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Lou Barletta and Paul Kanjorski yesterday sent out press releases about the loss of 100 jobs at the Sallie Mae student loan processing center in Hanover Twp.
Barletta
100 Sallie Mae jobs lost because Kanjorski chose Pelosi politics over employees
Kanjo
Kanjorski Statement on Sallie Mae Jobs
This is an easy shot by Barletta because he has never been put in the position of weighing a
parochial interest against the greater good of the country. Yes, Kanjorski voted for Health Care Reform that also changed the way the student loan program is administered. On a stand alone vote Kanjorski was one of the few Democrats that voted against it. But governing is about choices and compromise then voting for the greater good.
I have to say that they are both wrong on this issue. The US Government supplies the money and guarantees the loans so the lenders don't have any risk and are just middlemen. It's just more Corporate Welfare. Cutting out companies like Sallie Mae means more money can actually go to students to pay tuition instead of interest.
Saddling our college grads with a mountain of debt has to be one of the most self defeating things we do as a nation. As one of my political hero's, George McGovern, once told me about the post WWII GI Bill it paid for itself 10 times over because the taxes collected from the higher salaries of a college educated workforce far exceeded the cost of the program.
2 days ago
7 comments:
Lou should be more concerned about the financical mess he created in Hazleton and stop playing the usual Republican diversion game of look what you did, don't look at what I did.
Progressives won an important consolation prize when Congress tacked on to the healthcare "reconciliation" bill a direct student loan program, which cut bank subsidies out of the process:
Soon, private profiteers (and subsidies to them) will be sidelined, and the government will save taxpayers billions by providing service directly to Americans in need.
Chalking Up a Win on Student Loans
Barletta didn't mention that the new student loan legislation will save taxpayers BILLIONS???
Let's get real here! The only thing the government has ever done has saved anyone anything is end a war. And the group that's in office now would find a way to spend that money lickety split...
Here's how we "got real" under Republican leadership: kids nowadays are coming out of college with 6-figure debt due to the Republican philosophy of cutting aid allowing only RICH kids to go to the colleges they want. Kids don't have a choice nowadays, making the military more attractive. I know, I have kids that are college students. Kids have to start their lives coming out of college with 5-6 figure debts being common. Then they also have to get married, get a house, cars, etc... Yeah, we're really taking care of American youth's education like other countries. At least this act did something towards alleviating kids' college debt. What did the Bush administration do for it? Nothing! They cut taxes on the wealthy at the tune of BILLIONS of dollars and had an unfinanced war.
How is the new program going to save billions? The program is still being administered by private contractors. http://chronicle.com/article/Education-Department-Chooses/42
ACS Education Solutions, LLC (the current direct-loan servicer) American Education Services/Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency Great Lakes Educational Loan Services Inc. Nelnet Inc. Sallie Mae Corporation Wells Fargo
How about this announcement from Sallie Mae http://studentlendinganalytics.typepad.com/student_lending_analytics/2009/06/and-the-winners-aredepartment-of-education-awards-servicing-contract-to.html
"Although the Department has not yet announced its immediate plans for allocating the initial servicing accounts, Sallie Mae has the immediate scale to add readily more than $100 billion in new volume." <----more profits folks.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/63378
“All of the students’ interactions is with a private sector company,” Hamilton said. “When they call and have a problem with the loan, or they want to know what to do with this, or what’s to do with that -- customer service, 1-800, answer my questions about my loan. That’s all going to be with a private sector company.
In a Mar. 18 statement, Alexander said: “This is how it will work: the federal government will borrow money at 2.8 percent and then lend it to students at 6.8 percent -- spending the difference on health care and new government programs. In Tennessee, 200,000 students have student loans, so what this latest takeover means is that those Tennessee students will, on average, pay $1,700-1,800 more in interest over 10 years -- to pay for the Democrats’ health care bill.”
“The government -- instead of using that money to reduce costs for students who are borrowing the money -- will use it to pay for more government programs,” said Alexander. “According to the preliminary CBO estimate produced this morning, the new bill will take $9.1 billion over 10 years from students’ interest payments to pay for this health care takeover.
Keep drinkin the kool-aid
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