Baltimore If we didn’t have so many fast deals and multi-billion dollar scams to read about every day, then the student loan situation would be a scandal that doesn’t stop shaming everyone who touches it.

Finally we have a chance to streamline the process and take out the sticky fingered middlemen skimming the cream off the loans, and some Congress people are trying to keep the grease and let the scamming continue.  $90 billion could be saved by eliminating the predators and at a time when the children of lower income and working parents are having to forego their dreams of higher education because loan money has dried up, we have folks with their hand in the till trying to stop the flow of dollars that could guarantee better futures.  How can this be possible?

Talking to someone the other day, I was even hearing about exciting new ideas to use free tax platforms like the ones pioneered by the ACORN Centers to allow seamless and efficient assistance in filling out the federal loan applications for students.  My kids hated me throughout their college years because I made them fill out the applications themselves on line and help me the whole way.  We all would have stood in line at an ACORN Center to be able to have someone help us do that, especially if they would have done our taxes, too!

Obama is right about all of this.  There’s a better way that pushes more money to families that need student loans, and that creates citizen wealth. The ACORN Centers and others have the right idea as well in making this process more accessible and efficient.

Time for taking names and kicking butt with some Congress folks, I think.