Breakups! Gates is quits with the Washington Post, and Buffet is following behind him

Breakups aren't always such a bad thing. Sometimes it is good to call it quits.

In this case, the relationship between Gates and the Washington Post has come to an end, and that news makes me wish I had a nice bottle of Champagne to pop. On top of that, Mr. Buffett will also be leaving the Company Board. I had heard from an inside source, around the same time I wrote about the sordid relationship between the Post and Kaplan, that Gates was going to call it quits with them. So you can imagine my elation at the moment! (For those of you who wish to think of me popping a bottle of champagne on behalf of the indentured educated class, go ahead and imagine hearing that cork gleefully freeing itself from its neck now).

Naturally, Donald Graham, the chairman of the Post, is one of the biggest defenders of the for-profits. I know. Shocking, right? So then everybody on the Hill reads the Post. They read problematic stories by Michelle Singletary (see here and here), and conclude that there's really not a problem when it comes to student loan debt. They are also busy convincing everyone that for-profits are necessary and good. Ha.

As previously mentioned, and picked up in a recent piece by Ms. Linda Stamato, in order to boost the reputation of Kaplan, recruiters were encouraged to tell prospective students that "'Kaplan is owned by The Washington Post, one of the best newspapers in the country, and that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’s wife, Melinda Gates, were on our board of directors.'"

Luckily, Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffett have enough sense to know that they don't want their names run through the mud. Let's hear it for healthy breakups! 

 

Suicide and Murder-Suicides

The investigative work continues and I am collecting more stories about suicide and suicidal thoughts among student loan debtors. This research has led to reading extensively on widespread suicide-murders and lone suicides in the U.S. Many of these tragic events are a result of financial disaster. Suicide as an answer to economic calamity has definitely spiked in recent years. While I realize there  are a number of complex reasons for why people commit suicide or contend with suicidal thoughts, there is growing evidence which suggests that increased stress, regarding one's personal finances, has led to a number of untimely deaths. More worrisome, how many more will take their own lives because of financial ruin?

Harold Pollack wrote a piece in August 2010 about the relationship between unemployment and suicide. Here's the most noteworthy data from that piece:

- In 2007 the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline received 13,423 calls

- In 2009 the calls skyrocketed to 57,625

If you are willing to share your story about suicide/suicidal thoughts and student loan debt, I'd like to hear from you. The subject is serious and sensitive, so I will not share your name or identity with anyone.

Finally, please remember that you are not alone, and that there are resources for you. If you are considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline immediately (1-800-273-TALK (8255). More information is available at their site.


Related Links (AEM and other publications  by me):


"Student Loan Debtor Confesses: 'I Think About Jumping Out the 27th Floor Window of the Office Every Day," The Huffington Post (Dec 20, 2010)

Debt and Suicide (Radio interview with Shared Sacrifice; originally aired 16 December 2010)

Suicide Among Student Debtors - Who's Thought About It? (17 August 2010)

For The Indentured Class, Suicidal Thoughts Are Not Merely An Individual Problem (22 October 2010)

An Angry Mother Vents (4 October 2010)

Other Related Links:

99ers band together to save a life (27 January 2010) 

Suicide Rates Up Since Recession Began, Debt A 'Way of Life' For 99ers (26 July 2010)

Tomgram: Nick Turse, Desperate Times and Desperate Measures (28 January 2009)

The Economic Crisis Is Getting Bloody - Violent Deaths Are Now Following Evictions, Foreclosures, and Job Losses (20 November 2009)

 

Did anyone really see this coming? Proprietary schools pushing hard against gainful employment approach

Indentured educated servants: prepare yourself for some intense battles. With little resources to promote our voice inside the beltway, the recent developments attacking the gainful employment rule are worrisome. In addition, we have a new and despicable sheriff in town, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC). But when it comes to the attacks, I doubt anyone saw these things coming, especially with regard to the proprietary schools. They're winning, and it is a crying shame.

Foxx is now the chairwoman of the higher-education subcommittee in the House of Representatives, and she has allies in the banking and student lending industry. She is against any form of regulation, and is targeting the gainful employment rule. Pell Grants are also vulnerable.

She also hopes to slash the budget of the Department of Education, and in ways that are not good for borrowers.

It sounds like those within the Department aren't too concerned. For instance, Eduardo Ochoa, assistant secretary for postsecondary education at the U.S. Education Department, stated that the new rules will probably not be disconcerting for the proprietary schools. He added, "The regulations as they come out are going to be significantly different—I think they're going to be better, nuanced, and I think that there's a lot there that people will appreciate having other views reflected."

