Coronavirus Economic Aid

  --  Hear our Fox News Interview (6/30/23)   --   Student Loans can be cancelled with nothing needed from the Treasury, and nothing added to the national debt.  We call on President Biden to cancel all federally owned loans by executive order.  We also call on both the President and Congress to return standard bankruptcy rights to ALL student loans, by executive order and through Congress. Since 2020, Trillions in stimulus (including PPP loans that don't need to be repaid) required money to be drawn from the Treasury, and added to the national debt. However, the President can cancel $1.3 Trillion in federally owned student loans with $0 needed from the Treasury, and $0 added to the national debt. He can also order the Department of Education to stop opposing student loan borrowers in bankruptcy court. Before the pandemic,  45.4 million people were holding federal student loans, 85% were either not paying (58.9%), or were paying but their balances were going up.  Today, student debt in over one-third of U.S. states exceeds their total annual budgets. Older people outnumber younger people with student debt, and they owe 3 times more, despite having borrowed far less.  The default rate for 2004 students is 40%, but they borrowed less than a third of what is borrowed today.   The default rate for current borrowers will likely exceed 75%.  This is roughly four times higher than the default rate for sub-prime home mortgages.  By all rational metrics, this is now a catastrophically failed, and nationally threatening lending system. We do not have to take this. For the national good, the federal student loan program must be ended and replaced with a more rational, less expensive & socially destructive model for educating the citizenry.  Cancelling these loans will greatly stimulate the economy.  Analysts estimate that cancelling student loans will increase GDP by over $100 billion for the next ten years, but this is a very conservative estimate. This is not a partisan problem.  More than half of all student loan borrowers identify as being politically independent, or republican. "Red" states are being hurt significantly worse than "Blue" states.    Claims that cancelling loans will largely benefit people who don't need it are wrong.  85% of all borrowers were "underwater" on their loans before the pandemic. All borrowers were determined to be "financially needy" as a condition for the loans. More than 40% never graduated. Tens of millions went to trade schools and community colleges. More borrowers are over the age of 50 than under the age of 25, and they owe far more than the younger people despite having borrowed far less.   Cancelling the loans will not cause inflation. Rest assured, the taxpayers will be fine. The federal government has been profiting greatly on these loans for many years, and the Department of Education has even been making a profit on defaulted loans for decades.  While it is not known how much of the $1.6 Trillion federal portfolio is unpaid principal, it is a small fraction of the total. On balance, the taxpayers will have very little- if any- net loss when these loans are cancelled. THIS PETITION NEEDS MORE THAN JUST YOUR SIGNATURE TO SUCCEED: Join us on Facebook, Twitter, and join your State Chapter. Do the daily action. Call both of your senators and your House Rep & tell them to return standard bankruptcy rights to student loans Tell your local media to report on the petition. Give it a boost. We will succeed when you do your part! Check out the recent media we've been featured in. Petition created by Alan Collinge, founder of StudentLoanJustice.Org and author of The Student Loan Scam (Beacon Press).  Contact

ATT: ALL Money donated on this site is kept by the site to promote the petition, none of it goes to the cause. Instead, share this with friends and family, the more People that become aware the better.  ***UPDATE...IT IS NOW 2023...and we continue the struggle; all we got was more regulations on the trucking industry. Meanwhile brokers, shippers and receivers are still doing whatever they like and changing the system to their advantage.  ***Support Rick Santiago in his quest for truth and help those in Washington put pressure on the matter so these issues aren't once again overlooked and put under the rug. ONCE AGAIN MAY 1st, 2023  Previous post from 2 years ago, As we know our country is experiencing a time of uncertainty and everyone is doing their part to stay safe for their families and friends. Truckers are the individuals behind every milk bottle, every egg cartoon and everything that we need in order to stay home safely. They are exposed to harsh weather conditions, COV19, sleepless nights, 7+ days away from their families (on top of that being quarantined upon their return). Now for owner operators or small business owners things DO NOT end there. They have many bills to pay all of which include, fuel, breakdowns (which happen more often than you’d think), tires, oil changes (FYI a truck oil change ranges from $250 to $350), IFTA tax (done four times a year taxes paid on road traveled, could range from $200 to $600 every time), monies to accountants and other who keep up their operating permits ( always over $600), load boards (over $200), maintenance items, trip packs to send original bill of leading, truck and trailer washouts (always over $100), insurance (at least $1000), tolls (which are higher for these vehicles expect minimum $150 a month), among others. The reason for writing this is to help individuals see the problem with the market. Brokers with whom many truckers work with are the middlemen between the shipper and the carrier. They, not all, but most are the problem. These individuals found a way around the system and try to keep every penny they can. Offering loads from a lot less than they are getting them and have no regulations what so ever on how they conduct their business. Meanwhile, truckers are tracked thru electronic logbooks and are audited to check the mileage run, the states run, the fuel purchased, and much more. Even when the owner-operator takes the load, they have contracts in place in order to be able to reduce the amounts paid, such as having to do check calls, or been late to appointments (both can cause reductions of up to $200 each). Then, when the brokers are in the wrong, they leave the trucker up the air. One example of a common occurrence is ordering a truck and the load not being there or not being ready, many brokers pocket that money and do not give anything to that truck that may have traveled up to 200 miles empty to pick up, which will cost the owner fuel and time (mind you most trucks do about 5-8 miles per gallon). Brokers also set the price on everything they give no leeway, they tell the truck drivers what they will pay them for lay over (which is when they have to wait more than three hours to get loaded or overnight, never pay more $150 per day). Within these contracts that brokers or brokering companies have created where they are totally covered and can get away with murder, while the person or company doing most of the work is left with scraps and no way to defend themselves. MIND YOU, these costs are per truck owned.    Now answer me this:  Does it seem fair that the person sitting behind their desk at home, hustles these hard-working individuals for every penny all while treating them like dirt? Not saying all brokers are like this, BUT most.   PROPOSAL & GOAL -          Regulations on brokers: Transparency; that brokers are required by law to attach what the customer is paying them for the load along with the rate confirmation.  -          Just pricing on insurance, which can be mitigated by putting up laws where people who cheat the insurance system to get money out of if are pursued by law and investigated.  -          Just pay on loads, maybe a minimum pay per mile based on equipment type. (refrigerated trailers waste more fuel because the trailer uses fuel) Another suggestion coming from several truckers is That loads are paid a dollar above the national fuel cost per gallon. (ex. 1 gal of diesel is 2.10 the loads should be at $3.10 per mile.) Also, allow mom and pop trucking companies to take on government freight and make it available to small companies with any broker middle man.  We are the resistance, we have the power. We need CHANGE. We are not employees of the brokers. We are 1099 workers, we pay back taxes for being self-employed. CREATE CHANGE. Support Rick Santiago in his quest for truth and help those in Washington put pressure on the matter so these issues aren't once again overlooked and put under the rug.   

