There's Always Money in the Banana Stand

Recently congress voted on raising taxes on student loans.  Not surprisingly, every Republican voted in favor of doubling the interest rates on student loans.  More and more politicians are telling the public that we have to get more kids graduated from high school and more kids graduating college.  Most people can't just "ask their parents to help them out" like Mitt Romney said last month, because most people don't have millionaire parents who can pay for their kids to go to Ivy League schools.  There is a big push for getting kids to go to school, and yet education gets the ax every time the budget is tinkered with.

Conservatives are all about protecting the rich.  Studies have shown that tax cuts for the rich do not create jobs and the money does not "trickle down."  Conservatives say that kids should work and put themselves through school.  I work two jobs and still can't afford to go to a State University without help from loans.    With unemployment high, college grads can't start paying back their loans after graduation because they can't find work. Conservatives will say, "take a risk, be an entrepreneur, that's the American dream, build something from nothing."  How can you do that if a bank won't give you a loan because you're in debt up to your eyeballs from that degree that was supposed to put you ahead of the competition?  Where's a broke college grad going to get the capital to pay for all the start up costs?  What assets can they put for collateral for a loan?  Their bike?  Their laptop?  Their worthless economics textbooks?  From the $100 dollars they were able to save over four years?

College students, if they work, generally do not make more than $20,000 a year.  It's tough to get buy on that much money in our society.  After rent, rising gas prices, food and other bills, you can't put much away for a rainy day.  Why are the poorest in the country being penalized for seeking higher education?

Mitt Romney announced a plan that would save on average $250,000 dollars in taxes for millionaires.  That's a lot of money that could go towards grants and scholarships for kids who can't afford college.  Obama gets criticized for standing up for keeping interest rates low on student loans as appealing to the younger demographic and fishing for votes.  Maybe he is, but his platform has always been to help those who can't help themselves.  Some call that socialism, but I believe the real word for that is charity.  Not charity in the sense of "I feel bad because you're in poverty, here's some money", charity in the sense of love for humanity and the desire for improvement.

Obama's not the first person to be criticized for wanting to feed the poor, clothe the naked, or comfort the sick and the afflicted.  It's ironic to me that the majority of Conservatives consider themselves "Christian Conservatives" when their scorn for the poor is so vehement in their political views.  Views like increasing spending for military so that we can send boys to unnecessarily break the most serious commandment of Thou Shalt Not Kill and reduce spending money to Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself don't make much sense.

$250,000 a year is nothing to a guys like Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates, or Tiger Woods.  They wouldn't miss it for sure.  So why not take that tax money and build a future for aspiring kids who are otherwise doomed to work at Walmart checkout counters or make careers out of selling frozen bananas for $3 a piece?  Why should a bright young inner city kid have to work at a Buckle when there is money out there that could give him access to the tools he needs to cure cancer, spur innovation, or become the next DaVinci or Michelangelo?  The hardships of these economic downturns don't hurt millionaires, so why can't they give unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar?

There is a double standard in Washington.  Politicians dangle the carrot of education just outside the reach of the poor, and if it's attained, give them the stick with all they've got.  Meanwhile, the rich are sitting on the beach of their private island working on a tan and thinking which department they will lay off, dropping costs and driving up profit margins for a window long enough for them to sell their stock options for an $11 million gain (like the CEO of Viacom did last year).  That money will surely trickle down into some offshore bank accounts to help his grandchildren never experience the horror of working up a sweat.

Politicians need to stop telling kids to "dream big", because what is a dream?  It is an alternative reality that cannot be attained.  Our best interests are sitting on the back burner while earmarks and superpacs pave the road to the United Corporations of America so that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.   We are all God's children, and we all deserve a chance to reach our full potential in the life He has given us.  Our destiny should not be dictated by those who have been more fortunate.  Compassion is not a weakness, and  charity is not a sin. Hating your brother and sister is.