WASHINGTON PROPOSES $1 TRILLION BAILOUT FOR DELINQUENT STUDENT LOANS

A possible $1 trillion bailout is coming—and soon.

America’s now-nationalized student loan industry just reached a value of $1 trillion, according to Citigroup, growing at a 20 percent-per-year pace. Since President Obama nationalized the industry (a tacked-on provision of the Obamacare bill), tuition has gone up 25 percent and the three-year default rate is at a record 13.4 percent.

Ron discussed this problem last night with Larry Kudlow:

With many young people unable to pay their loans (average graduating debt is about $29,000), Citigroup and others are speculating that this industry might be ripe for a bailout.

To pay off all the current defaults, Citigroup says it would cost taxpayers $74 billion. However, this number doesn’t include those who will default in the coming years, and, when the government rewards the defaulters, it will encourage more borrowers not to pay their debts.

And liberals in Congress have proposed forgiving all student loans via “The Student Loan Forgiveness Act 2012,” costing taxpayers $1 trillion.

Adding another $1 trillion dollars to the national debt isn’t exactly “forgiveness” for young people—it’s prolonging the payoff. In fact, student loan bailouts are a catch-22 for young people because they’re going to be held accountable for paying off the national debt and interest payments.

A student loan bailout will also be rewarding higher education bureaucrats for a diminished product. A college degree used to mean that a person would add on average $1 million to their income over their lifetime. Today a college degree only guarantees an average $300,000 in added income over a lifetime.

The answer isn’t a bailout. The student loan industry must to be returned to the private sector. Would a private lender ever invest $100,000 of their money in a student that had no plan? No.

It’s not about limiting access to college; it’s about making sure students have a well-thought out plan for their future before investors put a $100,000 stake in their education. College should be about specializing in a trade rather than defaulting to general studies that won’t lead to a job.

A civics education is important, but why would an employer hire someone with no applicable work skills, especially in a slow economy?

If we wish to end the incentives for bailouts, we need to hit higher education in the purse. Endless government money and bailouts won’t get our students jobs, and it won’t fix the problem.

Ron Meyer is the press secretary and a spokesman for American Majority Action. Celia Bigelow is the Campus Director for the same organization. Learn more at AmericanMajorityAction.org.

Via: Breitbart

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CONGRESSMAN: OBAMA'S TAX INCREASES FUND GOVERNMENT FOR EIGHT DAYS

President Barack Obama has proposed raising taxes on the rich to put America's fiscal house in order, but critics say federal spending is so massive that the wealthy don't have enough money to cover the nation's unprecedented debt.

In an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) said President Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthy would only generate enough revenue to fund the federal government for eight days.

"The president’s plan to increase taxes on the upper two percent covers the spending by this federal government not for eight years, not for eight months, not for eight weeks but for eight days. Eight days only," said Mr. Price. "It’s not a real solution. So, again, I’m puzzled by an administration that seems to be more interested in raising tax rates than in gaining economic vitality."

The problem is that the rich don't have enough money to put so much as a dent in America's $16 trillion national debt. "If the IRS grabbed 100 percent of income over $1 million, the take would be just $616 billion," writes John Stossel. "That’s only a third of this year’s deficit. Our national debt would continue to explode."

Still, Mr. Obama's supporters persist in proposing tax hikes on the wealthy. On Sunday, billionaire Warren Buffett proposed a minimum tax for America's top earners. "We need Congress, right now, to enact a minimum tax on high incomes. I would suggest 30 percent of taxable income between $1 million and $10 million, and 35 percent on amounts above that."

There's just one problem with such an approach, says author Mark Steyn:

If you took every single penny that Warren Buffett has, it'd pay for 4-1/2 days of the US government. This tax-the-rich won't work. The problem here is the government is way bigger than even the capacity of the rich to sustain it. The Buffett Rule would raise $3.2 billion a year, and take 514 years just to pay off Obama's 2011 budget deficit.

Indeed, even Mr. Buffett seems to concede that he and the president's "soak the rich" proposals are more an act of political theater designed to generate an emotional response than serious solutions: Mr. Buffett told Matt Lauer he believes his proposal would boost the "morale of the middle class." 

Via: Breitbart

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ObamaCare's Insurance Exchange Nightmare

When the Supreme Court upheld ObamaCare as a tax last summer, President Obama may have thought he could breathe a little easier. But now with the implementation of the law, Obama is just beginning his war with the states that refuse to implement ObamaCare exchanges needed for the legislation to work properly or at least, quickly.

The Obama administration faces major logistical and financial challenges in creating health insurance exchanges for states that have declined to set up their own systems.

The exchanges were designed as the centerpiece of President Obama’s signature law, and are intended to make buying health insurance comparable to booking a flight or finding a compatible partner on Match.com.

Sixteen states — most of them governed by Republicans — have said they will not set up their own systems, forcing the federal government to come up with one instead.

Another five states said they want a federal-state partnership, while four others are considering partnerships.

It's a situation no one anticipated when the Affordable Care Act was written. The law assumed states would create and operate their own exchanges, and set aside billions in grants for that purpose.

