Wow.
What a response from a Mr. Jed Berman, to my questioning President Obama’s use of my taxpayer funds for low-interest student loans in fields that have very limited job opportunities.
I was in the Air Force during the Viet Nam war and I was not afraid that I could be placed in harms way.
In 1969, I moved to Great Neck with a wife, two young children and $200 in the bank. I opened my own dental practice: I wasn’t afraid.
I am a four-year cancer survivor , and I was never afraid.
But today , because of Mr.Berman, and others like him, I am really afraid for the actual survival of our beloved democracy. Is it a crime for me to have the audacity to criticize the president or Mr. Berman? Is freedom of speech finished?
Are any opposing views automatically belittled and personally ridiculed?
Since it’s my taxpayer money that Mr. Berman is spending, is it so outlandish for me to give my opinion on how to spend it?
Our founding fathers gave up their lives to stop taxation without representation. Maybe it’s not a tax.
I guess Mr. Berman thinks I should just send the president a blank check to be spent as he (or they ) please.
The problem with Progressives, is that “they stop spending only when they run out of my money.” ( Margaret Thatcher )
1- If Mr Berman is so intent on funding this program, why doesn’t he suggest cuts in some other, less important entitlements in the budget, to make up for it, instead of always asking me for more taxes?
2- All the latest surveys clearly show that as student aid increases, so does their tuition, apparently to make up for this added revenue. Why doesn’t Mr. Berman vigorously condemn the colleges that:
A) continuously raise their tuition,and refuse any serious cost cutting;
B) that saddle their students and their parents who pay for it with huge debt and
C) then send them out into the world with degrees in fields that have no job opportunities.
3- Three months after they graduate, 10 percent of recent graduates are already behind in their student loan payments. Remember, because of Obama’s “taking over” the student-loan program last year, that’s now our money that they are not paying back.
4- The total student loan program is approaching one trillion dollars. It is larger than the entire US credit card debt.
5- The percent of students who do not graduate is increasing rapidly. Perhaps Mr. Berman should explain to their parents why they should have to pay back their loans even though they didn’t even get their promised degree. I suspect Mr. Berman would be first in line to ask me, the taxpayer, to have a heart and “ forgive these loans entirely. He is such a philanthropic guy with my money.
The arts have always been a major part of my life. However, with a real unemployment rate of 14-16percent, with last month’s GDP being 1.9 percent, with our homes losing 30 percent of their value, and with the president threatening to raise our taxes again, perhaps Mr. Berman can come up with a better way to pay for his entitlement program. Oh, I forgot, they are free.
Dr. Stephen Morris
North Hills
