Posted on 06/23/2012 11:04:37 AM PDT by Bryanw92
Bryan, check out this list of ways Senate Republicans have proposed to pay for keeping student loan rates at 3.4%, and see if you can spot the pattern:
- Gut a preventative health care program - Limit how many years students are eligible for loans, making college far more expensive for part-time students - Force middle-class federal workers to pay more for their retirement - Scale back the number of folks using Medicaid1
You see it? A generation is drowning in debt for having the audacity to get an education, and these people are only willing to help if they can punch the middle class and poor in the mouth while they're at it.
SIGN: "To the Senate GOP: We're on to you. Pass a fair deal that helps everyone."
The argument over whether interest rates should stay at a low 3.4% is basically over. We won. Heck, even Mr. 1% himself, Mitt Romney, wants rates to stay low,2 and that guy's basically doing whatever the far right says he should at this point.
But it's possible to win the argument and lose the fight. Lower rates means the government earns less in interest. That costs money. And that's where the battle is now -- how to pay for this.
Yesterday, President Obama spoke to a group of students at the White House and called once again for Congress to act. Democrats have proposed a bunch of perfectly reasonable ideas, including just closing giant tax loopholes for a handful of rich business owners.3 Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, balk at any proposal that asks big banks, the super-rich, or even just regular old millionaires, to pay a damn cent more.
These guys are mostly evil, but not completely stupid. If we show that voters know what they're up to, they'll strike a fair deal. And if we can win in the Senate, there's a good chance the House will follow.
If at least 50,000 folks add their name, we'll send the signatures to GOP Leader Mitch McConnell's office. Sign now.
This shouldn't be hard. We're not asking for loan forgiveness or cheaper tuition (right now). We just don't want them to make things worse. That should be doable -- even by Washington's standards...
8 days to go, Colin and the rest of the Rebuild the Dream team
Sources: 1) "White House Skeptical of GOP Student Loan Proposals," Washington Post - June 5, 2012 2) "Romney Backs Extending Lowered Student Loan Rates," CNN - April 23, 2012 3) "Senator Reid Makes New Offer on Student Loans," Reuters - June 7, 2012
I receieved this in email today. These people are proto-nazis and don't even realize it. I guess we know how the German people did what they did in the 30's and 40's.
I’d ask them how it feels to be victims of big education. The evil Big Ed types have conned them into thinking that getting a doctorate in womens studies will do something other than get them hopelessly in debt while the Universities continue to make millions and always want more.
With all due respect, student loan debt is an optional obligation. It should be tempered with Parents' advice on curriculum, major, etc. supplemented with all the parents can provide. In other words, the worth, and the more important "return on investment," ROI, are the final determining factors.
The fact that Obama has chosen to subsume the individual banks' responsibility for these loans is the crux of the problem which lays the burden directly on the middle and upper classes (BTW, everyone should know by now, the lower class doesn't pay for anything they use)
So, it isn't audacity of presuming it is the result of poor choices and Obama's dictatorial madness and what seems is, for now, unfettered control of the lifelines of the US. Don't blame Republicans for this. It was Pelosi, Reid, Obama, Holder, Napalitano, and all the rest of the bastards that infest our government.
How many BILLIONS of dollars is Harvard’s sheltered endowment?
The school COSTS are excessive and the public is supposed to pick up the slack by eating unpaid student loans.
Nope. Not gon’ do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.
How much is a textbook today? $90? $120? $145? What’s the “buyback” price at Barnes & Noble’s monopolized student bookstore racket? $15?
How often do courses “upgrade” to the new edition to prevent students from reselling perfectly good used (overpriced) texts?
It’s an organized interstate racket. RICO laws should apply. Seize the ill gotten gains.
Ouch!
“Pass a fair deal that helps everyone.”
FAIRNESS through Govt that HELPS EVERYONE
Wow. Do you use Comet, Drano, or this to clean your mail box after stuff like this mess. shows up in it?
http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/easy-off-heavy-duty-oven-cleaner/ID=prod4200-product
They should be marketable at rates only a tiny bit higher than the cheapest 30 year mortgage.
There are no sound economic reasons for imagining the interest rates should increase 100%.
Did you notice how, in this period of high unemployment, many new on-line “Universities” advertise their wares, and how they almost guarantee success in one’s job search after graduation?
Then complain to Obama. Or, when you sign a contract, read the fine print. Thinking of bankruptcy as an option is exactly what is wrong with this country. Lastly, choice was an option here, not audacity to hope.....that crap sounds like Obama.
If they’re so all fired up about the price of higher Ed. ask them WHY their own house needs a cleaning. Their people are in charge in Ca. and we all know what a terrific job Ca. has done with Everything they’ve touched.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/UC-regents-powerhouse-chief-Richard-Blum-3287474.php
Sen. Feinstein’s husband.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/14/business/la-fi-hiltzik-column-20100714
Let's say you have a million bucks and you have two applicants wanting you to loan them the money.
One of them will use it for a purpose which prohibits the loan being discharged in case of bankruptcy. The other guy is going to use it for a purpose which involves property of equal value.
The interest rates are the same. The terms are the same.
Which loan is the safer loan? And that's for YOU as the lender, not for the borrower!
You certainly can't be opposed to lenders evaluating risk in case of bankruptcy on the part of the borrowers can you?
How large can these debts be anyway, 4 years at the in-state college with a frugal lifestyle is about 15K/year? Presumably if the student has merit grants my offset something too. Something needs to be contributed along the way, can a debt for an undergrad exceed the cost of a car?
For graduate school, if one is good enough they can get by on an assistantship.
These apocryphal large debts must be for people who went to Ivy league schools and borrowed huge amounts while doing little on their own in most cases.
Several years ago I attended a graduation at a major school. Almost all the master’s and doctor’s degrees in the hard sciences were awarded to students with hard to pronounce names. The degrees to the Anglo students were in psychology, counseling and finance etc. The trend in higher education is away from objective knowledge into softer forms of knowledge. Not even computer science gets much reward , because the field has got too comperitive.
"I Learned in Public School"?
(I'd love to know where you're getting your blinking ink)...
When my neice was graduating from high school, I asked her what she was going to study in college. She said that she wanted to study music history, so I asked her what kind of job do you need that degree for?
She answered back with that kind of superiority that only leftists and teenagers (but I’m being redundant, aren’t I?) can have and asked me “When do you become so corrupted that everything becomes about money?”
I answered back, “The first time you have to pay all your own bills and there isn’t enough money left to eat.”
If some smart kid wants a good education, go to the military, take some apptitude tests for a medical career etc....chances are they'd fund the whole thing....I have one former employee who's doing exactly that right now. I'm not into hypotheticals today - only reality.
>>I would hazard to guess that when your young niece graduates, she will marvel at how smart you’ve become. Since she knew it all before she left and got older, it must have been you that finally got a clue....[needs no sarcasm tag, I think]
She graduated 10 years ago, but she did change major to Music Therapy and Education while in college because she knew she needed to find a job some day.
However, she moved to NYC and became a teacher after graduation, so she’s still soooooo much smarter and worldly than us hicks back home.
LOL, yet saddened. Perhaps she'll catch on in time to prepare for the future. At that age many still don't realize that dying with the most toys or fanciest life doesn't mean much.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.