This tweet from House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) probably wasn't intended to be important, but it's an astonishing message.
Let's back up for a moment. At issue is a 2007 law, set to expire on July 1, which keeps the interest rate for federal Direct Stafford Loans at 3.4%. If Congress fails to act, the rate will double, affecting more than 7.4 million students, who'll face, on average, an additional $1,000 in debt. President Obama and congressional Democrats are fighting to keep the rates where they are, and Mitt Romney agrees with them.
Congressional Republicans have balked at the proposals, and today, Boehner is arguing that this is all Democrats' fault anyway -- they're the ones who "included an expiration provision that placed the looming increase in the middle of an election year."
Democrats wanted to lower student interest rates. Now, they want to keep the lower student interest rates. As far as Boehner is concerned, this means Dems "voted to double" interest rates.
Mr. Speaker, you really should have thought this one through a little more.
First, voting to cut interest rates in half is the opposite of voting to double interest rates. Second, when the law passed in 2007, it enjoyed strong bipartisan support. This wasn't a Democratic bill; it was a bipartisan effort to give students and their families a break.
And third, and arguably more important, is the fact the Bush tax cuts included an expiration provision that placed a looming tax increase in 2010 -- an election year. Thanks to a Republican plan, they were extended until 2012 -- another election year.
In other words, by Speaker Boehner's logic, taxes are set to go up for practically every American worker because Republicans voted for a massive tax increase.
Is there no one in Boehner's press office who considered this, or has logic been deemed altogether irrelevant?
Update: This apparently wasn't a fluke. Boehner's spokesperson said yesterday, "The rising cost of tuition is a serious problem for students and their families, so it's unfortunate that Washington Democrats put in place a law that would double student loan rates."
It would be every bit as accurate for me to say, "It's unfortunate that Washington Republicans put in place a law that would increase federal taxes by trillions of dollars over the next decade." If one is true, the other true.
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The things that improve income and unemployment is education. Bachelors degree doubles income and cuts unemployment by half. Improved by Obama in 1st year.
Score #1 for Obama.
The thing that improves the economy is rising population (immigration policy and social support). Improved by Obama in 1st year.
Score #2 for Obama.
And so on.
Boenhead's austerity measures are the things that caused the economic collapse.
Bachelors degree doubles income and cuts unemployment by half.
So....if everyone gets a bachelors degree, unemployment will only be 4%??? Who is doing all the hiring of bachelor degreed people in such large numbers and what majors? Interesting "statistic" - cut unemployment in half just by graduating college. Your comment sounds like something the lying - just make things up - Republicans would say.
Slappy magoos comment below could apply here:
A
Republican's(Crackhead's)claims never have to be true. They just need to be made, thus becoming Truth.I believe what Crackhead was trying to say (and may I just say how uncomfortable it makes me to have to prove a crackhead correct), can be found here. The unemployment rate among graduates with Bachelor's degrees is, in fact, 4.2%, or roughly half of the national rate. Crackhead could have phrased that a little better, but how was a crackhead supposed to know that you, Skip, would translate that literally as "if everyone gets a bachelors degree, unemployment will only be 4%?"
There are ways to honestly read what someone is trying to say, and there are ways to willfully misinterpret what someone is saying in order to score a cheap rhetorical point. So, score 1 for you.
Fair enough on the literal translation stuff Brooklyn - I couldn't resist. His statement did look like something a Republican would say :). But....see my post below at 6.1 from an AP article written 2 days ago. That article literally :) states that half the college graduates are unemployed or underemployed. So I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. If companies are not hiring at a good clip, they are not hiring anyone - degree or not.
How about if we just say education is good for America and Americans? Some places almost totally subsidize education for excellent reasons, like having a good pool of educated people to work, innovate, create jobs, keep economy rolling and keep revenue coming in for employed, well paid Americans.
I believe it is some rhetoric I heard my former employer say the pool of employees is insufficiently trained for hiring. Truly, I think they wanted to justify having as many parts of the business outsourced as possible.
I am definitely FOR education and it is a good idea to have affordable education, not put it out of reach.
I think we need to ask Boehner and the rest of these dodo heads we elected to cite the source of information when they claim that Democrats caused low interest rated student loans to expire.
