And The Next Entitlement Goes To.......

Over the years, I've reminisced about my college years. Those were some of the most fun times of my earlier days. What would you say to this offer: Do it all over again and have it paid for by your Uncle Sam? Sounds like a great time, right? This may become a reality if President Obama's upcoming budget is passed as it now stands. Obama is urging the government takeover of the college loan system. The cradle to grave mentality lives on............

Here is the plan: Obama wants to make the Pell Grant Program an entitlement like Social Security and transfer control of the lending business to the government. He is calling on Congress to expand the availability of the grant for poor students by increasing the loans from 1 Billion/year to 6 Billion/year. Furthermore, Obama wants to make this program a mandatory part of the annual budget. Am I getting your attention yet?

Consolidation of the loan program may save 94 Billion over a period of 10 years BUT will boost yearly spending over that same 10 year period by 293 Billion.....this is according to the numbers released by our Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Not to mention the limit on loan options, loss of jobs, and the large increase to our deficit. The private bank industry has built this entire industry and now the government wants a piggyback ride.

Putting aside all the other concerns from the above, here is want makes my spine tingle when I think about this proposal.....what does this do for a student's freedom of choice. What is being proposed is a cradle to grave school system. What happens, down the road, when a student is "rewarded" with a government loan......does the government have a choice in the student's chosen major? Will a certain career path need to be chosen in order to have the "privilege" of going to school? What if the student has difficulty paying the loan back after graduation? Will the National Call To Service Act be brought around and we, the taxpayer, be asked to "forgive" part of the loan in exchange for the student's participation in public service?

All the "what ifs" are a little alarming to me. The Forgotten Man already struggles to pay for our current public school system through increasing property and school taxes.....can he really afford this too?

The Forgotten Man

I've taken on a stack of reading lately. History is fascinating. I really wished I would have paid attention to the subject so much more when I was younger. I am currently in the middle of 3 or 4 books....all having to do with past events. It seems as though it would do our leaders good to go back to review historical points in our Country's history. I came across something in a book about the Great Depression called, "The Forgotten Man" by Amity Shlaes that has really stuck with me this week. Since it has stayed so close to the surface, I figured it was the idea to pass along this time around.

The following is from a lecture written by a Yale philosopher in 1883. It was his way of warning against well-intentioned social programs that are paid for by the unknown average citizen.

"As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X, or in the better case, what A, B, and C shall do for X.....What I want to do is to look up C. I want to show you what manner of man he is. I call him the Forgotten Man. Perhaps the appellation is not strictly correct. He is the man who never is thought of....He works, he votes, generally he prays - but he always pays....." --William Graham Sumner

In the past several months, we have been put on the line for countless bailouts to banks and companies too big to fail. And in the years to come, they are trying to put us on the line for trillions more.....going to spending programs, to take care of "X", the Forgotten Man can not afford. You and I will always be the Forgotten Man if we continue to stand still. April 15, 2009 was only the starting line. We have miles left to run. Don't be afraid to grab the baton.

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. --Thomas Jefferson.