When someone like Ochoa uses words like 'nuanced,' that is code for the following: "we've been lobbied and pressured so hard, that we're going to cave to the demands of the for-profit industry." Well, we can all rest easy, knowing that the very schools that ought to be regulated are drafting the new rules. After all, that is the way things work these days in Washington.

If these are Foxx's plans, you can imagine what that means for current borrowers who need relief and immediate solutions. Rest assured, I'm working on angles and have some propositions out there.  

That's why we need to organize and demand answers from Congressman Virginia Foxx.   

Original source: Eric Kelderman,"Rep Foxx calls for Streamlining Regulations and Cutting Spending," The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 25, 2011 

Related Links

Kelly Field, "Obama Calls for Spending Freeze but Says He'll Spare Education," The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 25, 2011

Shame more people didn't vote that way in her district.

Obama's Metamorphosis: From Center-Center-Right to Right-Right

Last year I listened to the SOTU while driving through the South. We had to tune in by AM radio, and at times the crackling speech was as we went deeper into the south. We were headed to South Korea, and I still had hopes for what Obama intended to do for the country. While that sense of hope was somewhat of a flicker, it was still there. Today, that then dwindling flicker has been fully extinguished. Not even a faint string of smoke or the leftover hint of hot wax remains.

When President Obama delivered his last SOTU, I had even received a letter from him a few weeks weeks earlier about the student lending crisis. Of course, the President didn't call it that, but that's why he was responding to me. As of this date, the White House continues to shift the conversation back to the same sorry message. They can't get away from the safe and easy lines that relate to prospective and current students. To hell with the current debtors. Even though the outstanding student loan debt is nearing a whopping $900 billion, we're still going to talk about how we'll take care of those who don't currently carry the burden of debt. Oh, and we'll be sure to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.  Because helping prospective students is really going to make a difference when it comes to a generation, actually generations, of people who are part of the indentured educated class. Keep up the good work! You're really making a friggin' difference.

In President Obama's last SOTU, he mentioned student loan debt at least four times. His most inspiring line was this: "In the United States of America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college."

He should have added, "well, what I mean to say is, no prospective students should go broke when they go to college in the future. To hell with those of you who are current student loan debtors. We've been convinced that you're not a problem in D.C. That's what the the associations for the universities and students are telling us. Oh, so is the College Board. I'm pretty sure I've had some dinners with Nelnet and Sallie Mae. Besides, I read the Post, and they never seem to make a stink about student loan debt. They've all assured me that you're really not a concern. So, to hell with you. But . . . please rally around me for my next election, so that I can break more promises and then bitterly complain that you are ungrateful and whiny!"

Welcome to the new age of Right-Right Obama.

Related Links

"Bitter Taste, Bad Letter," July 19, 2010

"You don't say? The President tells the Arizona Daily that higher education needs to be affordable," September 28, 2010


"Last call with the White House," February 5, 2010

"Quick Notes: The President's State of the Union Address," January 21, 2010

"The Obama Administration: Why they have failed (Part II)," January 11, 2010

"The Obama Administration: Why they have failed," January 7, 2010 

Other related links

"Barack Obama - Out of the closet," Michael Brenner, Huffington Post, January 24, 2011

"Obama's transformation culminates in Tuesday's State of the Union Address," Sam Youngman, The Hill, January 24, 2011

Olbermann calls Obama a sellout, MSNBC, December 7, 2010

Good luck, indentured educated citizens! You're on your own!

Quick links: Our favorite gal, Sallie Mae

For those of you interested in market updates and news-related stories about Sallie Mae, I've decided to post bi-monthly updates of relevant links with annotations. Since we're all big fans of Ms. Mae, she's the first on the list for this new feature at AEM. In the future, I will also post quick links about Mr. Nelnet. If you would like me to feature other lenders, please don't hesitate to submit the names of your favorite companies! After all, we know how much they care about the indentured educated class.

So, without further adieu, let's see all the great and dismal and infuriating things that is in the news about Ms. Mae.

- "Sallie Mae Hints at Dividends," WSJ, January 20, 2011 

SLM may return cash to shareholders. She hasn't done so since 2007. They've made these promises to investors in the past, but then have failed to follow through. The best news in this article? SLM's fourth-quarter earnings are up by 45%! Great news for us, right?

