The talks may be too little, too late, for about 40,000 students and their families who learned this week that MEFA would have no money for loans this year, just days before college bills are due. But a number of senators and a local fiscal watchdog are asking: How can the Commonwealth justify bailing out the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and ignore a student lender that so many taxpayers relied upon?
They don't justify anything, they just do it.
As sad as it is, the truth is the legislatures don't care or represent people anymore -- they represent corporate interests, and liberal Massachusetts is no different.
The administration has led a massive effort to bail out the financially troubled turnpike authority, which ended yesterday with a deal that insures $1 billion of the debt and investment obligations. Joyce said the Senate is not suggesting that the state put its full faith and credit behind the student loan authority - even though it's in far better financial shape with few defaults. "We cannot afford that right now, and fiscally it would be an imprudent thing to do," he said.
Yeah, they can BAIL OUT BANKS to pay back the BIG DIG BORROWING, but when it comes to kids and their education.... pffffffttt!
Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a sharp critic of the turnpike bailout, said the governor should bring his power to bear to help resolve the student loan crisis.
"With something of this magnitude, it's incumbent on the administration to take the lead and try to find a solution," Widmer said. He said that the universities and colleges, which all lobbied for the creation of the state lending authority nearly 30 years ago, have enough financial reserves to offer more help.
There that guy is AGAIN! Man, the Globe must call him up every day!!!
Joyce also challenged state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill to take a stand on student loans, arguing that a slice of the $52 billion state pension might reasonably invest in the MEFA bonds - auction-rate bonds that are still paying market-rate interest but which have not traded since February, due to the broader market collapse of this type of bonds."
Yeah, let's float even more debt as we shovel money out to Hollywood, Wall Street, banks, etc, etc...
What a WELL-MANAGED STATE, huh?