Essentially, states denying the exchanges forces the feds to do the work, as they should considering it is a federal law that balloons state budgets.

The work of beginning to implement the exchanges comes just in time for the fiscal cliff. Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor have hinted ObamaCare may be on the table as a negotiating piece for a deal.

The president’s health care law adds a massive, expensive, unworkable government program at a time when our national debt already exceeds the size of our country’s entire economy. We can’t afford it, and we can’t afford to leave it intact. That’s why I’ve been clear that the law has to stay on the table as both parties discuss ways to solve our nation’s massive debt challenge.

Meanwhile, the majority of Americans still despise ObamaCare and want it repealed.

Fifty percent (50%) of Likely U.S. Voters favor repeal of President Obama’s national health care law, while 44% are opposed to repeal, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Via: TownHall

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Obama will fire 20,000 Marines so he can give $6 billion U.S. taxpayer dollars to Muslims for ‘green’ energy

There are many things Obama hates, but only two things he really loves: Green energy and Muslims. And finally he’s found a way to put both together at the same time. And it will only cost U.S. taxpayers $6 billion dollars.

FrontPage Magazine  20,000 Marines are to be fired and the money is being used for Obama’s Green Energy companies and his Muslim empowerment program. 

Sure for that $6 billion, we might not have to fire those 20,000 Marines that Barry Hussein has decided to get of, and we wouldn’t have to cut their healthcare, the way his Center for American Progress has pushed him to do… but Muslims with Green Energy count more.

Now this U.S.-Asia Pacific Comprehensive Partnership for a Sustainable Energy Future is not supposed to be limited to just Muslims, but considering that it’s been announced with the leaders of two Muslim governments, one of them that of his favorite country, Indonesia, this looks like another expensive bout of Muslim pandering.

Via:  Bare Naked Islam

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MSNBC President: 'This Channel Has Never Been the Voice of Obama. Ever.'

In an interview with the Huffington Post, MSNBC president Phil Griffin tries to push back against the notion that his channel has become a mouth-piece for President Barack Obama.

"This channel has never been the voice of Obama. Ever," Griffin tells Michael Calderone of the Huffington Post.  But, Calderone writes, "Griffin acknowledges that his hosts are more likely to agree with Obama on policy matters than with Republicans, but rejects comparisons to Fox News."

"People want to talk about Fox. Fox is the voice of the Republican Party," says Griffin to Calderone.

Griffin does, however, acknowledge to the left-leaningHuffington Post that many folks working at MSNBC have a "progressive sensibility."

"We hire smart people with a progressive sensibility. ... I tell them to go think for themselves. We don't have talking points," says Griffin.

The MSNBC president pledges to make sure Obama keeps "his campaign promises."

"We're going to hold Obama to his campaign promises," says Griffin. "And the fact is, there are many things that some of our hosts support him on. But basically, we have a standard, whether it's the war on terror or getting out of Afghanistan: Is he going to live up to his campaign promises?"

And Griffin compliments his employees for being "really smart" and not going "over the top" during the 2012 presidential campaign.

"What I really believe is we analyzed this election in a really smart way and we didn't go over the top,"Griffin tells Huffington Post. "We weren't just shilling for Obama. We were really smart. And people are responding to that now."

Via: Weekly Standard

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Two More Stimulus-Backed Solar Companies Announce Layoffs

A pair of foreign-owned solar companies that benefited from a combined $84 million in Energy Department tax credits have announced they will lay off employees.

One of the companies, German-owned SolarWorld, was integral in the fight for tariffs against the importation of Chinese photovoltaic solar panels. The other, Chinese company SunTech, blamed those tariffs for its own layoffs.

Both companies benefited from the Energy Department’s stimulus-funded Advanced Energy Manufacturing (48C) Tax Credit. The 48C credit is worth up to 30% of the cost of manufacturing qualifying green energy projects.

SolarWorld received a credit worth $82 million, while SunTech’s was worth $2.1 million.

Both companies announced this week that they will shed some employees. SolarWorld, which announced a 47% revenue decline in the third quarter, blamed a potential 37 layoffs at its Oregon plant on “illegal” Chinese trade practices.

SunTech said the U.S. International Trade Commission’s 35.95% tariff on Chinese solar panels was partially responsible for the 50 impending layoffs at its Arizona production facilities.

While heavy Chinese subsidies do reduce the cost of solar panels from that country, Heritage’s Derek Scissors warned against replicating those policies in testimonybefore the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in June.

“The U.S. boasts a far better energy and environmental record than China,” Scissors explained, “and moving in China’s direction would be very risky.”

SunTech and SolarWorld are the latest additions to a long list of taxpayer-backed green energy companies that have gone bankrupt, laid off workers, or otherwise hit dire financial straits.

Via: The Foundry

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A LITTLE TIME OFF TO RECHARGE AND REDESIGN

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!!

TAKING A VACATION AFTER  AN INCREDIBLY LONG AND DEPRESSING ELECTION SEASON. BUT DON'T FRET, I WILL BE BACK BIGGER AND BETTER THAN BEFORE WITH A NEW DESIGN AND NEW FEATURES THAT WILL BLOW YOU AWAY.

