So, I've been talking to some right wingers about Elizabeth Warren's great bill to charge students the same 0.75% rate that "impoverished" banksters get when they go panhandling at the Fed. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me, but it did - they immediately took the side of the banks.
Their first reaction - the predictable "I don't want government involved because they're the problem". Then they moved on to "but you can't drop the rates because then it wouldn't be worth their while to make any more student loans".
So much for a private market for more competition. The "free market" just happens to be more expensive than the "government solution", yet these people actually prefer to pay more.
And they are paying more. These are people who have student loans, the same loans that are set at rates 5, 10 or maybe even 20 times the paltry 0.75% giveaway to the banksters. These are people who would benefit from lower rates. Yet, they're pre-programmed by the RWNM to reject the same type of government decision that says banksters profit while taxpayers get stiffed.
So maybe it's time to clue them in on a few more "government decisions" that affect them.
Student loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy. But a CEO who underfunds an employee pension plan can happily skip out, stick taxpayers with the bill and collect a ginormous bonus on the way out the door. Why? Because Congress passed a law that says so. In other words, this was a Government Decision.
Banksters blew up our economy and stuck taxpayers with their gambling debts. Yet they're still so poverty-stricken that they qualify for the 0.75% rate, but students don't. Why? Another Government Decision.
Banks illegally foreclosed on millions of homeowners, including thousands of active-duty soldiers. They get a cakewalk payout of a few billion dollars, while many said homeowners get a paltry $500 each. Yet banksters get to keep the billions and billions of illegal profits. Why? DOJ's Government Decision not to prosecute.
You'd think right wingers who'd had their homes stolen out from under them would be interested in getting some justice. But thanks to Government Regulators who believe rampant fraud is just peachy-keen with them, alas, it's not to be. By Government Decision.
Medicare is forbidden from negotiating with Big Pharma over sky-high prescription prices, so taxpayers get to subsidize the very, very profitable pharmaceutical industry. Yep, a Government Decision.
Big Oil gets to bring black gold "right to your front lawn" (see the hilarious Exxon - Energy Everywhere video featured on Rachel Maddow), yet taxpayers get to pay half their fine, all thanks to our rigged tax system. Yep, another Government Decision.
Fracking can bring flammable water to your kitchen faucet as well as lots and lots of earthquakes. But if you and your neighbors become part of a cancer cluster "just by coincidence" - well, that's your problem. By Government Decision.
In fact, the #1 problem that right wingers and the rest of us want our government to help us with is jobs. Yet, that's not happening because of a Government Decision by Republicans to do absolutely nothing about it.
Government Decisions affect nearly aspect of right winger's lives. So, in this light, when they say government is the problem, they're .... actually .... correct. So with the system rigged against them by Government Decisions, maybe it's time to start pointing out to them how many other Government Decisions rule their lives.
We need to show right wingers that what they actually oppose is bad Government Decisions. In particular, we agree with them that a large part of what makes for bad governance is excessive corporate power. On this, we're on the same side.
They're willing to fight for good solutions to their problems. We need to start showing them that what bad Government Decisions have taken away from them, GOOD government decisions can bring back.