Michael Ramirez Essay: Biden Grabs the Wheel
From America's Premier Editorial Cartoonist
Michael Ramirez, July 2, 2023
THE EMPEROR HAS NO CONSTITUTIONAL CLOTHING
On Friday, the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness Plan on constitutional grounds. Federal student loan payments are set to resume in September after a three-year pause because of COVID-19.
Biden’s power grab ran right into the U.S. Constitution.
It reminded me of a cartoon I had done on Obamacare a long time ago. How can you utilize the Commerce Clause on something that is not sold between states, and what verbal gymnastics do you have to use to define a mandate as a tax to make a federal overreach constitutional? That is a debate for another day but here is that cartoon:
The Biden administration seems to think federal money is unlimited and executive power is absolute. But those who had responsibly repaid their student loans would have had to repay the loans of others under President Biden’s student loan giveaways, at a cost to American taxpayers of $400 billion dollars over the next decade. It is part of the larger progressive idea of redistributive socialism disguised as a presidential authority to waive or modify loans under the 2003 Heroes Act passed after 9/11. It is also an election bribe to younger voters- $10,000, or $20,000 in Pell Grant relief in every pot for students who vote for Biden.
Education is important and essential for a prosperous modern society. We all want smarter citizens, but so is teaching responsibility. A self-governing Republic gives you freedom and allows you to choose your own destiny. But with individual liberty comes individual responsibility. You can’t have one without the other.
It's bad enough that this President doesn’t seem to understand this concept. It’s worse that he doesn’t seem to be able to do basic math… (more below)
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continued…
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, our current national debt is $32.25 TRILLION. This is coming at a time when the larger proportion of our population is getting older and will have higher demands on the Federal budget.
The 2020 census tells us that the decade before 2020 saw the fastest increase in an aging population since the 1880s, five times faster than the total population. 1 in 6 Americans are older than 65 years old. It is driven by Baby boomers.
At the same time, the U.S. population has the slowest growth on record at .1%. So, at the same time that an aging population is driving demand for federal dollars, a shrinking population will have less workers to support these programs.
What does that mean? Perhaps, we should stop giving away money that we don’t have.
$400 billion may not mean much to a President that has “increased spending by more than a trillion dollars over ten years,” according to the House Budget Committee, but that could buy you a lot of Hunter Biden paintings at $250,000 a pop.
From the House Budget Committee report on Biden’s budget, over ten years, spending, taxes and deficits will reach the “highest sustained level in American history” and our national debt will grow by $16 trillion. According to the same report, our national debt will be $52 trillion dollars or $135,000 per American in 2032.
Biden fails math. He also fails English comprehension.
At times, this president does not seem to have a command of the English language. It’s not as bad as Kamalaese, but what is? Perhaps, he doesn’t understand fundamental concepts.
The Census and the U.S. Education Department say that about 13% of Americans had federal student loan debt in 2021. The rest of us either didn’t take out a student loan or responsibly paid them back.
If math is not his forte, perhaps we can explain the simple concept of a loan.
President Biden, here’s the definition of a LOAN…
LOAN, noun:
MERRIAM-WEBSTER
a. money lent at interest:
took out a loan to pay for the new car
OXFORD DICTIONARY
a. A thing lent; something the use of which is allowed for a time, on the understanding that it shall be returned or an equivalent given; esp. a sum of money lent on these conditions, and usually at interest. †to loan: as a loan.
CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY
a. an amount of money that is borrowed, often from a bank, and has to be paid back, usually together with an extra amount of money that you have to pay as a charge for borrowing:
· She's trying to get a $50,000 loan to start her own business.
· We could apply for/take out a loan to buy a car.
That gets us back to Basic Civics Class and the Supreme Court ruling. The federal government is divided in to three branches, the legislative, executive and judicial. Under the U.S. Constitution:
Article I basically defines Legislative authority as: The Legislative Branch (Congress) makes laws, regulates interstate and foreign commerce, declares wars and controls spending and taxes, and can override a veto.
Article II basically defines Executive authority as: The Executive Branch (the President) enforces the laws, and can veto laws.
Article III basically defines Judicial authority as: The Judiciary (Supreme Court, federal courts) interprets laws and rules on the constitutionality of laws.
The Supreme Court ruled that the President did not have the spending authority to make $400 billion dollars of Student loan repayments vanish into thin air, only to be found in the pockets of American Taxpayers.
Everyone knew this was coming. I drew this cartoon four months ago:
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts even included a quote from former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, from a press conference in July 2021, in the majority opinion, where she stated, “People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress.
It may be one of the few times I agree with Nancy Pelosi.
Previous Essays:
None of the Above (Wanted: A Reagan Revolution)
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No amount of verbal contortions by the WH can get around your succinct description of the fundamentals of America's political and social structure. It shouldn't only be around July 4th that Americans are reminded of these fundamentals.
Roberts quoting Pelosi, LMAO. But then who had Hunter in the library with a bag of coke? Rules/Laws are for little people. Just like Argentina let's persecute the politcal opposition.