In America. Note the word "median". LOL, I thought you'd say Detroit. The average price for a home in the US is currently about $160k, outpacing median income by roughly 300% since 1960. Which is why homeowner equity has fallen steadily since World War II and is now less than 50% of the value of homes on average.
How are the "Occupy LaPine" rallies going? Are you still selling homes to those who can afford them? Or, have you quit in solidarity with those who claim they can't purchase a home?
It's such a nice, quiet little town, it's pretty hard to find anyone to get upset with locally. We lack that big city screw your neighbor instinct. I expect Occupy Bend is coming soon though.
That's a major strategic mistake on the part of the hippies. Getting the hell beat out of you hurts. barfo
Median means 1/2 the families make that much or more. In 1969, the entire federal budget was $200B and that paid for Guns and Butter (Vietnam and LBJ's new social programs). Today, the government is 40x that big (4000%). And you want to talk about housing prices going up 300% over the same time PLUS 10 years?
It's hypocrisy at its finest. It's bitching about the role of corporations even while it voices an opinion AS a corporation. It, like the Occupiers generally, is a joke. Ed O.
Gee, what a shock. The lazy do-nothings who are protesting now want their student loans to be wiped away and forgiven. Add in the SEIU's involvement, and it's obvious that this is anything but an organic movement.
The government could do this the right way if they had the capacity to understand good ideas and make them happen. They could make it so that they loan money to students who want to get engineering/science/teaching degrees. They could make the loans contingent upon moving to an area that needs economic development or has jobs available(take the low-interest loan, spend the next 4 years doing research in Ames, Iowa or teaching history in Detroit or something). Change majors, the money stops. Get below a 2.0 GPA? The money stops. I'm not saying that someone who wanted to get a doctorate in oboe-playing couldn't do so. They just can't get a federal loan to pay for it. I'm not saying that it's not important to have people who've studied Ancient Mediterranean Religions at the doctoral level...but the government shouldn't be giving low-interest loans to subsidize it. Also, I was under the impression that federal student loans were like taxes...you could default, declare bankruptcy, etc., but the feds are still going to get their money from you. Is that not the case?
Personally I'm in favor of federally subsidized student loans. It's the only way many people can go to school. If there is anything the government should help subsidize it's education. I'm definitely NOT in favor of debt forgiveness related to student loans though.
I agree that the government should help subsidize education. But since resources are finite, it should be smart about what it subsidizes. Paying the same amount of money for a middle-class kid to major in philosophy, vs. paying for a low-income kid to major in, say, chemical engineering or physics or alternative energy engineering seems dumb to me.
Why federally subsidized instead of state subsidized? The only federal funding for college should be grants with strings attached - like Brian mentioned, or GI Bill.
That's half of the definition. Median income is the amount which divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount. No, I'm talking about income not keeping pace with inflation, and the systematic financial enslavement of the former middle class. Maybe you should start another thread for what you want to talk about.
That's ridiculous. It's like saying I can't speak about election reform because I'm a voter and participate in the process. Or saying I can't make a call for other father's to take a larger role in raising their kids because I'm father. Ben & Jerry's isn't perfect (they have paid lobbyist for example) but they have better insight to corporate corruption than you or I do.
I receive federally subsidized student loans and I would not be able to afford school without them. Education is very expensive and costs are increasing with states cutting back on education budgets. My tuition went up $800 a semester due to cuts at the state level. I have been fortunate enough to find work but I can sympathize for the thousands of college grads that can't. Working retail at $8 an hour might help make ends meet but it's not going to pay back the $80,000 (luckily this can be deferred for a long time) I agree that we need to be smart with grants and loans. Federal funding for STEM may help attract more students to these fields but honestly they are not very attractive majors to most students. The required math classes alone keep most students away. Americans are getting killed in these areas. Half of the people in my program are foreigners and all of them plan to stick around after they graduate.
