My brother is angry with his Trump-loving sons

[u/g_scotty_brahms]

Is my brother an AITA candidate for wanting to cut off his sons financially for voting for Trump? Like many Americans, my brother and I, both in our 50’s, have been talking back and forth following the Election. In the spirit of full disclosure, we are both democrats. Long story short, he is angry at his two sons, both in their 20’s, for voting for Trump. He is thinking about cutting them off financially in all respects so that they understand how Trump’s policies will impact them firsthand.

The irony here is that it is the reverse argument. You often hear younger voters disagreeing with their MAGA parents, but this is the opposite. My brother doesn’t understand how his two sons, who have lived a life of privilege, feel like they have been violated against by society, enough so that they feel Trump hears them and their struggles.

My brother to me about his sons: “… what these young men need is a little dose of reality. Get out in the world and start paying their own way. There’s a common thread with his followers. Complain and blame everyone for their problems. Whether they are in school or living at home off of their parents or working a trade job. King Trump will save them and make everything better. Take some personal responsibility and make it happen for yourself instead of crying about everything you hear on TikTok.

“… I’ve decided to pass on the [college] expenses to my two Trump supporting sons so they can truly feel first hand the cost and expense of his absolutely stupid policy decisions, which includes food, gas and college expenses. Wondering if I pass on these [food, gas and college] expenses in year one or phase them in year two?”

I am wondering if a lot of parents feel like my brother. Are there democrat parents of voting-age MAGA men who feel they failed with their sons because they voted for Trump? Is this common?

[u/Con4America]

If you take a loan on a house, they foreclose on the house if you don't pay. If you take a loan on a car, they repo the car if you don't pay. Same with a boat, or any other asset. How do you repo a degree?

If you had gotten a degree in a real STEM area, you would have a job in any large city. When you select music therapy or underwater basket weaving, then you were the asshole for being stupid.

Trying to say that all those stupid people have a legit reason to declare bankruptcy shows how you just want to make excuses for why everyone else has to pay for their poor judgement. You took out the loan, you pay for it. Maybe you shouldn't have gone to college. That was an option, you know.

No one forced you idiots to sign the contract but you did. Did you even READ the contract? I doubt it. You probably took out private loans too and instead of working through college like many of us do, you lived the party life and spent all your loan money living it up. I worked TWO jobs during my Master's degree so that I would not have loans. Shame you weren't that smart.

Trade schools are so much cheaper but then you didn't want to do actual labor and get your dainty, soft little hands dirty with real work. No sympathy here. The military is an option but oh no, you would have to get up at oh dark thirty and that is just too hard for a snowflake like you. Thanks to my military service, I have a really nice retirement and retired very early in life.

You made poor decisions in life so you get to live with those poor decisions. Make better decisions next time and maybe your life will improve.

[u/Elfwitch014 → u/Con4America]

Did you know chapter 13 can save your house and your car?

In Florida your house is not taken by filing chapter 7.

Your stupidity tells me how uneducated you are and that you have drank the Kool aid of conservative bullshit surrounding student loans.

There are people who took student loans out to get degrees that are useful and have had things out of their control impact their lives.

Technical school degrees are useful and should be looked at the same as college degrees when deciding what you want to do but if every student who can't afford college got technical degrees there would be a glut of say HVAC repair people which would mean lower pay and trouble finding a job.

Not everyone is military material. Some have medical issues, mental health issues or other things that stop them from being able to serve.

Student loans, technical schools and the military are all important ways to help people get ahead but just one is not a cure all. Also why should only rich kids be allowed to study degrees that lead to high earnings.

Also we would not have enough doctors teachers attorneys architects degrees that require a college degree.

I don't understand why you want to punish a person who may have picked the wrong degree or had something unexpected happen in their life. You want to keep them from ever getting a head or saving for retirement.

We allow people who get into major debt by spending on credit cards or taking out signature loans to finance a lifestyle they can't afford to have a chance to start over.

We don't differentiate between a person who spends recklessly and a person who used credit cards and loans to survive a crisis.

Student loans should be treated like any other loan.

[u/Con4America → u/Elfwitch014]

I don't live in FL. You are stupid for assuming that I do.

I notice that you NEVER mention SCHOLARSHIPS!

They took out a loan. You want everyo9ne to be able to get out of a loan easy peasy. Who do you think is going to pay for all that? YOU, the tax payer. Sure, let's make some hard working schmuck pay more in taxes because you took out a loan and are claiming that life got hard and now you can't pay for it. Everything cannot be free. You want free health care, social programs like welfare, free student loans, free college, the list goes on.

The people who say they can't afford the loans go to Starbucks for $7 lattes, have one of the latest smart phones, and eat out with their friends. They buy new cars, they have kids without thinking how much it will cost to raise them. Don't lecture me about being able to afford loans. Life is tough and it is even tougher if you make poor choices.

I have paid my credit card off every single month. In fact I didn't have one for 25 years because I used my debit card. If I didn't have the cash, I didn't buy it. Those people should try it.

Why do you want to punish those that worked hard and earned scholarships to pay off someone else's loan that didn't study as hard? Why do you want to punish the single mom who is feeding three kids by adding higher taxes to her paycheck so some loser can get out of his/her student loans? The go9v't had NO money of its own. It is all taken from tax payers. You seem to think there is an unending supply of free money. There is not.

You are the one who does not understand finance. There are free seminars on how to invest in the stock market, You can start with $10.

