Banks borrow at .25% from the federal reserve, that's .0025. College loans are 3.4% currently, or a 136% return on investment, minus the paperwork (overhead) of high paid bank executives with hundred thousand dollar salaries if not million dollar salaries and retirement packages (while bank tellers earn barely over minimum wage). If congress fails to act (and, they will act - this is the Republican's game of trying to prevent the President of succeeding) the rate go back to our cannibalistic capitalist rate of 6.8% where their return will be back to 272% of the dollar invested in making higher education accessible. For Republicans it's about making public policy for making money for the sake of money. We can only hope someday our elected officials will return to making public policy for the people…, who in return will earn a living in an economy that will enrich a whole nation instead of a few.

@frantop, billions I'm sure.

I truly believe that they do not have a clue & they really could care less! The shocking thing is I think that they truly believe what the say. At the same time all this mess is going on though part of this is our fault. I say this because we the people got so feed up with these idiots somewhere along the line round about Regan we gave up and stopped voting and stopped paying attention and they moved in and it has swirled out of control.

But we can take it back and we can make the changes, but we have to stand up and do it. We have to vote, we have to use the power we have of re-call or impeachment, what ever it is.

The other scary part here is that we the Dems tend not to stand strong together and/or have a platform that is all over the place. I do see that changing but very slowly. We the people have to do the hard work and get out there like the people in Wisconsin did, like the strong people of the 99% & Occupy have done and are doing, BUT WE MUST DO IT PEACEFULLY AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. Someone above, "Kutlass" mentions about Cryo Prison and that could happen. Another person above also talked about how it is all too easy for this country to slide into something like Germany 1933 if the GOP wins in this election cycle. Don't laugh because either one or both of these things are possible, if we don't keep our eyes open and do our part.

If you are watching, that is where the GOP is trying. By them just boldly not caring & only giving all their buddies the tax breaks and so on. Remember we don't pay our taxes so that they can live high on the hog or vote themselves a raise. We pay our taxes so we can have a safety net, a health care system, a healthy infrastructure, and so on. But just look, if you can't see just by the health of our infrastructure then my friend you need to really look, it is in worse than bad shape. Take a look at what these guys take home pay is and their health care. Very very nice, for them. I firmly believe that they should get paid but, there salary should be nothing more than what ever the medium salary is for the average worker in the country at the time of their service is & they get exactly the same health care as you and I do on Medicare.

Until we get the money out of politics and the lobbyist out of there we will continue to have the same problems. The lobbyist should be you and me the constitutes, at least that is how the system is or was set up to be. Warren Buffet actually has it right. And during any election cycle state elections have to stay in that state meaning that they cannot raise or take money from out side that state. Of course on the federal level it would be a little different but the candidate for what ever state has to raise their money with in their state not from outside. It has to be like this.

Sorry for going on & on but this stuff makes me crazy what they are doing and have do to us the people over the last 30 plus years. We must stand up and do our part each and every one of us!

Neither Rmoney nor Boehner has a clue. At least Rmoney has the excuse - poor as it is - that he was never part of the middle class. Boehner was born into it and wants to forget where he came from. Someone should tell Rmoney that being rich doesn't mean you have to be out of touch. Look at FDR and John Kennedy.

There isn't a republician on this side of hell with a clue!

no they certainly do not..there are situations that in occur that people may need help from the goverment like me for instance who is caring for my two grandkids not by choice but to save them from ending up in the state..i lost my job husband and apartment because my daughter who is young and not taking care of them ..i feel there should be a law that people like her should NOT be allowed to continue to have kids..im sure i am not the only grandma dealing with this problem and it is a problem..with romney in office there is no way people like me can get there life back together and keep there grandchildren..

No neither Mitt Romney nor John Boehner have a clue about the middleclass nor those at the bottom. They are only concert is Obama not getting a 2nd term Boehner will get his break in the Ballot box in November. Scott Walker & his Cronies will be gone too. Good night Mr. Ed Schultz keep up the fire on the pot see ya on the Radio.

God Bless these United States of America,

Dean R. Langlois Friday 4/27/2012 7:47 p.m. cdst

IF they do, they just don't care. To them, we are all worthless and lazy and just in the way of them having even more money than they already do. They couldn't care less unless maybe if it is an election year. Even then they only care about our votes.

Going to pass on this question. The way it's phrased would make almost any reasonable 99%er say NO, but in my opinion I think these idiots actually know exactly what their policies are intended to do accomplish. They know the Poor and Middle Class are struggling and they take pride in knowing that if they can expand on their present policies they will soon accomplish their ultimate goal----Crush the Middle Class---Create as much tension between the presently Poor and the soon to be ex-Middle Class Poor---Make life so hard for the peons that they do not have the time, energy, money, or will power to challenge them as they assume the title of the new Ruling Class......

