Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/tag/debt/page/3/)
The election is over. The Sunday morning gab shows suddenly found a purpose, interviewing serious Senators and other concerned about the work that the new (and first old!) Congress will face – particularly the “Fiscal Cliff”. A tremendous amount of movement on the Republican side shows that tax increases, particularly coming as reform in the deductions allowable, is definitely on the table. Continue Reading
I don’t take a decision to go over the fiscal cliff lightly. Economists think doing so will cause a recession. Since I’m advocating going over the cliff, I’d like to think the economists’ are, um, skewed— pardon the indulgence in a bit of post-election schadenfreude — but the case for the projections being wrong is that it would be convenient for me if they were wrong. Another recession would mean a drop in government revenues that makes the federal deficit and state shortfalls even worse, unemployment would presumably go up, and since real people will gt hurt, it’s just nothing to take lightly. Then why go over? Continue Reading
Remember around this time last summer, when the U.S. was about to hit its debt ceiling? While we resolved that issue by metaphorically stuffing the problem in the closet, it didn’t go away. In fact, it’s about to bust out of the closet, taking the rest of the wall with it.
Terrible news piles up in the financial world. The famous JP Morgan inexplicable $2B derivatives may be as much as $9B, making everyone wonder who is in charge. Continue Reading
Yesterday, MPR picked up an Associated Press article, Colleges’ bank deals s Continue Reading
Students are comparing more than just professors, sports teams, parties, and dorm rooms when they choose a college these days. Continue Reading
As tuition costs for college students soar, President Barack Obama has proposed a blueprint for aiding students’ financial woes.As Obama prepares his proposed budget, which he’ll reveal next week, he has introduced several initiatives to make college more affordable.Last week, the president proposed an increase in campus-based funds like Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Perkins Loans and the Work-Study program by $10 billion annually. The Perkins Loan budget would increase from $1 billion to $8 billion and, according to the plan, would not be an additional cost to taxpayers.Perkins Loans are low-interest loans provided to low-income students.In a Jan. 27 speech at the University of Michigan, Obama said college is no longer a privilege for some, but rather a prerequisite for all.Obama also called on the states to do their part in higher education reform.“Higher education is not a luxury. It’s an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford,” Obama said. “We’re telling the states, ‘If you can find new ways to bring down the cost of college and make it easier for more students to graduate, we’ll help you do it.’”Congressional Republicans have been critical of the plan and have questioned where the funding would come from, fearing taxpayers would get stuck paying for it. Continue Reading
The challenge came in a moment of weakness born of a position of power. I was up giving a quick talk on the essence of storytelling to a group of students learning about marketing techniques, particularly focused on blog writing. It’s a hot topic lately, but my approach is, as always, that there is really nothing new about it at all. Just as the thought-out schtick was winding Continue Reading
Even with student loan debt totaling $1 trillion and a weak job market, some University of Minnesota students will graduate debt-free because they worked their way through college.More than 60 percent of University students graduated with debt in 2010. The average student left with more than $27,000 in student loan debt. But some students are able to earn the cost of tuition and living expenses by balancing school work with full-time jobs.For Tim Clemens, graduating without debt could be a reality. Though paying for school on his own wasn’t his choice, the anthropology junior would not have it any other way.Clemens worked two jobs while still keeping up with five courses this semester and plans on doing the same thing next spring. He works as a personal care assistant for a disabled boy and another job at the American Eagle store in the Mall of America.Anthropology junior Tim Clemens prepares dinner, a gluten-free casein-free pizza, for Aaron Wager on Monday at Wager’s home in Minneapolis. Continue Reading
Roughly 50 Minneapolis protesters rallied outside the University of Minnesota’s McNamara Alumni Center on Tuesday to pressure Wells Fargo CEO Jon Stumpf as he spoke at a lunch lecture.
The group wants the bank to adopt policies in the public interest, including lowering interest rates on student loans, stopping home foreclosures and renegotiating mortgages.