of marginalized people with expensive degrees are locked out of the top paying jobs in their profession.
Thirdly, once a job becomes known as a "safe" choice to make money, a combination of the expense of college and parental dependence means that there will soon be an overabundance of people entering that profession.
This in turn results in people who are underemployed, jobs within the field that are less stable and pay less because the employers are advantaged in this scenario.
So I'm fucking fine with paying off the student debt of doctors and lawyers. Whatever. It's unethical that we price people out of schooling to begin with. But we shouldn't stop at education debt. Many people are priced out to begin with.
We should be helping people who never went to college as well. AS WELL, not instead of. All of the people. Medical debt should be gone, for instance.
Pay people at least $2000 a month backdated to March. All people.
If you want to get mad at me about my opinions, you should be aware that I have absolutely no power to enact any of this and maybe you can go yell at someone who does have power.
I'm just sick of the Dunning Kruger Krew wandering around this superhighway opining about what the poor deserve and offering to protect the poor by making things worse.
Have you ever been denied help you needed because you have a car that belonged to a wealthier family member and they gave it to you, but now it counts as wealth against assistance?
You need the car to go places. You actually ironically can't afford a less expensive car, and anyway, this one works pretty well. But now it's wealth and you might not get the help you need because you're being means tested.
Ever been a disabled person who will lose your Social Security if you get a job that might not last? Ever wanted to save up money but known that if you do, you might lose your assistance?
Gotta make sure we punish people for needing help! Meanwhile, we'll happily help those who don't need help. Would you like to bankrupt a company? Have fun!
When I was applying for state insurance back in the day, you had to go in person. The line had no place to sit, and if you sat, you could lose your place. I was heavily pregnant and I have EDS, so my loose joints were even looser than usual. Couldn't leave the line.
I'm a privileged person, so my experience of all this is comparatively mild, but I can tell you all some horror stories, and that's as a white lady whose disability is largely invisible.
Means testing will generally fuck a program up and doom it. If you want to help people, it's the first thing you have to drop. Give all people a thing, and it's just a thing. Means test it and it's stigmatized and inaccessible.
