One of the arguments often made by student loan industry lobbyists and their friends is that, by providing loan companies with huge, wasteful subsidies, students get something very valuable: a choice of lender.
Check out this table of the “choice” students have when selecting a lender for the Federal Stafford Loans, which was compiled by the Student Lending Analytics Blog:
*UPDATE* The second round of the Cash For Clunkers program ended this Monday at 8:00 PM. Once again, the program ran out of money ahead of schedule due to its extreme popularity. If you didn’t manage to trade in your gas-guzzler this time, don’t worry! You’ll probably get another chance next year since the Detroit 3 have been lagging behind international auto companies in commercializing electric vehicles. In the meantime, consider riding your bicycle and learning how to use your local public transit. It’ll be healthier for you, your community, and your planet.
Just before leaving for recess, the U.S. Senate approved additional funding for Cash for Clunkers - the government program to incentivize (pay) people to trade in their old cars for new slightly more efficient ones. This widely successful program dramatically improved car sales and was credited with reducing domestic CO2 emissions by 700,000 tons, saving consumers over $216 million a year in gasoline costs, and protecting American manufacturing jobs.
The biggest success of the program wasn’t the small reduction in carbon emissions and oil use, but that it proved that consumers demand more fuel efficient cars. Even though the minimum fuel efficiency gain needed to receive a rebate for trading in your old car was a meager 1 MPG increase for light trucks and 4 MPG for passenger cars, the average clunkers brought in were almost 10 MPG more than the cars they replaced. Now, because American auto companies have been in denial about the need for more efficient options, over half of sales were foreign cars, and all of the top 10 trade-in models are made by the Detroit Three.
Cash for Clunkers’ victory allowed for consumer’s voices to be heard and set the stage for Senators Bingaman (D-NM), Snowe (R-ME), Lugar (R-IN) and Kerry (D-MA) to introduce legislation to take the program to its next logical step. The Efficient Vehicle Leadership Act of 2009 (S. 1620) would use the current CAFE level as a baseline to establish a feebaterewarding consumers who purchase more efficient vehicles and charging more for gas guzzlers. This legislation will move us from Cash for Clunkers’ expensive, short-term, and environmentally negligible stimulus to a long-term strategy to modernize America’s auto fleet to meet our planetary challenges. The feebate is structured to give the Detroit 3 enough time to catch up with the rest of the world and put the decision in the consumer’s hands: it’s a win-win situation.
Due to its success in stimulating the economy, it is hard to find people openly critical of Cash for Clunkers, but there are some serious and structural short-comings that should be discussed more openly among the progressive community in order to take the next step towards a truly clean energy economy. As the Onion eloquently puts it:
In an op-ed in Forbes.com yesterday tactfully entitled SAFRA Stinks, the CATO Institute’s Neal McCluskey argues against legislation that would end wasteful government subsidies to student loan companies, and use the $87 billion we will save to make college more affordable and accessible. Unfortunately, his argument is based almost entirely on his free market ideology, rather than an assessment of the current state of education and a desire to solve concrete problems.
Here are his major arguments and our response, one by one:
This post was written in part by Andre Cotten, a Campus Progress Intern.
In the last week of the July session, House Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, pledged to hold a floor debate and vote on single-payer health care reform this fall.While members of Congress have returned to their respective districts during the August recess, there is a bit of buzz surrounding this unexpected vote for single-payer health care.
Even though a debate will take place on the bill, a vote is not guaranteed, but there are progressive Democrats who are working to ensure that the House either pushes it through or puts Representatives on record that are against it. This legislation creating a single-payer system would allow liberal members to record their support for the proposal. Although, it will also be a tough vote for some Democrats who may be wary of upsetting the liberal base so close to the approaching 2010 election cycle.
Of course, getting a September vote on single-payer does not mean that single-payer will get the votes.
With the Obama administration and congressional leaders determined to compromise rather than fight, it is unlikely in the extreme that the current debate will end with the adoption of a single-payer plan. Even if the House approved one, it would still face a fight in the Senate.
