So this happened.

[wig]

A month or two ago, on my FB page, I saw an ad that pointed out I could be "reimbursed" for my student loans.

Of course that's a problem for me because I already paid back my student loans. But I'm a Democrat at heart so I thought to myself, "This is a great opportunity for economic stimulus!"

So I called the number and got excited.

A lady answered and asked how much student loan debt I had remaining. I told her "none." I'd already paid back my loans. However I would like to be reimbursed for my student loans. Because then I could pay back some of my business loans or perhaps buy a newer car or even invest more money in my retirement fund.

Sadly, it turns out that isn't possible. The program is only for people currently facing default situations on their current student loans.

Of course I knew that and I was trolling. But I had my fun and I think I caused some irritation for the woman with my questions about the sanity of their program versus mine.

Anyhoo... time passes.

Yesterday I got a call back.

This fellow is following up! He wants to know if I'm still interested in the program. I said, (somewhat taken aback), Well YA! But I've already paid OFF my loans. What I want is to be reimbursed for the money I already paid back. I can provide documentation proving I got my education and then paid back my loans and now am working in a professional field!

The fellow was confused. It seems the program still doesn't work that way.

HOWEVER

He did tell me that if I had dropped out of college or flunked out, I could have been eligible through OTHER programs to be reimbursed for the tuition money that was lost for that period of time.

I was forced to question this...

I said, "Wait a minute?" Are you telling me that if I had smoked 10k worth of pot and flunked out of college you'd reimburse me so I could go open up a freakin' pot shop. But since I didn't do that - Since I stayed in college and finished my degree and got a job and paid off my student loans, there's no program to reimburse me for the money I repaid WITH INTEREST?

His honest to God answer?

Well sir, people who either have to drop out or fail for one reason or another need help either financially or through job counseling in order to help them succeed professionally going forward. If we don't invest in those people they can become a fiscal concern for future generations.

I honestly said, "You're ******' kidding"?

He hung up.

 

[oneforthebus]

If you can see the absurdity in that you're a Republican at heart, not a Democrat.

Reward failure, punish success. It's the Democrat way.

 

[Steelin]

They are basically saying this isn't for you because you did it on your own and didn't need their (our) help. Rewards based on merit? Ha. Crazy talk.

 

[SteelerInLebanon]

If you can see the absurdity in that you're a Republican at heart, not a Democrat.

Reward failure, punish success. It's the Democrat way.

Jeez forget the labels. what this shows is that you have a brain and are able to logically understand how absurd the "logic" of liberalism is currently. Unfortunately there is plenty of bad logic on both sides of the party system.

 

[hamster]

Where is this money coming from?

 

[Steelers Rule!]

When I got out of the service in 86, it took me four weeks to get a job. I went down and filed for unemployment. Got turned down. Was told at the unemployment office that since I left with an honorable discharge, I quit my job by definition. Brain says okay, that makes sense. She then proceeds to tell me that if I had been dishonorably discharged for popping positive on a piss test, I'd be eligible for unemployment. I guess the look on my face must have been something....

 

[Troglodyte]

If you can see the absurdity in that you're a Republican at heart, not a Democrat.

Reward failure, punish success. It's the Democrat way.

To be fair, if you CAN'T see the absurdity in bailing out banks that are too big to fail, you're a republican at heart.

 

[oneforthebus]

To be fair, if you CAN'T see the absurdity in bailing out banks that are too big to fail, you're a republican at heart.

Oh I absolutely did see the absurdity in that...but President Obama couldn't apparently. The banks did pay most of that money back though.

Where's all the new infrastructure by the way? The shovel ready jobs? 10 trillion added to the debt in the last 8 years...where did it go?

 

[Steelers Rule!]

To be fair, if you CAN'T see the absurdity in bailing out banks that are too big to fail, you're a republican at heart.

Umm, what party was running the House and Senate when T.A.R.P. was passed, and what future President demanded the sitting President sign it into law?

 

[jitter77]

This is the way it goes and a big problem. People who try don't get rewarded. If your on welfare and food stamps and what not and get a job you lose a lot of your benefits. Can't really blame people for not trying when you get more just by sitting on the couch

 

[Troglodyte]

Where's all the new infrastructure by the way? The shovel ready jobs?

Pittsburgh for one.

 

[DBS1970]

To be fair, if you CAN'T see the absurdity in bailing out banks that are too big to fail, you're a republican at heart.

Actually most conservatives were dead set against it. Personally I wanted FDIC to make the customers whole and the banks to restructure. Of course I wanted to repeal the law that created the mess to begin with as well.

 

[deljzc]

Oh I absolutely did see the absurdity in that...but President Obama couldn't apparently. The banks did pay most of that money back though.

Where's all the new infrastructure by the way? The shovel ready jobs? 10 trillion added to the debt in the last 8 years...where did it go?

