Is Biden’s Strategy Too Little Too Late?

I think when he’s alone with whatever thoughts still rattle around in his addled brain, Joe Biden really knows that the job of President of the United States is far too big for him. I think he realizes that he has royally screwed up the country and that it’s not Putin’s fault, or Fauci’s fault, or COVID’s fault. It’s not even Trump’s fault. It’s his. And I do believe in my heart of hearts, that he knows this.

That’s why he’s come up with the strategy that he’s come up with.

Let’s examine this, shall we? First of all, Biden knows he needs the younger voters that were promised the sun, the moon, and the stars during the 2020 campaign. So, he signs an executive order that is still being hashed over in the courts, to take away up to $20,000 for some of their college debt. This may have the desired effect with the folks 18-30 years old, but for the rest of America, it’s pissing them off. I don’t think it will have the desired effect.

Second, he’s signed another executive order saying that anyone that’s in federal prison on marijuana charges is pardoned. Now, on the surface, that’s probably going to excite younger voters a little more than older voters, but is it going to have a far-reaching effect? I doubt it. Cannabis is legal for medical use in 41 states (including the District of Columbia). In 23 of those states, it’s legal for not only medical use, but also recreational use. Only North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Idaho still have it illegal. And Biden’s EO is more flash in the pan than real. That’s because there are only 94,678 people serving time for marijuana crimes (as opposed to the federal prison population of 158,000+ who are in federal prison right now). The 94,000 people in jail for pot also includes other crimes which aren’t part of the pardon.

Democrat strategists are hailing Biden’s plan as a way to juice up the base when there is little to excite them. Oh, there’s the whole Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court case. But most polls show that’s now down to about 5% that say they’re excited about voting that issue. It’s still the economy, inflation, crime, and the border. All of the issues Democrats seem to care about are at the bottom of the heap.

In the end analysis, we’re less than three weeks from election day and Democrats have nothing more substantial than to say that the Republicans a) want to ban a woman’s right to choose (there’s no truth necessarily to that…it’s to become a state issue, not a federal issue), and b) Republicans want to take away Social Security and Medicare (also not true…they want to examine it’s effectiveness every five years). Very little else in this election shows people swinging to the Democrats. If anything, Dems should be thanking the Supreme Court for giving them something to talk about in their ads!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Biden Is About To Step In It Again

For a guy that can boast a half century of public service at the national level, Joe Biden really doesn’t get it. He has been a part of a lot of history in the past fifty years or so. He’s seen an awful lot. And in that time, he’s gotten a lot wrong. Robert Gates, the former Defense Secretary in the Obama Administration echoed that sentiment. He’s a friggin’ Democrat. You would figure he’d at least have Biden’s back when it came to stuff like that. But that’s not all Biden has messed up.

And he’s about to do it again.

Biden has told the world that he’s still considering forgiving student loan debt. There are several problems with this, but Biden sees it as a way to get some of the youth vote. The problem is it won’t work on several fronts.

First of all, during the campaign, Biden promised to get rid of up to $50,000 in student loan debt. He’s basically put a hold on repayment during COVID, and wants to extend it through September, but now, he’s looking at actually forgiving debt. Not $50,000 per loan, but more like $10,000. There are problems galore with that.

First of all, students (millennials all) will not be happy with just getting $10k taken off what they owe. They were promised $50k to be forgiven. This is akin to Biden promising Georgians that if they voted for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock for the Senate, he’d make sure that the $2,000 checks would “go out in the mail tomorrow”. Well, it wasn’t $2,000, it was $1,400, and it took two months to get it done. Call it a semi-broken promise with the stimi checks, and it’ll be a semi-broken promise with the student loan forgiveness.

Second, it is going to cost the government $321 billion to remove that much student debt from the books. Basically, the government is going to write the check to the banks who granted the loans in the first place. That is just like the government printing more money. Do you know what that leads to? Inflation! At a time when Democrats in Congress are wracking their brains trying figure out how to slow down the inflation train that seems to be in runaway mode, Biden is trying to speed it up.

Third, while the forgiving student debt may be popular among today’s college crowd, and those with the debt, it’s not popular with people who have gone through the college loan dance and paid theirs off. It’s been asked multiple times if THEY would also get some sort of break on what they had to repay, and the answer repeatedly comes back as “NO!”. People that are out there working, dealing with 8.7% inflation, and gas prices at historic highs are not real keen on helping out college kids…especially those that majored in Women’s Studies, or Philosophy, and can’t find a job that pays more than minimum wage.

Finally, in case you’ve missed it, the economy in this country is not doing well. The GDP dropped 1.4% in the first quarter. That’s not a good sign. And when the government is going to step up and spend $321 billion that they don’t have to spend, it’s going to cause even further ripples. Remember…a recession is defined as two straight quarters of decline of the GDP. Well, we’ve had one. And traditionally when the Fed decides to raise interest rates, it doesn’t help the GDP a bit. The Fed has hinted they are going to raise interest rates seven times this year. And we are going to be looking at a recession next year for sure.

