…and the broken state of California and its political class:
The blue social model can’t produce great results anymore. If you want to think big, you can no longer think blue. This is Governor Brown’s problem in a nutshell. The political coalition that backs him cannot produce coherent and workable plans anymore. The greens, the unions, the planning bureaucrats, the mayors and so forth each bring so many requirements to the table that the only designs that make them all happy are so cumbersome and expensive that they cannot be built. The political imagination of the blue coalition can no longer visualize the future: it can only project its nostalgia ahead.
Jerry Brown is stuck in the sixties. What a tragedy that the Republicans can’t put up decent statewide candidates in California. And I very much fear that Mitt Romney will be Meg Whitman on a national scale.
Ok, so Governor Brown is in the process of blowing his opportunity to keep California from sliding into the abyss. All I know is that I will strongly oppose bailing this state out. They had plenty of chances to fix their problems yet they’re still digging the hole deeper. Such irresponsibility should be amply rewarded with the natural consequences.
I heard a caller from CA, on a national radio show last night. He was saying that he makes TOO much money to get his daughter any kind of school loans for college. ACTUALLY he was saying that his business went belly up last year and he made TOO much money three years ago to 18 months ago for her to qualify. Without any income he can’t afford even community college for her right now.
And by the time he gets out of that previous income ‘window’, she’ll be too old to qualify under his income for him to get any loans for her. She could get loans under her own name, but she’d be $40K in debt at 22, with a fresh degree, in a state that is losing jobs and businesses by the day, so a job after graduation is questionable.
HOWEVER, the state has PLENTY of money openly designated for illegal aliens to get, tax free school loans, no payback ever necessary, if they will just say they aren’t U.S. / CA citizens.
I used to love that state. But now I think the best thing I ever did was leave. I hate it here in NC, but I’m not so angry at the state gub’ment that I’m ready to climb a tower and start thinning the area around the State House.
It’s all too, too terribly sad to me.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I once loved it, even though I lived there nearly 30 years. But, like you, I regard leaving California as the best decision I ever made.
Unless the man’s daughter gets a good paying job that would disqualify her from financial aid, it would be better for her to do it on her own. Grants and federal subsidized loans would be easier for her to get and she might get lower interest rates than what her parents would pay. There is nothing stopping her parents from giving her money later to help pay off her loans.
Basically what you wrote Der Schtumpy is why I believe Perry lost his primary chance early. I’m in almost the same boat as the CA caller. My wife and I are blessed with our income, but no way could we afford the tuition/books/room/board of any in-state University in TX. Well, we could, if we applied one of incomes directly to that purpose, which at our taxrate, leaves my wife and I with half of one income to live our lives. Yet, if either my wife or I didn’t work, and the other took a lower paying, less stressful job; our daughters would qualify for all sorts of grants.
Perry’s problem was slightly different in regards to allowing in-state tuition prices to children of illegal aliens. I understand his reasoning, had he actually reasoned. But my complaints have nothing to do with “a lack of heart”, but rather wondering why we should be solving one of the smallest problems with higher education. How about lowering costs across the board, and not limited to any race or ethnicity?
And the value of higher education in getting a well paying job is where I agreed with the Occupy folks. I think a $100,000 student loan debt is absurd for nearly all majors. Perhaps for Law, Medical, and Engineering, but everything else is just absurd. Sure, a very smart financial major might hit it big on Wall Street to pay off such a loan, but such a person wouldn’t necessarily need a college education. On that note, I’ll give Perry credit for pushing the $10,000 BA degree. It shows he has a mind to go with the heart. Now if he only had good instincts…