Yet another “sky is falling” averted. Chicken Little is totally strung out these days. Dear NCC send support. Yes chickens have a Council. The National Chicken Council Broilers continue the brave fight for egg autonomy, free ranging and marijuana cards. It’s a political cook-off.

Women only won the right to vote in 1920 but lost body autonomy in 2022. Why should chickens fare any better? Except cockerels. Cocks historically get special political dispensations.

Regarding the Debt ceiling. Did you really think they would not “come to a deal”? They always “save” us, just in the nick of time. We still ain’t woke, but we’ve been saved. Hallelujah. Stirring social media with emotive words of “catastrophic default” played intentional havoc with Wall Street. Common sense, (not so common) dictated a default simply would not happen. This was a trailer. Like a bad Netflix mini-series, Season 2 will stream in 2025 as a special election thriller.

In an Us vs Them statement Biden noted that ,“No one got everything they want. But that’s the responsibility of governing. It takes the threat of catastrophic default off the table.” Oh Chicken Little, don’t look up now, you might start running in circles again.

Both sides of the Congressional aisle continue grumbling. Like kindergartners sent to the corner, they refuse to make up. Hard-liners, like the State Freedom Caucus are gearing up for political payback. The rattling of their rusty sabres has more to do with personal ego than the daily reality of American lives.

A real catastrophic default continues to be played across the shrinking budgets of the average Americans working to stay alive. Freezing spending on basic financial protections such as food stamps and unemployment benefits might be “acceptable” if one prefers weapons to food on the table. It’s an updated version of Mary Antoinette “let them eat cake.” Trump initiated tax cuts for wealthy corporations that remain untouched in the “deal”, but struggling students are next in line on the chopping block.

Defence spending remains flat at approx. $722 billion for 2024. (A 1% increase pops up in 2025). This includes the $76 billion +of aid sent to Ukraine. I have comments about that but they will send Chicken Little over the edge.

In comparison, it’s a little less than the 2008 TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Fund) that bailed out Wall Street at $700 billion. Congress had no issues raising the Debt Ceiling to support that one. We, The People pinched our spending further and offered up bigger tax bites from our dwindling pay checks. We are good citizens.

Never mind the boggling, big numbers. Focus on Who gets those dollars as we scramble and scrimp to balance our own budgets. CitiGroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrup Grumman are some of the top invites to every cash party.

Military spending in reality is only about 10% of the national budget. “Discretionary spending” is where the chicken really gets the fat cut. This money is part of the U.S. federal budget that Congress appropriates each year. The financial fight that makes or breaks a President.

For example, in 2021, President Donald Trump requested $1.485 trillion for discretionary spending inclusive of his Wall and the pandemic. In 2022 discretionary spending was at $1.7 trillion. Most of us are still dreaming of winning the lottery. Until then our discretionary spending is an extra dessert on date night.

In the new Limit, discretionary spending levels out at about $637 billion for 2024. A marginal decrease from $638 billion. Which begs the question, what’s all the fuss about? A few billion here or there. Throw in some chocolate mousse and we can talk.

These are where cuts come in hitting at the presidential platforms that got them elected in the first place. It’s all about- the next election. New promises made to be broken. As Americans, our lives may not matter, but briefly, our votes do. Enter in cuts for; law enforcement, public transportation, housing, community development, environment, income security and science research. Piddling issues that directly affect the American people in everyday life.

Veterans will finally have fully funded medical care. About bloody time, considering how many years we “thanked” them for their service then kicked them to the curb.

A clawback of $30 billion unspent pandemic relief monies. Sounds ok. Except some of that money is protected under legislation. Protected for things like the Indian Health Service and housing assistance. Poor Chicken Little, he is off running again, he just lost his henhouse.

The IRS took a minor hit. Nobody shedding tears over that one. We already wonder where our tax dollars go and don’t expect anyone to answer the help lines anyway.

Additional work requirements and reduced exemptions for SNAP and TANF programs. Read Food Loss in those acronyms. In an inflationary world coupled with an environmental crisis younger generations get hit again. No work, no food. That’s not an incentive. In an “At Will” work culture, it’s a slow death.

As citizens, our fatal assumption dictates that politicians give a damn. That raising the Debt Ceiling is linked to our success.

Like Pavlov’s dogs, we wag our tails at the mere mention of “job creation” and “economic rebounds”. We remain blind to slavish “at will work” policies, stagnant wages lagging behind real living costs and an environmental crisis literally blowing down our front doors.

We are leading our young people to sacrifice as they chase the nightmare that is “The American Dream”. They work 3 jobs, moved back home but still can’t afford a house or their own chicken dinner.

President Biden promised Student Loan relief. There is sufficient evidence to propose this is a legitimate oral contract between the President and The People. That however, is not what brought the argument to the Supreme Court. Greed is the petitioner that brought it to our highest court. Student debt relief is not the actual case on the docket. Our legal system is the true defendant.

Center to the battle is ; MOHELA (Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority). A state-created loan company with support from six Republican states. One of the nation’s largest student loan servicers, is crying over lost revenue from the pandemic.

Over 1 million Americans died from the pandemic. Millions lost their jobs, loved ones, financial futures and hope. And Chicken Little is still watching the skies over this one. The pandemic is Not over. An average of 560 Americans are still dying from Covid every day. The only thing “over” is the attention of social media.

The Higher Education Relief Opportunities For Students (HEROES Act) was legislation passed unanimously by the United States Congress. Unanimously. It was signed into law on January 15, 2002 by President G. W. Bush. It was extended and amended in 2003, extended again in 2005, and finally made permanent in 2007. In 2002 it specifically addressed the issue of student loan forgiveness. It granted the Secretary of Education the authority to “reduce or eliminate the obligation to repay the principal balance” of federal loan debts.

Contrary to popular belief, the Heroes Act was not born out of the pandemic. It has been a legal directive since 2002.

It seems that We The People and Students do have a contract with our government. One that greedy loan servicers should have no right to crush as they chase their profit margins.

The State of Missouri and Attorney General Eric Schmitt, (one of the lead plaintiffs in the multi-state lawsuit) argue that student debt relief will cause them “harm”. Unlike Americans dying from Covid they define “harm” as lost tax revenue and diminishing investment values tied to those student loans.

You can’t have a lawsuit without an “injury”. So Phil Kerpen of American Commitment claimed he found one and used MOHELA as his legal semi-truck to crush Americans trying to not die and eat at the same time. He pushed his strategy through despite the objections of all other loan servicers hired by the Department of Education.

It’s debatable how much “harm” MOHELA can claim based on its 2023 renewed servicing contract. Additionally, to up the stakes of legal BS from the American Commitment team, MOHELA was awarded with millions of new accounts when it was designated as the exclusive contractor managing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. So, theoretically, they will be making more money, not less.

How the Supreme Court rules on the MOHELA case will directly impact and redefine “harm” as applied to the American public from both politicians and our justice system.

Chicken Little may be right.- Don’t look up. The sky may be falling.

So. We wait for politicians to hammer out our personal economic futures. Again. We allow them to dictate our best interests and those of future generations. Again. This Debt Ceiling “crisis” will not be the last.

Which simply begs the question; Why…

Student Debt: Show Me The Money