Freedom Is Groovy

Crony Socialism Strikes Again

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Mr. Groovy
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President Biden, an unabashed champion of democracy, will forego the will of Congress and singlehandedly relieve a chunk of the student loan debt held by millions of Americans. How this is legal is beyond me. I didn’t go to law school, so I’m totally ignorant of the penumbras in the Constitution that allow the president to act like a dictator.

My point here is not to criticize President Biden’s student loan bailout per se. I’m against it, but we’ve been mainstreaming bailouts since the Chrysler bailout in the early 80s. And now it’s hard to say no to little-guy bailouts when we’ve been doing big-guy bailouts for 40 years.

Nope, my main beef with President Biden’s student loan bailout is that it’s half-assed. It’s only addressing the symptoms of a malady, not the cause. In other words, the inefficient and corrupt business model of the college-industrial complex goes scot-free. This business model has financially crippled millions of young people, and yet, our morally and intellectually superior college overlords get to keep it. For some reason, it would be a crime against humanity if we upended the world of the delicate geniuses who run higher education.

And the sad part is that it wouldn’t take much to upend the business model that has produced a ghastly proliferation of bullshit majors, bullshit courses, bullshit administrators, bullshit professors, bullshit research studies, bullshit extra-curricular activities, bullshit amenities, and bullshit students. All President Biden has to do is sign another executive order decreeing that every student loan henceforth must have a co-signer and that co-signer can only be the college that receives the student-loan money.

If colleges were on the hook for the student loans they feast on, the bullshit would stop immediately. You’d see far fewer dullards taking 40 courses of fluff and being rewarded with useless “degrees” and far more sharpies taking 15 courses of rigor and being rewarded with worthwhile certificates.

But, alas, such an executive order will never be signed. The college-industrial complex is firmly in the grip of dyed-in-the-wool socialists, and these dyed-in-the-wool socialists are doing exactly what the federal government wants: make the case for ever-bigger government and provide an ever-growing army of credentialed dupes who yearn for ever-bigger government. And all the college-industrial complex asks in return for its yeoman efforts on behalf of socialism is to be left alone. Crony socialism strikes again.

Comments

18 responses to “Crony Socialism Strikes Again”

  1. atm Avatar
    atm

    I have to agree with you Mr. Groovy, as Peter Schiff’s said this set a moral hazard among the others , Imagine the disciplined who did not take loans and worked through the college or saved through the years to send their kids. They must feels now like fools … Also this contributed to the inflated prices of college admission in the US in contrast to any other OECD countries.

    Reply
    1. Mr. Groovy Avatar
      Mr. Groovy

      Couldn’t agree more, ATM. The student-loan bailout is an affront to anyone who planned and sacrificed and either cash-flowed college or mitigated their exposure to student loans. But I guess the number of voters who were scammed by the college-industrial complex dwarf the number of voters who weren’t. And our vaunted politicians are experts at calculating the ROI of vote-buying with tax dollars. Thanks for stopping by, my friend. Cheers.

      Reply
  2. David Young Avatar
    David Young

    I think there are two other areas of personal responsibility that need to be addressed as well (good luck with that!):
    1. Too many of today’s students are “living” off their student loans, instead of only taking down enough to cover tuition and books, and then getting a job – they prefer to have enormous amounts of free time for social lives (that the schools’ pander to, as well, with whole departments dedicated to it). Get a damn job! Most of the folks in my generation did while in college, and we didn’t die – or have to have a safe space to go cry when our candidate didn’t win;

    2. Students today aren’t thinking about the realities of future life – they are too focused on getting that degree from some prestigious university, rather than getting the same set of credentials from the local for a fraction of the cost. Our regional university here turns out plenty of teachers (earnings potential of $40,000 on a good day) at a cost of $50,000. For some reason, the state’s “big U” has a similar degree program, with the same earnings potential, but 3-4 times the cost. Same thing with several other programs – nursing, accounting, basket weaving, you name it. Why aren’t parents and high schools counseling these kids on making better choices based on the earnings potential of the chosen career path, rather than running up huge bills just to say they went to the Division 1 Uni? Oh yeah, that would require teaching kids personal responsibility. As Emily Litella used to say, “never mind.”

