Yesterday was the birthday of Florence Reece, the coal miner's daughter active in Harlan County Coal strikes who wrote "Which side are you on?"
It's as relevent today as it was when she first snag it
Which side are you on?
Friday, April 13, 2012
We're #1 ..........in low wage jobs!
The United States used to pride itself on having the world's largest middle class.
Following World War II inequality declined and the blue collar middle class grew. Economists call this period the Great Compression. It was a product of the New Deal, labor and financial regulations, widespread unionization, and social investments in education, science, research and development and the infrastructure.
More than forty years of attacks on unions, deregulation, financial liberalization and privatization have undermined the middle class and the nation's shared prosperity. Inequality has soared to heights not seen since the Gilded Age. Upward mobility, once a hallmark of the America promise, is less likely than in other industrial democracies. The United States increasingly resembles a banana republic.
The nation's business class has waged a one sided class war against the unions, wages and benefits of private sector workers since the 1970's. Now they and their political spokeman like Scott Walker have turned their fire on firefighters, teachers and other public servants. Business Week put it bluntly in 1974 when it declared: "Some people will obviously have to do with less...it will be a bitter pill for many to swallow the idea of doing with less so that big business can have more."
But are we are still number one ................in low wage jobs. Is this the America we want to leave our children and grandchildren?
Following World War II inequality declined and the blue collar middle class grew. Economists call this period the Great Compression. It was a product of the New Deal, labor and financial regulations, widespread unionization, and social investments in education, science, research and development and the infrastructure.
More than forty years of attacks on unions, deregulation, financial liberalization and privatization have undermined the middle class and the nation's shared prosperity. Inequality has soared to heights not seen since the Gilded Age. Upward mobility, once a hallmark of the America promise, is less likely than in other industrial democracies. The United States increasingly resembles a banana republic.
The nation's business class has waged a one sided class war against the unions, wages and benefits of private sector workers since the 1970's. Now they and their political spokeman like Scott Walker have turned their fire on firefighters, teachers and other public servants. Business Week put it bluntly in 1974 when it declared: "Some people will obviously have to do with less...it will be a bitter pill for many to swallow the idea of doing with less so that big business can have more."
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Walker a tool of out of state bosses
Governor Walker has what Steven Colbert would call a truthiness problem.
Walker has traveled the country collecting huge campaign contributions from out of state millionaires and billionaires, people like the ultra right wing Koch brothers or Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the discredited founder of the bailed out financial services corporation, the American International Group, whose financial loses contributed to the financial crisis that caused the Great Recession.
Rather than admitting that he is a tool of out of state bosses, and I mean real bosses, Walker continues to try to discredit his opponents by claiming they are supported by "out of state union bosses."
Union leaders, of course, aren't bosses at all. They are democratically elected leaders of democratic organizations of working people. But that aside. If you compare the source of Walker's campaign contributions to Kathleen Falk's you can see who is a tool of out of state special interests and who is being supported by the people of Wisconsin.
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Walker has traveled the country collecting huge campaign contributions from out of state millionaires and billionaires, people like the ultra right wing Koch brothers or Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the discredited founder of the bailed out financial services corporation, the American International Group, whose financial loses contributed to the financial crisis that caused the Great Recession.
Rather than admitting that he is a tool of out of state bosses, and I mean real bosses, Walker continues to try to discredit his opponents by claiming they are supported by "out of state union bosses."
Union leaders, of course, aren't bosses at all. They are democratically elected leaders of democratic organizations of working people. But that aside. If you compare the source of Walker's campaign contributions to Kathleen Falk's you can see who is a tool of out of state special interests and who is being supported by the people of Wisconsin.
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Monday, March 26, 2012
New York Times Exposes For-Profit Education Scams
In a March 23 editorial the New York Times accuses for-profit colleges of leaving "students with crippling debt while furnishing them valueless degrees." It reports that federal and state investigations have uncovered "unconscionable examples of fraud" and argues that these diploma mills must be reigned in.