- "Calls from student loan firm aggravate non-borrowers," Chicago Tribune, January 20, 2011

So this story is about a couple with the last name of Collins. It turns out they started receiving calls from Sallie Mae . . .  get this . . . non-stop, even though they were non-borrowers. I know, I know, it's shocking to those of you who are aware of the amazing quality of customer service that Ms. Company Mae possesses. She's a real lady when it comes to phone call etiquette and fair treatment. In any event, the Collins shared the same last name with one of Ms. Mae's debtors (lucky them!). Even though the couple told Sallie to stop calling day in and day out, the very next day - you guessed it - the phone would ring again and again and again and again. You get my point. And of course it would be damned Sallie on the other end of the line wanting to chit-chat. Luckily, there's a happy ending for the couple. As for the debtor, I doubt that's the case for him.

- "Sallie Mae Tops Zacks Estimate," Daily Markets.com, January 20, 2011

"SLM Corp. (SLM: 14.13 +0.31 +2.24%), better known as Sallie Mae, reported fourth quarter 2010 core earnings of $401 million or 75 cents per share, ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 72 cents. The results compare favorably with prior-year quarter’s core earnings of $268 million or 44 cents per share. Favorable results were primarily driven by decrease in loan loss provisions and gains from repurchasing debt. During the quarter, the company repurchased $1.3 billion of debt with realized gains of $118 million."

 You can count on us! We are experts in terrorizing and demoralizing the indentured educated class.

Member Notes: Meetings, Legislation, the hope of institutionalizing AEM, Inc.

It's a cold, frosty, icy day in D.C., but that isn't going to stop me from making it to yet another meeting on behalf of the indentured educated class and AEM, Inc. This time I am visiting with a non-profit organization to discuss a potential partnership.

As many of you are aware, I have been in D.C. since the 9th of January. In a matter of 3 weeks I have traveled nearly 8,000 miles, and have been on two continents (Seoul > L.A. > Dallas > D.C). Despite all the traveling, I am still energetic and setting up as many face-to-face meetings in D.C. as humanly possible. So far, I've had a lot of luck. I've met with staffers in various offices on the Hill, and will be meeting with more - as well as a Representative - this coming week. We have had lengthy discussions about the student lending crisis, and I have even been asked to provide them with feedback and suggestions on some forthcoming legislation. If we consider how much we had been ignored even a year ago, these conversations suggest that we're making headway. People here are listening. It would be nice if we could receive that sort of response from the White House. Sadly, they keep referring back to prospective students (for instance, see my post about Ms. HigginBottom here), even though that has absolutely nothing to do with current student loan debtors and the resulting crisis. If Pres. Obama does not listen to the voices of the indentured educated class, I have a feeling we might not be so keen on the idea of heading to the ballot boxes to vote for him. Why would any of us be motivated to support a president and an administration who continually ignore such a large portion of the population?

But I digress. 

I've also had lunch with several important authors, and they have provided me with enormous support. One of my friends, a renowned writer and lifelong activist, has offered to organize some events to help me spread the word about AEM and the indentured educated class. I'm not just having face-to-face conversations with authors and previous policy makers. For example, Robert Reich recently responded to several of my emails and has offered to keep an eye out for grants. He closed by saying, "Thanks for your important work."

We will eventually, I am confident, open an office in the D.C. area. When that happens, I will hire staff, pay them well, and provide them with great health insurance. So many of you know that that is my biggest goal - that's because it is important to institutionalize AEM. We've incorporated and I have a team of 8 outstanding Board Members. I did have 9 until quite recently. One of my Board Members passed away unexpectedly from pancreatic cancer on January 13th. She will be sorely missed. While we certainly cannot replace her, I am turning my attention again to recruiting more Board Members and volunteers.

There's so much going on, even more than what I've mentioned above. I am also collaborating with an outstanding scamblogger, Nando, who works on revealing the often harsh realities of going to law school, taking on piles of debt, and entering a legal industry that is crumbling. You can check out his work over at Third Tier Reality. Incidentally, Nando's blog was just referenced in a NYT article entitled, "Is Law School A Losing Game?" It is one of the few pieces that adequately portrays the problems of obtaining professional degrees and taking on astronomical amounts of student loan debt. Of course, I don't think Mr. Wallerstein, a law school debtor, is depicted in a particularly positive manner, but overall I was pleased by the content of this piece.

Moreover, I am continuing to work on my research about suicide/suicidal thoughts among student loan debtors.