It went to pot hole repair. The problem was there weren't enough "shovel-ready" jobs in most states. The engineering, planning, right-of-way agreements, permitting process, environmental approvals, etc. weren't even CLOSE to being done. And the only way states got the money was if they spent it right away. So it went to jobs that don't require a lot of engineering, approvals, etc.

In Delaware it went to stuff like handicap ramp improvements all over the state. Random corners in neighborhoods that were 30-40 years old and not quite in the new ADA compliance. The perfectly fine sidewalks got ripped up and the new handicap ramps with the red "bumps" inserts got put in their place. I mean, there was literally $10 million (maybe more) spent in Delaware on handicap ramp improvements.

Same with pot hole repairs, random overlay projects on roads that could have lasted 3-4 more years, and storm inlet repairs.

Sure, I guess all this put people to work and it helped my industry out just to have work to do and keep people busy, but it wasn't a real "infrastructure" improvement for our country. It didn't fix congestion or fix bridges or make the infrastructure more efficient. It was mostly cosmetic.

That's why Trump has to be very careful with how he plans to do his infrastructure improvement plan. Hopefully his background in construction and development means he understand you have to invest in planning, engineering and permits FIRST before you just throw money at construction projects.

What he really should do in this year's budget is give money to all the states for engineering. Maybe $50 billion just on that alone. Make sure the states have "shovel-ready projects" to even begin with (most didn't). Then just promise increase funding to the DOT budgets over the next 5 years. If the states can plan ahead a bit, they will be ready for the money. Obama's plan was just stupid and a complete waste.

 

[oneforthebus]

It went to pot hole repair. The problem was there weren't enough "shovel-ready" jobs in most states. The engineering, planning, right-of-way agreements, permitting process, environmental approvals, etc. weren't even CLOSE to being done. And the only way states got the money was if they spent it right away. So it went to jobs that don't require a lot of engineering, approvals, etc.

In Delaware it went to stuff like handicap ramp improvements all over the state. Random corners in neighborhoods that were 30-40 years old and not quite in the new ADA compliance. The perfectly fine sidewalks got ripped up and the new handicap ramps with the red "bumps" inserts got put in their place. I mean, there was literally $10 million (maybe more) spent in Delaware on handicap ramp improvements.

Same with pot hole repairs, random overlay projects on roads that could have lasted 3-4 more years, and storm inlet repairs.

Sure, I guess all this put people to work and it helped my industry out just to have work to do and keep people busy, but it wasn't a real "infrastructure" improvement for our country. It didn't fix congestion or fix bridges or make the infrastructure more efficient. It was mostly cosmetic.

That's why Trump has to be very careful with how he plans to do his infrastructure improvement plan. Hopefully his background in construction and development means he understand you have to invest in planning, engineering and permits FIRST before you just throw money at construction projects.

What he really should do in this year's budget is give money to all the states for engineering. Maybe $50 billion just on that alone. Make sure the states have "shovel-ready projects" to even begin with (most didn't). Then just promise increase funding to the DOT budgets over the next 5 years. If the states can plan ahead a bit, they will be ready for the money. Obama's plan was just stupid and a complete waste.

Only 3 percent of the stimulus went to infrastructure spending. Hundreds of millions spent on welfare programs, federal bureaucracy and on funding pet green projects that failed to produce jobs. Washington is booming while the rest of the country has seen little benefit at all.

 

[MT~Forged]

This is exactly why I told my son NOT TO pay off his 10K student loan. I told him to apply for all the delays he can, as well as pay the absolute minimum, until we saw who got elected.

 

[Troglodyte]

Umm, what party was running the House and Senate when T.A.R.P. was passed, and what future President demanded the sitting President sign it into law?

I think you're confusing the bail out and TARP. Bailout was under Bush and had mostly bi-partisan support. TARP was Obama and had more more Republican opposition. I could be wrong it was a long time ago and I'm getting old.

I just remember thinking how silly it was to be pissed about welfare for the poor when we now had welfare for the rich.

 

[Troglodyte]

This is exactly why I told my son NOT TO pay off his 10K student loan. I told him to apply for all the delays he can, as well as pay the absolute minimum, until we saw who got elected.

Im going to try to talk my wife into getting divorced when my son is a senior in high school. He can get more student aid for college that way.

 

[Steelers Rule!]

I think you're confusing the bail out and TARP. Bailout was under Bush and had mostly bi-partisan support. TARP was Obama and had more more Republican opposition. I could be wrong it was a long time ago and I'm getting old.

I just remember thinking how silly it was to be pissed about welfare for the poor when we now had welfare for the rich.

TARP was passed and signed into law in October 2008. Bush was wavering on signing it, Obama ranted and raved from the campaign trail that it had to be passed right away to forestall bank failures and home foreclosures.