Sunday, October 24, 2010
College graduates debt increases
CNNMoney.com has an article with a headline that is very eye catching: College grads: $24,000 in debt.
As a college student, this article is very overwhelming.
During Obama's State of the Union address I had blogged about it on The Future of Journalism and there was a part about Obama saying that he does not want students to be in debt for having an education, and he made a point to really emphasize that he wants to help make it possible for students to go to school and get an education without going in bankruptcy.
The exact part of the speech referred to above is:
"...When we renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we will work with Congress to expand these reforms to all fifty states. Still, in this economy, a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job. I urge the Senate to follow the House and pass a bill that will revitalize our community colleges, which are a career pathway to the children of so many working families. To make college more affordable, this bill will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer-subsidies that go to banks for student loans. Instead, let's take that money and give families a $10,000 tax credit for four years of college and increase Pell Grants. And let's tell another one million students that when they graduate, they will be required to pay only ten percent of their income on student loans, and all of their debt will be forgiven after twenty years – and forgiven after ten years if they choose a career in public service. Because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college. And it's time for colleges and universities to get serious about cutting their own costs – because they too have a responsibility to help solve this problem..."
When seeing posts about going into debt, students are probably finding Peter Thiel's offer of $100,000 to drop out of school very tempting.
The CNN Money article says that student debt is on the rise and "fewer graduates are getting jobs to pay back what they borrowed."
To make the college student feel more overwhelmed add onto the fact that unemployment rates are high and unemployment rates for college graduates jumped from 5.8 percent in 2008 to 8.7 percent in 2009 - which is the highest annual rate on record.
There is even a new term "boomerang kids" which refers to college graduates who move back home - which according to CNN Money is 85 percent.
Students with the most debt, over $29 thousand, are from New Hampshire, and students in Ohio are said to have the lowest, under $16 thousand.
Surprisingly CNN Money says, "Schools in the lowest average debt group included California Institute of Technology, Hampton University, CUNY Hunter College and Princeton University."
By Nikky Raney
Journalist & Blogger
Unemployment panic: What is a 99er to do?
Unemployment panic is rampant in America today, but what is a 99er to do without money to eat, a place to live or even the necessities to continue their futile job search?
According to Open Congress last week:
"There are about 20 major pieces of legislation being considered for floor time in the lame-duck session, and it’s hard to predict what the dynamic in Congress is going to be after the election. For example, what happenes if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D, NV], who controls what gets voted on in the Senate, is defeated in the mid-terms? Does he scramble to pass a last legacy bill on food safety or renewable energy instead of spending the final days of his 24 year career fighting for a temporary extension of benefits for the unemployed folks that he has already spent a good deal of time fighting for? Incentives and motivations will change significantly depending n what happens on Nov. 2, so, if you care about there being a lifeline for the millions of long-term unemployed after Thanksgiving, the best thing you can do right now is start making as much noise about this as you can."
Most 99ers have been without UI income for 8 months. After living on what little UI pays for 99 weeks (out of many more weeks unpaid) the 99ers are dropping like flies. Losing your home to foreclosure, eviction or just over staying your welcome at the relative’s, the street is now the new home of many who used to qualify as “the American middle class.”
One 99er (name withheld by request) recently told the San Diego Unemployment Examiner: “The constant fear and desperation I feel is unbearable. I do not know what to do. My life is an out of control spiral downhill and I cannot do anything to stop it. I am sick of being afraid all the time and yes I have considered ending this nightmare more than once - I just cannot do that to my family. My family cannot help me anymore and I feel so guilty for needing the help they have provided. Most of them live very far away, but I may soon need to pack up and move in with them. I cry myself to sleep every night just thinking of what a failure I am now that I can no longer support myself.”
It is true that this 99er has options that many do not. Thousands are already on the street or in shelters. Some have been just too depressed or scared to live this way any longer, so they give up on life completely.
Unemployment is likely to remain above 9 percent for the rest of this year, and for much of next. That means the ranks of the long-term unemployed will swell even further. This “Jobless Recovery” has been the trend so far in this recession, and it's not likely to stop now. Are we just going to leave the long term unemployed without incomes and without job opportunities? Without money to spend in their wrecked local economies, thus making it harder for those economies to generate new jobs? If this is the economic theory Washington is going to embrace amid terrible joblessness in America, then God help us - because we have far more to worry about than the Tea Party nut jobs going to Congress.
