Email from John Lewis, candidate for US house, on college loans

Apparently Candidate John Lewis is going to kick butt if he's elected. I wonder if he realizes that the student loan problem was conceived, implemented and subsequently modified by the US Congress. Does he know he's going to try to fix a problem created by the very people who he identifies with ideologically?

He notes that college has increased in cost by 1000% in the last thirty years, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't know why. Student loans! The very program he wants to fix has caused the cost of college to increase.

You see, when something becomes artificially more affordable, like being able to borrow money to pay for it, demand increases which increases the cost. College is hugely expensive because so many people want access. So if Mr. Lewis is successful, college will be even more expensive and people will be borrowing even more money to attend.

Yet he wants all Americans to have the option of attending college. Ho-boy. If he's elected, I hope he quickly discovers that the solutions to problems are not found in Washington.
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Friend --

I believe earning a college degree and having a shot at a good-paying job should be an option for all Americans. Instead, that opportunity is getting further and further out of reach for working families.

Consider this: in the last three decades, the cost of going to college and getting a degree has gone up by over 1000%!

That means more and more students are forced to take out massive loans to pay for college. In Montana alone, the average student loan debt is over $20,000.

Here’s the really troubling part: unlike home and car loans, student loans can’t be refinanced. Unfortunately, instead of empowering our students, we’re crippling them with a mountain of debt and refusing to let them refinance it at lower rates.

I won’t stand for this. I’m joining leaders across the country to demand Congress allow students to refinance their loans at lower rates. Will you join me?

Soon enough, my own two kids will be ready for college, and if we don’t fix this problem, getting a college degree could be out of their reach.

We can’t let partisanship get in the way of good policy -- but some politicians in Washington won’t give up easy. We’ve got to send them a loud and clear message.