Obamacare, Student Loans, and the End of Empire

Once upon a time—in 2010 to be exact—in the land of D.C., the great and powerful Obama proposed a new law called “Obamacare.” Now, in those long-ago days, despite U. S. debt totaling $13 trillion, most Americans still held the superstitious notion that new federal legislation must include the means to pay for it. Accordingly, the emperor’s courtiers came up with a noble solution: “Eureka! We will take over the federal student loan program, capturing its billions of dollars in profits to cover the cost of Obamacare!”

And, in yet another case study of the feds’ financial meddlings, the takeover created a bubble: driving spiraling tuition costs, leading to mounting individual student loan debt, resulting in rising default rates. In short, the federal takeover of the student loan program turned the goose that laid the golden egg into an albatross around the necks of students and the government.

Today, we have entered new Age of Enlightenment and have cast off the old superstitions about unfunded federal spending.

And so, with U.S. debt now totaling $35 trillion—and increasing by $1 trillion every 100 days—the great and powerful Biden now offers his vision of a brave new world: a world in which grateful college graduates ensure his rule in the Imperial City in thanks for saddling American taxpayers with $559 billion for student loan forgiveness, with his latest sweetener tossed to households earning more than $300,000.

And that, dear readers, is the story of how yet another empire fell from its once-great glory into the pages of history …

… unless … we take heart, affix the shackles to restrain the emperor and his minions to the extremely limited powers enumerated in our founding documents, and reassert our inalienable rights to our lives, liberty, and property.

It’s worked before.

Mary L. G. Theroux is Chairman and Chief Executive of the Independent Institute.
Beacon Posts by Mary L. G. Theroux | Full Biography and Publications
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