Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Biden's Illegal Vote Buying Scheme

 

Before I even get into the absurdity of President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, let me dispel the White House’s pathetic and deceptive answer as to how they plan to pay for this scheme.  They suggest that, “the work (they) have done to reduce the deficit” is what is going to pay for this vote-buying boondoggle.  That is an utterly false statement.  In the first three years (pre-pandemic) of the Trump administration, America’s budget deficits averaged about $800 billion.  In 2020, due to the additional programs to confront the pandemic (PPP, FPUC, LWA, Warp Speed, etc.) our deficit exploded to over $3 TRILLION.  Even in 2021 our deficit was still about $3 TRILLION. 

As the expenses for fighting the Pandemic go away, of course our deficits were going to go down no matter who was President.  We ran huge deficits, for example during World War II.  In 1943 through 1945 our deficits were 10 times the pre-war amounts, but by 1947 (after the war) our deficits were actually below pre-war levels.  Did Truman run a campaign of smaller government and reduced deficits?  No.  The expenses of the war (building ships and planes and an army) simply went away.  The same thing has happened with Joe Biden.  He has done nothing to reduce our deficits.  The costs of fighting the pandemic have simply gone away, yet Biden continually tries to take credit for that inevitability.  In fact, in 2023 our deficit is projected to be over $1.2 TRILLION, an amount greater than any Trump year, and that projection does not include the Student Loan Forgiveness plan or the Inflation Reduction Act.  So, here’s the truth – Biden is not cutting the size or cost of the federal government.  Pandemic costs are simply ceasing.  In fact, he is actually increasing our deficits and debt well above pre-pandemic rates just as interest rates are increasing.  Not a good idea.

Side note – I didn’t like the deficits under Trump either and I wrote about it, but I felt I had to reveal the truth about Biden’s misleading deficit reduction claims so that you, my readers, could at least know the truth.

Now that we know that this plan is NOT paid for, we can discuss the mountain of flaws in this it.  First, notice that I didn’t call this an Act or law passed by Congress.  It is a “plan” hatched by one man.  President Biden is using a law passed to protect our service men and women from the extra pressure of student loan debt while they were deployed.  He knows he can’t get it passed through Congress because there is too much resistance even in his own party, so he is acting like a king or monarch or dictator and spending hundreds of billions if not a TRILLION dollars on his sole authority.  It’s the Nancy Pelosi approach to spending - pass it and then find out later what it costs.  Our Founders would be rolling over in their graves.

Next, this is a targeted vote-buying scheme aimed at a group of people Biden is having a particular problem with.  New polls have indicated that only 21% of young adults 18-34 approve of the President’s performance.  So, this narcissistic, short-term thinker, has decided to spend up to a TRILLION dollars of your money to buy those votes.  Who needs a campaign fund when you can just spend hardworking Americans’ money at your personal discretion.  That’s pathetic, King Biden.

This “plan” also punishes 85% of Americans who don’t have student loan debt.  Almost 60% of Americans have decided not to even go to college.  Then there are millions more who worked through college or whose parents sacrificed to send them through college without incurring any debt.  Then there are those who used student loans to get through college, but have since worked hard and pinched pennies to pay off those loans.  Where are their checks? This “plan” punishes the hard working and diligent by taking their money to forgive debt legally and knowingly incurred.

And what message are we sending to colleges and universities in America?  This is a green light to continue to raise prices, which is the real problem we are facing.  According to InflationData.com, the cost of attending college since 1980 has grown at a rate four times faster than general inflation in this country.  And the easy access to money through the student loan program has been a major factor in these excessive cost increases.

But the biggest question we should be asking is this – Is this even legal?  Just a year ago, Nancy Pelosi said, “People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness.  He does NOT.”  She added, “That has to be an act of Congress.”  I don’t agree with Nancy on much, but I do agree with her on this.  Or at least I agree with the Nancy Pelosi of one year ago.  Today, she is supporting Biden’s plan.  Maybe she just forgot her earlier statement.  She is 82.  Maybe it’s time for her to go home and take some memory classes.

And finally, this could be the death knell for the entire student loan program.  What idiot would ever pay back their student loan in the future?  Debt forgiveness will become the expectation, not the exception. 

 

PS – Colleges like Harvard, which has an endowment of over $50 Billion, should be ashamed to have any student endure more than five years of repayment of student loan debt before THEY cancel it.  That would elevate the value of their degrees and begin to change their reputations as loathsome, elitist institutions.

6 comments:

  1. "Next, this is a targeted vote-buying scheme aimed at a group of people Biden is having a particular problem with."

    This doesn't make sense because Biden isn't on the ballot this year.

    "This “plan” also punishes 85% of Americans who don’t have student loan debt. "

    This doesn't make sense either. It's like saying taxes that fund schools "punish" the millions of people who don't have kids in school.

    " President Biden is using a law passed to protect our service men and women from the extra pressure of student loan debt while they were deployed. He knows he can’t get it passed through Congress because there is too much resistance even in his own party, so he is acting like a king or monarch or dictator and spending hundreds of billions if not a TRILLION dollars on his sole authority."

    He's actually not SPENDING anything, he's forgiving debt owed by people, much of it interest. That said, the mechanism isn't ideal, but arguably (it's a matter for the Courts) it's legal thanks to Congress delegating that authority. As far as your caterwauling about the awfulness of broad executive action, let's just say you and your party have little credibility on that point, and you should have seen this coming when you lost the Presidency.

    " This is a green light to continue to raise prices, which is the real problem we are facing. "

    This is the most valid point, and if Republicans were serious about changing the status quo here they'd do more than issue press releases. They'd propose and push laws that made student debt dischargeable in bankruptcy, for example.

    " loathsome, elitist institutions."

    Watching Republicans pretend to hate elite colleges is cute. Especially because you have so many elite college graduates as leaders: Trump (Penn), Hawley (Yale), Cruz (Princeton, Harvard), Cotton (Harvardx2), Kennedy (Oxford), DeSantis (Yale, Harvard).

    Even your commentators and what passes for conservative intellectuals are grads of these places: Shapiro (Harvard), Carlson (Trinity - "little Ivy $76K/yr), Hannity (NYU), Coulter (Cornell), Ingraham (Dartmouth).

    If these places are so loathsome, why do you keep electing and listening to their graduates? (hint: the anti-elite rhetoric is BS - they're playing you)

    College funding needs to be reformed, and this is gimmicky to be sure. But the amount of vitriol coming from this post is ridiculous.



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    1. the amount of nonsense coming from your comment is ridiculous. Biden isn't on the ballot this year? Ever heard of mid term elections? He needs more libs elected to get his agenda done.

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    2. Yes, I've heard of midterm elections. You will not find his name on any ballot this fall.

      The rest are truths. You may not like them, but they're true.

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    3. I agree with Arkansascpa. Just as you keep putting Trump on the ballot. He is on the ballot except for where his own people won't campaign with him like in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and on and on. But their denial to embrace him probably makes his influence on the ballot even greater.

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  2. spot on Kevin - Biden continues his reign of disasters. Worst president in my lifetime by far.

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