GOP Congressman: Student loans caused "Cancer of Socialism"

[Landslide Lyndon]

Remember when Inks was saying that Republicans aren't anti-intellectuals and love education?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/04/26/lawmaker_says_student_loans_caused_cancer_of_socialism.html

At a debate last weekend, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) equated federal student loan programs with stage three cancer.

Said Aikin: "America has got the equivalent of the stage three cancer of socialism because the federal government is tampering in all kinds of stuff it has no business tampering in. So first, to answer your question precisely, what the Democrats did to the private student loans and take it all over by the government was wrong, it was a lousy bill, and that's why I voted no. The government needs to get its nose out of the education business."

[Jayhawker]

As a future college student, I find this highly annoying.

McKaskill 2012 if he wins the primary.

[memphis]

Student loans are a cancer of debt.

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Remember this is the same guy who two weeks ago said, "we can't impeach Obama only because we don't have the votes".



We need some polling on this Senate primary.

[MilesC56]

This sounds like something Virginia Foxx would say.

[Svensson]

Steelman, whatever you do - win or lose - please, for the love of God, sink this man's career.

[Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Anything more recent then this:
                                                                                     Akin  Brunner     Steelman       Undecided
Public Policy Polling January 27-29, 2012 574 ± 4.1% 23%  18%           32%              28%

[I Can't Get That Sound You Make, Out Of My Head]

How the  is this guy leading the polls exactly?

[Emperor SJoyce]

How the  is this guy leading the polls exactly?

Thankfully, he's not. He's second. How he's tied in a hypothetical matchup with McCaskill, I don't know.

[Former Moderate]

To be fair, the current student loan mechanism is totally abominable — it's little different than a financial slavery that targets minors. I'd rather see the student loan rate double and let people be able to declare bankrupcy to escape them, where necessary.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Ironically the student loans that are most likely to default are those to students at for profit colleges. Another fail for the "free market". Oh yeah, the GOP isn't too interested in cracking down on those, so Obama has had to go after them by executive order.

[Governor Scott]

Of course this is something only my favorite Congressman would say.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

To be fair, the current student loan mechanism is totally abominable — it's little different than a financial slavery that targets minors. I'd rather see the student loan rate double and let people be able to declare bankrupcy to escape them, where necessary.

Even as someone with a relatively small amount of student loans, I agree. (Although the interest rates are insanely high anyway.)

[krazen1211]

The real price of tuition at Harvard was stagnant for nearly 50 years from 1900 to 1947. Then we passed the GI bill and increased government 'free' money to be funneled into college education.


Tuition promptly doubled over the next few years. Government 'free' money will naturally feed such price increases and fuel the arms race.

[Torie]

What will px do when he doesn't have Akin to kick around anymore?

The tuition costs ramping up so much faster than inflation, is an issue that has garnered shockingly little comment or study in the public square, and it seems close to scandalous. It would be far more productive to focus on that for awhile than all the time wasted barking at the moon at "obscene" oil company profits or whatever (which profits actually vis a vis the amount of capital invested are quite modest actually).  But no - maybe it is just too abstract and complicated.

[Landslide Lyndon]

What will px do when he doesn't have Akin to kick around anymore?

Because there is such a shortage of wackos in the current Republican party.