In short, the country cannot afford to tackle student loan debt today, or in the future. As someone that paid off my wife’s student loans back in the day, I’d be the first to say, if you took out $100,000 in student loans to study a major like Art History, or something that there aren’t any jobs in, you’ve made a bad life choice. You need to realize that. Rather than ask the rest of America to bail you out, I’d suggest you get another job, maybe one that allows you to make a real living, and stop working at McDonalds!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Forgiving Student Loan Debt?

Oh, it’s still on the table. That’s according to “Circle Back” Psaki, who said at her daily press briefing at the end of last week that yes, trying to extend the period of not penalizing those students who have racked up huge student loans any further interest or penalties for not paying them is still on the table.

It’s a HUGE mistake to do that.

Here’s why. There are several reasons why if Biden and his cronies decide to forgive student loans, they are making one of the biggest mistakes in American history, and that’s not just me trying to be flippant. It’s an out and out fact.

First of all, if you decide you’re going to forgive student loans, and let them expire without being repaid, what are you teaching those that took them out? You are sending them a message that if you happen to get in over your head financially, there are no consequences. Someone in government will “rescue” you. Someone will bail you out. It’s the exact same reason I was against the bank bailout of 2008, and the auto bailout of 2009. When you get in over your head, you have to figure a way to get out of it. The biggest lesson to learn is, don’t get in over your head in the first place. For instance, if you go off to a school like Yale, or Northwestern, or Stanford, and you’re not on scholarship, don’t major in something like art history or women’s studies. Those are dead end degrees. You will NEVER get your money back from majoring in those degrees regardless how much you may love them and agree with them.

The average student loan these days is a shade under $29,000. Over half of all students, whether attending public or private institutions have student debt. That’s the second caveat that these kids need to learn. If you are going to take out a student loan, you need to understand finances to the point where you can determine whether this is going to help you out or not. And to be honest, $29,000 isn’t that much student loan debt! The average “liberal arts degree” earns about $30,000 a year. That means you’re going to sacrifice about a year’s salary just to go to college. Is it worth it? Unless you’ve got a degree in business, the answer is probably no (unless you’re going to a post-university degree like an MBA or PhD).

Students have had it drilled into them since I was in high school, that to make a good living, you need to go to college. While the average college graduate makes about $18,000 a year more than the average high school graduate, that doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to afford going to college. There are plenty of jobs out there that don’t require a college education, and can make you good scratch. Become an electrician or some other field in the trades. You have to join a union, but you will definitely make good money, and won’t have huge debt.

And while, I’m sure Bernie Sanders is doing nothing than trying to get the young people’s votes when it comes to telling them that he’s going to make college free, we’ve reached the point in our society where college has become enormously expensive. Not everyone needs it any more. Bill Gates never graduated college. Mark Zuckerberg never graduated from college. Those two seem to be doing OK. But if you are going to be a CPA, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or need a degree passed a bachelors’ degree, you need to go to post-secondary schooling. There is a cost for that. And no, you shouldn’t be dependent on the federal government to foot the bill. It’s simply an investment in your future. You just need to make sure that you are choosing the right avenue to get educated in.

I’ve got a niece through marriage that got a PhD in women’s studies. How exciting is that? She was unemployed forever after graduating (which took over a decade), and now teaches in a community college. She’s not at Harvard or Yale, or even Ball State or Creighton. She’s at a little community college. She will never make back in salary what she put forth in educational fees and expenses. That is the problem with choosing a bad major. THAT is what today’s high school students need to be educated in!

So, should the Biden administration follow Bernie Sander’s lead and forgive student loan debt? Absolutely not! If you take out a debt of any kind you need to learn to pay it back. If not, you’ve failed as a member of our society. We already have enough failures. They are called Democrats.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

And Then…Reality Set In

Democrats had this huge wish list. Apparently, if you wanted anything on it, you went to Uncle Joe, told him your tale of woe, and he would put your request into the largest request for funding ever set before Congress.

Ah, but then reality set in.

There were several things that got pared out of that $3.5 trillion money grab. Oh, don’t be surprised that out of the $1.75 trillion (about half of the original), a whopping $500 billion is set to be wasted er….spent on Climate Change initiatives, you know, stuff like Solyndra? But gone from it is erasing student debt. Also gone from the spending bill is free community college for all! Reason? Too expensive.

Well, too expensive, and Pelosi and Schumer couldn’t muster enough votes to pass it in the House, or come close to the 50 votes in the Senate (so K-baby Harris could break the tie).

