House Quashes Rules On Student Debt at For-Profit Colleges

House Quashes Rules On Student Debt at For-Profit Colleges

ONCE AGAIN REPUBLICANS IN THE 'HOUSE' TAKE THE SIDE OF SCHOOLS THAT EXPLOIT THE MIDDLE CLASS AND LOW INCOME STUDENTS.

You've all seen the late night TV ads for colleges(formerly trade schools) that advertise their programs for great jobs in the industries of the future such as "medical bill", "pharmacy assistant" or "IT Specialist". They claim that these jobs will secure a good future for those students that want to improve themselves but don't qualify for a 4 year or community college.
In an effort to add consumer protection to these claims the Department of Education and the Obama Administration proposed disclosure legislation called the "gainful employment rule". This would allow the DOE to cut off Federal loan funding for those programs which did not actually provide a proven career path as promised. You see most of these for profit schools make most of their money from the tuition secured by Federal student loan programs offered to students trying to improve their future. Experience has shown that some of these programs--not entire schools--do not provide the education needed to get a job that pays well enough to provide for a good future. And since these students are burdened with thousands of dollars of student debt they eventually default on these Federally insured loans which taxpayers have to pay for. The default rate on these loans is significantly higher than for the not for profit colleges and yet the for profit colleges can make up to 90 percent of their profits from these loans. Additionally tuition costs at these schools is approximately twice as high as a 4 year school and 5 times as much as a community college.
The Republicans in the HOUSE and some Democrats have come down on the side of the for profit schools which have-by some coincidence-increased their lobbying efforts in Congress. This is a very cynical attitude about education and improving the employment capabilities of marginal but ambitious students.
The HOUSE has already done the dirty deed but that doesn't mean you can't call your Representatives and tell them how you feel. The Senate has not done anything yet so there may still be some time to have them revitalize the "gainful employment rule"--that is unless you look forward to helping out the for profit schools at taxpayer expense--again. Read the full article in the Huffington Post.

iPad Your Future

MIDDLE CLASS MAYHEM

For years now I've been reading about the assault on the middle class. It has never been more obvious than it is now. Wall Street is up and Main Street is in decline. Unemployment has been hovering at around 10 percent for far too long. The pain from middle class America is palpable. And because of a rising stock market the media reports this suffering so matter of factly.
One of the media exceptions to this is the Huffington Post. Over the past year or two I have become quite a fan of this internet journal. The heart of America is poured out daily under the watchful eyes and compassionate soul of Arianna Huffington, a Greek immigrant who has achieved the American Dream and has made it her responsibility to report on the serious consequences of its disintegration.
I recently started reading her current book(audio book) in which she attempts to raise the volume about this situation. It is called Third World America. While trying to maintain a positive attitude she never the less warns of the perilous road we are traveling down. This is not an indictment of the upper class so much as it is a warning that the destruction of the middle class could lead to a vastly different America. One in which no one is exempt from pain. It boggles my mind that so few in the media expound on this story on a regular basis.
Since I believe in grass roots movements being able to have significant impact on society, politics, etc., I have decided to create a movement which hopefully moves the conversation to the next level. Individual Americans have a profound way of expressing the situations they find themselves in far better than authors or columnists or even bloggers.
I am addressing this blog post to the American middle class. I would like to hear from you about how the economy has impacted you and your journey towards the American Dream. Please email a brief letter to me. I will make it my responsibility to reprint your letters with the hope that the ship of state can be set back in the right direction. And if I get enough of a response I will also read your letters on YouTube, every day if necessary.
Please let everyone you know of my intentions and pass on the email address. I will continue with this endeavor until there is no longer a need to do so.
Send your emails to lettersfromthemiddleclass@gmail.com
Allen Bauman

3rd World America--Ariana Huffington

Just say thanks....to our friends and family in the service and overseas.

If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's.

Thanks for taking to time to support our military! 




Gifts for our loved ones........


Happy Holidays To All.....

Thinking out of the box.........

