I got an email recently from my esteemed Congressman defending (or at least I saw it that way) his vote on the recent Student Loan bill. First, let me say that I know Joe has worked hard on this, and I’m sure he’s disappointed with the final “bi-partisan” (fear that word) product. He voted for it, as I read the email, with the expectation that it will be fixed down the road, but that’s very unlikely, for the simple reason that bad things rarely get fixed in this country; certainly not as often as good things get destroyed. This is especially true now, when we have a Republican controlled (both end of the Capitol, when it comes down to it) Congress, and a president who, on many issues, is more Republican than Democrat. Bear in mind that this travesty of a bill was backed wholeheartedly by Obama, and, not coincidentally, it’s a big give back to Wall Street and the banks, who were temporarily discomfited by the real student loan reform we got a few years ago.
Fact is, in order for this, as well as many of the other horrendous bi-partisan bills to which we’ve been subjected, to be reversed, we, at a minimum must get a Democratic House and filibuster reform in the Senate. But the Democrats are striving mightily to blur the distinctions between the parties; the student loan sell out being a good example. You and I may know there’s still a real difference, but the Democrats have done nothing to persuade the low attention voter who keeps hearing that they’re all the same, and sees precious little to persuade him that’s not true.
Better, it seems to me, to go down fighting, as has Elizabeth Warren, then agree to give today’s students a break while guaranteeing tomorrow’s will be screwed. The government stands to make big money off the backs of tomorrow’s students and their parents should this bill remain in force (and it will).
Read the linked (Student loans tied to market rates while Wall Street Banks have a fixed 6% return from the government for the past century), for a contrast, which of course involves banks.
So, I think Joe made a mistake. The chances of this bill being repealed or reformed in the near future are probably nil. These folks want us to believe we can’t perform highly skilled jobs, and then do their best to prevent us from getting the education we need to do them. To the Republicans this is a virtue; for Democrats it’s just collateral damage due do a gridlocked Congress. But, it’s funny, when a Wall Street friendly guy or gal gets appointed to a government position, all that obstruction disappears and before you can blink the vote is taken and the flunky gets through.
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