Finally, we are launching a new campaign that will challenge Rep. Virginia Foxx's support of lenders and so forth. If you have yet to sign up, please do so now. Email me (ccrynjohannsen AT gmail DOT com) and simply copy this into the subject line: "Virginia Foxx: Count me in for the next campaign."

 Working around the clock for the indentured educated class! If you are able to do so, please donate to All Education Matters, Inc. AEM depends upon generous donations.

Quick Post: Indentured Educated Texans Needed

Indentured Educated Texans -

I am assisting a reporter for the Star-Telegram in Ft. Worth on a story about student loan debt. She wants testimonials from student debtors living in Texas. If you are willing to speak to her - you can just provide a first name, if you wish to remain anonymous - please send me an email ASAP (ccrynjohannsen AT gmail DOT com). Also, if you don't live in the state of Texas, but know any indentured educated Texans, please let them know about this request.

Thanks!

Why the For-Profits are taking a hit

The press seems to be failing to put the two-and-two together. New enrollments at the University of Phoenix has dropped by nearly 42% . Likewise, Strayer has seen a drop of around 22%.  Naturally, that means that their stocks aren't doing too well. It's with even more delight to report that other for-profits have taken a hit. These are the most notable.

Why is this happening? Well, here are two reasons: (a) Senator Harkin's hearings are taking their toll, as are (b) Robert Shireman's proposed regulations on 'gainful employment.' It's a shame that the press can't connect the dots, and can't give them any credit. But, then again, should we really expect one leg of the entertainment industry to provide us with good analysis on matters such as this? Probably not. Of course, you have your pro-business framing, but I'll save my critique of that for another day.

Next Campaign: Asking Virginia Foxx To Defend Her Views

If you would like to join us for the next letter writing/emailing/phone calling campaign, please send me an email (ccrynjohannsen AT gmail DOT com). Just write in the subject line: 'Virginia Foxx: Count me in for the next campaign.' We need as many volunteers as possible, so please don't hesitate to sign up and spread the word.

If you're wondering why we're launching this most recent initiative, look no further than this: Rep. Foxx to lead GOP Attack on Higher Education.

Rep. Foxx does not have the interests of students or student loan debtors in mind, and we need to ask her  - aside from the obvious (cha-ching) - why that's the case.

Dying for an Education

I am currently exploring the relationship between suicide and student loan debt. In addition, I recently worked on a piece about a student loan debtor who is also a soldier. That's when I began to think about soldiers who struggle to return to civilian life, and how many of them are also being taken advantage of by the higher education industry.

Thus, a tale of several themes ensues, and is based upon the devastating interconnection of suicide, war, soldiers, student loan debt, and the indentured educated class.

Earlier this week I had a long conversation with Rick Staggenborg, who ran for U.S. Senate as a Progressive in the last election, about these issues. He graciously agreed to weigh in on all of these themes, and also added insights into the reasons for why corporate personhood must be abolished.

Let's hear what Rick had to say about these matters:

As a former VA psychiatrist, part of my job was to help returning veterans adjust to civilian life despite the effects of the psychological trauma of combat. One of the major issues we worked on was the problem of overwhelming anger at the senseless brutality of war. Many had come to understand how they had been used to serve not the nation but the corporate powers upon which our so-called leaders depend for campaign contributions. These were the veterans who have the most difficulty adjusting to their return to a society that has largely ignored the wars. Their sense of betrayal is compounded when they hear the excuse “Well, they volunteered, didn’t they?” 

Although I became reasonably successful at helping them control their justified anger, when ads come on the radio breezily encouraging kids to “serve your community one weekend a month” in the National Guard, I am too angry to listen. In 2000, none of the men and women in the Guard had any reason to believe that they were going to be sent to a God-forsaken desert to risk their lives and too often to take those of others. The Guard’s stated mission has to serve in event of national disaster or to fight in the event of a foreign invasion.  They have never been forced to serve in time of war except in rare circumstances when there was a universal draft and everyone had to face the prospect of going to war.

Members of the National Guard join for a variety of reasons, but most expect to take advantage of the educational benefits these ads promise. Many join expecting to serve their community. Others are former active duty service members serving to advance their careers while they earn a pension. The majority enlist primarily to get an education. For too many of them, it is simply the only job they can find in our devastated economy. Until 2001, none of them could have imagined that they were going to be used in a cynical “war on terror” whose primary purpose was not to defend America but to protect the profits of multinational oil and other corporations that have a financial interest in war itself. Having been used in a cynical effort by our government to run a war on the cheap, they often return home to devastated lives.

