Media

I made my debut on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday, discussing the news of the week, from Amtrak to the new Progressive Agenda to Combat Income Inequality (which is taking citizen co-signers here).

The fact that student debt continues to soar is troubling enough. Now there is clear evidence that it also deepens the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Recently the office of Scott Stringer, New York City Comptroller, released a widely covered report confirming what many in the pension world have been realizing: High-priced investments in hedge funds and private equity have not only failed to beat the market but cost the city pension funds billions of dollars.

[...]

One effect of the ruling is that it’ll now be easier to sue an employer over an expensive 401(k) plan, turning up the legal pressure a notch.

Those expenses matter. A 2012 study by Demos, a New York City-based think tank, found that over a lifetime, 401(k) fees cost a two-earner family with a median income nearly $155,000 — and consume nearly one-third of their investment returns.

[...]

Citizens United just added fuel to an already blazing fire—and returning to the “glory days” before the decision will not create an America where we all have an equal say over the government decisions that affect our lives.

[...]

A separate report this week by the left-leaning think tank Demos suggests that black students may also be disproportionately impacted by such policies.

[...]

The nation’s yawning wealth gap is a major reason why minority students end up borrowing more for college. Structural racism has created disparities in home ownership rates, income and other wealth-building vehicles, providing minority borrowers with fewer resources to tap to pay for college, on average.