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21 November 2011

Praise: OWS call for Student Loan Forgiveness


For years I have told my students that college is worth it.  I would point to old data that showed that earning a B.A. or a B.S. would nearly double their lifetime earnings.  That old data might still be true, but the cost of attaining a tertiary degree has been climbing too high.  A science cartoon, Calamities of Nature, brought this into stark focus this morning.
In response, students and former students involved in Occupy Wall Street are calling for student loan forgiveness.  That may sound extreme, but compare the support students received from Pell Grants starting in 1975 to just the year 2000.
Over the ensuing twenty-five years, the Pell Grant program did not keep pace with the rise in college costs. By fiscal year 2000 the maximum Pell Grant provided only 40 percent of the cost of attendance at a public four-year institution. While total Pell Grant spending had grown 691 percent over the preceding twenty-five years, federal loan volume had increased 2000 percent over the same period, thus shifting the foundation of the Title IV programs from grants to loans.
So, the cost of higher education is increasing dramatically and the funds to attend college have shifted from grants to loans that, with interest, sometime climb to more than $100,000.

This is happening as some Republicans are calling for the opposite of assisting students will college.  Former Texas Congressman Dick Armey spoke a year ago on CNN
The federal government has the military academies and it’s an important thing they should continue to do that. But the education of our young people oughta be under the jurisdiction and auspices of the state governments. The state of Texas has a great university system that has not been made any better by federal money involvement.
What we need to rejuvenate the United States is not austerity.  We need investment.  The history of federal assistance to universities and unviersity students should be a guide.  Historian Stephen Ambrose spoke of the GI Bill on the PBS Newshour a decade ago.
Listen, that GI Bill was the best piece of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress, and it made modern America. The educational establishment boomed and then boomed and them boomed. The suburbs, starting with Levittown and others, were paid by GIs borrowing on their GI Bill at a very low interest rate. Thousands and thousands of small businesses were started in this country and are still there thanks to the loans from the GI Bill. It transformed our country.
Historian Michael Beschloss continued later in the same discussion.
At the time that the bill was debated in Congress it passed only by a very slim margin, and, in fact, a lot of -- particularly Republicans -- said let's not pass this thing because a big part of the GI Bill was to give returning vets $20 a week for 52 weeks. They felt that would encourage sloth; that people would not try to get jobs. They thought that this would extend the welfare state, rather than do the opposite. But the other thing I think really endures as a part of America's philosophy is this linked the idea of service to education. You serve the country; the government pays you back by allowing you educational opportunities you otherwise wouldn't have had, and that in turn helps to approve this society. That's something that goes al the way back to the time of he Revolution, and I think it's one reason why we think of it so fondly.
This sounds a lot like the current crop of Republicans.  Using this history as a guide, it is clear to me that it is time to invest in American education.

20 November 2011

Repudiation: Newt Gingrich calls Child Labor Laws "Truly Stupid"

The Republican Party has been going after unions, most notably in Wisconsin and Ohio but in many other states as well.  Now former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is going after one of the notable accomplishments of organized labor, child labor laws.  As covered by CNN, Mr. Gingrich spoke at Harvard University on Friday.
"It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in child laws which are truly stupid," Gingrich said. "Saying to people you shouldn't go to work before you're 14, 16. You're totally poor, you're in a school that's failing with a teacher that's failing."
Gingrich then proposed a system he said would help those students rise from poverty.
"I tried for years to have a very simple model. These schools should get rid of unionized janitors, have one master janitor, pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work; they'd have cash; they'd have pride in the schools. They'd begin the process of rising."
The efforts to defund and privatize public schools are now extending to doing away with janitors?  Perhaps we should first look at some of the basics of the federal child labor laws, part of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
  • While minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, with a few exceptions, one of the big exceptions is that children can be paid as little as $4.25 per hour during their first 90 consecutive days of employment.
  • Students who are 14 - 15 years old are limited to three hours of work on school days, eight hours of work on non-school days, and forty hours per non-school week.
  • Students who are 14 - 15 years old may not work in manufacturing, mining, or other hazardous employment.
  • Students who are 16 - 17 years old may not work in hazardous employment but are not subject to limited hours.
Children under the age of 12 are allowed to do agricultural work with their parents' permission.  Unlike non-agricultural work, there are no hour limitations on children doing farm labor (other than that it must be outside of school hours for children under the age of 16).

Mr. Gingrich is proposing allowing students to work so much more that the likelihood of them graduating from high school and then college will be severely undermined.  The child labor laws were designed so that students would be able to focus on their studies instead of on working to survive.  The division of the haves and have-nots, the erosion of the middle class, would be exacerbated by Mr. Gingrich's "very simple model".

Thanks to Addicting Info for the heads up.

Praise: President Obama - Made in the U.S.A.



The birthers, those who believe that President Obama was not eligible for the presidency because he was not born in the United States, died down after the release of Mr. Obama's long-form birth certificate in April of this year, but seem to be back with Republican hopefuls such as Governor Perry.

Of course, all of this is silly at best.  Once Mr. Obama was sworn into office by Chief Justice Roberts, Mr. Obama was and is President Obama.  He was born in Hawaii, one of the fifty states, as a citizen.  At the time, there might have been a question of Senator McCain taking the oath, since Mr. McCain was born in Panama at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station.  There was a very real question of Mr. McCain's eligibility that led to a non-binding Senate resolution that he could serve as POTUS.

That Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii and has released the long form birth certificate and was sworn into office by Bush-appointee Chief Justice Roberts should have been enough.  But the nonsense continues.  Any given day one can find birther articles at World Net DailyPamela Geller also continues the liesOrly Taitz and Donald Trump also continue the lies.

Yesterday the White House responded with their latest effort to counter the lies, this time with humor.  The mug features the long form birth certificate on the reverse and the President on the obverse.
The page where this is links to campaign-fundraising.
Stay caffeinated for campaign events (and everything else) with a limited-edition Made in the USA mug. Donate $20 or more to get yours.
I do appreciate fighting lies with humor.

23 November 2011, FollowUp 1.