Tag: CATO Institute

Ten years ago, when the Democrats took over Congress, I wrote a piece begging them to drain the swamp surrounding the Department of Education and the federal student loan system. In the absence of standard bankruptcy protections, statutes of limitations and other fundamental free market protections, the student loan system had become a big-government, predatory beast that was wrecking the lives of millions of citizens.

As President Obama and leaders in Congress seek to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff,” any agreement must address the immense contribution that the Pentagon makes to the debt. Without defense spending reforms on the table to modernize our security budget, there is no pathway back to the budget surplus we enjoyed before the decade of unchecked defense spending took off.