Medicare-for-All: The Audacity of Stupid

I didn’t have a problem with health care until the federal government fixed it. For decades, we were told by Washington D.C., and their liberal shock troops, that cost were too high and our insurance was junk. Well, these geniuses put an end to that, didn’t they? Now, our deductibles have trebled, and premiums for some families cost as much as their mortgages. Let’s give a big hand to our lords and masters; these people sure no how to fix things. Boy, I can’t wait for Medicare-for-all.

Talk about fixing things, Rep. Maxine Waters chaired a hearing on student loan debt. She then lectured bank executives. Here is an excerpt of that exchange from the Daily Caller:

Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters challenged bank executives during a Wednesday morning hearing, appearing to blame them for the student debt crisis.

What she appeared to leave out was the fact that student loans were nationalized nearly a decade ago under former President Barack Obama to cut banks’ ability to offer government-backed loans.

“By cutting out the middleman, we’ll save the American taxpayers $68 billion in the coming years,” Obama said when he signed the legislation in 2010. “That’s real money.”

Waters now chairs the committee that oversees those student loans.

Waters began by explaining the student debt crisis, saying, “Today, there are more than 44 million Americans that owe … $1.56 trillion in student loan debt.”

She added, “Last year, 1 million student loan borrowers defaulted which is on top of the 1 million borrowers who defaulted the year before.”

Then, Waters turned the questions on the bank executives, asking what they intended to do about the student debt crisis: “What are you guys doing to help us with the student loan debt? Who would like to answer first? Mr. Monihan? Big bank?”

“We stopped making student loans in 2007 or so,” he responded.

“So you don’t do it anymore? Mr. Corbyn?” she pressed the next banker.

“We exited student lending in 2009,” he replied.

“Mr. Dimon?” Waters tried again.

“When the government took over student lending in 2010, we stopped doing all student lending,” he said


Wouldn’t you think, Rep. Maxine Waters, should know this? She, afterall, was in Congress when the Obama administration nationalized student loans. Worse, the first banker reminded her of this fact, but she kept asking the others. Talk about audacity of stupid!

Therein lies the problem: we have a bunch of morons running the country and they want more power over our lives.

We have people in Congress who can’t remember what happened ten years ago, how can we expect them to understand economic principles that have been established for thousands of years. One of the biggest problems our country faces is a lack of appreciation for history.

Medicare-for-all will institute universal wage and price controls. Wage and price controls are a proven failure. Nixon failed in 1971. FDR failed with the National Industrial Recovery Act. As a matter of fact, we can go all the way back to Emperor Diocletian of the Roman empire. His policies are said to have instituted the feudal system that dominated Europe for over a century.

Maybe, that’s what our wannabe overlords want to institute, a new kind of slavery: a government of the swamp, by the swamp and for the swamp.

Source:

https://dailycaller.com/2019/04/10/maxine-waters-pin-student-debt-banks-forgets-nationalized/

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/education/279512-president-obamas-horrible-terrible-legacy-on-student-loans

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/remembering-nixons-wage-price-controls

https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Industrial-Recovery-Act

https://mises.org/library/price-fixing-ancient-rome

Obama Admin.Corrupts College Education

Anyone who gives a damn is wondering why the cost of a college education is so expensive.  Well here is an explanation worth contemplating.

The federal government happily subsidizes inferior state colleges that graduate few if any of their students. That includes Chicago State University, which has a 12.8 percent six-year graduation rate.

The Obama administration has rewritten federal student loan rules in a way that encourages colleges to raise tuition and effectively subsidizes the worst colleges the most. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that each additional dollar in government financial aid results in a tuition hike of about 65 cents.

The federal government also subsidizes expensive, low-quality third-tier law schools whose graduates are often unemployed. It does so even though many of their graduates will never pay back their student loans because of their low graduating salaries, and the huge amount of money law students are allowed to borrow from the government. . . . As the Cato Institute’s Neal McCluskey notes, ITT Tech produced better graduating salaries for its students than nearby public alternatives. But no one is suggesting that those lousy public colleges be shut down.

Frontline recently aired a documentary about for-profit colleges and how they were scamming the system; however, they didn’t touch on public universities.  And as you can expect, Democratic politicians deflected their culpability onto the evil private sector.  Unfortunately, we will never see a documentary showcasing their corruption of higher education.

Source:

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/244102/

http://costonscomplaint.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-federal-government-is-financing.html

The Federal Government is Financing a Monstrous Student Loan Bubble

Last week, Frontline featured a documentary on subprime student loans.  The premise being for-profit colleges were bullying students into their programs and financing their education with federal loans.

I have to admit, Frontline did a good job on showcasing this outright fraud by some of these unaccredited schools.  But they glossed over the real cause for this outrage.