However, a strong vote for single-payer, even if it did not lead to the adoption of the system, would send an essential signal about the need for a robust public option in general.
These newly organized conservative town hall disruptors are old, loud and irrationally angry. They are showing up at every political event claiming to represent the majority of voters, while progressives are struggling to catch up.
Will we let them speak for us? Will we let them stop progressive legislation, keep college out of reach for millions of our peers, keep putting road blocks on our path to a clean energy economy, and keep us in a corrupt and dysfunctional health care system?
As you can see in the video, if you don’t speak up, they will! This week I am calling my Senator and my Representative to demand that they cease compromising on our future. Will you join me?
The White House is launching a new website today to debunk myths about health insurance reform. Opponents of reform, including the health insurance industry, have been spreading lies and confusing the public in an effort to kill reform legislation, but it is clear that our Administration wants the public to know the truth and have a resource to turn to for the facts about reform.
You can visit the site here and get testimonials from the experts, share info with friends and family, and finally get your questions about health insurance reform answered, check it out:
This blog was written by Erica Williams, Deputy Director of Campus Progress, and cross-posted from The HuffingtonPost:
CNN’s poll released this week shows a striking generational divide over support of Obama’s health care plan, with the reform being significantly more popular among young people than among adults over the age of 50. Nevertheless, every day I try new responses to those that ignorantly assume I don’t care about health care reform because I’m under 30 and supposedly invincible.
I could tell them that health care reform is my fight because my partner, 25 years old, is an entrepreneur, consultant, and all around brilliant guy who cares more about professional fulfillment than financial gain and has thus been without insurance for 3 years. I’ve cried myself to sleep many a night over his lack of coverage, terrified that at any moment, an illness or accident could push us into financial ruin in the beginning stages of our life together.
I could tell them that health care reform is my fight because 60% of my friends (yes, I did the math…) have lost their jobs in the past 6 months and don’t go to the doctor. Or that my godmother died of cancer with health insurance that wouldn’t cover her treatment.
I could say that a young friend of mine is afraid to get a test that would tell whether or not he has a congenital heart disease because he is worried that he will forevermore have a pre-existing condition.
I could also tell you that in addition to being young, I’m a woman of color and that for my demographic in particular, health care is a life or death issue.
And all of those reasons would be true. But for my generation, health care reform is more than a personal story or experience: it is a moral and humanitarian mandate.
The Education Department’s (ED) Inspector General (IG) released a report on Monday claiming that Nellie Mae, a subsidiary of loan giant Sallie Mae, improperly received $22.3 million in taxpayer subsidies from ED between 2003 and 2006. The report is the latest episode in what has come to be known as the “9.5% scandal,” in which student loan companies continually refinanced certain loans which were eligible for additional federal subsidies.
The IG recommended, among other things, that ED force SLM to pay back the ill-gotten subsidies. So far, only NelNet has been forced to return these kinds of improper payments, and even this company was allowed to keep nearly three hundred million dollars in improper payments.
I hope that Obama’s ED does not follow in the foot steps of the Department under President Bush. They should make sure that no one can raid the American treasury and keep the booty.
Unfortunately, Sallie Mae and other student loan companies are also getting rich from wasteful—but totally legal—government subsidies. Luckily there is now a plan in Congress, originally proposed by President Obama, to eliminate all wasteful subsidies to student loan companies and use the $87 billion in savings to make college more affordable and accessible. The loan companies have already spent millions lobbying against it, so it is really important that Congress hears from you.
Funding our Future is a campaign to pass a progressive federal budget for 2010 and ensure that our nation.s key economic choices invest in our education, spark reform of our health care system, and address climate change through cap and trade and clean energy investments. Click here for more info.
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for August, 2009.
In an op-ed in Forbes.com yesterday tactfully entitled 
This post was written in part by Andre Cotten, a Campus Progress Intern.
This blog was written by Erica Williams, Deputy Director of Campus Progress, and cross-posted from 
The Education Department’s (ED) Inspector General (IG)