Jun 27 2009
WSJ article - I’m mad as hell.
In response to Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2009, Scrutiny Grows as U.S. Pays Staffers’ Student Loans:
My first installment “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to live here anymore” - - -
House and Senate aren’t as smart as they would have you believe!
I was flipping through the Wall Street Journal someone left in the T when I haphazardly come across this article. The lead reads “congress and federal agencies are expected to spend as much as $60 million in fiscal 2009 on a little known taxpayer-funded perk: repaying government employees’ college loans.”
So, I would just like to say, ummmm, I would like my college loans paid off as well? Ummm, excuse me Uncle Sam, but I believe an obscenity is called for here…
According to the article, 690 government employees in the executive branch received $3 million for their loans this year. You can do the math.
House/Senate members + “x” million dollars = me mad as hell. (thank God there’s no math requirement for journalism majors).
But this story gets a lot better, if you’re like me and find getting enraged to be fun,… In addition to paid student loans, these guys also get free courses, and by free I mean, we the people are paying for it.
Take a look at the listed classes available, by the “House Learning Center” – (some name, huh?):
*Yoga
*Pilates
*How to use your Blackberry
*Home Buying for Beginners
I kid you not. AND! my personal favorite class:
*The Senate’s Vice Presidential Bust Collection
Just what exactly are these guys learning about here?
WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING ON HERE!??!?!?!?!11!
Someone’s smart enough to speak up about this finally (although I’m not sure how long this has been going on for, but it has been years)…And let me just say this guy rocks:
“We teach an ‘effective writing’ course,’” said Dan Beard, House Chief Administrator who oversees the Center. “My thought was, if somebody can’t write effectively, why are they here?”
He estimates an additional $1 million has been spent on this type of “training.”
This reminds me of one of my favorite segments from the Daily Show recently, British members of parliament abusing taxation for their own pleasure called SCAMALOT. Check out the segment here (hilarious, 6 minutes long but totally worth it, I love correspondent John Oliver):
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=228030&title=Scamalot
***I’d just like to say, if you have all the money to make stupid classes for leisurely education, why not make better classes? I mean, if any of these were on the IC syllabus, I wouldn’t register. God.
