One of the issues the 2020 Democrats have focused heavily on is student loan debt. Some of the candidates have said they would make college free while others would completely forgive Americans' student loans.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg's campaign on Wednesday sent supporters a "how to guide" to talk about the candidate's "college affordability plan."
The email was basically a series of talking points that supporters can run with to attempt to convince other voters to support the South Bend, Indiana mayor:
Buttigieg will "require that states improve affordability for all students," but what does that even mean? Will colleges suddenly decide to cut administrative costs? Doubtful. Will college suddenly decide to cut the cost of tuition? Yeah, right.
Mayor Pete wants apprenticeships within 30 miles of every American. That sounds great and totally doable, yet he's forgetting about the majority of flyover. Some Americans live in extremely rural areas where they have to travel more than an hour to a grocery store. How can he guarantee something like that?
Buttigieg will require Pell Grants to cover "basic necessities" through "mandatory entitlement spending," but he hasn't said how he plans to pay for that spending.
He also claims he'll invest in minorities by investing $50 billion in colleges and universities geared towards specific races and ethnicities. Again, where is that money coming from? Thin air?
At least if Buttigieg's team is going to provide talking points to supporters, his publicists should consider flushing out their ideas a little more, even if they run with the stereotypical line that they'll "tax the rich" so "everyone gets their fair share." At least that would give some kind of explanation.
