Dear Editor:

People who work to build a future for themselves are paying high rates of interest on their student loans. These loan rates are set by Congress and are many time higher than the interest rate charged to the big Wall Street banks. There is a particular irony here in that these are the same banks that precipitated the great economic crisis that resulted in millions of people losing their jobs or their homes. These banks got some sweet deals at our expense.

You would think that in all fairness, the banks who came to the government for a bailout would have to pay a higher rate than people are working hard to create value for themselves in the job market through education.

But life, after all, is not fair. Fairness and justice are ideals that too often recede into the deep pockets of the economic elite as they pour dark money into the campaigns of compliant politicians.  

This is what is happening now in Congress. A proposal to set rates to the same level as those offered to banks is stalled due to yet another filibuster. Money trumps shame and pity.

Fred W. Nehring
Boothbay