ED: "Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Loan Industry"

Since it has become safe, and even cool, to go after the bare-knuckled crooks and thugs who own the lease on the Executive Branch until 2008, I am delighted to see WaPo and the New York Times once more competing to be the lead newspaper in support of virtuous government. Today's Post digs a little deeper, or at least has read a few more blogs, to expose further details in Loangate.

It seems that the Bushies, in early 2001, quashed a proposal left on the table by Clinton to rein in some of the more dubious practices of the student loan biz. And now they have new proposals they would like to put in place just as they leave office, thu assuring ample opportunity for another 18-20 months of the same kind of Treasury looting that began in 2001. Here is my favorite quote in today's piece:

"The Department of Education has been run as a wholly owned subsidiary of the loan industry under this administration," said Barmak Nassirian, a longtime advocate for industry reform at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. "They are running the federal loan program for the profit of their friends and not for the benefit of students and taxpayers."