Media

Once upon a time, America invested in its young people so that they could enter the world without debt. College was meant to provide opportunity and strengthen the overall economy by creating a better- educated workforce. Looking at the numbers today, I can only think that our current system has failed this generation.

Today’s economy doesn’t contain a lot of good news for working people. While the Great Recession officially ended five years ago, millions of Americans are still out of work and wages continue to lag. Yet this week, working people made some hugely significant gains as the fruits sowed by organizing efforts, lawsuits, legislative action—and above all, workers standing up for themselves despite tremendous risk—began to be visible.

Sticker price matters because sticker price inflation dictates how much the federal government spends. High sticker price is one of the main reasons the feds dole out almost $170 billion in grants, student loans, tax incentives, and work study money each year.

On Tuesday morning, for the ninth time in less than a year and half, low-wage employees working for federal contractors are going on strike.

The water war in Detroit has taken a new turn. The emergency manager (the virtual city dictator appointed by the governor) shut off thousands of customers of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department for non-payment. Some were undoubtedly taking advantage of the chaos caused by the State takeover and the bankruptcy but most are unable to pay because of the city's economic crisis. Massive protests and the intervention of an overtly outraged bankruptcy judge prompted 15-day moratorium on shutdowns.

As we mentioned during the rollout of Paul Ryan's poverty plan last week, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit is one of the few anti-poverty measures both parties can agree about (even if they can't come to an agreement on how to fund it).

It's fair to say most people think of giving to charity as a good thing to do. If we have extra resources, it feels right to help people who are less fortunate.

The fall out continues over whether Governor Cuomo's top aid interfered with an ethics commission probe, with some now saying that the state's Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, could have done more to protect the integrity of the investigations, and whether any actual crimes were committed.

"The steady erosion of state investment in public higher education over the last few decades reflects a stunning abdication of responsibility on the part of states to preserve college affordability."