In this clip, Elizabeth Warren breaks down the sad, exploitative practices of American student loans to Conan O’Brien. To raucous applause, she announces her bill to reduce student loan interest rate, and then rails against the foundation of the entire system, established in the George Bush days, where the interest rate is “set for after you account for bad debt losses, the ones that go south, the administrative cost of the funds, is set to produce tens of billions of dollars in profits for the United States Government- just the ones from 2007-2012 are set to make $66 billion. The United States should NOT be making profits off the backs of kids trying to get an education.”
She then regretfully admits that the money from those profits has already been spent by the government, and funds for the refinancing of student loans will have to come from somewhere else, but she already has a very clear idea of where we can find a couple extra billion dollars: “Lets have millionaires and billionaires pay taxes at at least the same rate that middle class families do! And we’ll use that extra money to make up the difference for our kids.”
Elizabeth Warren really has her priorities right, unlike so many of politicians out there: “There is no clearer choice. As a government we can decide we’re gonna spend the same amount of money for either keeping tax loopholes open for millionaires, or we can reduce the interest rate on student loans. Wanna guess who’s winning right now?”
Here’s a hint: It’s not the kids.
Watch the video here: