Republican defunding eventually priced college, the ticket to the middle class, out of reach to so many millions of Americans!

Like the deregulated railroads and banks, Republicans continue to create cleanup jobs for Democrats. After decades of defunding our state colleges, despite their massive economic contribution to Wisconsin, Republicans forced higher education to increase tuition dramatically. That gave the GOP the opportunity to feign outrage over those greedy liberal indoctrination centers, an excuse to further cut funding and to blame federal loan programs for making it worse. Round and around it goes.  

It now requires the Democratic Biden administration to offer a loan forgiveness program to get the economy back on track. 

Exposing that myth, NPR uncovered this...: 

SHAPIRO: How do you respond to the argument we just heard, that this plan effectively asks taxpayers who chose not to take on debt to subsidize the decisions of those who did?

MCHEE: This big new policy is in the larger economic interest of the nation. It is going to be great for our economy to help unshackle 20 million borrowers. And 90% of the money is going to people who earn less than $75,000 a year.

First of all, it was the decision of politicians to create a debt-for-diploma system, where, because of cutbacks at the state level of public colleges and the shift at the federal level from grants to loans, we pushed the cost of college out of reach for working-class families at the exact same time that politicians decided to make a college degree the ticket to the middle class.

SHAPIRO: Explain why that shift in state funding for education is so essential to understanding this debate.

MCHEE: You know, college used to be virtually free at the public level, not because it didn't cost anything, but because the government picked up the tab with state funding that was generous. And whatever was left over would be made up often by a grant, not a loan. And so it was a political decision to cut state funding for public colleges. So young people have been paying for that political decision, and now they get to benefit from a smarter political decision by the Biden-Harris administration.

Trump supporter trashing Clinton's "free college" idea: "If it's a free education, than it means nothing, it'll be worthless."

Hillary Clinton's proposal to provide a publically supported "free" college education gets the old mind bending Republicans down-the-rabbit-hole treatment.

In the past, student loan debt was measurably smaller compared to skyrocketing loans now. That was confirmed by Dumb Ron Johnson when;

...based on his experience in the mid-1970s ... his $663 tuition at the University of Minnesota was 1,700 percent lower than it is today.

Clinton's plan also doesn't pay for student housing and food, which is also a big expense.

One Wisconsin Now reports "over 800,000 Wisconsin borrowers (have) over $19 billion in federal student loan debt alone."

The comment below by a Trump supporter attending his rally in Waukesha last night mirrors my conservative friend in Milwaukee's point of view:

"I paid for my own college, I didn't ask anyone else, my parents didn't pay for it, I worked when I went to school, there's nothing wrong with that. If it's a free education than it means nothing, it'll be worthless."  

To be fair, if the idea "a free education" means nothing and is worthless, than maybe the same can said about K-12? Should we make child labor legal again so kids can feel the pain of paying for their schooling? Republicans have already created K-12 savings accounts.

The Trump fans comment also ignores the drag student loans have on the economy and consumer spending. Maybe the slow US growth can be pegged in part on high student loan debt? No, we should instead yearn for the old days, before we had a chance to learn from our failures.

Scott Walker's "College Affordability" plan is a taxpayer Giveaway to Big Banks, while Minnesota pours saved interest back into state economy!!!

Scott Walker's playing his voter base for saps again, and they'll never know what hit them.

Playing up to big money special interests, Walker's "college affordability" initiative makes taxpayers foot the bill, so banks can continue to rake in high interest profits on sky high student loans.

Wisconsinites are now supposed to swoon over saving a possible $165 on student loan interest? If you like that, Walker's got a one dollar savings on your property tax bill he'd like to give you...oh, that's right, he's already tried that insulting voter bribe.

In a transparent sop to their campaign contributors, Republicans want to pluck another $5.2 million in state revenues, which Rep. John Macco (R) describes as "a little bit of extra money," for the purpose of saving banks a cut in their interest rates.

Democrats warned us that something like this would happen, but again no one listened. In fact, Politifact helped Walker, by playing dumb in the 2014 election claiming Walker never came right out an said he opposed a big government state refinancing program:

The group acknowledged it has no evidence that Walker opposed a 2013 Democratic proposal to create a state student loan refinancing authority. Walker may not support the idea, but he hasn’t fought it, either -- as the group claimed.  We rate the statement False.

Of course Walker's incredibly short sighted tuition freeze gimmick can't last forever either, but he'll never tell you that:

As reported by US News:“[This is] why such tuition freeze promises don’t last long – they generally don’t work… Opponents say tuition freezes are fine for a short-term fix, but shouldn’t be extended for long periods and don’t really solve the problem with the high cost of college.”

Minnesota's common sense plan even convinced many Republicans to create a state refinancing program. They reasoned that putting saved interest back into their states economy was just smart government:

Nearly 500,000 Minnesotans carrying large amounts of student loan debt could be eligible for a new state-run refinancing program, "SELF Refi," intended to cut interest rates and potentially save a borrower tens of thousands of dollars. The state is fifth in the nation (WI is 3rd) when it comes to the debt students accumulate over their college years, and the average student graduates with about $30,000 in debt. 

"It makes it just so much more difficult for them to do so much more in our economy, whether it is buy a house or start a small business or buy a car." Lt. Governor Tina Smith said. "If we want to have an economy that works for everyone in Minnesota, we cannot allow these high debt loads to put a crunch on our competitiveness."

On the flip side, Walker wants to get government out of the way. Look at the potential student savings in Minnesota, cash Walker is willing to give up:

Under the plan, a student who took out a $40,000 loan at 8 percent could reduce monthly payments by $200 to $300 and total interest costs by $25,000. In another example, a student who carries $70,000 in debt at 9 percent could save $52,000 refinancing.

Fox11 interviewed Walker:

States with refinancing of student loan programs like Minnesota's will no doubt cut into the obscene profits banks were making on interest, but that doesn't mean the banks will stop contributing massive amounts of money to Republican lawmakers everywhere to block or kill these programs eventually. 

Funny thing, a banks political spending to maintain higher interest rates for struggling students - Good; Union political spending supporting struggling students - Bad: Go figure: