"campaign ad for assisted living" he should get 10 million votes in Nov.
Posted on 02/23/2024 4:54:38 AM PST by george76
History demonstrates that attempts to “cure” a problem by exceeding the federal government’s constitutional powers generally lead to more and worse problems...
“A rage ... for an abolition of debts ... or for any other improper or wicked project ....” — James Madison, Federalist No. 10..
The courts, in the exercise of what is called “equity jurisdiction,” have long excused borrowers from obligations incurred through fraud, duress, and other forms of creditor unfairness..
In addition, federal bankruptcy laws (authorized in the Constitution by Article I, Section 8, Clause 4) offer a path to safety for debtors who get in over their heads.
Joe Biden’s “student loan forgiveness” measures qualify as neither. Instead, they are classic examples of what James Madison called an “improper or wicked project.”
Under the president’s program, no debtor will have to declare bankruptcy. And far from being victims, they already have enjoyed the benefit of very favorable loan terms at taxpayer expense. The borrowers spent the money for what both they and the federal government thought was a good purpose.
Still, you and I will have to pay their bills.
Madison called debt cancellation “improper or wicked” for very good reasons. Cancellation does not abolish an obligation. It merely transfers it to innocent people. If you are reading this, chances are that you will be one of those victimized by the Biden program.
Cancellation also injures the capital markets. In other words, it makes creditors less likely to lend on favorable terms. This makes it harder for deserving people to borrow.
Cancellation damages the sense of personal responsibility. It frays the social fabric by creating bitterness between different classes of people.
Nevertheless, for centuries demagogues have used debt-cancellation to buy votes. They then find ways to exploit the resulting bitterness for political advantage.
America’s Experience..
The American Founders had learned all about debt cancellation from their study of history. But they also learned about it from personal experience. During the 1780s, the newly independent United States fell into economic recession. Some debtors got behind in their payments. Many were determined to pay, but others wanted to dodge their obligations.
The dodgers put pressure on their state legislatures. Some of the legislatures yielded to the pressure.
In some states, lawmakers issued fast-depreciating paper money, and forced creditors to accept it in lieu of other forms of payment. In other states, they granted debtors lengthy extensions. (Laws authorizing these extensions were called “stay laws” or “installment laws.”) Still other state legislatures allowed borrowers to discharge debt by offering creditors cheap or worthless property (“tender laws” or “pine barren laws”).
These measures were part of a wider pattern by which states adopted statutes with retroactive effect.
The Disastrous Results..
The 1780s state “debtor-relief” measures proved disastrous. The American economy got worse. Creditors stopped lending. Bitterness grew between different classes of people.
Bitterness also grew among the states. For example, many people in Connecticut had loaned money to Rhode Islanders. When the Rhode Island legislature adopted laws excusing its citizens from paying Connecticut creditors, the Connecticut legislature retaliated with new laws of its own.
Soon the two states were on a path toward war.
Fortunately, leading American statesmen understood that a new Constitution was needed to cure the problem.
The Constitution’s Solution..
Because the Constitution created a new central government, it addressed primarily matters of federal governance. But it also included these terms: “No State shall ... coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any ... ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts ....” (Article I, Section 10, Clause 1).
...
The Gap in the Constitution..
Although the Constitution barred states from abolishing debts wholesale, for the most part it did not extend the same prohibition to the federal government—although a ban on federal ex post facto laws and the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause did grant some protection against federal retroactivity.
Moreover, the Constitution did not authorize (and does not authorize) the federal government to guarantee loans for adolescents so they can swell the coffers of universities, or of any other constituency of the National Democratic Party.
Further, as Madison suggested in Federalist No. 10, the Founders did not believe that a single special interest (in this case the universities and their former students) could become powerful enough to generate this kind of self-serving measure at the federal level.
From my long exposure to the Founders’ speeches and writings, I think another reason they did not extend the ban on debt cancellation to the federal government is this: The Founders could not imagine a national leader being so shameless.
Conclusion..
History demonstrates that attempts to “cure” a problem by exceeding the federal government’s constitutional powers generally lead to more and worse problems. The federal student loan program is a good example. In an attempt to make college more affordable, the program has had precisely the opposite effect: The flood of federal money has greatly inflated the cost of tuition. It also has created a generation of debtors, and added billions to the national debt.
