Student loan changes to get health care bill approved ?

[joutlaw]

Government loans aren't going to originate and service themselves. The bill may eliminate your wife's job at her current employer, but it opens up doors of opportunities in government or whoever ends up taking on the administration of government student loans.

Sorry, but preserving someone's job isn't an excuse to maintain a wasteful institution.

Yes but her company isn't one that's making profits... they are non-profit. Even if it opens the door for a government job I doubt it be in our state that is already 12% unemployment in some areas.

I seriously doubt the government can do a better job than her company in servicing the loans. It will be grossly less efficient more than likely. I doubt the governemtn will have people to help advise students on what decisions to make before they go to college.

The government is taking the risk on these loans, but they eventually get their money. Like someone mentioned these loans don't go away when you file bankrupcy. They are with you until you die and if you don't pay them your wages are garnished.

 

[theeedude]

Yes but her company isn't one that's making profits... they are non-profit. Even if it opens the door for a government job I doubt it be in our state that is already 12% unemployment in some areas.

I seriously doubt the government can do a better job than her company in servicing the loans. It will be grossly less efficient more than likely. I doubt the governemtn will have people to help advise students on what decisions to make before they go to college.

The government is taking the risk on these loans, but they eventually get their money. Like someone mentioned these loans don't go away when you file bankrupcy. They are with you until you die and if you don't pay them your wages are garnished.

Individuals working for that company are profiting, even if the company itself is a non-profit. Your wife is selling GOVERNMENT subsidized loans to students and taking a cut of government cheese for herself. If it's such a great credit risk and your wife wants to put her own money on the table and loan it out, more power to her. But if I as a taxpayer am asked to underwrite the risk with my money, then I'd rather spend that money on direct student aid/loans, and cut out a middleman, thank you very much.

 

[CycloWizard]

Individuals working for that company are profiting, even if the company itself is a non-profit. Your wife is selling GOVERNMENT subsidized loans to students and taking a cut of government cheese for herself. If it's such a great credit risk and your wife wants to put her own money on the table and loan it out, more power to her. But if I as a liberal am asked to underwrite the risk with everyone else's money, then I'd rather spend that money on direct student aid/loans, and cut out a private middleman, thank you very much.

Fixed. Don't you realize that you're not cutting out any middleman - you're just making the middleman a government employee instead of a private one? Can you really believe the crap that you are typing?

 

[theeedude]

Fixed. Don't you realize that you're not cutting out any middleman - you're just making the middleman a government employee instead of a private one? Can you really believe the crap that you are typing?

No, we are cutting out the middleman, period. Reason these students need help figuring out loan options is because there are many private companies feeding at taxpayer subsidized trough, taking a cut for themselves. If government is loaning directly, just send your application to the government, no need for an agent.

 

[theevilsharpie]

Don't you realize that you're not cutting out any middleman - you're just making the middleman a government employee instead of a private one?

I think you may want to look up the meaning of 'middleman.'

 

[Balt]

The current system is stupid. Why pay banks to administer loans when all of the risk is on the federal government? The feds guarantee the loans, so they've already assumed all of the risk. They might as well handle it themselves instead of paying banks to do it.

 

[theeedude]

The current system is stupid. Why pay banks to administer loans when all of the risk is on the federal government? The feds guarantee the loans, so they've already assumed all of the risk. They might as well handle it themselves instead of paying banks to do it.

It's the American "free market" conservatism, privatize the profits, socialize the risks.

 

[CycloWizard]

No, we are cutting out the middleman, period. Reason these students need help figuring out loan options is because there are many private companies feeding at taxpayer subsidized trough, taking a cut for themselves. If government is loaning directly, just send your application to the government, no need for an agent.

So no new government employees will be hired to do the job that these privately-employed people were doing? You're simply changing the building they work in.

 

[CycloWizard]

It's the American "free market" conservatism, privatize the profits, socialize the risks.

If this had anything to do with the free market, the government wouldn't be doling out student loans, period. The whole federal student aid program is a liberal mess which has resulted in astronomical increases in higher education costs for everyone.

 

[theevilsharpie]

So no new government employees will be hired to do the job that these privately-employed people were doing? You're simply changing the building they work in.

By consolidating the processing of federal student loans squarely within the auspices of government, there is less duplication of effort, so less total loan processors are required to perform the same work that the private sector is doing. In addition, federal employees whose sole purpose was to coordinate the efforts of the government and private lenders would no longer be needed.

 

[CycloWizard]

By consolidating the processing of federal student loans squarely within the auspices of government, there is less duplication of effort, so less total loan processors are required to perform the same work that the private sector is doing. In addition, federal employees whose sole purpose was to coordinate the efforts of the government and private lenders would no longer be needed.

