There’s something else that the 2012 election may end up telling us. I mean besides the fact that by voting for Barry "Almighty" Americans will be making it painfully clear that they're apparently fed up with possessing the level of freedom that Capitalism and the free market provides for them. As well as the fact that those common traits once thought to be so uniquely American, seem to have now simply evaporated. It seems to me that far too many Americans today no longer see the need to work for anything, feeling instead that the government should simply provide everything to them. So what else will the next election tells? Well, it may just provide proof positive to what extent our younger generation has allowed themselves to be brainwashed, by they’re choosing to attend any of the supposed institutions of “higher learning” in this country.
Ok now, the reason I ask my original question here is because I think very few of those in our our younger population actually realize what their buddy Barry has in store to them, if he does get re-elected. And that is, as part of his fiscal 2013 budget proposal, he would double, yes DOUBLE, the interest rate on federally backed student loans from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent. And oh by the way, that would take place eight months AFTER the November presidential election. I know, I know, just another strange coincidence, right? The White House fiscal year 2013 plan calls for maintaining the current 3.4 percent interest rate for federally guaranteed student loans, but only through July 1, 2013, at which point it would automatically increase to 6.8 percent. Neither the president’s plan nor the Democrats’ legislation would extend the low rate beyond another year.
For any of those enthusiastic and very stalwart young Barry supporters who are interested, it's all right there in black and white on page 97 of Barry’s budget. You see, it's on that very page where it's made very clear that Barry's budget calls for “Suspending an Increase in Student Loan Interest Rates.” It states: “Under current law, interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans are slated to rise this summer [July 1] from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent,” reads the Barry "Almighty" budget. “At a time when the economy is still recovering and market interest rates remain low, it makes no sense to double rates on student loans. The Budget suspends the scheduled increase for the coming year, so that rates will remain at 3.4 percent.” To specifically put off these increases until 2013 is just so transparent, and just as obviously an election year ploy.
Now the Senate bill which is favored by the Democrats states, “in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking ‘and before July 1, 2012,’ and inserting `and before July 1, 2013.’” Subsidized Stafford Loans are only available to students who demonstrate financial need. Starting in July, these loans will only be available to undergraduate students. The federal government does not require the borrower to pay the interest that accrues while the borrower is in school. During the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 academic years, Stafford Loans to undergraduate students were offered with a fixed rate of 6.8 percent. The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 set lower interest rates for students in the 2008-2009 through 2011-2012 academic years. The interest rate for loans during those years gradually declined to 3.4 percent.
Of late Barry "Almighty" has focused heavily on keeping student loan interest rates down to 3.4 percent in some of his recent speeches on, where else but, college campuses. The youth vote helped boost him to victory in 2008, where he beat John McCain by 34 percent among voters under 30, according to the Associated Press. However, last month a Harvard poll found that this year Barry is leading his Republican opponent Mitt Romney by only 12 points (41%-29%) among voters aged 18 to 24. And yet, this age group is one suffering from the highest level of unemployment. So I'm a little confused as to why folks in this particular demographic would be so eager to vote for the guy who is making so much harder, if not impossible, for them to find a job. I just don’t see the logic there. Hense, I can only guess that somehow Barry's been able to convince many of these folks to essentially cut their own throats.
But something that Barry may just find himself having to contend with is the fact that a plurality of the public, or 41%, now believes that young adults, rather than middle-aged or older adults, are having the toughest time in today’s economy. And a even a casual analysis of government's own economic data suggests that's a correct assumption. While we are being told by "Team Obama" that there has been a decline in the unemployment rate, it remains a fact that since 2010, the share of young adults ages 18 to 24 currently employed, has been sitting at an anemic 54%. That number is the lowest since the government first began collecting these data in 1948. And the gap in employment between the young and all working-age adults, roughly 15 percentage points, is the widest in recorded history. In addition, young adults employed full time have experienced a greater drop in weekly earnings (down 6%) than any other age group over the past five years.
Also, large majorities of the public say it’s harder for young adults to reach many of the basic financial goals their parents may have taken for granted. More than eight-in-ten, 82%, say finding a job is harder for young adults today than it was for their parents’ generation. And at least seven-in-ten say it’s harder now to save for the future, 75%, pay for college, 71%, or buy a home, 69%. Boy, now there's some incentive to vote for Barry again. Also among those 18 to 34-year-olds, fully half,49%, say they have taken a job they didn’t want just to pay the bills, with 24% saying they have taken an unpaid job to gain work experience. And more than one-third, 35%, say that, as a result of the poor economy, they have gone back to school. Their personal lives have also been affected: 31% have postponed either getting married or having a baby, 22% say they have postponed having a baby and 20% have put off getting married. Also, one-in-four, 24%, say they have moved back in with their parents after living on their own.
Now you would think at some point here, these younger voters see the need to act in what would be pure self-preservation and that that would trump all else when it comes to deciding for whom to vote. Voting for Barry may make them "feel" good, but it makes for a pretty bleak future for them employment-wise. Now I may be a bit old fashioned here, but I have to assume that the little light bulb is now going off for at least some of these younger folks prompting them to be having one of those ah-ha moments. Barry is lying to them, and the sooner more of them are able to figure out that fact, the sooner they might decide to take a little more responsibility for what their future is going to look like. Basically they have to two options here: Option A) Vote for Barry and be content to being forced to live off mommy and daddy for the foreseeable future, or Option B) Start voting for those who are more likely to create an environment that is more conducive to real private sector job growth. It seems like pretty much of a no-brainer to me.
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