I waited a day to get more news on this...and to see if Congress was serious. Appears they are. Can this be for real? The Democrats are folding student-loan reform into the health bill so it can be enacted without 60 votes in the Senate
Under an agreement finalized (behind close doors) the government backed student loans of the the past are now going to become Federal Direct Loans, a newly added part of the Health Care Bill.
"Many House Democrats reacted enthusiastically on Friday to the word that a proposed overhaul of student loan programs would be included with major health care legislation in an expedited budget package to be offered in Congress."
There’s some pretty determined statism going on in Washington, if they think it’s right to use parliamentary maneuvers to ram major changes through that the people don’t want or without a broad public debate . Or else they’re saying to themselves that we’re too stupid to want government to do the right things. Or maybe, like Nancy Pelosi, they’re thinking that we’ll like what they’re cooking as soon as we get a taste of it, which goes back to us being viewed as too stupid to know whats good for us.
{This is where I stopped writing to SCREAM}
When i went to college, there were scholarships, grants, work study and loans, I had a partial scholarship, no grants, I did work and needed loans to supplement my education costs. I applied for the loans, and I paid them back after graduation. Since then the programs have become more complex, with some needs based direct lending, so fully funded by the government, and other variations. My loans were through a bank that no longer exists, Crocker Bank. I agreed to pay them a fixed interest commencing 6 months after graduation. As I recall the federal government was the guarantor who would make sure the bank didn't lose any money if i never worked and paid it back.
But now, the system will be different, with all student loans being funded not by private (and according to Obama evil) banks, but by you and me the taxpayers. This morning i heard several financial shows discuss the impact on the tax rate.
One commentator said that all these programs combined will need the "rich" to pay 240% more in taxes, and for the "upper middle class" to pay nearly 80% in income tax. Why the hell would i want to work to pay 80% taxes?? If I made $120,000 a year, why would I want to keep working to take home less than $24,000 a year? POOP ON THAT.
I have no problem with banks loaning money to students, or the government backing those loans, I don't even really object to government regulating the interest rates...but this interference and take over of the free market by the government has got to stop. I don't want our country to end up like Greece...broke and in chaos.
It has just become so byzantine! When are people ever going to insist that Congressional bills be germane to just one issue. Student loans should be part of a seperate bill. Of course, Congress knows that.
ReplyDeleteLet me explain something, the Dems aren't using the parliamentary procedure to ram anything. They are voting a 51% majority which is the correct and proper method. Filibuster is the parliamentary procedure that is being used by the Rep. to block the majority rule. 60% is only needed to stop a filibuster, which is a crooked method of stopping any debate or legislation.
ReplyDeleteOne Commentator is an idiot, and the rich are going to pay the taxes they have been exempt from for nearly a decade. The same decade that sent us into deficit for exactly the same amount of revenue. The Dems aren't raising any taxes, and the sun has set on those idiotic trickle down tax cuts that the rich have enjoyed for so long.
If you take that deficit, and divide by the money supply you get inflation in %. Inflation is why those who were rich thirty years ago ( making more than $150,000/year ) are now middle class, and middle class are now below the poverty line ( $24,000 ).
The Dems are going to pass a Health Care Bill, and the rich are going to pay. Those who think of themselves as Middle Class are going to enjoy the welfare system and the poor...we'll get by one way or another, with or without Social Security Benefits. Or Credit Cards. On minimum wage ( $24,000/year )
Filibuster is a part of the process, and is not crooked.
ReplyDeleteThe budget reconciliation process for passing legislation was never intended to pass anything but budget and appropriation for existing expenses. Using that process for the health care overtake by government is way beyond the legitimate use of this method.
At this moment there is an attempt to create a rule that will allow the passing of the bill without a vote in the house. This is in violation of the constitution.
Putting a 40% tax on health benefits is hardly "not raising taxes." Just saying. I suppose it's not raising taxes because unions are exempt?
How about those deals for Nebraska and Louisiana to buy the votes of their senators? How is that not corrupt? How will that fly, when one state alone will get all the benefits of the health plan but never pay into it?
Just to be on topic, I'll also say that it is rather silly to put teh student loan stuff in the health care bills (yes plural, because they have two of them still).
The budget reconciliation process was used several times by Bush to pass bills with a 51% majority and to block Democrat philibusters. Obama hasn't done it...yet...
ReplyDelete