    Reply
    1. Mr. Groovy Avatar
      Mr. Groovy

      Love your comment, my friend. I especially love the point you made about “safe spaces.” It reminded me of how different college and society were back in my day. I went to Buffalo University from 1979 to 1984, and for the first two years of my college career, I lived at Ellicott Complex, a massive dorm of roughly 3,000 students. Anyway, Ellicott Complex had a number of towers that reached ten stories high. In my freshman year, two guys got into a fight in a eighth-floor hallway and crashed through the window by the elevator. Needlessly to say, both died. I distinctly remember walking past the impact area on my way to class the next day. The bodies were removed, but the caution tape, chalk outlines, and blood remained. And how do you suppose the administration responded to this tragedy? If you said by practically doing nothing, go straight to the head of the class. The administration didn’t provide safe spaces, comfort puppies, or counselors. Heck, I don’t even remember the school president addressing the student body in one of the student newspapers. The only thing the administration did was weld a waist-high safety bar in every hallway window so future students wouldn’t meet a similar fate. And the reaction of the student body was the same. No one except those close to the two deceased students was shaken. We just carried on as if nothing had happened–we innately knew that tragedy and folly were part of the human condition. I guess you can say that we were much more hardy than students today. We didn’t need to be comforted when two of our peers died in February, and we certainly didn’t need to be comforted when Ronald Reagan won the presidency in November. Thanks for stopping by, David. Awesome comment.

      Reply
  3. Laurie Avatar
    Laurie

    Have you ever read about WI governor Tommy Thompson’s welfare reform program in the 1990’s? The ideas, which made people responsible for their own lives instead of simply giving handouts, resulted in a 60% caseload cut for the WI welfare system in just 10 years. Not sure what’s happened to the WI welfare system since then, but it proves your point that we don’t do anyone any favors when we give them random handouts. One can’t help believe that policies such as this latest handout are intentionally meant to take our country down. 🙁

    https://www.heritage.org/welfare/report/the-good-news-about-welfare-reform-wisconsins-success-story

    Reply
    1. Mr. Groovy Avatar
      Mr. Groovy

      I couldn’t agree more, Laurie. We human beings don’t do well in an environment that is devoid of competition and accountability. The laziness that is built into our DNA battens in such an environment and we come to prefer things that feel good in the short run but are disastrous in the long run. Sigh. We’re becoming a nation of losers and our vaunted leaders are doing everything in their power to accelerate that lamentable transition. Thanks for stopping by, Laurie. And thanks for the link. You’re the best.

      Reply
    2. Mrs Groovy Avatar
      Mrs Groovy

      And the people behind these policies intentionally want to take our country down. Many unhappy citizens graciously believe that many of our politicians are ignorant. I vehemently believe that many of our politicians are pure evil. Go ahead and depend on the government for everything. Give your guns away, give your freedoms away willingly, and submit to socialism. This is now the American way.

      Reply
      1. Mr. Groovy Avatar
        Mr. Groovy

        Damn, I love it! But where is the bewitching commie-Brooklyn Jew I married 20 years ago?

        Reply
        1. Laurie Avatar
          Laurie

          LOL. Much love to you both. My NC family. 🙂

          Reply
          1. Mrs Groovy Avatar
            Mrs Groovy

            Back at ya, my MN sister!

            Reply
        2. Mrs Groovy Avatar
          Mrs Groovy

          It was all a facade. I knew that conservative hunks fall for beautiful commies.

          Reply
          1. Mr. Groovy Avatar
            Mr. Groovy

            So true! And for the record, I would have been perfectly happy if you remained a beautiful commie.

            Reply
          2. Coleen Q. Avatar
            Coleen Q.

            Such modesty! Rare to hear someone describe themselves as beautiful. I commend your self esteem.

            Curious to know what led to your conversion… were you not so committed to socialism or did something in particular change your views other than living with a person with different beliefs. I know a few couples on opposite sides of the fence and they are fine as long as they avoid discussing politics. Much easier when you agree.