A decrease in the number of federal employees due to annexing private businesses? I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[theevilsharpie]

A decrease in the number of federal employees due to annexing private businesses? I'll believe it when I see it.

OK, fair enough. They can be assigned more productive activities. In the end, with the reduction in the number of overall loan processors and the efficiencies gained by having everything under one agency, it still comes out as a net gain.

 

[CycloWizard]

OK, fair enough. They can be assigned more productive activities. In the end, with the reduction in the number of overall loan processors and the efficiencies gained by having everything under one agency, it still comes out as a net gain.

If one assumes that having government employees fulfilling these roles can improve efficiency, that's true. Again, I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Danube]

I fail to see what student loans have to do with health care. I guess anything is game if it will get the bill passed.

Obamalosi didn't give a toot about peoples actual health-care and just want to pass anything by any means needed for the power/money involved. Bribery, arm twisting, warped parliamentary moves (never used to pass legislation), intimidation, union thuggery etc. - a person would be crazy to let these same people take over health.

 

[nixium]

If this had anything to do with the free market, the government wouldn't be doling out student loans, period. The whole federal student aid program is a liberal mess which has resulted in astronomical increases in higher education costs for everyone.

That's a separate topic. However, while we *aren't* doing that, I'd rather have the party that assumes the risk to get the rewards. Before now, the taxpayers were assuming the risk and the companies were getting rewarded for any profits.

 

[theevilsharpie]

That's a separate topic. However, while we *aren't* doing that, I'd rather have the party that assumes the risk to get the rewards. Before now, the taxpayers were assuming the risk and the companies were getting rewarded for any profits.

The interest rates on federal student loans are pretty well-regulated, so I doubt there is much profit for lenders, particularly considering that the person they're lending money to won't even begin repaying the lender for years.

 

[PeshakJang]

That's a sentence fragment - probably the result of a public education. Care to restate your question in the form of a sentence so we can understand what you were trying to say?

It is definately a sentence. It's an elliptical sentence because its basis in in the previous utterance, and thus perfectly acceptable as a complete thought.

Maybe you should have tried to educate yourself a little beyond your public education grammar knowledge before judging other people on theirs.

 

[CycloWizard]

That's a separate topic. However, while we *aren't* doing that, I'd rather have the party that assumes the risk to get the rewards. Before now, the taxpayers were assuming the risk and the companies were getting rewarded for any profits.

Normally, I would agree. However, including this measure in the healthcare bill means that this will be a fixture for a very long time, if not forever. Once this bill goes through, it will be virtually impossible to undo its effects.

 

[Balt]

The interest rates on federal student loans are pretty well-regulated, so I doubt there is much profit for lenders, particularly considering that the person they're lending money to won't even begin repaying the lender for years.

Let's not kid ourselves. If they weren't making decent money, they wouldn't be in the business of student loans.

 

[theeedude]

So no new government employees will be hired to do the job that these privately-employed people were doing? You're simply changing the building they work in.

No, they aren't going to be doing same job. It's not going to be hundreds of different companies with their own overheads and other middlemen then helping you pick one of those companies and taking another cut. Plus since the taxpayers are the ones taking the risk, the people reviewing the applications better be working for the taxpayers.

 

[her209]

Being beholden to the government to receive education is not freedom - it's slavery. If you had your way, I wouldn't have been able to go to college because the federal government decided I wasn't cool enough to receive federal loans. Thankfully, CitiBank disagreed with them.

Citibank doesn't care if you got an education or not. It knows that you can't expunge your loans through bankruptcy so of course its a no-brainer to give you a loan.

 

[her209]

The interest rates on federal student loans are pretty well-regulated, so I doubt there is much profit for lenders, particularly considering that the person they're lending money to won't even begin repaying the lender for years.

For federally subsidized loans, the federal government pays interest on the loan starting on day 1.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Ignorance is strength.

Yep, it's working quite well.

 

[Ozoned]

Our government allows nearly 10% of the annual budget for Medicare and Medicaid (600 billion+++ annual budget) to be stolen through fraud each and every year. I call it wealth redistribution, and I can link to a clear example and explain how it works.

I also seem to recall reading about a lot of fraud in student loan programs that already exists. I am guessing, given the medicare example, it will get much worse.

 

[Modelworks]

I think people are missing the point . What is this doing in the health care bill ?
You can be assured that if it got more votes for health care it is in there to do a lot more than just cut out the middle man in the student loan process. Why would so many democrats care all of sudden that we are cutting out a middle man , enough so that they sign on to health care ?

It will probably cost jobs which is the last thing they want. What did they get out of it ?