Current Events Write-Up: 6/30/2018

Time for my weekly Current Events Write-Up!  These are articles and opinion pieces that I found interesting, and I am sure there is another side to what they present.

Townhall: “CFPB Settlement Threatens to Destabilize Student Loan Market,” by Shannon Watkins

“Private student loans might soon become more difficult to obtain…[T]he stability of the securitization industry helps foster a healthy economy. One way it does so is by connecting investors to those who need loans. The more capital that is made available to student loans, the lower the interest rates borrowers will have to pay. In other words, the more competition that exists between investors, the lower the interest rates will be for borrowers.”  Maybe.  My understanding, though, is that private student loan servicers charge high interest rates.

Federalist Radio Hour: “Why Does Everybody Hate Each Other? Politics, Trust, And Twitter”

Some of these episodes I like better than others!  This one, I liked.  Will Rahn and Ben Domenech talk about how the hard Left cheapens terms like “Nazi” to the point that they become meaningless.  Rahn then says that the Right went through something similar.  It called Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi socialists.  Now, who is the most popular politician in America?  A self-professed socialist (Bernie)!  This episode was made before Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning victory in New York.  I doubt that an overt Nazi in the U.S. will become a popular politician, but you get the point: some words get so overused, that their effectiveness as an insult becomes diminished.

Yahoo News: “The Democratic Socialists of America show their muscle in New York congressional upset,” by Hunter Walker and Christopher Wilson

This article is a lengthy narration about Ocasio-Cortez’s recent upset.  It describes how powerful Joe Crowley was, how the DSA decides whom to endorse, and other Democratic Socialists who are running for office.

Townhall: “Telling the Truth on Trade With China,” by Veronique de Rugy

China gets a lot of criticism for piracy of intellectual property and for cornering the steel market.  Even some conservatives promote protectionism as a solution to this.  Veronique de Rugy not only disagrees with this approach, but she finds it ironic.  Conservatives are people who believe that state-run economies do not work, yet the ones supporting protectionism are confident that China will triumph economically.  Case in point: Veronique states that, by producing a lot of steel, China is producing fewer non-steel materials, allowing the U.S. to take more of that market.

Townhall: “Yemen’s Seaport Battle for Food and the Future,” by Austin Bay

Saudi Arabia and Iran compete for influence in the strategic country of Yemen.