If you or someone you know is a charter boat operator or somehow involved in the saltwater recreational fishing business in the State of Florida, I strongly encourage you and them to help get the governor’s attention. Using this letter as a template, copy and paste, replace my name and business with your own and send to Governor Ron Desantis at GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com  We all have something in common. Fishing is our livelihood. Our best chance to be heard is with a collective voice. Please act now.  You also can help by signing this petition and sharing it with everyone. If you have other ideas, put them into play, sooner rather than later, please.   My name is Captain Kit Carson Mobley. I am the owner/operator of DirtyBoat Charters in Islamorada in The Florida Keys. My industry, already reeling from the impact of Hurricane Irma, is in danger of collapsing. The Coronavirus pandemic requires that my clients must focus on staying healthy and alive, not fishing but staying at home for their safety and the safety of others. Tens of thousands of others in my industry are in the same predicament. We need the state’s help to keep the fleet afloat. You have demonstrated exceptional leadership helping the citizens of the great State of Florida deal with a pandemic crisis never before seen by anyone alive today. Now the charter fleet needs your help. We realize ours is but one of many businesses throughout the state in need. Consider, though, saltwater recreational fishing generated $7.9 Billion for the state’s economy in 2014, according to the most recent data from NOAA Fisheries, and supports 114,898 jobs. We ask that the state identify urgently needed relief funding. Our businesses may well not survive without it, drastically reducing an important driver of tourism dollars critical to Florida’s economic engine in the post-COVID 19 recovery. We respectfully request immediate action to sustain the state’s charter fleets through this economic crisis. The recreational saltwater fishing industry must recover to do its part in future economic stimulus. We recognize and fully appreciate the many choices you have had to make, and those you will need to make to get our state back on track. We implore you to make this one of them. Tourism in The Florida Keys alone generates annual economic value of $27 Billion and $70 Million in annual tax revenue. With 60% of all visitors to The Florida Keys engaging in fishing activities, surely investing in the charter fishing business’s survival will benefit the future of our region and the state. We salute your leadership and service to Florida. Thank you for bearing the burden on behalf of the state’s residents to get us all through this crisis. Please advise us on any necessary actions on our part. We look forward to your response.

**UPDATE: Our country is still deeply struggling. The recovery hasn’t reached many Americans – the true unemployment rate for low-wage workers is estimated at over 20% and many people face large debts from last year for things like utilities, rent and child care. These are all reasons that checks need to be targeted to people who are still struggling and that Congress needs to learn from this past year. It took nine months for Congress to send a second stimulus check, and just moments to spend it. Moving forward Congress needs to make recurring checks automatic if certain triggers are met. No more waiting around for our government to send the help we need. Sign to join our movement to get recurring checks to the people. My name is Stephanie, and I am one of millions of Americans who fear for my financial future because of this coronavirus crisis. With businesses and schools closing across the country to control the spread of this virus, many people have already lost their jobs. Others are being forced to stay home. This is catastrophic for working families like mine.  I’m calling on Congress to support families with a $2,000 payment for adults and a $1,000 payment for kids immediately, and continuing regular checks for the duration of the crisis. Otherwise, laid-off workers, furloughed workers, the self-employed, and workers dealing with reduced hours will struggle to pay their rent or put food on the table. My husband and I own a restaurant in Denver and these past two weeks have been a blur. Our restaurant community is wrestling with seeing everything we all have worked so hard for irrevocably changed. Our hearts were breaking as we watched our staff divide the ingredients in our kitchen to bring to their homes: a dismal token for employees who worked tirelessly every day. Our talented and cherished team, some of whom have been with us since we opened our doors 15 years ago, are now without an income. Like our team, my family has lost all of the income from our restaurant, and business owners and the self-employed can't claim unemployment. This is the story of America right now. For our team and other Americans who can claim unemployment, even the maximum payments will not be enough for most people to continue paying their bills – and avoid slipping into poverty. The facts are, even successful small businesses can’t go months with their doors closed.  But supplying Americans with monthly support until they can get back on their feet can save our communities from financial ruin. We need immediate checks and recurring payments so that we can keep our heads above water.  Congress needs to make sure that we won’t be left financially ruined for doing our part to keep the country healthy.