Instead, there will be no free lunch, er…free education for all. No erasing of the $1.5 trillion in student loans that are out there. And you can thank people like Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) for that. They stood up against the Bernie Sanders’ of the world and thought better of fiscal responsibility.

So, let’s talk a little bit about that, shall we? I would like to know who held a gun to the head of these Millennials who wanted to go to college and get a post-secondary degree in something as useful as Philosophy or Women’s Studies? What high paying job can you get with either of those degrees today? How about Art History? Or maybe Creative Writing?

Today, we’ve got millions of kids going off to universities and colleges spending billions of dollars each year ($632 billion in 2018-2019, the most current year available). Most of that money comes from student loans because those kids, and their parents never really took the responsibility to save for that expense. I had a second job that took care of half my kids’ college, and I told them at a very early age they would be responsible for the other half. They took internships, worked jobs, and my daughter even did a post-secondary option while in high school, so she started college as a Junior. There ARE ways around spending the money that doesn’t include going through Biden’s boondoggle.

And those that did? Well, again, no one put a gun to their head to take out that loan. Now, four or five years after starting college, a lot of those kids can’t find a job. The reason is simple…they can’t find a job because they got a degree in something totally meaningless. I mean, what in hell can you do with a degree in Women’s Studies? Maybe teach Women’s Studies? OK…how many positions does that create? One per college and university? Not a smart choice.

I would have to say, going back to what legendary college football coach, Lou Holtz once said…”Life is made up of choices. You either make good choices and good things happen to you, or you make bad choices and bad things happen to you.” Getting a degree in Art History or Archeology today is a bad choice. There aren’t many jobs out there, so you end up either living in your parents basement playing videogames, or you’re serving me french fries at McDonalds. Either way, you’re not a very productive member of society. And who’s fault is it? Yours, because you didn’t do the due diligence needed to see if your Creative Writing degree from Monmouth College would land you anything that would allow you to get out of the basement.

Now, I will also say that college these days is rather expensive for what you get. Even if you’re getting a degree in Microbiology, or Engineering, it’s expensive. And you have to weigh the cost against the future earning ability you expect. If it’s too expensive, you probably shouldn’t go. Head down to your local union shop and see about becoming a carpenter or an electrician. They make really good money, and are in high demand all over the country! And you get paid while you learn. Granted, you aren’t going to be partying for four years, but you know there is something about being an adult. Time to grow up!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

Biden’s Next Broken Promise

Oh, it hasn’t happened yet. In fact, it isn’t scheduled to happen until probably the kids are all back in school. But trust me it WILL happen. That’s because the country can’t afford to not let it happen.

Joe Biden will break yet another campaign promise.

Biden campaigned vigorously in the fall last year that he was going to erase $10,000 in college loan debt. Students all over the country flocked to him. In fact, one could say, it’s probably what won him the election. At least one of the things. But just like having “the most ethical presidency in history and I’ll fire anyone who treats anyone poorly”, and then takes two months to wait for an aide to resign over poor behavior to a reporter…it’s failed. Just like promising that you won’t have any new taxes unless you make over $400,000 a year, and then woops… that became $400,000 per HOUSEHOLD. And then of course, it was Biden’s own Treasury Secretary that had secretly proposed and then publicly supported a 15% world tax on corporations that had a 10% profit margin or greater (which meant your prices were going to increase. Yeah, and this is the guy that promised he could “bring us all together” so we could have one big kumbaya party, and has failed. He had a 200 page plan to get rid of COVID. It failed. He ended up using Trump’s plan. He opened the southern border, and he’s fought for eliminating the filibuster in the Senate, though for 47 years he was against it.

And now, Joe Biden is going to be set to charge those poor students that bought his line of BS even more interest on their outstanding student loan debt. OK, let’s review for a second. When Donald Trump started closing everything down last February (while Nancy Pelosi was inviting everyone to “party in Chinatown”, and Joe Biden was still out campaigning), Trump decided to suspend interest and payments on student loan debt because of COVID. That has been in place since that time.

But COVID is waning all across the country. And now, as those kids are thinking about their next job, they are going to have their school bills coming due again. And it will be at a 1% higher interest rate than what they were paying last March. That’s all due to the inflation rate that Biden has caused. So, for every $10,000 in student loan debt these kids have accrued, they now need to pay an extra $529 or so in interest thanks to Biden.

Biden isn’t erasing the student debt. In fact, Biden has never erased the student debt. He postponed the inevitable. And because he’s fighting to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure package in Congress, and hoping to get some $6 trillion for a budget next year, he doesn’t have the money to deal with the student loan debt situation. They are going to learn the hard way not to listen to a politician’s promises!

So we can count that as broken promise #17 of 18 that Biden has broken in the first half year of his first term. How many more can he do? It’ll probably set a record!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!