What we really need are public jobs for all 7 million of the people who have been unemployed for well over a year. I'd like to hear politicians touting a plausible scenario for creating quick, useful public jobs on that kind of scale in this sluggish economy immediately upon Congress’ return - even as they pass a Tier 5 and extend UI filing deadlines soon to expire.
Washington had better take heed to the suffering that is rampant in the USA due to the lack of income from jobs or UI benefits before we see the frustrations of Americans break out on Main Street, as it would appear it is just a matter of time before this century resembles the tragic desperation of the Great Depression of the last century. I can’t see 2010 Americans taking this much longer before they begin fighting back with possibly catastrophic results.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Obama in 2012
President Barack Obama has gotten a lot accomplished, but most of these
accomplishments are not the ones he outlined during his campaign.
accomplishments are not the ones he outlined during his campaign.
Obama spoke of change and his eloquence brought the nation hope. His
speeches were spoken like sermons and those in attendance could feel the
power.
A great speaker does not make a great president, but there were a lot of
things that needed to be fixed after the Bush years.
With Obama's positive popularity deteriorating is he destined to be a
one term president?
--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®
Lindsay Lohan To Rehab; Taylor Momsen Flashes
According to TMZ.com, Actress and Artist Lindsay Lohan was ordered back to complete rehab and not to jail. TMZ reports:
Lohan is due back in court on February 25 (2011). She will be subject to drug testing in between her release from rehab until her court date. If Lindsay does not test positive for drugs or alcohol before her next scheduled during that time, he will convert her sentence to unsupervised probation. The D.A recommended Lindsay get 180 days in county jail. The judge specifically stated he wanted Lindsay in rehab past the New Year.
Just how this will impact Lindsay's movie schedule is anyone's guess. TMZ also reports that she was complaining about her rehab schedule as interfering with her life, including her shoots. But it's the one thing keeping her out of the wasteland of jail and giving her a fighting chance at being clean and sober. At least she's not running around taking off her top, like Taylor Momsen, who's reported flashes of the NYC concert crowd made headlines.
The teen took off her top to reveal her breasts. As of this writing, Gossip Girl's Taylor Momsen's not been charged with anything and one has to wonder if that was her idea or her publicists' work. The act's made her name into a Twitter Trending Topic as of this writing and gained attention for her music. For what it's worth. Taylor's obviously working the porn angle hard.
It seems that's what an entertainer has to do to make themselves sand out in a World over-saturated with media content. It's the reason there are so many sex tape stories it's become almost standard for an actress to have one.
Crazy.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Texas Rangers Win: World Series And Super Bowl In Arlington, Texas
Arlington, Texas, where this blogger attended undergraduate school at The University of Texas at Arlington, before heading for grad school at Cal Berkeley, is situated right smack in the middle of the Metroplex, almost equidistant between Dallas to the east and Fort-Worth to the west, Arlington is 15 miles south of DFW Airport. Because it's the playing home of both the Dallas Cowboys and the Texas Rangers, it's the home of the World Series and The Super Bowl. Two events with a combined economic impact of over $300 million.
Because Arlington was the place selected to build the Dallas Cowboys' giant Cowboys Stadium (in photo), what some call "Jerry World" after Cowboys' Owner Jerry Jones, that city will enjoy the economic fruits of hosting the 2011 Super Bowl XXXXV in February, 2011. The NFL has a policy of giving a Super Bowl to each NFL city that builds a new stadium and has the right economic conditions. (The exception to this was New York for the 2014 Super Bowl as that game started as a gift after 9-11 should New York build a new stadium - that was done and it's an outdoor stadium, where it originally was to be indoors.) Arlington built the new Cowboys Stadium after a public bond issue committing $300 million of public money to the construction effort.
Rangers Win Sweetens The Deal
The Rangers win essentially gives Arlington an economic head start before the 2011 Super Bowl, as the World Series brings not just the teams from the opposing city, but baseball fans from all over the country. While less than for the Super Bowl, the World Series will bring an estimated $70 million to Arlington and the Metroplex. Since the Rangers were not expected to beat the Yankees, that's an extra addition to the revenue anticipated for The 2011 Super Bowl.
