Free Republic

Joe Biden feigned shock when the Supreme Court ruled that he had no authority to wipe out tens of billions of dollars in student loans at the stroke of a pen. The issue is so clearcut, it’s hardly imaginable that we could need to explain it, but let’s begin with that part, to be thorough. Millions of people knowingly, willingly signed onto student loan debts, often while studying for degrees in fields that are well-known for producing relatively low-paying jobs. And then, when they found these burdens to be high after college, they hoped that politicians would let them off...

The news of the week concerns the Biden-Regime’s $10,000/student (or in some cases, $20,000/student) loan write-off, being portrayed as a debt forgiveness. It’s not. Today, let’s consider some of the basics that the debate has forgotten – basics that involve not only the schools, the banks, and the students, but the taxpayers, the economy, and civilization itself. Advance warning: this is going to be a long one; it's a big topic. MORAL HAZARD Think of the famous concept of the “butterfly effect” – the idea that every action might be a cause of other, possibly unanticipated results down the line....

A university think tank just published a list of recommendations for paying for college. Perhaps not too surprisingly, they mostly involve increasing taxpayer-funded government subsidies of higher education. To its credit, the Miller Center at the University of Virginia acknowledges that the economy is worse than the U. S. government claims it is. "Total unemployed, people who want to work but are discouraged from looking, and people who are working part time because they cannot find a full-time job peaked in 2010 but remains at 9.8 percent," the executive summary of "Investing in the Future: Sharing Responsibility for Higher Education...

During this year's legislative session, Texas had an "oh, wait, hold on, don't do that" moment on privately funded tollways. Fair enough, but now it's time to figure out what the state should do, including how to pay for what the state's highway czar calls a $100 billion shortfall in money needed for essential highway projects. Ric Williamson, the Weatherford businessman who is chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, says "the entire future of the state transportation system" depends on potential revenue from private toll road investors. Without it, staffers with the Texas Department of Transportation told commission members at...

AUSTIN — A political activist dedicated to independent candidates and third-party tickets has launched a new Internet site dedicated to impeaching Gov. Rick Perry. Linda Curtis, founder of Independent Texans, launched the site to call on the Legislature to draft articles of impeachment against Perry in 2009. Curtis noted that Texas does not have the right of recall, so petitioning the Legislature to impeach the governor is the only answer when citizens are unhappy. When asked about the new Impeach Perry Web site, Perry spokesman Robert Black responded by saying: "Free speech is a wonderful thing." Curtis said the two...