Romney: I’ve Only Written A Victory Speech…

 (CNN) – Hours before the polls closed Tuesday, GOP nominee Mitt Romney told reporters on his plane that he's so confident in a win he's only prepared a victory speech.

"I've only written one speech at this point," Romney said, adding the text of that address was 1,118 words long.

Saying "intellectually" he's felt he was going to win the election for a long time, Romney said his final campaign stops in Ohio and Pittsburgh Tuesday gave him an emotional jolt as well that victory is within his grasp.

As for any campaign regrets, Romney said he had few.

"I'm very proud of the campaign we've run," Romney said, adding that "no campaign is perfect."

"I am very pleased. I feel we have put it all on the field. We left nothing in the locker room," the candidate said.

Via: CNN

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Voter Turnout Up for GOP, Down for Dems, So Far in Ohio ...

According to RNC officials, turnout is up in GOP Geauga County, Ohio where John McCain won with 57% of the vote and down in Athens County, the home of Ohio University and where Obama won with 67% in 2008. Early vote in Geauga? 125% of 2008. Athens? Down 10% from 2008.

SHOT: GOP county turnout up

• Plain Dealer: Geauga election chief predicts 80 percent voter turnout today
• Geauga County early vote was 125% more than 2008 early vote
• McCain won Geauga County with 57% and Bush got 60% in ‘04

CHASER: Dem county turnout down

• WOUB: Athens County Election Officials: Morning Voter Turnout Low
• Athens County early vote was 10% less than 2008 early vote
• Obama won Athens County with 67%

Via: Fox News

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Federal Job Corps Vans Used to Bus Voters in Wisconsin

Media Trackers has found federal Job Corps vans being used to bus voters to at least one polling location in the City of Milwaukee. A van with federal plates and driven by a Job Corps employee was seen pulling up to the small polling station at the Clara Barton Elementary School in urban Milwaukee shortly after 1:00 pm on Tuesday. A Job Corps administrator inside the polling place said the federal vans had brought approximately 125 Job Corps participants to the poll as of early afternoon.

 

The administrator declined to give his name. The Job Corps is a division of the United States Department of Labor, a cabinet level agency that reports directly to President Obama, who is up for re-election today and who has campaigned hard in Wisconsin in recent days.

 

Poll workers inside the location struggled to handle the extra traffic created by the Job Corps participants brought in from a nearby training facility. A number of them were first time voters who had to be registered using Wisconsin’s same-day registration procedure. At one point a poll worker had to be asked by an unidentified election observer to confirm that a would-be registrant actually lived in the precincts served by the polling location.

Via: Media Trackers

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SPECIAL FORCES AND NAVY SEALS HEAD TO POLLS, COUNTER BLACK PANTHER PRESENCE

In 2008, union thugs and members of the New Black Panthers showed up at certain polling places in Ohio and Philadelphia to intimidate Republican voters. To be clear, they didn't say they were there for that reason. Rather, they said they were there to be sure everyone got to vote (wink, wink, nod, nod.)

Members of the New Black Panthers plan to be in Philly again today for the same reasons, ubiquitously, and union thugs will be joining them where possible.

Enter Retired Navy Captain Benjamin Brink, who is sending out "former and retired Special Forces and SEALS" to balance out the presence of the union thugs and New Black Panthers in Philly and elsewhere. Brink's goal is to be sure Romney supporters aren't intimidated into leaving the polls without voting, and to accomplish it, his slogan is "Get Out the Vet."

IMPORTANT: Brink makes it clear that the Special Forces and SEALS are not being sent to engage "intimidators" but to observe and report voter intimidation by Obama's thugs. In this way, those taking part in Brink's "Get Out the Vet" will be able to aide police and other officials on the ground whose personnel are simply spread too thin.

Here's the bottom line: Voters who may have otherwise been intimidated by union thugs or the presence of the New Black Panthers will certainly be encouraged when they see their polls flanked by heroes of the U.S. military: heroes driven not by the revenge Obama can't quit talking about, but by "Love of Country."

God bless Benjamin Brink and the Special Forces and SEALS that stand with him today. 

Via: Breitbart

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Middle Cheese: GOP Counties Turned Out for Early Voting

Middle Cheese checks in:

Just a brief report from the Big Cheeses at Team Romney about Ohio early/absentee voting: Obama is under-performing in Kerry-Obama counties, and Republicans are outperforming in McCain 08 counties. As of yesterday, in swing Hamilton County, there are 1,000 fewer Democrat and 800 more GOP early/absentee votes than at this point in 08. Ohio Republicans will turn out. But the key to a Romney victory in OH will be independent voters, who favor Romney by double-digits over Obama in 21 of the last 24 public opinion polls.

Via: National Review Online

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Philly Poll Workers Only Cover Face In Obama Mural, Leave Logo And Quote Visible…

Of course it is illegal to campaign inside a polling place.

Via RNC Deputy Communications Director, Tim Miller:

Update:

Tim Miller@Timodc

Update: Election Judge in PA has ordered Obama mural in polling place covered up. Order here --> pic.twitter.com/bcCgpNbo

6 Nov 12

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Via: Weasel Zippers

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