NO................and if they did they still wouldn't give a dam. I have never seen such stupid minded people as these tea party republicans in my life!!!...............look I am really scared over this whole thing here. If these tea party people get in to the white house the middle class and the poor, and the disabled people, our children everyone but the rich will go down rock bottom...............and I do believe this is just what the tea party wants. It's a fact. The horrible things they say, are so demented , and the things they wan to do to us is horrifying. We need Pr. Obama to be our president another term so bad just to know were safe and cared about . Life is tough enough without the sins of the tea party making it a complete disaster. We know that Pr. Obama is down to earth and has meaning and kindness, and loves this country and the American people. He is really working double time and he has had to deal with this tea party republican party since the first day he took office. How in gods name can these kind of people or what ever you want to call them treat people and our president like garbage???....Mitt Romney doesn't care about being president, he care only to win. That's his only meaning in life is to win and screw over people. We cannot ever let him be our president. Period.

These two have more than a clue of how to make war on three fronts; war on women, war on college students, war on the poor, war on the middle class on behalf of their paymasters . the Koch brothers among others. We are the sleeping giants who must wake up and prepare for the onslaught of money and a corporate media. But doesn't it say a lot about their overwhelming fear of one man who they claim is weaK. They are willing to destroy the government and eliminate democracy in order to 'get' Obama. the sad fact is even if Obamal loses this election, he will be fine. We, the people will be the losers because we the people will become wage slaves, if we are lucky , for the new oligharchy of billionaires who will bring down the entire global economy in a bonfire of corporate greed. the time is NOW NOW NOW

We must all get out and vote in November. Watch and pray - God is going to take care of this mess.

VERY LONG but worth the read-

Yes, they both understand very well what America's middle class, poor, elders, disabled & ethnically other than white and everyone else not privileged to be among the 1% or by association, another approximate 4% of almost Elite, yet wealthy and fascistic, nonetheless (the latter are potential casualties as well, but not specific targets. On the other hand 95% of us are TARGETS for EXTINCTION;

In fact the whole 99% of us that don't qualify as ELITE are being deliberately driven toward the cliff above an abyss of despair, poverty, ignorance ill-health and ultimately vast POPULATION REDUCTION...even the almost wealthy are in their crowded mass.

The Republicans know what they are doing and it as deliberate and intentional as first degree murder...

Paul Ryan is a character than can be easily used to understand what the philosophy of the intention is driven by

There's a novel by a Capitalistic fascist named Ayn Rand.

Its title is: "ATLAS SHRUGGED"

ATLAS represents the ultimate human being in terms of strength and power. His shug is an ironic " Oh well', what has to be done, simply must be done. The planet, the world's population, the economies of that population, the human species, all will be better off in the end.

The premise is that the resources to sustain a population of a dozen billion will exhaust the planet and the ensuing catastrophe will eloinate humanity like the Donosaurs were made extinct. It is a strategy to save a few and sacrifice the bulk before those resources have been consumed.

I'm going to quote both Ryan and Ayn Rand from ATLAS SHRUGGED below: Just keep in mind that ATLAS represents a powerful man. In fact the most powerful man ever born. A metaphor, of course. There a a lot of such men & women alive today and in posession of vast wealth and or power. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, but certainly not billions.

Keep in mind, too, that the shrug is ironic. It represents an "Oh well. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."

Paul Ryan became a public figure because of Ayn Rand's book. He made his Congressional staff read the book in 2003. Here's an article about Ryan trying to cover up the cat that's now out of the bag by way of the letter from the Catholic Bishops, Georgetown University faculty and a portion of the progressive members of the Catholic Church.

The long and short of Rand's philosophy is that pure selfish greed is a desireable tool for the ultime goal of saving the human species. Sort of like justifying cannibalism ala those settlers who survived a winter in the Sierra mountains at Sutter's Pasass during Wagon Train Days. They ate the weak.

BTW, the first paragraph is a typical Conservative LIE. Ryan is a fascist liar with the morality of the DEVIL He stood up at Georgetown and concocted an enormous series of comound fictional beliefs. He is a FASCIST first and a Catholic situationally:

Read this carefully and extrapolate its implications to America:

"

I reject her philosophy," Ryan told National Review on Thursday. "It's an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person's view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas. Don’t give me Ayn Rand."

Best known for her novels "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged," Rand advocated a philosophy that emphasizes the individual over the collective, and viewed capitalism as the only system truly based on the protection of the individual. She has been a significant influence on libertarians and conservatives.

Ryan, whose name has been floated as a possible running mate for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, appeared to be distancing himself from Rand in response to a public letter he received this week from nearly 90 faculty and administrators at Georgetown University. In their letter, they criticize him for misusing Catholic social teaching in defending his budget, which hurts the poor by proposing significant cuts to anti-hunger programs, slashing Pell Grants for low-income students and calling for a replacement of Medicare with a voucher-like system. They also invoke Rand's name.