If they would all stop trying to have every bill be full of pork, riders and political rhetoric, we might get somewhere. I am not saying they are all alike, but they are all part of the dodo head club when they can't just do the job, but campaign at all times.
...which also includes "underemployment." Not just unemployment. I also noted that one of the authors of the report cited in your article said the following:
So...Cost of college tuition is a problem, the job market needs stimulation, and getting a higher education is still important. To which Boehner responds with tortured logic as an excuse to not do anything about helping students, and you seem to be making the argument that higher education isn't worth it anyway.
Now, if you're not arguing that higher education isn't important, then by all means, say so. Or else I'm just missing the point of your posts.
I am all for higher education. My point was only to temper Crackheads comment that getting a bachelor's degree would quickly solve the income and unemployment issues. Getting a degree does improve your earning power if you can get a job and as you point out, getting that degree in the right major is helpful. Still, even your source cites: "We're going to need a lot better job growth
@Brooklyn Michael,
I'm glad that at least one other person is capable of reading.
I hope this finds everyone well.
I'll go with "logic is irrelevant." In fact, it hasn't mattered for quite a while. Facts either.
A Republican's claims never have to be true. They just need to be made, thus becoming Truth.
This man is an idiot! Actually, he appears to be suffering from "wet brain".
Wet Brain (definition)
"The problem with Boehner's logic"
He said "Hell No" "read my lips" I have no logic "so be it"
"John Boehner's Brain is Bad at its Job!"
Great way to get the youth vote John! NOT!
Pilotshark
If you are interested - Troll roast in progress. Click on my name and follow.
Adam_Selene
Education should cost as little as possible because college education doubles income and cuts unemployment by half.
There is no reason why student loans should be higher than the Federal Fund Rate of 0.12%.
See my post above (1.1) and this:
1 in 2 new college graduates are jobless or underemployed
April 22, 2012
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work.
A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don't fully use their skills and knowledge.
Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs -- waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example -- and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans.
@skip hoffman,
Not true.
Brooklyn Michael already posted the source that proves my point.
OK...AP got wrong I guess when they wrote half of the recent graduates either unemployed or underemployed (closer to minimum wage than not I suppose) :).
Some news organizations are fabricating fake stories this year.
crackhead, those stories are not fabricated. you need to do some research.
Can we talk 'Bush tax cuts' now??? The REPUBLICANS did the exact same thing...
Damn. OK fine. You guys renew the Bush tax cuts, and we'll renew the loan interest rate.
Drat.
.
Republicans have nothing left but to resort to all-out lies. Fox News, right-wing hate radio, Koch Bros., American Crossroads and Sheldon Adelson will make sure the lies get propagated far and wide.
... And the uninformed American public will believe them.
"Republicans have nothing left but to resort to all-out lies. "
and its only going to get worst!! every day closer to Nov we will continue to hear lie after lie backed up with distraction after distraction. misdirection etc...
they are only tuning up the cult trolls to start the spam.
S.T.U.P.I.D program its their only way.
SpamTrolls Totally United Promoting Ignorant Deceptions
Steve, I'm curious. Do you know why this law has an expiration date? I'm guessing it was at Republican insistence.
Steve, I'm curious. Why does this law have an expiration date? I'm guessing it was at Republican insistance.
and perhaps it might be time for democrats to start talking about the republican plan to raise everyone's taxes by trillions over the next decade when the bush tax cuts they approved are set to expire..........
C'mon, Steve. You act like they Boehner is clueless as to his specious statement. Nonsense. He knows exactly what he's doing.
Get used to this, folks. Democrats are currently sitting on their hands instead of (truthfully) defining these lying asswholes for what they are. Meanwhile, stuff like this garbage from Boehner is going to be taken as the way it is by a significant enough part of the population who don't have the will to keep up with the vicious, unrelenting lying nature of the Republican beast.
Like I've said elsewhere, Democrats are, like usual, going to sit there assuming the fact they're objectively correct about the issues will carry them through the election. They aren't going to know what hit them when the Republican Lie Machine gets done.
