Yet another bad idea from the Obama administration

Last Friday, the Obama administration issued a “recommendation” to Congress.  These reports always seem to come out on a Friday in the hopes, I suppose, that no one is paying attention.   This one, much like many other “recommendations”, is a kick in the whatever to the private sector.

Well, what isn’t these days.

The Department of Education, and our newly minted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (which, under Dodd-Frank, isn’t answerable to Congress, even for it’s annual budget) has decided that millions of students were duped by private lenders, such as Sallie Mae and Wells Fargo, into getting student loans.

Yes, horror of horrors, I am led to believe these poor students were simply walking past, for example, a Wells Fargo Bank branch one day, were hauled inside by an unscrupulous banker, and, forced to take out a student loan to pay for their education.  Apparently they had no idea they actually would have to pay the money back, let alone interest on what they borrowed.

Because of this reprehensible conduct, President Obama has identified a solution…let these students wipe out what they owe by filing for bankruptcy.  Currently, we are operating under,

…a 2005 law that, except in rare circumstances, prohibits discharging private student loans through bankruptcy.

This law, according to the President, is obviously not good.  There is absolutely no reason why your next door neighbor should actually have to repay your local bank or credit union for the money loaned to your neighbor to get a college education.

Fortunately, though, this “recommendation” does not apply to any loan your neighbor got, basically from you, in the form of a “federal” student loan.

Expanding the concept to federal loans would be politically controversial given that it would likely result in taxpayer losses…

And just exactly who does this administration think will bear the losses if this recommendation is passed for private student loans?  The Tooth Fairy?

Oh, wait, I forgot.  This is an election year and all that matters is votes.

The private sector, and I suppose the Tooth Fairy, be damned.

 

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SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

20 Comments

  1. PatRiot on July 23, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    Perhaps I am mistaken, but didn’t Dodd (and maybe Franks) set up Sallie Mae?
    I smell these rats in other Socialist/un-American endeavors.. (not enough room here)
    And then like true rats, they jump ship before it runs?amok.? And not just because they ???
    want to save their own butts, but because they?planned it.?
    And?Dodd?- beware of him in a theater near you.?



    • JBS on July 24, 2012 at 5:56 am

      That’s why they are called Democrats.



  2. Benjamin Less on July 23, 2012 at 9:05 pm

    More Free Stuff
    OBAMA 2016
    ?
    President Obama is so predictable.



  3. dairyair on July 23, 2012 at 9:16 pm

    So, what’s to stop EVERY student–and “student”–from taking out loans that they know they won’t have to repay, just by claiming bankruptcy? Geez, when I took out personal loans and car loans, I always paid them back…what a sucker! Obviously i are too stoopid to have gone to college, so I never got my free student loan.? What a scammer this guy is!



  4. Dimsdale on July 23, 2012 at 9:26 pm

    Every time I hear about this nanny state crap, I think about that excellent video “If I wanted America to fail” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-4gnNz0vc).?
    ?
    Every move like this is designed to gut the ethics that made America great.? Contracts, and honoring of them, is the basis for all business and negotiations.?? You sign on the dotted line knowing the implications of doing so; you have plenty of caveats and instructions letting you know exactly what you are in for, and you make a decision to take the loan based on that.? If everyone knows that the gov’t will “forgive” the loan and pass the costs off to the taxpayer, who is going to give a flying fig what something costs or what is affordable?? And don’t forget: this adds to the national debt. ?? It is exactly like healthcare and what happens to costs when the patient is insulated from knowing what they are.
    ?
    It is all part of the master plan to tear down America.



  5. JBS on July 24, 2012 at 6:14 am

    Let’s forgive car loans, too! That should buy more votes. (Evil car salesman!)
    D’oh!
    I forgot that students are more likely voters for the Democrats, especially if given incentive, than all those people out of work.
    Not for nothing, but isn’t having a bankruptcy on your financial record, just when starting out on the great work adventure, isn’t that BAD? I forgot again, there’s no jobs for new grads!
    Pure pandering.
    Razing America! “Give me four more years and I’ll show you . . . “



  6. Jeff S on July 24, 2012 at 8:25 am

    Rush said about a month or so ago, after the immigration thing,?that in August, zero would do something about?student loans as a way to garner votes.



    • Eric on July 24, 2012 at 7:38 pm

      I remember hearing his say that too. ?These stinking liberals are so predictable!



  7. OkieJim on July 24, 2012 at 11:54 am

    I saw this one coming. Anyone could have. First, it’s the “middle class tax cut” in our Social Security and other payroll taxes (smart, there, Barack … how much LESS could you possibly know about macroeconomic policy?), then it was the complete trashing of the rule of law with respect to the General Motors bankruptcy, then it was the en masse reformation of mortgage-based loans, and now the next 12-digit bubble: student loans and all those pesky contracts. I honored mine. Maybe I shouldn’t have. Maybe I shouldn’t make any microeconomic decision that involves pain; Zero will be here to try to decree it away. NO – WAIT! THERE’S AN ELECTION IN NOVEMBER!! HOPE ISN’T COMPLETELY DEAD YET!



  8. sammy22 on July 24, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    It seems to me that as long as Congress does not act to modify the 2005 law, nothing changes. It seems like it’s Congress not the President that could be the Tooth Fairy, and given the Republican control of the House this will not come to pass.



    • Dimsdale on July 24, 2012 at 9:00 pm

      The time that they could have done that was 2007-2010.? They didn’t, did they?



    • JBS on July 25, 2012 at 10:56 am

      For the Democrats, it’s all about perception.
      As long as Obama is perceived to CARE, then he and the ‘crats have scored their points with susceptible voter.



  9. Eric on July 24, 2012 at 7:36 pm

    We really need a REAL president in the White House. ?What are the odds we can elect one this coming November?



  10. ricbee on July 24, 2012 at 10:31 pm

    I just left a friend whose student loans & his wife’s were at 12% & 13%. He just got done paying his. They are still working on hers. They are 51.



  11. Gary J on July 25, 2012 at 7:27 am

    If all the things King Obama had done and is doing were siezed upon by all of the media,the kings popularity would be maybe 20%. All his subjects have no idea the country is going away and fast.



    • Lynn on July 26, 2012 at 6:29 am

      I think all of us on the right truly hope that if His supporters knew all of what President Obama has done they would not support him.? No, they will keep supporting him. This is a show down of ideologies. Can government do all or can individuals provide for themselves? It is close to being 50/50. I believe this election is crucial, can the right eke out another percent or two, but we also need to keep the House and gain the Senate. Then the cuts will begin, I can hear the howling of the jackels already and it will not be pretty. Can we on the right stay stalwart and true? We need to look beyond this election as well. ?This battle of ideologies will not end. History will show that the right will lose in the end, can we dare hope the United States will stay united?



  12. sammy22 on July 26, 2012 at 11:48 am

    Unfortunately we do not elect the president directly, so the split of the popular vote does not determine who is going to be in the White House. The Electoral College has skewed the election to be determined by a few “swing” states.



    • Lynn on July 26, 2012 at 5:15 pm

      LOL there are more than one way to skew the election. Illegals voting and voter ?fraud come to mind before the Electoral College does.?



  13. sammy22 on July 26, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    Right, LOL. How many electoral votes do you think Romney will get in CT? Answer, just as many as Obama will get in North Dakota. And that has nothing to do with illegals or other voter fraud.



    • Lynn on July 28, 2012 at 6:57 am

      The system is the system, rules are rules. We just have ?to play by the rules. (no laughter, just a hopeful sigh)



Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., speaks about race during an address in Philadelphia, Tuesday, March 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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