Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Tweedle-dums and Tweedle-dees

Tweedledum and Tweedledee are characters in an English nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll’s 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. (Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom.) However today, in common English usage if you refer to someone as Tweedledum or Tweedledee! it will probably be understood as an insult, as, in essence, you would be saying that he or she has no independent intellect.

Two different news stories brought these terms to mind.

First: The latest CNN poll on Joe Biden and the economy,  23% rate economic conditions as even somewhat good … who are these tweedle-dums? This is down from 37% in December and 54% last April. What is even more amazing is that 2% of those polled, rate economic conditions as very good! Who are these tweedle-dees? What world are they living in?

The second story that brought “Tweedle-dums and Tweedle-dees” to mind is the speculation of student loan forgiveness. Who are these yo-yo’s who borrowed exorbitant amounts of money for college and who have no reasonable hope of paying it back?

(Before going any further let me be clear … “I do not watch The View, have never watched Tht View, and will probably never watch The View.)

Recently Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the View talked about this issue. While avoiding the issue of “how to reimburse Americans who paid off their student loans,” she did make some good points on certain sub-classes of those who owe money on student loans. 

“About 40% of folks with student loans don’t have a college diploma,” Warren began. “They’re folks who tried and life happened … and now they earn what a high school grad earns, and they’re trying to pay off college-level debt, and it is crushing their bones.”

I do have empathy for this group. Someone talked them into going to college, but they just could not hack it. Should they have started college? Probably not. Was starting college most likely a dumb decision? Probably, yes. … but should we punish stupidity?

Warren continued, “Keep in mind that of those that have student loan debt more than half have negative wealth— they don’t have any wealth. You know that right now there are tens of thousands of people who are living on Social Security, who are having their Social Security checks garnished to pay student loans,” she continued. “And so this for me is a question of fairness.”

Again I have empathy for those seniors who signed for loans that were for their grandchildren. Most likely they were overwhelmed by trying to ensure that their grandchildren had a chance of success. Did these seniors make poor decisions? In retrospect obviously, yes, but garnishing their Social Security while Biden’s inflation is injuring everybody? Err … no!

While Warren does make some good points, I vehemently disagree that student loan forgiveness “is a question of fairness!” “Fairness” would entail making them all pay back what they borrowed. However, could there be some middle ground? As far as I am aware, no one in Washington – no Democrat and no Republican,  has proposed a reasonable compromise approach. 

Bill Maher weighed in on student loan forgiveness – which he deemed as a “loser issue.” During the same episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” a notable Democratic strategist reamed out Democrats for being experts in “pissing off the working class.”

My compromise includes:

For seniors, I would slash the amount owed by half. Perhaps, not 100% fair, but definitely 100% compassionate. 

For those who started, but did not finish college, I would find ways that they could do volunteer work, either at night or on weekends. They would not be paid for this, but in lieu of a wage, the amount would be deducted from what they owe. Those who owed money would benefit; those who were recipients of this volunteerism would benefit; the country, as a whole, would benefit.

For those Tweedle-dums and Tweedle-dees who are drastically and hopelessly under water, perhaps a three year stint in the military with 50% of their pay going to paying off their loans.

Nonetheless, who are the real Tweedle-dums and Tweedle-dees here? 

If you guessed the politicians in Washington, you would have been correct.

Come on, politicians … instead of quarreling about everything, get together and figure out a reasonable compromise.

5/9/22

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