One reason for not barring federal debt relief measures may have been that the federal government was charged with the principal responsibility for waging war. The needs of waging war might require debt readjustment.
Now the president’s administration of the student loan program threatens to victimize hundreds of millions of innocent people by imposing on them an obligation they did not incur—and from which they in no way benefitted.
The Republican majority in the House of Representatives should respond to the latest Biden announcment by defunding federal student loan programs (aside from Veterans’ Benefits), completely and permanently.
Ancient 1950’s era politicians like Joe Biden use the old reliable “debt-cancellation” to
buy votes. They then find ways to exploit the resulting bitterness for political advantage.
But you and I will have to pay their bills.
Vote-hungry Biden’s debt cancellation does not abolish an obligation. It merely transfers it to innocent people, chances are that you will be one of those victimized by the Biden vote-buying program.
Cancellation also injures the capital markets, it makes creditors less likely to lend on favorable terms. This makes it harder for deserving people to borrow.
Cancellation damages the sense of personal responsibility. It frays the social fabric by creating bitterness between different classes of people.
For progressives, equality is achieved via income redistribution.
The American riff raff are the receivers.
-Ben Bernanke (14th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014)
This doesn’t solve the problem of college costs . Get the government out of the loan business and let colleges deal with it. They will have to keep costs down so people can afford to go and they’d be on the hook for making sure the students get a diploma that means something since they have to get a job to pay back the college.
Exactly. Precisely. This was always the method, robbing Peter to pay Paul.
So who is going to stop him? Wo is going to send checks to the people who actually worked to pay back student loans?
This isn’t America, yet we tolerate it. We have the government we deserve because we tolerate it.
Wo = Who
sorry
bttt
Why do people persist in the fiction that the POTATUS is doing any of this?!
Talk about denial not being a river in Egypt..
HIGHER EDUCATION RELIEF OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS ACT OF 2003
(1) There is no more important cause than that of our nation’s defense.
(2) The United States will protect the freedom and secure
the safety of its citizens.
(3) The United States military is the finest in the world
and its personnel are determined to lead the world in pursuit of peace.
(4) Hundreds of thousands of Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard reservists and members of the National Guard have been called to active duty or active service.
(5) The men and women of the United States military put their lives on hold, leave their families, jobs, and postsecondary education in order to serve their country and do so with distinction.
(6) There is no more important cause for this Congress than to support the members of the United States military and provide assistance with their transition into and out of active duty and active service.
(2) Actions authorized.—The Secretary is authorized to
waive or modify any provision described in paragraph (1) as may
be necessary to ensure that—
(A) recipients of student financial assistance under
title IV of the Act who are affected individuals are not
placed in a worse position financially in relation to
that financial assistance because of their status as
affected individuals;
(B) administrative requirements placed on affected
individuals who are recipients of student financial
assistance are minimized....
(3) Case-by-case basis.—The Secretary is not required to exercise the waiver or modification authority under this section on a case-by-case basis.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/house-bill/1412/text
[Note: That was gleened by a brief look.]
Joe Biden could be personally sued to partially reimburse the federal government for Biden’s illegal debt cancellation.
Biden is the face for the vermin running his regime. Most people know he didn’t come up with this. That said, he is a crook and a con man so he is good with whatever they do.
“Get the government out of the loan business and let colleges deal with it. They will have to keep costs down so people can afford to go and they’d be on the hook for making sure the students get a diploma that means something since they have to get a job to pay back the college.”
Best statement to solve the problem.
“This isn’t America, yet we tolerate it. We have the government we deserve because we tolerate it.”
NO dforest! YOU TOLERATE IT DFOREST!
IT’S YOU!
What did YOU do to prevent the debt and transfer of debt to taxpayers!!???
What did YOU do to prevent the LGBTQIP agenda?
What did YOU do to prevent the sexual mutilation of children?
IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT
YOU CHOSE NOT TO OPPOSE IT!
YOU TOLERATED IT
...BECAUSE YOU CONDONE IT. YOU EVEN APPROVE IT!!!
So get lost you RussBot Troll.
My liberal maiden aunt who had been a member of the state legislature and had a black servant that was also a close friend (given an equal share with her nieces in her will). Her servant told her that support for unwed mothers was destroying the family system in her black community. Young women would get purposely pregnant to get their own apartment and subsistence support to get out of the constraints of their family with little thought for their child.
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