Posted on 04/20/2012 11:01:18 AM PDT by mandaladon
The Democratic Party is springing a five-year-old political trap that may help President Barack Obama win support from middle-class parents and young voters.
Their trap is the scheduled election-year doubling of interest-rates on government-provided student loans.
The pre-planned doubling forces GOP politicians to either approve a Democratic measure that extends the low interest rates or else face protest from millions of students and their middle-class parents.
Many GOP legislators dislike the subsidized interest rate because it inflates education costs while delivering a disguised subsidy to the Democrats’ political allies in the education industry.
The trap “kinda makes sense,” said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Finaid.org, a financial aid website.
“It’s a ‘Heads I win; Tails, you lose,’ scenario, where if President Obama succeeds in getting it extended a for a year he gets a victory for a key segment of the voters [and] if it gets blocked, he can blame his opponents for blocking it.”
“Either way he wins,“ Kantrowitz said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
The Republicans should point out that this is why students now graduate with 100K in debt and that extending this will enslave another generation of students to debt for the rest of their lives. In other words, despite the politics, they should do what is right for the country and those students.
The Republicans should point out that this is why students now graduate with 100K in debt and that extending this will enslave another generation of students to debt for the rest of their lives. In other words, despite the politics, they should do what is right for the country and those students.
So target the parents who actually have to pay the taxes to fund these loans.
Fine, just link it to something that the Democrats will never approve. Like no student loans to Universities that accept tenure. Or have the shortfall come out of the budget of the Department of Education, forcing them to eliminate say 80% of their staff. That way they are the ones who will kill the change.
I pay for my children's college. It's brutal and expensive. By borrowing money to go to college, you might as well just work for the company store. You can no longer make your own decisions on what to do, where to go, and what to spend on what................and oh yeah! Who to vote for.
Doesn’t matter. The youth vote won’t be nearly as big this time around. Laziness, short attention spans, and boredom work against Obama.
It was Obama and the democrats that took competition out of the student loan market and put student loans in full control of the govmt.
There are a lot of Freepers who will crucify me for saying this but the GOP should punt on this one, pass the extension for a year (yes do the WRONG thing) remove the issue from the table and if possible get some concession on something else from from the Rats in exchange. Next spring we will have a GOP president, maybe a GOP senate, and a more Tea oriented majority in the house. Real reform can happen then. No substantial reform can be done now because Obama would veto it. Small stands on principal like this one just give the rats campaign issues that the weak minded middle will fall prey to. To the purist who believes we should not punt here I would simply ask how they are enjoying their Duncan Hunter presidency...
That is so. True. My son was ranked top 10 in hs class, with GPA 3.75, NHS award, etc..., we applied to over 8 colleges this year, from private colleges to state colleges. Whether the sticker price was $49,000 annually for the private colleges to $27,000 for the state colleges (all including R&B), after they all threw in their respective allotments for 'scholarship, grants, etc..', the remaining out-of-pocket borrowing costs for all the colleges 'magically' all leveled-out to about the same for everyone.... $23,000 to $25,000 "per year". You think I'm going to let him get stuck with $100k debt before he even gets a job offer?
He's decided to go to 2-yr County College instead with an academic scholarship, and then transfer to 4 yr school for last 2 years. They all 'inflate' their costs because they expect the students/parents to go into debt.
Double Buffett’s and George Clooney’s taxes to pay for this...they can afford it.
#1 - why was the Federal Government allowed to take over student loans in the first place?
#2 - Why is this a trap for Republicans? How about somebody get a backbone and lay this squarely on the shoulders of the Democrats who bought this in the first place. Oh - I forgot, the GOP has no shoulder (or backbone).
Screw the GOP...
You made the right call. Let the student get a feeling for what they’re interested in for a couple years, then decide which way to go. Govt. should get the hell out of this business. Let competition work its magic.
I agree with you. Let’s hope the GOP agrees also.
Next Spring we will have a Liberal president, regardless of the letter next to his name. So don't get too excited for any real and substantive course corrections from the Whitehouse. Indeed - I fully expect this ship of state to continue on the leftward journey to oblivion.
The Republicans should point out that fewer than 10% of 18-year olds have IQs high enough to make going to college worth anything, and should then point out that if you are one of that 10% and you want to go, you should get a freaking job and pay for it.
And get called flaming RINO's by conservatives in the process.
The GOP faces real conondrums which the base doesn't see. Go for the deal and get whip-lashed by the base, or stand against it and alienate millions of votes which we need to defeat the liberal agenda for the long term.
It's very easy being a keyboard kritic on FR..it ain't easy being a Repub pol especially during election season.
What’s the beef on the low interest rate? If everybody in Congress votes for free money for all the TBTF banks to “strengthen their balance sheets”, why not for student loans too.
Yep; I agree... they could even go one better -- Offer an even lower starting interest rate, with graduated payments, the interest rates of which will rise after they're ostensibly employed.
” There are a lot of Freepers who will crucify me for saying this but the GOP should punt on this one, pass the extension for a year (yes do the WRONG thing) remove the issue from the table and if possible get some concession on something else from from the Rats in exchange”
Yes. Otherwise, the MSM will crucify us, and Obama will just issue “Executive Orders” to do it anyway. The law means nothing to him.
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