A famous gangster was once asked why he robbed banks.  He replied, “That’s where the money is at.”  Today’s grafters are more sophisticated.  They rob the taxpayers. 

The housing bubble wouldn’t have happened without the federal government easing lending restrictions and guaranteeing subprime mortgages through GSA’s.  Banks wouldn’t have taken on the risk.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the engines for that economic disaster.

Now we have another bubble that’s ready to burst thanks again to easy money.  The Obama administration’s hostile student loan takeover is creating another economic disaster just waiting to unleash holy hell.  David Stockman wrote the following:    

Now we get to the subprimiest of subprime debt – student loans. Student loans are not officially classified as subprime debt, but let’s compare borrowers. A subprime borrower has a FICO score of 660 or below, has defaulted on previous obligations, and has limited ability to meet monthly living expenses. A student loan borrower doesn’t have a credit score because they have no credit, have no job with which to pay back the loan, and have no ability other than the loan proceeds to meet their monthly living expenses. And in today’s job environment, they are more likely to land a waiter job at TGI Fridays than a job in their major. These loans are nothing more than deep subprime loans made to young people who have little chance of every paying them off, with hundreds of billions in losses being borne by the ever shrinking number of working taxpaying Americans.

Student loan debt stood at $660 billion when Obama was sworn into office in 2009. The official reported default rate was 7.9%. Obama and his administration took complete control of the student loan market shortly after his inauguration. They have since handed out a staggering $500 billion of new loans (a 76% increase), and the official reported default rate has soared by 43% to 11.3%. Of course, the true default rate is much higher. The level of mal-investment and utter stupidity is astounding, even for the Federal government. Just some basic unequivocal facts can prove my case.

Frontline interviewed the usual suspects such as Sen. Dick Durbin who will never take responsibility for the disasters they cause. It’s much easier for a politician to blame for-profit businesses that take advantage of easy money spewing from Washington D.C. than to admit they’re the cause for all this misery they manufacture.

Source:

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/the-student-loan-bubble/

Feds Rough Up Texas Man Over Student Loan

All you deadbeats who have outstanding federal student loans had better beware because big government mafia is out to collect and it will cost an arm, a leg and possibly jail time.  A Houston, Texas man found out what $1500 means to a central government that desperately needs money.

Aker said he was put in the back of a truck and placed in a cell at the federal building in downtown Houston. Later, he was brought to court, where a "prosecutor," county clerk and judge were present. Aker said the prosecutor was actually a collection lawyer.

"Then I get a lecture (from the judge) about the United States and stealing from the government," Aker said.

Aker told The News that he was ordered to pay $5,700 for the loan, including interest. However, Aker was also ordered to pay for the cost of the morning arrest — nearly $1,300. If he didn't pay that amount by March 1, he said, he was told he would be arrested again.

The average student loan debt for 2015 graduates is approximately $35,000, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Aker said he was never read his rights during the ordeal. He is in the process of finding a lawyer.

Rights?  We have no rights in the Age of Obama unless you’re a protected class.  Mr. Aker is a black man, but he’s a black man who lawfully owns a gun.  That’s a disqualification especially in a county that has prosecuted people for merely being conservatives.

Source:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/u-s-marshals-arresting-people-not-paying-student-loans-article-1.2533153

Obama Proposes Expansion of Student Loan Bubble

Here we are on the verge of another government sponsored bubble. What the feds did to the housing market, they’re doing to college education. Do easy credit, low interest rates, and soaring prices sound familiar? It should. Just turn around and look at your overvalued house.

Barack Obama announced in his weekly address, that he wants Congress to prevent interest rates on federally funded student loans from doubling in July; at the same time, he wants to come up with a solution to make college education affordable:

In America, higher education cannot be a luxury. It’s an economic imperative that every family must be able to afford. That’s why next week I’ll be visiting colleges across the country, talking to students about how we can make higher education more affordable – and what’s at stake right now if Congress doesn’t do something about it. You see, if Congress doesn’t act, on July 1st interest rates on some student loans will double. Nearly seven and half million students will end up owing more on their loan payments. That would be a tremendous blow. And it’s completely preventable.

This issue didn’t come out of nowhere. For some time now, I’ve been calling on Congress to take steps to make higher education more affordable – to prevent these interest rates from doubling, to extend the tuition tax credit that has saved middle-class families millions of dollars, and to double the number of work-study jobs over the next five years.

This kind of rhetoric reminds me of the Clinton-era affordable housing initiative. And guess what? The results are about the same. Last year, outstanding student loans passed the trillion dollar mark. Do you hear that bubble being stretched?

