The Buck Stops Here

I want to generously suggest a plausible reason why the student loan rate doubled today, going from 3.4% to 6.8%.

Pay attention and follow me closely here so the reason doesn't slip by in a moment of distraction.

The President's annual salary is...$400,000.00

The Vice President's annual salary is...$230,700.00

A Senator's annual salary is...$174,000.00

A Congressman's annual salary is...$174,000.00

It is no wonder that these people, all 537 of them, can engage in legislative activity that leaves most of the rest of the country reeling.  They have absolutely no idea what it means to be an average American citizen.

They claim to put such a premium on education and they claim that young people are the future of the Republic.

Yet they consistently make getting an education more and more difficult.

A jump of 100% in an interest rate may not mean much to the millionaires that occupy the offices in Washington but it means a hell of a lot to average citizens, some of whom are living paycheck to paycheck (if they have a job at all...) and some of whom, despite the odds, will be the first in their family to get a college degree.

But the political class couldn't care less.  They are on vacation...

Well, the Congress and the White House should be ashamed.

But if they understood the concept of shame then we wouldn't be in these fixes in the first place.

They are quick to wave the flag when people die in wildfires or school shootings or at war.  They say all of the right things, mugging for the endless cameras staking out their every move and broadcasting their every word.

But they are loathe to do anything meaningful for the hard working men and women of this country who get up every morning and trudge off to work doing the right thing for themselves and their families.

These politicians were sent to Washington to represent the interests of the people.

It's too bad that the people they really represent don't really need them, other than to pass bills that benefit their narrow personal and corporate interests.

They have theirs.  The rest of us can just whistle Dixie.

And we know what happened the last time Dixie got whistled.

The Civil War happened.  Thousands of people died, over 51,000 at Gettysburg alone which, incidentally, took place 150 years ago today, may they rest in peace.

Who knows what lies in store for the Republic in the future.  Unless we awaken from our coma and do something the future will be very bleak.

Very bleak indeed.

Happy Fourth of July...