Romney is right about this one
[url]http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_21799989?source=pop[/url]
"Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger, argues the flood of federal student aid spending unleashed in recent years has led colleges to raise tuition prices. He wants to return to a system in which the government supports private lenders, arguing it's more cost-effective, and [B]his campaign has called the income-based repayment program flawed[/B]."
[B]Regarding the bolded part only[/B] (I take no position on the rest of the quote but am presenting it for clarity), definitely. There are some very interesting and exploitable flaws or glitches. And, to a certain extent, the criticism can be applied to the health insurance subsidy. In both cases, the determining factor is AGI and only AGI. There is no consideration of assets and not all "income" is taxable. So the deal with the student loans is something like this: Stay in school for as long as possible and build up the maximum allowable debt which is something like $125, 000 in student loans including grad school. More for medical school. Then select the income contingent repayment plan. Then either: be from a rich family and so don't earn much money, have all your money in Roth IRAs and municipal bonds that don't produce taxable income, or go back to school when you are getting ready to retire. Or live off capital gains. Plus you can manipulate your AGI with IRA contributions, investment losses, etc. Many possibilities exist to take advantage of this within the law, few of which are inherently productive. I think both Democrats and Republicans, and both liberals and conservatives, are concerned about declining productivity or the threat thereof. I don't think there will be huge numbers of people in a position to take advantage of this but it's a good example of a bad idea.
Same thing with the way the health insurance subsidy is calculated. It considers AGI and nothing else. So, even a hideously wealthy person could get the subsidy every other year, just by cashing in enough investments to live off of for two years. I think it would be better to take the approach that for example the food stamp program takes, where they look at your income AND your assets.
There is another problem with the income contingent repayment plan. What will happen is that if you don't make very much money, your payments won't even cover the interest and the loan balance will balloon. And if you make the calculated payment based on your AGI, [B]even if the result of the calculation is zero and you "make" a "payment" of zero,[/B] faithfully every month for 25 years, the entire balance goes away; you are forgiven.
Sounds great. There is one problem, though; when the loan is "forgiven," [B]the entire huge loan balance becomes taxable income immediately. [/B] That might bankrupt you and that debt is not [I]normally[/I] forgivable in bankruptcy. I am sure I will have a better understanding of all of this after I take that introductory accounting class, but this does not seem like a very good approach to determining eligibility for these subsidies.
One more issue about student loans, and I don't know the history behind this or which party was responsible, but they are forgiven upon death. Other unsecured loans are not. This encourages excessive borrowing, especially if you look at it in tandem with the whole 25 year forgiveness thing. In general you have a bunch of patchwork bullshit of tax credits, deductions, exclusions and what-not for higher education. A more streamlined and integrated approach is needed. I believe in incentives for higher education but there is a lot of waste here and incentives to jack off for long periods.
Benghazi: Emperor Obama's Waterloo?
Here's a very interesting article about Benghazi consulate attack, by who else but The American [u]Thinker[/u].
[url]http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/benghazi_emperor_obamas_waterloo.html[/url]
This subject will be revisited in the next debate, Romney will be ready and Obama will not have Candy Crowley to help him out.
Romney is wrong about this one
"Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger, argues [B]the flood of federal student aid spending unleashed in recent years has led colleges to raise tuition prices[/B]. He wants to return to a model in which the government supports private lenders, arguing it's more cost-effective,"
This is a supply side argument, but the larger determinant of the higher-than-inflation increases in tuition was reductions in (primarily state) government subsidies, especially when the economy contracted in 2008/2009. Higher education[I] may [/I]have a long term benefit, but nobody starves to death without it in the short run. So it's pretty logical to reduce this type of government spending in the short run, under those conditions.
Romney is saying, in effect, that loans are drawing people to go to college. Do you really think there are large numbers of people who would go to college [B]because of[/B] loans? No. [B]Mostly[/B] people decide to go to college first and then figure out how to finance it afterwards."Flood" of student aid is a tough allegation to analyze because of the shift to private aid, but I think it is an exaggeration.
As election comes closer all is becoming clear!
[url]http://news.yahoo.com/mitt-romney-takes-lead-projected-electoral-vote-count-133807291.html[/url]
Old Toymann told ya two years ago. Get ready to open that wallet esten! Its just about all over but for the crying! LMAO! Bye bye Obamanation and off to Madahos for me! It's all good. Happy mongering all. Toymann.
Ps. And this site notoriously oversamples democrats. IALOTFLMAO
So, were we prepard for 9-11, the first time?
[QUOTE=El Alamo; 427886]Black shirt, you are killing me. One issue is that we were totally unprepared to protect our ambassador even though any birdbrain could see imminent danger.
The bigger issue is that we did not blame the USS Cole attack on mermaids and we did not blame the Beirut Barracks bombing on space aliens. Blaming the Benghazi attack on an obscure video is incredulous at best and more likely a sign of deceit, dishonesty and incompetence by the Obama Administration.[/QUOTE]I am sure that all embassies were on security alert due to the annivesary of 9-1. Obviously, something went haywired when 4 Americans were killed, incuding Ambassador Stevens. The incident happened simultaneously with heavy demonstrations going on all over the Middle East in regard to the video. The American flag was taken down at the Cairo embassy, and US security had to fired warning shots to push them back. My initial reaction was that the Benghazi consulate had been over-run. Of course, the killings is a traumatic event! And I salute and thank the 4 heroes.
But your comments is from a reaction to an allergy called Obamanitis. You have been breaking out every day for almost 4 years. Your cure could be in the final stages. Not sure what I can do for you if it is delayed again. Perhaps a River Nile cruise?
This is not a partisan issue,
[QUOTE=Punter 127; 427898]It doesn't matter if they were on alert if they didn't have adequate security. More security had been requested and apparently ignored several time, and this was not the first attack on the consulate. There was no demonstration happening at the Benghazi consulate and it didn't have anything to do with the video, it was an al-Qaeda plot. You my friend need to get up to speed on this issue.
[url]http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/benghazi_emperor_obamas_waterloo.html[/url]
Does not being prepared on 9-11-2001 justify not being prepared on 9-11-2012?[/QUOTE]I am trying to separate this event from the election rhetoric. But isn't the same CIA that did not see 9-11 coming? Take care, dude.
Lee Iacocca supports Mitt Romney
'Lee Iacocca, the man credited with saving Chrysler, has thrown his support to Mitt Romney in the Republican's effort to unseat Barack Obama and take the reins of the country after the November election.
Iacocca, a lifelong Democrat who has been a war horse for numerous Democratic candidates in the past and who once turned down an appointment to the US. Senate, announced his decision to back Romney in an Op-Ed in Friday's Detroit News.
He praised Romney and said the country needs a president who can turnaround the economy with more than just words and promises.' When people like Iacocca start jumping ship it's probably not a good sign for Obama.
MITT ROMNEY and his "binders full of women"
[QUOTE=WorldTravel69;427918]It is interesting what this women thinks about BinderGate.[/QUOTE] The only one I can think of besides Mitt Romney who keeps "binders full of women" would be Hugh Hefner.