While members of the Guard may be less likely to lose their marriages while serving in war than their regular military counterparts, their marriages often do not survive the stresses placed on the family when the warrior returns to civilian life. Despite rules put into place by the government at the beginning of the wars they come home to lost jobs, foreclosed homes, defaults on student loans and children who do not know them. Often, it seems as if even their spouses do not know them. The habits that kept them alive in battle often serve them poorly in their roles as husbands, fathers and members of their communities.  No one serves in combat without being changed in some way. 

Young people often join the military for reasons of patriotism or a sense of family duty to uphold a military tradition. For increasing numbers of others, the only reason to enlist is that they see no other way to build a future for themselves and their families. In a twist of irony or by design, they are given few choices but to serve the interests of those who destroyed their other opportunities.  The costs of America’s economic and military warfare have included sacrificing investment in education and real economic growth. While all of us feel the pain of an economy that increasingly functions to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of an economic elite, none feel it more acutely than those who have risked their lives to defend “the American way.”

While members of the National Guard have been forced to serve multiple combat tours that compound the harm to their families, regular military service members have often served as many as six tours. Even those who are allowed to leave often stay in because they realize that they cannot function in society as they are, that there are no jobs waiting for them and most of all, their sense that they cannot leave their comrades behind to risk their lives for what increasing numbers see as a pointless cause. With little hope, they simply continue their duty as they see it, trying to keep their buddies alive until our so-called leaders come to their senses.

With this background, it is hardly surprising that suicide and murder rates among young vets are at record highs and rising. Having been trained to kill and to suppress their emotional reaction to this soul-searing act, it is difficult to returning to a civilian life that often seems trivial in comparison to the recent experience of making constant life or death decisions. While much is made of suicides and fratricide in the military, it is dwarfed by the extent of violence directed against self and others upon their return. In the field, the soldier has a sense of purpose, even if it is “only” to keep the buddy next to them alive, not for the defense of the nation. At Fort Bliss, Texas, members of one brigade that suffered a single fatality in Iraq during a 2010 tour committed seven suicides and four murders in the year of their return.  

It is little wonder that our youth have incurred severe psychological damage from having answered our government’s call to fight for corporate Empire under the cynical cover of “protecting our freedom.” The predictable result is a loss of trust in the government that put them at constant risk and whose actions claimed the life of the men and women to whom they were often closer than their own families. It is easy to understand why these men and women can give up on the hope of living in a society that honors their sacrifices on behalf of all Americans. This despair is expressed in the increasing levels of violence against themselves and others, most tragically when the victims are the ones who love them the most.


It is not too late to assure that the sacrifices born by this small proportion of Americans are not in vain. If we care about what happens to the veterans of our latest war for Empire, we will join in an effort to assure justice for them and the next generation. We cannot allow our children to be raised as cannon fodder to feed the insatiable lust for wealth and power of what amount to international corporate terrorists. We can heal the wounds in society that have allowed those with no interest in America or Americans to seize control of our government only by a united and determined effort to end this danger to democracy. To do this, we must take control of our own government and make our Congress and President put our interests over those of their corporate patrons. 

Together, we can reverse the trend toward corporate control of our government by fighting to raise awareness of the issue of corporate personhood, the Supreme Court doctrine that holds that corporations have Constitutional rights. Among these is the “right” to pay for the campaigns of their puppets in the Senate under the guise of “free speech.” This is not just another issue to be faced but the one issue that must be resolved before we can expect our government to work for any serious changes that challenge corporate interests.

We owe it to our children to leave the country and the world a better place than we found it. As Jefferson said, the only way to keep a democracy is to maintain an educated citizenry. Having grown up in a much more compassionate and just society that valued the education of its youth, I am ashamed that I did not see what was happening to it earlier and become involved in political activism then.  We cannot afford to sit idly by and watch a small group of dedicated activists do our fighting for us. They cannot succeed any more than can the men and women who were asked to do the impossible for their nation at such a cost to themselves and to their families. As importantly, we owe it to their comrades and others who have given the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that this nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal, shall not perish from the Earth.


Related Links

 Rick Staggenborg: Oregon Candidate for U.S. Senate

 Soldiers for Peace

 Continued Conversations with Candidates: Rick Staggenborg Discusses Education Reform  

 Conversations with Candidates: Rick Staggenborg 

 For-Profits College Target the Military 

 For-Profit Schools Bank $521 Million Off Veterans' GI Bill Benefits