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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (272442)	10/7/2008 4:43:31 PM
From: KLP	2 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793911

CHUCK'S CHUTZPAH October 7, 2008 – nypost.com Well, no one ever accused Sen. Chuck Schumer of letting any sense of shame hold him back. Ditto for irony. Still, it was a bit surreal to see Schumer - one of the prime apologists for the faulty federally backed mortgages now dealing body-blows to the US financial system - laying the groundwork yesterday for yet more government meddling in the loan business. "We need to build an impermeable wall around the student-loan market to protect our kids from this financial crisis," he said at Stuyvesant HS in Manhattan. It's unclear exactly what such an "impermeable wall" might look like, though Schumer said he had asked Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to pay "special attention" to student loans - which, like most other credit, have dried up recently - as he executes the $700 billion federal rescue. Schumer also called for a commission to figure out how the federal government can expand its loan program. But one thing's for sure: This kind of talk should make taxpayers exceedingly nervous. Schumer, after all, was a chief cheerleader for the feds' last major attempt to protect a sector of the economy from the rigors of the market. That, of course, was the housing market - inflated to unsustainable heights, largely by the irresponsible mortgages given implicit government backing through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And that recklessness was given what amounted to a congressional stamp of approval by legislators smitten with the idea of increasing poor and minority home ownership. Or as Schumer himself put it back in 2003: "My worry is that we're using the recent safety and soundness concerns . . . as a straw man to curtail Fannie and Freddie's mission." Oops. Now, preserving student loans - just like increasing home ownership - may be a worthy goal. And Schumer, later in the day, wondered how one could support the rescue bill while not standing up for student loans. But that misses the point. With all sectors of the economy reeling, this is hardly the time to start carving out special status for one sort of loan or another. Indeed, Congress' only goal should be ensuring that the financial system as a whole gets back on track. Schumer, in particular, should know better.