Thursday, September 17, 2009

House Passes Sweeping Student-Loan-Market Overhaul

Another huge step towards fascism here in America happened today. While everyone was talking healthcare the house today voted to "end private-lender involvement in the student-loan market, establishing the federal government as the sole provider of college loans."

From the Wall Street Journal:
Similar to the continuing efforts at overhauling health care, the changes to the federal government's higher-education policies would have a serious effect on the bottom line for private-sector players currently serving the marketplace. The House vote was 253-to-171, largely along party lines. Under the legislation, all lenders would be cut out of the market for originating loans. There would still be a role for private banks and lenders to bid for a limited number of contracts to service the loans after they are made by the government. (Private banks they say, ya right.)

For companies like SLM Corp., better known as Sallie Mae, the proposed changes are already having an impact. This week, Fitch Ratings downgraded Sallie Mae to triple-B-plus status and called its outlook negative. Sallie Mae's shares were recently trading down more than 2% at $9.
Full Article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125321217589620383.html

Here is another good article on this subject written a few days before passage of this power grab bill: The Quietest Trillion: Congratulations. You're about to own $100 billion a year in student loans.

The Obama plan calls for the U.S. Department of Education to move from its current 20% share of the student-loan origination market to 80% on July 1, 2010, when private lenders will be barred from making government-guaranteed loans. The remaining 20% of the market that is now completely private will likely shrink further as lenders try to comply with regulations Congress created last year. Starting next summer, taxpayers will have to put up roughly $100 billion per year to lend to students.
Full Article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574405154157021052.html

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