Commentary
The saying – “the chickens have come home to roost” – with its meaning that bad things done in the past have come back to bite you in the ass – fits all too well with President Biden’s decision to forgive college loans.
In 2010, when I was living in Texas, writing op-eds published in several newspapers, I recall a critical piece I wrote when then President Obama signed legislation overhauling the student loan program.
It represented the government takeover of student loans, eliminating private banks. Taking out the middleman, Obama claimed, would save some $68 billion over 11 years. The anti-business/big government president was proud of his move to have the Department of Education administering the loans.
Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander spoke often in opposition to the government takeover, a move that killed more than 30,000 private sector jobs. “The Obama administration’s motto is turning out to be: If we can find it in the Yellow Pages, the government ought to try to do it,” Alexander said.
While Obama made a big deal of the signing at a Virginia community college, few people understood that it was a scheme to fund ObamaCare. The Congressional Budget Office revealed that $8.7 billion of the money collected in student loan interest payments would pay for ObamaCare. If it weren’t for the need to subsidize health care reform, the interest rate could have been 5.3 percent instead of the 6.8 percent charged.
By April 2015, some $1 trillion of student loan debt was owed the federal government as 27.2 percent of the loans were delinquent, and Investor’s Business Daily wrote of “The Real Student Loan Crisis Is The One Obama Created.”
By the time the 2016 election came around, the GAO estimated taxpayer losses at $108 billion and counting, as the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote about “Obama’s Giant Student Loan Con.”
Now, as Biden declares an emergency that allows him to authorize $300 billion to forgive student loans, many see it as a bribery to get young, disillusioned Biden voters back in line. Let’s not forget that he learned under the tutelage of Obama, a master schemer, claiming it was the middle class that will benefit.
“Unconstitutional flimflammery.” – Ben Domenech
Typical socialist thinking …
Appearing in the White House briefing room after the president’s announcement on student loan forgiveness, Susan Rice, his director of the Domestic Policy Council, had this to say regarding those who have and have not paid back their loans:
“But that doesn’t mean that those who were for whatever reason unable to pay back their loans … like, you know, one-third of people have debt and no college degree. That doesn’t mean that because some were able to do so, nobody should help those who weren’t. By that logic, we wouldn’t help anybody in this country.”
You mean there wouldn’t be any more giveaways, Susan?
There’s more …
Included in the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act is the establishment of still another government bank; a green bank within the EPA, with $27 billion in start up money to fund green technology projects.
With vivid memories of the failed investment in Solyndra, those of us on the right question the government taking the financial risks on our behalf, choosing what endeavors to fund. If a project is really worthy of investment, the private sector normally steps in with investments, and is responsible for its success or failure.
I can imagine funds administered by the EPA to friends. Some $8 billion has been dedicated to provide funds to low-income and disadvantaged communities
A sound proverb …
Like the chicken saying, I was reminded of the proverb – what goes around comes around – with its definition that actions will eventually have consequences which will have to be dealt with.
That’s us. If we restore sanity to the Congress on November 8, we can undo much of what has been undertaken by the current big government spenders.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
