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I agree with you about the war on drugs, but it is our national defense that allows everything else we hold dear to be possible. I think we could cut foreign aid in some cases, we could provide only life-or-death care to illegal immigrants, plenty of other things.</p>
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<p>I agree with you. You know I come from a military family, too. However, I do think we could theoretically do it on a smaller budget. Then again- it’s the government- so theory and reality will never match up :rolleyes:.</p>
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<p>Did you mean the 2 Pells a year? That’s already gone.</p>
<p>How about limiting subsidized loans to 4.5 years or equivalent that way you can’t get around it by taking the minimum classes?</p>
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I’m always amused by the knee jerking. Do you ever really think about these things or do you just repeat back what people you admire have told you?</p>
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Well the money to subsidize those loans has to come from somewhere. Is there nothing in the entire federal budget that you prioritize less highly than subsidized student loans?</p>
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True that. The thing is this: if we seriously cut defense spending, that would mean the loss of jobs at the bottom of the food chain. Which would increase unemployment at this catastrophic time and would likely disproportionately fall on men of color with less than a college education. Is that a desirable trade-off for the student loan subsidies? I would say no.</p>
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<p>Knee jerking? Should I list individual positions?</p>
<p>US Army is switching back to the service covers from berets and is going to save 6.5 million dollars…</p>
<p>I could go on but to keep it short, I don’t admire anyone really and if you are amused then you probably aren’t thinking about it seriously enough…</p>
<p>^^ Fair enough. Hence the theoretically. I just truly wish that someone would take on the bureaucracy of the defense department and do reforms that will minimally affect those low on the totem pole. But we all know that would never happen. Especially in a time of “war”- which we seem to always be in…</p>
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<p>Is this kneejerking? The whole illegal immigrants thing is played out…</p>
<p>^ Knee-jerking would be getting rid of all illegal immigrants and closing our borders. At least zoose’s is more realistic (and zoose and I are on opposite sides of most issues).</p>
<p>How are troops occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and Korea and Germany doing anything for our defense?</p>
<p>Why do we still have an entire Marine division sitting in Japan like it was 1945?</p>
<p>“National defense” shouldn’t mean “world’s policeman.”</p>
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I could not agree more. Personally, I would bring troops home from Afghanistan and Germany, but it scares me a lot to leave South Korea undefended against a madman. Although I do believe reasonable people can disagree on that.</p>
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I work with illegal immigrants, so I bet I have as good or better a handle on the issue than you do. The point is that it’s about choices. Grown-ups know that we can’t have everything at the same time. Sometimes we have to wait or even do without. The question was how would each person prioritize the student loan subsidies.</p>
<p>South Korea is hardly “undefended.” They’re a major industrial power in their own right, with a modern, American-equipped army, navy and air force. They can defend themselves just fine.</p>
<p>I disagree with you polarscribe. I prefer to have an American presence at the DMZ. Choice is a great thing, isn’t it?</p>
<p>close only the part in dep of education that doesnt have to do with FAFSA & financial aid.
here are some other ideas:</p>
<p>1)bring troops home and put them on the border. this cuts the amount of $ spend and saves US more money in future as less illegal immigrants can get in. it also gives a temporary job for the soldiers who would otherwise end up unemployed or homeless</p>
<p>2) pass a law that says your tax refund cant be more than the taxes you payed
3) simplify tax code & close tax loopholes</p>
<p>4) cut congress’ benefit starting by putting them on social security and medicare like all the regular people, and reduce their pensions by a lot. </p>
<p>5) pass a law that says any public university head(dean?) cant make more than what the president makes. apparently the head of UC makes about $400k a year. </p>
<p>6) to solve illegal immigrant issue after closing the border: only deport those that have criminal record. make others legal to work in here BUT… a) they have to pay taxes b)they cant get any gov benefit at all and can never become citizens c) if they apply to college they are counted as international… essentially, it creates a new category of residents. </p>
<p>7) end birth right citizenship
8) limit foreign aid</p>
<p>There is no need to end the subsidy on stafford loans. All that is needed in the area of savings in the Dept. of Ed. is to have the Fafsa count the income of the non-custodial parents as well. Truly needy families would not be harmed. However, those families where the parents are divorced/separated and the non custodial parent makes a substantial income would have to cough up their fair share. There seems to be no good reason why the government should grant pell money to a student whose non-custodial parent is perfectly able to contribute to their child’s education.</p>
<p>apatriotmom, I agree! That would be very fair.</p>
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<p>Huh? I found an official-looking one dated Dec 2010 with one quick google search.</p>
<p>But let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good personal opinion. :D</p>
<p>Read the story I linked. That report was never voted on or approved by the commission.</p>
<p>But don’t let that pesky fact get in the way of your ideology.</p>
<p>MODERATOR’S NOTE:</p>
<p>Friends, the thread is too political; perhaps it should have been immediately deleted. It is now a bad example.</p>