That's money for hotels, restaurants, transportation, rental cars, oh, and store purchases, as well as parking tickets, and of course, the unexpected towed cars. It's also money from hiring bands for local events, and contractors to prepare those venues. It's money for t-shirts, ticket brokers, and caterers. Not everyone will get rich, if any one, but there will be money to be made and at a time when Texas' economy, like other parts of America, can use it.
Arlington, with both the 2010 World Series and 2011 The Super Bowl, is just plain blessed.
World Series 2010: John Hamilton, Colby Lewis Story Of Rangers Win Over Yankees
The Texas Rangers did what was once-considered impossible: they beat the upstart New York Yankees 6 to 1 to earn the right to play in the franchise's first World Series in its history.
The win was a story of the play of ALCS Series MVP Outfielder John Hamilton and Pitcher Colby Lewis. Hamilton and Lewis were the favorites of baseball fans, especially Josh, who has enjoyed an amazing comeback.
Hamilton Back From Hell
Josh Hamilton has what NetDugout.com's Dan Kirby correctly calls "A dark story" involving drug addiction. One told in this video, part of the "I Am Second" campaign which explains how faith in Jesue Christ helped him:
Drugs and alcohol addiction almost destroyed Hamilton's professional baseball career. He started it in 2001 and, with repeated suspensions, lasted well until 2005, when his grandmother Mary Holt confronted him. With the exception of one incident in 2009, Hamilton has been clean, and is tested for drug use three times a week, a schedule he reportedly favors as it reassures those who have faith in him. At the end of the win against the New York Yankees, he celebrated by drinking ginger ale.
While Hamilton was fighting the Devil and finding God, pitcher Colby Lewis was playing baseball and then went to Japan for a year with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, where he won awards for strikeouts.
Hamilton and Lewis Drink The Ginger Ale
According to ESPN, Hamilton his four home runs in six games against the Yankees to lead the Texas Rangers to the promised land. Josh batted .350, was walked eight times, and five of them intentionally. Colby Lewis played lights out, Friday, holding the Yankees to one hit in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position. When the game got tight, he reportedly remembered the words of his pitching coach Mike Maddux: "Trust yourself. Commit to the pitch."
Now, Hamilton, Lewis, Texas Rangers Manager Ron Washington, Team President Nolan Ryan, and the rest of the organization are committed to the 2010 World Series. They await the winner of The Giants - Phillies battle, which enters Game 6 Saturday.
John Boehner And Lisbeth Lyons: Mistress Issue Under Wraps
In his investigation, Stark went so far as to ask John Boehner on camera at his "Pledge to America" event, and to Boehner's face, if Lisbeth Lyons was his, as Stark put it, "girlfriend." Rep. Boehner kept walking by Stark without stopping to even look at him, let alone saying "no."
During that period of reporting on the "Boehner mistress" issue, many were waiting for what was to be an "explosive" expose on this by The New York Times. It never came forward. In fact, since Stark's initial media blast that was fairly-well picked up, there's been nothing new to add to the story. Things, it seems, are scarily silent. The only update was Stark's blog that Mike Pence wasn't his source for the rumor. Other than that, nothing. Zero. Zilch.
Meanwhile, this blogger learned that Lyons, who's Vice President, Government Affairs for the Printing Industries of America, is a powerful and well-connected Washington DC player. Regardless of her connections to Boehner, her assent to prominence should be a welcome study for anyone who wants to break into the ranks of Washington's Power Elite. To this blogger, the alleged relationship looks more like one where Boehner may be too close to a lobbyist, ala John McCain and Vicki Iseman. But there's nothing as of this writing that allows for comfortable expansion on that assertion.
What happened?
What we can go on is just speculation. Given the high-stakes of the 2010 Midterm Elections, it's possible that an operative in some way convinced Mike Stark to back off the subject. There's also the chance that Stark was waiting for The New York Times to follow-up with their own investigation, but the NY Times, seeking to maintain its access to Boehner and other Republican representatives, may have elected to burry their story.
Whatever the case, there's clearly something behind the "radio silence" on the John Boehner and Lisbeth Lyons mistress / girlfriend talk. The question is will this remain through election day?
Stay tuned.
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