Of course, big government politicians like Barack Obama, seldom see the consequences of their actions. Their policies have flooded universities with easy cash. As a result, tuition has skyrocketed. Soon, we’ll witness a tsunami of bankruptcies, and the taxpayers will suffer another round of debt forgiveness spankings.

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2012/04/21/weekly-address-calling-congress-prevent-student-interest-rates-dou#transcript

http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/11298-student-loan-debt-reaches-1-trillion

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76

http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2012/02/rising-unaffordability-of-college.html

North Carolina Democrat Assaults Student

Rep Bob Etheridge of the 2nd District of North Carolina assaulted a student when asked if he supported the Obama agenda. This is a despicable act and if anyone of us had done such a thing, we would be in jail right now.

John Edwards was right; there is two Americas. One for the political class and government bureaucrats and one for ordinary citizens.

Mr. Etheridge held a press conference earlier today and apologized for his actions. He took responsibility and showed contrition; but that is not good enough. He attacked those young people just for asking him a question. He should resign right now! YOU ARE A PUBLIC SERVANT! If you can't handle people asking you a simple question, then you need to leave office now. And if you can't do that then the good people of the 2nd district have the responsibility to throw your miserable ass out!

What is even more despicable is the way the media treated this guy. Every question was designed as an excuse or an out. It was ridiculous. Can you imagine if a republican had assaulted those kids? Here is what the republican would have got:

When was the last time you beat a student?

Do you have a history of beating your kids?

Can we check your children for bruises?

How about your wife? Did you ever beat your wife?

Did you ever hit you mother?

How about your dog? Can we see your vet bills?

When can we expect your resignation? Are you going to resign?

And the mainstream media wonders why nobody is buying their biased crap.

The Federal Government and Arrogance of Power

As the federal government expands its tentacles and wraps them around our collective throat, we can see the consequence that a powerful central authority can have over our everyday lives.

California’s San Joaquin Valley was once considered the bread basket of the world; that was until the environmental nut-jobs high-jacked the Federal Bureau of Reclamations office and the NOAA/Marine Biological Agency. These agencies used the Endangered Species Act to stop 95% of the water that was pumped into the valley in order to save a fish called the Delta Smelt.

The consequences have been devastating. Families are losing their farms. Unemployment has reached 40% in some areas with an estimated 40,000 jobs lost in the valley. The land of milk and honey has turned into a desert. The 750,000 acres of bounty now produces tumbleweeds. The loss of agricultural output from the San Joaquin will cost every one of us at the grocery store. Thanks a lot you morons in the Federal government.

Now that the democrats are trying to ram through their socialist health care program, they need the two blue dogs from that area to vote yea on their bill. Representatives Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa have been offered a bribe. In exchange for their vote, the water spigots would be opened in the valley. I guess the Delta Smelt is about to get screwed. So much for an endangered species; social Darwinism is about to swallow a fish, at least in the San Joaquin.

I hope that the two congressmen are not deceived by the powers that be and their promises. The Democratic leadership is as fickle as the attention span of a five year old.

If the spigots do open in California, don’t think that the environmentalist are defeated. They want to control and regulate all recreational fishing. Here are a couple of excerpts from Transition Green:

"Under the new Administration, NOAA (National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration) should support legislation and initiatives to promote a coordinated, cross Federal and State agency, systematic approach to protecting, maintaining, and restoring marine ecosystem health and resilience.

"This type of 'whole ocean' ecosystem approach could be pursued through a variety of administrative and legislative vehicles and conservation tools, including the establishment and implementation of a national ocean policy to protect, maintain, and restore marine ecosystem health and resilience, and the creation of Federal-state partnerships directed to implement priority needs under such a policy. This could enhance the effectiveness of marine spatial as a critical tool for promoting ocean health and resilience...

"Well-designed protected areas are a proven method of protecting and restoring habitat and the diversity, resilience and productivity of marine life and promoting overall ocean health. These areas can also improve scientific understanding of marine functions.

"Establishing a domestic and international system of marine protected areas is critical in the face of mounting cumulative pressures from fishing, pollution, coastal and ocean development and industrialization, climate change, and ocean acidification."

The days of Andy and Opie strolling down to the fishing hole could be a thing of the past; unless you have approval from a federal bureaucrat.

Another power grab is that no one will be able to get a student loan from a private bank. The democrats want sole authority as to who will and will not get a loan. This is absolutely outrageous. Can you feel the noose tightening around your neck? But there was one bank in the whole country that would have the ability to provide student loans; and that one bank is located in Bismarck; that was until word got out. It has subsequently been scrubbed.

Little by little they are eating away at our liberties. It will be just a matter of time before they tell us how big our toilet bowls can be. Wait a minute…they already have.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/saltwater/news/story?id=4909773