In the 2008 election, Senator Barack Obama reached out to young Americans with a fresh message that appealed to their dissatisfaction with the nation’s political process. He called it hope and change, and he connected with their hearts and minds with such success that he captured 66 percent of the vote of those under 30. Now, three years later, some of those young Americans have taken to the streets not in joy and exuberance but in anger and frustration. President Obama has heard their call, and he’s now appealing once again to …
President Obama’s “blame conservatives” rhetoric was on full display yesterday as he described his plan to provide relief to students overburdened by loan debt that they voluntarily assumed. “We can’t wait for Congress to do its job, so where they won’t act, I will,” Obama told a crowd of Denver college students yesterday afternoon. The President’s plan includes limiting to 10 percent of discretionary annual income the amount of money lenders can require students to pay. It would also reduce from 25 to 20 the number of years students have to …
The past few years have witnessed the rise and fall of several left-leaning political fads, each touted as a response to the rise of the Tea Party Movement: the Coffee Party, One Nation, and Jon Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’ s Rally to Restore Sanity. A month after the Wall Street occupation began, the protesters say they are just getting started. But a month is more than enough time to see that Occupy Wall Street is no Tea Party. For one thing, Wall Street occupiers call themselves the 99 percent. They …
Take a stroll through your neighborhood Occupy Wall Street protest–whether it’s in New York or Chicago, Detroit or San Francisco–and you’re likely to see a recurring theme emblazoned across cardboard signs: redistribute wealth from the 1 percent to the 99 percent, all in the name of fairness, whether or not it makes good policy. Or if you want to hear that message without fighting the crowds, you could save yourself some time, turn on the TV, and tune in to President Barack Obama’s latest campaign swing across America, this time …
On Wednesday, President Obama is expected to make an announcement regarding student loan debt. He is expected to propose relief for students struggling to make student loan payments. While it’s unclear what exactly President Obama will propose, economist Richard Vedder calls the idea of student loan forgiveness “the second-worst idea ever—the worst was the creation of federally subsidized student loans in the first place.” And he’s right: It is unfair to forgive student loans on the backs of waitresses and construction workers and the nearly three-quarters of Americans who didn’t …
The New York Times and Washington Post are reporting that an agreement has been reached to include a federal takeover of student loans as part of the forthcoming reconciliation package. The New York Times reports: Democratic Congressional leaders struck a tentative agreement on Thursday that breathes new life into President Obama’s proposed overhaul of federal student loan programs. The deal would bundle the bill into an expedited budget package along with the Democratic health care legislation, which would allow for both measures to be passed by the Senate on a …
In a preview of the State of the Union address, President Obama has recommended a plan to help students pay off their debt – with taxpayer dollars, of course. As Politico reports: The Obama-Biden Administration will make student loans more affordable by limiting a borrower’s payments to 10 percent of his or her income above a basic living allowance. It will also keep the total cost of loan repayment manageable by forgiving all remaining debt after 10 years of payments for those in public service work and 20 years for …
Great editorial from the Wall Street Journal exposing the mendacity of liberals trying to pass a bill that will allow the federal government to buy student loans directly from privately lenders. The WSJ links to a letter from Rep. George Miller (D-CA) claiming his bill “will carry no cost for taxpayers” and responds: How can he be so sure? Because his legislation instructs the Bush Administration not to lose any money on the program. Well, that was easy. Officials at the Department of Education, Treasury and the White House budget …
