Submitted by Patrick Bott on February 22, 2008 - 8:18pm.
It’s good to know that consumers have the NAF in their corner in times of uncertainty like these! Why, just five months ago NAF was concerned that “Undergraduates are getting buried in private loan debt”-Private Loan Borrowing, October 25, 2007. Fast forward to today, and NAF apparently has a different opinion: “But keep in mind that private loans affect a much smaller number of people than federal loans. Private loans are taken out by 10 percent of undergraduates.” That’s quite a turn of events there NAF! Did all the students who were buried in October 2007 dig themselves out here in February 2008? Ah shucks! I guess anything’s possible! It is interesting to note that the “buried” comments were made when the industry was under the gun from pending Congressional regulation for all the “improprieties” your intrepid staff had documented. Today we have the “much smaller number of people” comments made when private lenders are again under the gun, this time from the capital markets. How does one reconcile these contradictory statements? Hmmm!
Our Congressional lawmakers were really prescient when they came up with the “federal direct loan program” weren’t they NAF? They knew that the “general welfare” would one day be in danger (like today). Of course, by the “general welfare”, I mean the 30% or so of adult Americans who obtain a college degree. And of those fortunate few, the 66% who borrow (roughly 20% of the adult American population) from federal programs like the “direct loan program” to finance the degree. (Although we should note that the “direct loan program” only provides for roughly 20% of the federal borrowing today, so the “general welfare” associated with this federal program is much smaller-call it roughly 4% of that adult population). Ah, there I go again…getting caught-up in the numbers! I should recall the multitude of studies that associate, but do not correlate, many positive externalities with a person obtaining a higher education! Anyway, back to Congress! They sure devised a creative way to make the use of the “commerce clause” of the Constitution more efficient with respect to their duties vis-à-vis student loans! If you have a benevolent government program like the “direct loan program” replacing private enterprise, there’s no need to regulate interstate commerce because the government would be in effect, regulating itself-genius! It makes you wonder why the Founding Fathers bothered to put the “commerce clause” in the Constitution in the first place if they meant for the government to 100% run commerce (like student lending) in lieu of private enterprise! It’s superfluous if they are regulating their own activities isn’t it NAF?
In summary, nobody’s worried NAF! Americans know we are only a few scandals away from complete government domination of student lending! We rest easy tonight knowing that you will bring them to our attention!
Lenders Are The Enemy
It’s good to know that consumers have the NAF in their corner in times of uncertainty like these! Why, just five months ago NAF was concerned that “Undergraduates are getting buried in private loan debt”-Private Loan Borrowing, October 25, 2007. Fast forward to today, and NAF apparently has a different opinion: “But keep in mind that private loans affect a much smaller number of people than federal loans. Private loans are taken out by 10 percent of undergraduates.” That’s quite a turn of events there NAF! Did all the students who were buried in October 2007 dig themselves out here in February 2008? Ah shucks! I guess anything’s possible! It is interesting to note that the “buried” comments were made when the industry was under the gun from pending Congressional regulation for all the “improprieties” your intrepid staff had documented. Today we have the “much smaller number of people” comments made when private lenders are again under the gun, this time from the capital markets. How does one reconcile these contradictory statements? Hmmm!
Our Congressional lawmakers were really prescient when they came up with the “federal direct loan program” weren’t they NAF? They knew that the “general welfare” would one day be in danger (like today). Of course, by the “general welfare”, I mean the 30% or so of adult Americans who obtain a college degree. And of those fortunate few, the 66% who borrow (roughly 20% of the adult American population) from federal programs like the “direct loan program” to finance the degree. (Although we should note that the “direct loan program” only provides for roughly 20% of the federal borrowing today, so the “general welfare” associated with this federal program is much smaller-call it roughly 4% of that adult population). Ah, there I go again…getting caught-up in the numbers! I should recall the multitude of studies that associate, but do not correlate, many positive externalities with a person obtaining a higher education! Anyway, back to Congress! They sure devised a creative way to make the use of the “commerce clause” of the Constitution more efficient with respect to their duties vis-à-vis student loans! If you have a benevolent government program like the “direct loan program” replacing private enterprise, there’s no need to regulate interstate commerce because the government would be in effect, regulating itself-genius! It makes you wonder why the Founding Fathers bothered to put the “commerce clause” in the Constitution in the first place if they meant for the government to 100% run commerce (like student lending) in lieu of private enterprise! It’s superfluous if they are regulating their own activities isn’t it NAF?
In summary, nobody’s worried NAF! Americans know we are only a few scandals away from complete government domination of student lending! We rest easy tonight knowing that you will bring them to our attention!