This post will be real short. That's because it's a reaction to something I read and I need to do more research to make sure my idea's make sense. As you can see I'm willing to speak before I have all my facts straight. It seems all the rage these days especially in politics.
Oddly enough I'm going to comment on Ben Bernanke and his plan to pump $900 billion into the economy to create additional liquidity. He's going to start by purchasing $600 billion in Treasury's in an effort to keep interest rates low which should spur banks to lend and business to borrow so that they expand and hire new workers so that unemployment or underemployment decreases which will give us, the general public, the confidence to spend and save the economy, again!!!
Ben, haven't we tried this already and no one showed up?
The last time we tried this the banks took the money and held on to it. I assume they still have it since they just wanted to shore up their balances sheets and continue with business as usual which is why they are making great profits now at everyone's expense. Ben, didn't you find that embarrassing the last time? Is it necessary to do this again? Have you checked the world press today? They think your nuts because this policy will destabilize the world's economy's and cause inflation. Inflation may not be very harmful at this point but if your policy creates a cheaper dollar or on the flipside more expensive foreign currencies then won't it cost us, the American public---the Main Streeters more to buy goods since just about everything we buy is from China, Japan or a handful of European countries? What are you thinking?
Since I'm not an economist I could be wrong. But isn't it also true that every move you make is being telegraphed to the fixed income Wall Street crowd? Won't they be able to know what you are doing before you do it? And won't they be able to buy the securities you want to buy before you buy them and at a lower price so they can sell them back to you at a higher price?
This is completely nuts!!! Even Paul Volcker thinks so!!!
If you want to stimulate the economy put the money where it belongs and will do the greatest good. Try something new!!! Put the money on Main Street. Instead of helping the financial fat cats, help create a new breed of bank right on the corner of the only street light in town. Foster the creation of state owned banks! I believe there is only one in the entire country in either North or South Dakota. It lends money to small business' and other local borrowers who are trying to put the money to a good use locally and which can create jobs locally. Help all the states do this on a permanent or temporary basis so they can get the money flowing even though the big banks are not inclined to do so. Why continue to enrich the very people who don't need it right now? Doesn't this make more sense? And to get the money Downtown even faster you can foster a synergistic relationship between the SBA and these new State Banks!!! With the ability to borrow low interest rate funds from the Fed and an SBA with a new purpose we can create a financial dynamic outside of the traditional banking system to invigorate the economy in thousands of local towns and neighborhoods and create hiring and wealth through smaller local business'. These funds can also be used to spur creation of start-ups of green companies who want to manufacture or assemble wind turbines and all their other parts. Solar panels, energy efficiency contractors(lot's of construction workers out there can do this), wind farms, geothermal projects and so much more. These manufacturing activities are now being done on a massive scale in China, Germany, Spain, Brazil and other countries. We need more manufacturing jobs here dammit!!!. Don't you get it?
I said this would be short, I'm sorry, I was wrong. As I said at the beginning, I am not an economist and I need to do much more research on state owned banking. When I do I will be back with a better plan. Until then I hope, Mr. Ben Bernanke, that this gets to you somehow and you reconsider shelling out $900 billion to the wrong people.
I'm just saying.....
Allen Bauman

P.S.: If anyone does actually read this blog and agrees with me please pass it on through your social network so that they can let Ben Bernanke know what they are thinking. I'm interested in hearing opinions also......Thanks

Real Estate--Doom and Gloom or a Land Rush?

The new game in town is doom and gloom. All the visual media--cable, broadcast tv, etc.--have been into it for months now. It's a new way to report the same old stories and yet get people excited(nervous). Now the NY Times is joining the band! Let's not fall for all of this. Yes the housing market is in the crapper. But one man's trash is another man's gold. In the New York market where I work as an appraiser and agent(Queens and Nassau Counties) investors have been extremely active. Some people call them "house flippers". They perceive real value at these prices. And this type of real estate investor provides real value. They buy neglected homes, fix them up so that they virtually become the best house on the block and resell them at fair prices. If you want to create stability this is one way to do it. This is the market at work despite the politicians.
Stability can be created at these levels. Outstanding mortgages can be refinanced--with subsidized closing costs--by extending maturities. Forty year mortgages have been around for a long time. The Japanese have 100 year mortgages available because housing costs are prohibitive. Temporary programs should be developed to extend mortgage maturities in 10 year increments up to 100 years. Home owners don't want to walk away from their homes! People have to live somewhere. If monthly payments were equal to rental rates banks would not have to worry about strategic defaults. Stop playing games!!! Contact your elected officials at all levels and tell them to get off their butts and act like decent human beings or THEY will be the ones looking for a new place to live(and work).
By the way, if you are looking for a good deal on a home to live in and for investment, drop me a line. IT'S A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!