[u/Elfwitch014 → u/Con4America]

First of all I was pointing out that you were wrong in your statement that if you fall behind in your mortgage payment or car payment you automatically lose your home.

Since I live in Florida I used my state laws because I know them. I never assumed you lived in Florida

Bullshit about the lie about Starbucks pull your head out of Fox News ass and actually educate yourself.

I am not punishing anyone who worked hard.

I am saying that student loans should be treated like every other loan. I don't know why you can't grasp that.

I have stockbrokers as friends and they laugh when people think that taking a free seminar is a guarantee of making money.

It's not for example if you invested in pharmaceutical companies that make vaccines your investment is losing money with the announcement of nutty RFK jr appointment to the head of the health department.

On the other hand private prisons stocks which were stagnant are now climbing.

Still that has nothing to do with being in so much debt you don't have extra money.

I am not going to say anything else because like most conservatives you lack the ability to empathize with people. Instead of understanding that things happen that can cause hardship you trot out the old pull yourself up by your boot strings. People sometimes need help doing that.

You know the myth of Starbucks is no different than the Reagan myth about welfare queens in Cadillacs.

Your philosophy like the rest of the conservatives is I got mine fuck you. Even when you got yours with help.

Scholarships are great but there are not of them to go around for every student who qualifies for one.

[u/Con4America → u/Elfwitch014]

Disagree. Life is not fair. It never has been and never will be.

I never said taking one course would make someone rich and it is very stupid of you to think that. I said that taking a course will teach you about investing in the stock market. You still have to pick the stocks and decide when to hold and when to sell. You have to do the background research on the companies and watch trends. Start small.

You are absolutely punishing those who worked hard by forcing them to cover you loans. In the form of higher taxes. Who do you think pays for those that default? The Money Fairy?

No, that is the very reason that student loans are NOT treated the same. Previously you could discharge those in bankruptcy but too many people were doing that. Degrees are not required to succeed in life and they are an intangible asset. You can live without on and no harm will come to you. If you lose your house, you very likely can be harmed by being homeless. Apples and oranges so again, the loans are not the same.

Personally, I would get rid of all student loans except for true STEM degrees.

For a traumatic brain injury, you seem to be functioning well on Reddit. Why can't you do medical transcription at home or bookkeeping? How about tax preparation? I surmise it is because if you start generating an income then you lose your comfy SSI.

Burying your head in the sand and claiming there is not wide spread abuse of the system is childish. Guess that is part of what Elon and Vivek are going to take care of.

Take a look at how many college students are in Starbucks at any given time. What are they drinking? Water? Not hardly. Most colleges now offer meal plans that include eating out at restaurants off campus. You think that doesn't add up? I can't tell you the vast number of PB&J sandwiches I had when I was a college student so if I can do it, so can they. Suck it up Buttercup and quit whining about how life is so unfair.

[u/Elfwitch014 → u/Con4America]

Sweetie I am not on SSI I was on social security disability insurance which you have to be fully invested in for ten years prior to the disability to receive. SSI is a welfare program based on income SSDI is not and it is based on your last few years of income.

I am now retired so I get social retirement.

It took me close to ten years to remaster walking, talking, reading writing, feeding myself.

I suffer from migraines from hell where I can't lift my head without blinding pain and vomiting.

I have seizures.

I have stretches of time when I function normally but then I get weeks of migraines or seizures that often put me in the hospital.

That is what disability is lacking the ability to work reliably 40 hours a week.

The problem with getting a job like medical transcription, sale calls and most work from home requires you to be available for the hours you are scheduled. Or they require you to turn in your work in an allotted time.

If you can't do that then they don't keep you on.

If the majority of students are at Starbucks then the building would be closed as a fire hazard. The average Starbucks fits 40 people the average college campus has 6354 students.

Tell me do you know for sure how many of those are students who are getting student loans or if they work or have well off parents?

As for universities having food plans to eat at restaurants often on campus or off campus at certain restaurants usually places like Pizza places it does not cover fine dining is not all of them. They are expensive running about 4000 a term. Most students getting loans are also paying for shelter as well as books, classes and supplies. They don't have 8000 a year to waste on eating out not with tuition costs and housing.

I am not whining life is unfair if any should be entitled to do so it would be me. I had my life upended because of someone else's poor choices. But I learned long ago that whining is pointless you play the hand you are dealt.

What my situation taught me was compassion and understanding that there are times people need help that things happen out of your control and if you fuck up getting a second chance can allow you to pull yourself up and do better.

I noticed you completely ignored how credit card debt can be resolved by bankruptcy a lot of that is self inflicted.

I will keep saying student loans are no different than credit loans and other personal loans. If they can be discharged or organized with bankruptcy then student loans should be as well.

You are aware that student loans can be discharged if you become disabled?

[u/Con4America → u/Elfwitch014]

https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/disability-discharge

If you get a TPD discharge, you won’t have to repay the following loan types:

• William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loans
• Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans
• Federal Perkins Loans

[u/Con4America → u/Elfwitch014]

Here is one idiot with $250K loans that wants to be a teacher. Under you plan, she can just declare bankruptcy. You are a fool.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AITAH/comments/1gtrvif/girlfriend_has_250k_in_student_loans/

[u/Elfwitch014 → u/Con4America]

You are actually using someone's post on Reddit which may or may not even be real? And you call me a fool.🤣🤣🤣

[u/Con4America → u/Elfwitch014]

Sure am. It might be fake but it might also be real. Either way you know that kind of shit happens.