Monday, August 29, 2022

Week of 08/29/2022

 

“Not Fair” Say The Hypocrites And Sadists

I’ll never forget my first car. 

Not the one I first used.  No, I’m talking about the first car that was in my name.  The one that I paid for.

It was a heavily-used retired police car, with all of the cop stuff removed from it except for the window-side spotlight.  My best friend’s father was the police chief for that town and he let me in on a good deal at the time.  It would be checked out, up to inspection and ready to go for a really good price.

My mom and I went to the bank, I took the money out from my account, and I soon had my own car; title and all.

My sister, however, was upset.  She demanded her own car.  She insists to this day that my mom bought me the car.  Even when I showed her the bank statement showing the money taken out of my account, she believes that my mom bought the car for me.

“It’s not fair,” she cried.

Of course, she assumed control of my mom’s vehicles.  She got into an accident with the first car, and then assumed control of the minivan, and when my mom had another car, she assumed that one too.  So much so that my parents literally gave her that vehicle.  Not sold.  Gave.  Eventually she would get her own vehicles, but I’ll never forget her cries of “It’s not fair” when it came to my first car.

It’s that self-centered indignant cry of “It’s not fair” that comes to mind anytime I hear the red-hat fascists bitch when it comes to President Joe Biden’s recent student loan debt forgiveness.

Student loan payments have been put on hold for over two years as of this posting.  You can thank the orange-skinned narcissist for that, along with a few other things that were put on hold because of the global pandemic.  But while the rent payments and foreclosures have resumed for a year now, student loan payments have continually been put on hold thanks to Biden.  This has helped millions of Americans who have been struggling to keep ends met since then, not to mention try to find work for those who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.

Up until the other week, Biden’s people have been forgiving the student debt of those who were tricked into enrolling into what would essentially be diploma mills.  “Schools” that weren’t even as good as the paper students got.  About $6 billion of that debt was forgiven.

But Biden had promised to forgive a whole lot more when he was campaigning for the White House in 2020.  And the voters were reminding him of that since then.

Now he’s followed through with his pledge.  This past week, Biden announced that $10,000 of student loans will be forgiven for millions of Americans who make under $125,000 a year.  That number goes to $20,000 if those same Americans who make under $125,000 a year took out Pell Grants.

And now here come the red-hat hypocrites.

“It’s not fair!” they’re screaming.  “It’s not fair to give those deadbeats money!  If they took out a loan they should pay it off!  It’s not fair!”

“It’s not fair” cry the red-hat fascist members of Congress that had millions in “Paycheck Protection Program” loans forgiven.

“It’s not fair” cry the Big Corporate leaders and soothsayers who celebrated when they got their tax cuts and tax breaks a few years ago.

“It’s not fair” cry the “Too Big To Fail” bank execs who got billions in bailout money in 2008 and never had to worry about going to prison for the crimes they committed on the millions they screwed over.

“It’s not fair” scream the followers of a certain orange-skinned narcissist who is legendarily notorious for not paying bills and suing those who try to collect.  He even did a commercial for Dominos where he countered their deal with a duplicate of that deal and then took the pizzas without paying for them.

“It’s not fair!”

“It’s not fair!”

“It’s not fair!”

You’re right.

But there are a lot of things that aren’t fair.

It’s not fair that people got talked into taking out student loans on the false promise that they would end up working jobs that would pay enough for them to pay those loans off in a timely manner.  A false promise that is still being regurgitated today.

It’s not fair that the price of a college education is so high that only the rich can afford to go without taking on debt.  Maybe that’s the way it’s always been, but that still doesn’t make it fair.

It’s not fair that – for the most part – student loans are the only loans that cannot be automatically forgiven through bankruptcy.  A rich narcissist can claim bankruptcy and have the loans to his expensive mansion, his beach house on the Hamptons, his Gulfstream jet, and his yacht with a smaller yacht and a helipad forgiven without so much as a word in question.  But a hard-working American going through three jobs and still can’t make ends meet can’t be forgiven that $80,000 in student loans if he declares bankruptcy. They have to leap through more hurdles than the rich man’s debts.  And that is because of the actions of that same fascist party decades ago who are now screaming “It’s not fair”.

No, it’s all not fair. 

And even $20,000 is not enough to relieve many Americans of their debt burden.  They’ll still have to pay when the loan payments resume this coming January.  Two years of not having to worry about those loans will come to an end and that means money coming out of their pockets again on top of higher costs for food and healthcare and everything else.

Now, full disclosure... I did go to college.  And I did take out student loans, including Pell Grants, so I could get my Bachelor’s degree. Did that degree give me jobs that would pay more than others?  Nope.  I spent years working minimum wage jobs to help keep bills paid.  In one job I ended up reporting to a guy who was hired the same day as I was, but was given a supervisory position because he was fresh out of Desert Storm.  He didn’t go to college.  Same with a few other people that I ended up having as supervisors.  But I was also very lucky in that I had a dead relative leave my parents more than enough in the will so my debt can be paid in full among other things.  I am very thankful for that.  And, yes, I am using my education... just not in ways that pay more than anyone else.

But I’m not upset that others will have a small portion of their burdens relieved.  Not in the least!  Because let’s get brutally honest here... people have been screwed over for too damned long and only a goddamned hypocritical sadist would scream “unfair” that the burden of some gets lightened while the sadist has long enjoyed their own benefits.

If you worship a narcissist who doesn’t pay his own bills, then you have no claim to cry “unfair” when others who have been struggling get a little help.

If you’ve had loans forgiven in the past, then you have no claim to cry “unfair” when others get a portion of theirs forgiven.

If you claim to be a Christian, then you sure as hell have no business whatsoever crying “unfair” about any kind of debt forgiveness when the Book of Deuteronomy says as plain as day that you should forgive all debts every seven years.  And, yes, that was part of my college education.

And if you want to sit there on your overpaid, overvalued fat ass and complain that some hypothetical worker is supposedly “paying” for some so-called “deadbeat” who went to college, I say look in the mirror, because all too often the real deadbeat is you.

Oh, and I’ll leave you with the very words you yourselves chant when the talk is about fairness when it benefits you...

Life is not fair!  Deal with it!

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