            Reply
            1. Mrs Groovy Avatar
              Mrs Groovy

              Ha! Don’t know about that self-esteem. Mr G always thought I was beautiful so that’s what counts.

              Like many people I really didn’t think about politics or social issues because I was in my own world. I didn’t see how any of it affected my life. I was in theater and entertainment for many years prior to meeting Mr G. where everyone I knew was self centered. Social causes were for famous people, not me.

              I first became concerned about government when I married Mr G and started paying property taxes. That was a shocker! My eyes were opened more and more after that.

              I recall arguing with him only when the news was on TV and he would go on rants. I questioned why he could get so upset when he wasn’t taking action to change things. But he saw how socialism had been building for decades while I was unaware. I took my freedoms for granted. Mr G never tried to change me but I began seeing and thinking more clearly. We always had similar values about family, friends, and integrity. And now I’m much more of a staunch conservative than he is. And he’s more kind-hearted than I am.

              Now Mr G expresses his views here, while I stock up on food and supplies because I see doomsday coming.

              Reply
  4. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    It has been shown that the cost of college increased exponentially once the government started guaranteeing student loans and provided them to anyone who was breathing. It is the only kind of loan that is granted without someone proving they have the ability to pay it back. It’s the only kind of loan that when the inevitable happens and a good number of loan takers can’t pay their loans that someone else is now being forced to pay through mandatory taxation. You are so right in that the root cause of this whole problem hasn’t been addressed. College should not cost anywhere near today’s inflated costs. Colleges should be on the hook for people that attend classes, get degrees and then can’t find employment that pays enough for their sometimes useless degrees. Colleges should be on the hook for people that are admitted but never finish their degrees because they can’t handle the work. Get government out of the student loan business entirely. Schools can then either make funding available through private financing, provide more scholarships and grants, or promote work study programs that let people attend for longer periods of time on a pay as you go process. No student loan should ever require payments over more than 10 years. These are not mortgages even though some student loans today can take as long to pay off.

    Society should stop promoting college as the way to financial success for anyone who attends. The reality is that most jobs can be done by a reasonably intelligent individual without a college degree but with a bit of on the job training. College is necessary for some occupations (medical, legal, engineering, etc.) but not for the average paper pusher. Let’s encourage more on the job training programs and apprenticeships for recent high school graduates instead of pushing college.

    Reply
    1. Mr. Groovy Avatar
      Mr. Groovy

      “College is necessary for some occupations (medical, legal, engineering, etc.) but not for the average paper pusher.”

      Damn, there’s a lot of wisdom in your comment, and the above kernel of wisdom really stands out. I have a master’s degree and 80 college courses under my belt, and nothing I learned in those 80 courses proved to be economically fruitful. But I taught myself programming and databases in my late 30s, and I made a very successful data analyst career for myself by mastering two programming concepts I could have easily mastered in high school: the do-until loop and the SQL update statement.

      The knowledge for most paper-pusher/keyboard-thumper jobs can easily be conveyed in 10 courses or less. For most people, the 20-course associate’s degree and the 40-course bachelor’s degree are an incredible waste of time and money. Most people would be far better off by either going to trade school or getting a no-nonsense 10-course certificate in some paper-pushing/keyboard-thumping field (i.e., bookkeeping, web design, retail management, social work, etc.). The current higher-education business model is an abomination.

      Thanks for stopping by, Pat. Your comment was as astute as ever. Peace.

      Reply
      1. Mrs Groovy Avatar
        Mrs Groovy

        I think of how smart our neighbors were with their kid, sending him to community college for welding. He had already learned to work with his hands from his father. But with the expertise he gained in a technical program he probably out-earns 90% of employees and the self employed in our county. And he pays his own bills because he left the nest and is soon-to-be-married to his high school sweetheart. And people wonder why we love rural America.

        Reply
        1. Mr. Groovy Avatar
          Mr. Groovy

          Excellent point, Mrs. G. I forgot about our neighbor’s kid.

          Reply

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