"As scholars, we want to join the Catholic bishops in pointing out that his budget has a devastating impact on programs for the poor," said Jesuit Father Thomas J. Reese, one of the organizers of the letter. "Your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love."

But any urban legend about Ryan's affinity for Rand surely started with Ryan himself, who, prior to this week, had no qualms about gushing about Rand's influence on his guiding principles.

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said during a 2005 event honoring Rand in Washington, D.C., the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in April 2009.

During the 2005 gathering, Ryan told the audience, "Almost every fight we are involved in here on Capitol Hill ... is a fight that usually comes down to one conflict -- individualism versus collectivism." The event was hosted by The Atlas Society, which prominently features a photo of Rand on its website and describes itself as a group that "promotes open Objectivism: the philosophy of reason, achievement, individualism, and freedom."

Ryan also said during a 2003 interview with the Weekly Standard, "I give out 'Atlas Shrugged' as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it. Well ... I try to make my interns read it.” He noted that he "looked into" Rand's work when he was younger, but reiterated that he is a Christian and reads the Bible often.

In 2009, Ryan posted two videos on his Facebook page raving about the importance of Rand's views.

"If 'Atlas Shrugged' author Ayn Rand were alive today, here's the urgent message I think she'd be conveying," Ryan wrote alongside the first video, titled "Ayn Rand's relevance in 2009."

He says in the video:

What's unique about what's happening today in government, in the world, in America, is it's as if we're living in an Ayn Rand novel right now. I think Ayn Rand did the best job of anybody to build the moral case for capitalism. And that morality of capitalism is under assault. And we are going to replace it with a crony capitalism, collectivist, government-run system which is creeping its way into government. And so if Ayn Rand were here today, I think she would do a great job in showing us just how wrong what government is doing is. Not the quantitative analysis, not the numbers, but the morality of what is wrong with what government is doing today.

In the second video, titled "Ayn Rand & 2009 America, Part 2," Ryan says it doesn't surprise him that sales of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" have "surged" since President Barack Obama took office.

"It's that kind of thinking, that kind of writing, that is sorely needed right now. And I think a lot of people would observe that we are living in an Ayn Rand novel right now, metaphorically speaking," Ryan says. "The attack on Democratic capitalism, on individualism and freedom in America is an attack on the moral foundation of America. And Ayn Rand more than anyone else did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism. This, to me, is what matters most."

Some of Ryan's critics took a shot at him for suddenly distancing himself from Rand.

"Not pure enough on entitlement cuts @philipaklein @robertcostaNRO Paul Ryan on Ayn Rand: 'I reject her philosophy,'" Austan Goolsbee, the former chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, tweeted Thursday.

UPDATE: 5:14 p.m. -- Ryan spokesman Kevin Seifert downplayed the lawmaker's apparent change of tune on Rand.

"I wouldn't make too much of this one way or another. Congressman Ryan was not 'distancing himself' from Rand, merely correcting several false storylines that are out there, such as the myth that he requires all of his staffers to read Atlas Shrugged. Saying he 'rejects Ayn Rand's philosophy' was simply meant to correct a popular falsehood that Congressman Ryan is an Objectivist -- he isn't now and never claimed to be," Seifert said in a statement to The Huffington Post.

Oh well, willard should now start flip, floping on his veep.......I bet you $10,000. it will not be Sara Pay me.

Robme/Payme -2012.....that sounds good.

I voted yes because I know these 2 men are smart enough to understand what they read. I think they simply don't give a damn. Not knowing is one thing, but knowing full well and still not caring is something else entirely.

People like Gov. Romney who has been exploiting others to
expand their wealth know clearly that they squash the middle class every time
someone like President Bush gives them a $1.5 trillion dollar tax cut. Somebody has to pay for it. Interestingly enough, It did not occur to me that
Romney was born in Guatemala I think until I heard something like that. Yet he is always surrounded by die Hohe Kreme
and no by indigenous people.

Rachael-3967039

Worth the read.

I voted NO, But in retrospect, I think they do know how the Middle Class and the Poor are struggling, Frankly, They JUST DON'T GIVE a DAMN!!!!! All they care about is themselves and their corporate "Bosses", The ones that are always stuffing cash in their pockets!!!! They could care less about we "In the trenches"!!!

Bob McDonald, Some stupid Republican Women will vote for him, if he gets on the (R) ticket, "Cause he's kinda handsome".

Hey by the way, I thought that Gov. Romney was born in
Preßen since he is always surrounded by die Hohe Kreme. When I see him around these people, I do not think
that he is in The United States of America.