Student loans

 Ive had a somewhat long and varied college career. I have 2 bachelor's degrees 30+ years apart. I have 4 associates degrees in various things and I 'm currently working on my Master's. Ive seen a lot of classrooms , known a lot of students and listened to a lot of people. I also have 4 children who are finished with or are presently in college. Ive seen student loans, Ive had student loans and some of my children have student loans. 

President Biden is finally working towards one of his campaign promises. I sure do wish every year was election year because they sure do seem to really get cracking and produce good results. I guess that tremendous expulsion of energy explains why they don't seem to do much in non election years. Back to student loans. I think its a good program. First off , I don't believe the federal government should be in the money making business on the backs of its citizens. I have absolutely no problem with Zero Interest federal government loans for school. You payback exactly what you borrow. I borrow 100 dollars--I pay back 100 dollars after I graduate or leave school. The current system can quite easily bury the borrower in debt they cant recover from. With zero interest that problem is eliminated. Borrow but not going to pay it back?..simple garnish wages or tax refunds or a similar method. There has to be responsibility taken for borrowing the money. People are saying in media clips they want all student debt forgiven. NO. Again the responsibility of borrowing the money cannot simply be overlooked. The best step I see going forward is elimination of the interest and a review of all the loans outstanding. If you borrowed say 40k and have payed back 45k in principal and interest and have a balance of 20k..not only in the 20k eliminated but you should receive a refund of the 5k you've paid above and beyond. This program will NOT be popular with politicians on a certain side of the aisle because it helps the lower income population finally begin to stand on level ground with everyone. Another thing has come to my attention over the last day or two is the PPP loans. They were created to assist businesses during the pandemic pay their payroll and other legitimate expenses. How a unusually large portion of elected officials were able to 1. get these loans and then 2. get them forgiven is something that really needs to be examined in greater detail. These same elected officials who defaulted , excuse me "got their loans forgiven" (at our expense) are the same officials who are now complaining about 10,000 worth of student loan forgiveness when their loans ran into the hundreds of thousands and millions in some cases. It makes you think the elected officials are in it for themselves NOT us and they count on you the constituent to sit back and be ignorant. The fact that some of us are is on us.

Huh? WHAT!

Im going to preface this by saying I never was a fan of Donald Trump. Never watched the apprentice, never bought his garbage, can remember the "central park 5" where he wanted the death penalty leading up to the trial. I sat there as time went on and wondered if he was such a success in business why where his casino's bankrupt?..Casino's..one of the greatest inventions to separate a fool from his money yet his went bankrupt. Trump Air?..never got off the ground really. Trump anything...failure. Yet banks could be conned into loaning hundreds of millions of dollars time and time again only to end up in bankruptcy court with pennies on the dollar if that. Ask Trump like they did in the 2016 election and he claimed "oh they were bad men I took the money from" like he was doing us a favor. 

             Ive been watching the Jan 6th Committee and all the "Breaking News " of the incredulous things he supposedly did with classified documents and yet nothing. No threatened arrest, no impending charges or even a orange suit prep walk. Why? because he will get away with it just as he always has. The politicians in Washington have to be very careful bringing up skeletons for fear their own closets might be raided in reprisal. Was Trump the first Grifter elected president?..no . will he be the last..no. Did he lie?..thousands upon thousands of times..but his supporters have one fact correct..he isn't the only one. Politicians are elected to represent us..the people. Unfortunately and far too often we are #2 on the food chain. The politicians serve themselves first. Thats why there are no term limits and why each member of congress is moderately to obscenely wealthy courtesy of their special interests. In our region we have come to expect and accept the fact that we will see our Washington reps and even our local reps at election time. Every 24 months like clockwork they appear (usually in Feb-mar) for the upcoming election in November and then, with their gravy train secured dive back into the hibernation of Washington until its time to do it again.  The message is always the same..."look what the other side of the aisle is doing...I'll fight it". Sometimes what the other side is doing makes sense..hate to be disappointing people but they cant be wrong ALL the time. So armed with this "valuable knowledge" we tromp off to the poles like sheep and re-elect the same fools and idiots we see on the TV (usually grumbling at least their better than the other guy) and then the cycle repeats. If you were to ask me who our senators are I might get both of them. (Now remember I am somewhat active in politics) but our congressmen?..no clue. I think I can get one..because back in the day I canvassed and held a sign for one of them. Quick story..on election day 2012 I was holding a sign for my congressman from 6am till the polls closed(8pm) rain, wind, cold...it didn't stop me and at about 7:45 the congressman actually drove by me, standing by myself holding a soggy sign totally exhausted yet waving to prospective voters. He drove by me, didn't stop, didn't acknowledge me in any way. Never voted for him again. The moral was We are tools (or fools) if we think we are their priority. I don't know the last time our senators came to my part of the state and don't even know our congressman anymore. Yes the person I supported won and has won a number of times since but you never see them..never hear from them until they want money or your vote or both.