Breaking the Back of at Least One Crook

From Down With Tyranny...

For the sake of the country's future, President Obama has stepped up to the plate with billions of dollars in student loan money. 85 billion to be precise-- per year! Sounds like a lot, right? But that actually saves the taxpayers $4 billion a year. I'll explain in a moment. Predictably, California reactionary Buck McKeon, who represents an ill-educated district in the high desert northeast of L.A., is screaming bloody murder. Why McKeon? As we learned when we tried helping Robert Rodriguez oust this venal fossil in 2006, McKeon, as ranking Republican (then Chairman) of the House Education Committee, is in the pockets of the corrupt student loans industry. He's snorted up legalized bribes from Finance companies, lobbyists and the Education industry totaling over $550,000 and is widely considered one of the most corrupt California members of Congress, nearly on a Jerry Lewis/Ken Calvert level. So it was highly predictable that he would rant and rave when Obama's generosity towards students would anachronize his patrons. Friday's Washington Post explained it beautifully, pointing out that by directly giving the student loans to students and cutting out the greedy middlemen (i.e.- McKeon's "contributors") Obama saves the taxpayers $47.5 billion over the next ten years and, at the same time, helps far more students-- two factors that aren't exactly McKeon goals. Since the government assumes all the default risk, there is no reason at all to involve the finance companies.

Eonomic Perspective - Cartoon

China Banks To Stop Lending to U.S. Banks

In an effort to keep the U.S. economic problems from spreading, inter-bank loans from the Chinese to the American will be halted. From Reuters - click on the link to read the entire article...

BEIJING, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Chinese regulators have told domestic banks to stop interbank lending to U.S. financial institutions to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.

Did You Know - Student Loan Scandal

Evidence of another botched Federal program under the Republicans. Can't they get anything right?

From the New York Times...

Under criticism that it has been lax in policing the $85 billion student loan industry, the Education Department announced yesterday that the chief official responsible for overseeing the loan program was stepping down.

The resignation of the official, Theresa S. Shaw, was made public two days before Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is to testify to a Congressional committee. Ms. Spellings is expected to face tough questions about the oversight of lenders’ practices and her department’s enforcement of policies against conflicts of interest.