Has Your Vote Been Bought?

I really enjoyed watching President Obama slow jam with Jimmy Fallon.  That was hilarious!  What is also funny is that everybody, Democrats and Republicans, agree that subsidized student loans are a good thing.  It seems that only Republicans are willing to be fiscally responsible and look for ways to pay for this entitlement instead of tacking it onto the national debt.  Oops!  You have to pay for entitlements?  This pandering for votes has to stop.

What if our elected politicians can not agree on a course of action and the rate for student loans doubles?  Well, I'm willing to share my personal case.  I have a year left before graduation and my employer is no longer offering tuition reimbursement (ouch!).  If rates double, and it takes me 10 years to payoff my student loans, I will have paid $3199.14 in extra interest.  $3200!!!!  That's...that's...that's really not that big of a deal.  That is less than $27 per month.  Here is a great loan calculator.  See for yourself.

Obama could not have executed that slow jam any better.  Millions of Generation X & Y will race to the voting booth because they believe he will "save" them $27 per month.  Oh well, everybody has their price.

-- 6/6/13 Update:
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." - Mark Twain

The New York Times has an Op-Ed titled "Playing Politics With Student Debt" that notes that this problem is three times worse than I had calculated: "In the end, the one-year extension cost taxpayers nearly $6 billion, but saved a mere $9 a month in future repayments for the 40 percent of student borrowers who receive subsidized Stafford loans."