This picture is in the Guardian overnight:
I reproduce it to make the point that the same demand should be on the political agenda here in the UK.
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…….Especially when I find it hard to see how our economy in the UK can provide jobs and decent wages to pay down the debt in the coming years unless it is radically overhauled.
it’s good stuff…would it have happened without Sanders pulling the debate in that direction
I can see parallels with here with Corbyn pulling the Tories toward the centre (they secretly fear Labour whilst pretending Corbyn as a joke from the 80’s) -this is clear as we have now repudiations of the effects of QE from May and recently even the sacked and humiliated Osborne turning has back on deficit reduction plans and admitting (only because it is suddenly expedient not because of any integrity) that QE has helped the rich (the evidence has been out there for a good few years and mentioned in Richard’s Green Deal paper if i remember correctly).
So the Sanders/Corbyn phenomenon is already a success in that respect as the neo-cons and the right over here have to respond to it.
The debt-free education debate must be put at the forefront now.
I expect many will have viewed this TEDx Oslo talk by sociologist Harald Eia in which he entertainingly draws attention to the tangible benefits of free university education – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9UmdY0E8hU. It beggars belief that students anywhere in the world have to pay for the privilege of acquiring knowledge and wisdom necessary for the beneficial future of society. It makes about as much sense as the 1696 Window Tax – which took 155 years to be repealed.
But… if the UK economy doesn’t provide jobs to pay your student debt, then you are never billed to pay your student debt.
The current UK student loans system is a form of terminating graduate tax, you pay 6% of your income above £21,000 until it’s all paid or 30 years pass. After 30 years it’s wiped out even if it’s not paid off.
But why tax a public good, like education?
Having had a student loan I know what you are talking about but you have to agree that the system in that case is perverse. Infact the loans just look like a form of speculation to me. And then you have the costs of running the loans system.
None of it adds up, hence why free education should be the norm. How many people are put off from going to Uni because of the fear of debt hanging over them?
When I qualified my wages were just enough that I had to pay back the loan – £120 per month if I remember correctly. That £120.00 was sorely needed elsewhere in my budgetting believe you me!!