My take on this is that Speaker Boehner thinks that he can fool college students into believing what is not verifiably true. What he forgets is that college students were admitted to institutions of higher learning because they did their homework and honed their research skills. I trust that the majority of them see John Boehner as an obvious political manipulator.
I wish that were true. But there are so many people enrolled in religious-right schools, or in for-profit things like Kaplan, that you can't assume that all of them are developing critical-thinking skills.
The intellectual bankruptcy of the Republican Brand is showing a bit more each day as its major political strategy now seems to be just lie baby, just lie! Kind of a perverted Al Davis strategy! -Kevo
Anytime you use "intellectual & Republican" in the same sentence - that's an oxymoron, or maybe its just a "moron".....I get so confused & frustrated by the GOP......But thank you for the laugh....
It works. Because nobody calls them out on it.
Zora Renee - Public lands set aside for future generations, warning against the military-industrial complex, opening communist China to the rest of the world, defeating the Soviet military menace by bankrupting it, and a few other items that escape me at this time, are all important intellectual things the Republican Brand has sponsored in its better days. So, try not to swipe with too broad of a brush! -Kevo
Don't worry about his blame-game logic. Let him claim this as a travesty committed against students by a previous congress. Whatever. JUST FIX IT, Mr. Speaker! Take the credit for saving the poor students from high interest rates. You are in charge of THIS Congress. So extend the law, make it a permanent cap of 3.4% interest.
Amazingly if you put it forward you will get 300 votes or more, because the Dems are all for it!
Oh, I forgot. You don't put anything on the floor unless you have a majority of your own caucus. Yeah, that's bipartisan.
I was wondering the same thing. Instead of simply blaming the Democrats and saying "too bad, soooooo sad," why doesnt' Boehner say "the Democrats screwed up and we Republicans are going to fix it." That is the kind of political game playing that wins votes.
We've known for a longtime that Republicans are fact-free, now Steve shows us that they are logic-free. Actually we probably knew that intuitively, too. But, it is good not to underestimate the idiocy you are up against.
This is not idiocy by Boehner. It is calculated. Never underestimate your opponent.
And in 2007 no one knew where the rates were going to be and it seemed prudent to have a sunset provision. He's a tool.
John Boehner should have engaged brain before opening mouth. Oh. WAIT! We're talkin' Boehner here!
The problem with explaining how someone like Boehner intentionally distorts logic is, by the time you've shown how wrong he is, he's already gone on to lie about three other things.
Why doesn't the Democratic Part set the lies straight in the media .....like the Republicans do loudly and over and over with their lies... with no response of fact to mainstream media people assume they are right! Working people have no time to check they just believe what they hear unless FUSS is made know on the 6:00 news! Its' reality! Get to work Democrats and MAKE FACTS HEARD! REMEMBER Who you work for...the voters!
There is no magical wand or any kind of special formula for logic, people are either gifted with it or they aren't. And it seems that in the political arena it is slowly dying altogether anyway, being replaced by on going denial, and why not nobody is ever held accountable for their lies.
"Mitt Romney agrees with them."
Nobody can say what Mitt Romney thinks or believes. I'm not sure even he knows any more. Henceforth all such statements should say, instead, something like:
"As of today, Mitt Romney says that he agrees with them."
Peace.
Boehner's voodoo logic at it's best if all else fails blame the Democrats or it's all President Obama's fault.
Obama and the Dems should thank Boehner for cutting them a blank check of $6 trillion dollars. And what do we get out of it; food stamps, class warfare and high gas prices. What a waste.
Which you can thank Boehner and the GOP for.
Is it blank or $6 trillion? Are you mad at Boehner (Republican majority) for cutting the check, or Democrats?
>>Congressional Republicans have balked at the proposals, and today, Boehner is arguing that this is all Democrats' fault anyway -- they're the ones who "included an expiration provision that placed the looming increase in the middle of an election year."<<
Then, whose ' fault ' must it be that their precious "Bush Tax Cuts' are expiring in the middle of an election year? They can spin lies like a top in "Bizarro World!"
My six year old has better sense then him. The "I didn't make the mess" argument doesn't fly with children and it shouldn't with this "child". Someone give him a nap and explain that pitching fits in congress is not acceptable. Sheesh.
Last I checked we voted for these people to fix problems not point fingers and whine.