The editorial is below and linked here:
For-Profit Education Scams
March 23, 2012
Attorneys general from more than 20 states have joined forces to investigate for-profit colleges that too often saddle students with crippling debt while furnishing them valueless degrees. The investigations have just begun.
But it is already clear from testimony before a Senate committee that Congress must do more to rein in the schools and protect students.
For-profit colleges are typically more expensive than public colleges, which means students graduate owing more. They account for nearly half of student loan defaults, even though they enroll a little more than 10 percent of higher education students.
State prosecutors are uncovering unconscionable examples of fraud. Lisa Madigan, the attorney general of Illinois, testified this week that she had recently filed suit against a for-profit school that had saddled individual students with up to $80,000 in loans while promising employment with law enforcement agencies that do not recognize the school’s credentials as valid. Jack Conway, the attorney general of Kentucky who leads the multistate group, has identified two schools that went bankrupt, leaving students with loads of debt and worthless credits and still on the hook for those outstanding loans.
A bill introduced by Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat of Illinois, would permit students to discharge their private student loans when they declare bankruptcy. Congress should also allow borrowers to have their private loans discharged when a school closes, preventing completion of the degree. (The federal loan program already allows this.) Lastly, Congress should require private lenders to make every effort to see whether students are eligible for affordable federal loans before trying to sell them more expensive private loans.
The editorial is below and linked here:
For-Profit Education Scams
March 23, 2012
Attorneys general from more than 20 states have joined forces to investigate for-profit colleges that too often saddle students with crippling debt while furnishing them valueless degrees. The investigations have just begun.
But it is already clear from testimony before a Senate committee that Congress must do more to rein in the schools and protect students.
For-profit colleges are typically more expensive than public colleges, which means students graduate owing more. They account for nearly half of student loan defaults, even though they enroll a little more than 10 percent of higher education students.
State prosecutors are uncovering unconscionable examples of fraud. Lisa Madigan, the attorney general of Illinois, testified this week that she had recently filed suit against a for-profit school that had saddled individual students with up to $80,000 in loans while promising employment with law enforcement agencies that do not recognize the school’s credentials as valid. Jack Conway, the attorney general of Kentucky who leads the multistate group, has identified two schools that went bankrupt, leaving students with loads of debt and worthless credits and still on the hook for those outstanding loans.
A bill introduced by Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat of Illinois, would permit students to discharge their private student loans when they declare bankruptcy. Congress should also allow borrowers to have their private loans discharged when a school closes, preventing completion of the degree. (The federal loan program already allows this.) Lastly, Congress should require private lenders to make every effort to see whether students are eligible for affordable federal loans before trying to sell them more expensive private loans.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Graduates of for-profits have higher default rates and lower earnings and employment than peers, study finds
Students attending for-profit colleges fare worse than similar students at community colleges and public and private nonprofit institutions, according to a new study reported on in the Chroncile of Higher Education.
Six years after they enter college, students from for-profit institutions are employed at lower rates and earn between $1800 and $2000 a year less than their peers.
For profit college students also have significantly higher default rates. Among students in the data set who had racked up between $5,000 and $10,000 in cumulative student-loan debt by 2009, 26 percent of those from for-profit colleges had defaulted, while 10 percent of those from community colleges and 7 percent of those from nonprofits had done so. As the level of debt increased to $20,000, the discrepancies grew wider: The default rate among for-profit-college students was 16 percent, compared with 3 percent for community-college students and 2 percent for those from four-year colleges.
The study is linked here.
Six years after they enter college, students from for-profit institutions are employed at lower rates and earn between $1800 and $2000 a year less than their peers.
For profit college students also have significantly higher default rates. Among students in the data set who had racked up between $5,000 and $10,000 in cumulative student-loan debt by 2009, 26 percent of those from for-profit colleges had defaulted, while 10 percent of those from community colleges and 7 percent of those from nonprofits had done so. As the level of debt increased to $20,000, the discrepancies grew wider: The default rate among for-profit-college students was 16 percent, compared with 3 percent for community-college students and 2 percent for those from four-year colleges.
The study is linked here.
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