Friday, February 5, 2010

Time to Get Fired Up for the Weekend!

Hey!  Where the hell are my Lobbyists????  That was my reaction when I read this article about how Sallie Mae is lobbying the shit out of the Government to counteract everything Obama seeks to do regarding Student Loans, as stated in the State of the Union.

"President Obama called the idea a “no-brainer” last fall, predicting it would take billions of dollars from the profits of private lenders and give it directly to students, and many colleges were already moving to get loans directly from the federal government in anticipation of the next move by Congress."


"But an aggressive lobbying campaign by the nation’s biggest student lenders has now put one of the White House’s signature plans in peril, with lenders using sit-downs with lawmakers, town-hall-style meetings and petition drives to plead their case and stay in business."

Who in the heck is going to sign a petition agreeing that students should be screwed because they irresponsibly went to school and incurred debt instead of becoming a compulsive gambler or shopaholic--let's say.  The Private Lenders are the evil middlemen... And the government would be in a better situation to give kids a break, than heartless Sallie Mae.  Reps of Sallie Mae probably attend your funeral to make sure you're dead before they stop calling you for your payments.

"Sallie Mae, a publicly traded company that is the nation’s biggest student lender with $22 billion in loans originated last year, led the field in spending $8 million on lobbying in 2009, more than double the year before, and other lenders spent millions of dollars more, according to an analysis prepared for The New York Times by the Center for Responsive Politics."

How many students' loan payments did it take to pay for $8 million dollars worth of lobbying efforts?  This is worse than buying sneakers made by child laborrrs in Indonesia.  At least the child laborers don't have a vendetta against you.  Sado-Masochist takes your money and flogs you with it until YOU DIE.

"The student loan industry, which would be forced out of the loan origination business if the proposal became law, is seeking to cast the administration’s plan as an ill-conceived government takeover that could put thousands of people out of work at private lending centers around the country at a time when unemployment is hovering around 10 percent."

For some reason, I don't give a shit.  I don't care if we put the producers of child porn out of business either.  Nor do I care if drug traffickers join the realm of the unemployed. If you are in an evil business that makes money off of the torture of innocent people, then you deserve to be out on your ass, joining the bread line.

“We anticipated this,” Arne Duncan, the education secretary, said of the lending industry’s lobbying efforts. “They’ve had a sweet deal. They’ve had this phenomenal deal that taxpayers have subsidized, and that’s a hard thing to give up.”

Bravo!  Calling a spade a spade.  The jig is up, fellas.  I hope to God your evil scheme of buying our legistlature doesn't make our elected officials blind to the fact that students are defaulting left and right and there is no where for people to go.

"At the same time, Sallie Mae and other lenders have staged a series of town-hall-style meetings at their job centers around the country to help mobilize opposition to the White House plan and collect thousands of signatures for a petition drive in support of their own plan."

WHO THE FUCK IS GOING TO THESE MEETINGS?  ARE THEY DEAF, DUMB OR STUPID???    This is not a socialist agenda put out by Obama.. this is Corporation that is on welfare from the government, screaming entitlement.  I wouldn't want to give up those perks either.  They are worse then big business, they are big business--minus risk.

Look, I don't like Obama's plan either.  But something needs a'fixin.  In fact, if my plan for education went through, it would be the end of education and lending as we know it. So, until my liberatarian principles are followed.. let's do something different, PLEASE!

6 comments:

  1. Good find, Angel. The banks own this country – lock, stock, and barrel. It will be interesting to see how this “Astroturf,” i.e. fake grass-roots, campaign will turn out. I suppose the greedy swine will simply bill these as town hall meetings designed to cut off socialism at the pass. (After all, Obama is such a man of the people, and NOT at all a pawn of the corporations.)

    Think about the return on investment for these corporate pigs. Donate $3 million, and get awarded $10 billion in guaranteed contracts. This would be akin to someone walking into a casino with $30 and coming out with $100K. Think about that for a second.

    Maybe those of us who care about the state of higher education in this country will get fired up over this. However, most will let the TV wash over them this weekend as they watch the big game and eat an industrial-sized bowl of nachos, consume a case of beer, and scratch their ass some more. This is what gets people worked up in this country. A brief juxtaposition: If the game were cancelled (or somehow ended in a tie), there would be a revolution. If Obama backs off again, no one will blink. In the end, Sallie Mae – The Great Whore of Babylon that she is – will get what she wants.

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  2. I agree 100% Angel and I'm glad you're angry like myself. It makes me sick thinking about how we are all basically helpless and beholden to corporate interests. This whole instinctual, knee-jerk response (mostly by repubs) that this is a "gov't takeover" etc., is so misguided that it pains. This was never a free-market, legitimate industry! This was always artifically created and government-supported and look what it's done to us! People need to care about this very, very much because student loans affect virtually ALL of us. (Some more than others..or should I saw law grads more than others.) I myself have contacted several of my representatives regarding the student loan industry and the need for REAL, meaningful reform. Unfortunately, Obama's plan is not meaningful reform but it certainly is better than nothing. Get fired up!

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  3. Good post, Angel. I think students need to start having protests in front of their schools and just refusing to pay if we have to. Then maybe they'll wake up!

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  4. "Half of the human race are middlemen. And they don't take kindly to being eliminated."
    - Captain Malcolm Reynolds

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  5. While it would be welcome if the Senate actually showed some spine and accomplished SOMETHING, especially student loan reform. However, would this legislation even help graduates who already are locked into their loans? My understanding is that it would change the status quo to the government giving loans directly to matriculating students, but would do nothing for those who already received loans through either Access Group or Sallie Mae and are now TRYING (emphasis added) to pay them back.

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  6. It's my understanding that this wouldn't help us at all. It would help students NOW going to school... which would only add to the problem. I say, make student loans like small business loans. If you can prove that your degree will be profitable, then you can get the degree. Otherwise, start saving or you're not going.

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