See ya in Naples, John.

The student loan bill just passed by Congress encourages students to take out private loans instead of borrowing directly from the government, according to Bloomburg News, even though a study by the Government Accountability Office shows that backing the private loans costs five times per dollar more than the direct government loan.

One explanation for this apparent insanity is offered by Anya Kamenetz in a New York Times oped. It seems that Sallie Mae--remember, its CEO flies the company jet to Naples, Fla., for golf--is the "largest contributor by far to members of the House Education Committee" The committee's chairman, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), received $172,000 from private lenders and loan consolidators like Sallie Mae.