Pirate's Cove

Another week, another Obama avoidance of the VA scandal. He has yet to truly address it during a Weekly Address, despite the terrible care so many veterans are receiving. This week, he decides he wants to patronize students who took out loans that left them with crushing debt. At least he wasn’t chewing gum (video here)

(White House) Hi, everybody. This is commencement season, a time for graduates and their families to celebrate one of the greatest achievements of a young person’s life. But for many graduates, it also means feeling trapped by a whole lot of student loan debt. And we’ve got to do more to lift that burden.

See, in a 21st century economy, the surest pathway into the middle class is some form of higher education. The unemployment rate for workers with a bachelor’s degree is just 3.3 percent – about half what it is for high school graduates. The typical graduate of a four-year college earns $15,000 more per year than someone with just a high school degree.

But at a time when college has never been more important, it’s also never been more expensive.

The funny part is that Obama and Democrats have been pushing hard for snowflakes to take on this same student debt. Interestingly, telling everyone that they need a college education also disses a nice chunk of his base who are blue collar union members. Yes, a college education is important, but the degree matters. Many are getting pretty much worthless degrees in some type of “studies” disciple, the equivalent of the old joke about basket weaving. But, at least basket weaving is a skill that can bring money in.

But over the past three decades, the average tuition at a public four-year college has more than tripled. The average undergraduate student who borrows for college now graduates owing almost $30,000. And I’ve heard from too many young people who are frustrated that they’ve done everything they were supposed to do – and now they’re paying the price.

Good thing Obamacare streamlined student loans, in which the “Congress (Democrats only, let’s not forget) removed the private sector from the student loan process, to eliminate federal payments to banks and to move the revenue from the lending process into federal coffers.” The profits are meant to go to help pay for Obamacare. So, Obama and the Dems have a vested interest in making sure lots of snowflakes take out student loans.

I’ve taken action on my own to offer millions of students the opportunity to cap their monthly student loan payments to 10% of their income. But Congress needs to do its part. The good news is that Senate Democrats are working on a bill that would help more young people save money. Just like you can refinance your mortgage at a lower interest rate, this bill would let you refinance your student loans. And we’d pay for it by closing loopholes that allow some millionaires to pay a lower tax rate than the middle class.

And there we go: he’s gone to the same old tax the rich well. I’d note that he’s officially out of ideas, but that occurred long ago. Of course, if he was truly serious, he’d stop taking all the deductions on his own taxes and pay the full rate.