Tag Archives: Student debt

The Clinton-Greenspan connection| The case against dynasties on Blog#42

I was reminded, as I was reading Paul Krugman’s recent blog post on Alan Greenspan (see below,) that he is wedded to Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC. I was also reminded that Greenspan was Chairman of the Fed during… the Clinton years. Continue reading The Clinton-Greenspan connection| The case against dynasties on Blog#42

The Federal Reserve Is Telling Us The Economy Is Pitiful

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08/07/2014

Fewer than one-third of Americans report being better off financially than they were five years ago, with weak household savings and hefty debt burdens holding back large segments of the economy, according to a new Federal Reserve survey. Continue reading The Federal Reserve Is Telling Us The Economy Is Pitiful

Joseph E. Stiglitz: Inequality Is Not Inevitable | NYTimes

By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ

AN insidious trend has developed over this past third of a century. A country that experienced shared growth after World War II began to tear apart, so much so that when the Great Recession hit in late 2007, one could no longer ignore the fissures that had come to define the American economic landscape. How did this “shining city on a hill” become the advanced country with the greatest level of inequality?

One stream of the extraordinary discussion set in motion by Thomas Piketty’s timely, important book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” has settled on the idea that violent extremes of wealth and income are inherent to capitalism. In this scheme, we should view the decades after World War II — a period of rapidly falling inequality — as an aberration.

This is actually a superficial reading of Mr. Piketty’s work, which provides an institutional context for understanding the deepening of inequality over time. Unfortunately, that part of his analysis received somewhat less attention than the more fatalistic-seeming aspects. Continue reading Joseph E. Stiglitz: Inequality Is Not Inevitable | NYTimes

Elizabeth Warren faces right-wing stooge: Here’s who’s quietly funding her top critic – Salon

By David Dayen

David Dayen

Today, the Senate votes on Elizabeth Warren’s bill to refinance previously issued student loans to current rates, which would save borrowers $55 billion over 10 years. The bill is designed to play up a contrast between the two parties on student aid; it’s not going to pass. And ultimately we need to give young people a free or near-free public option for higher education, rather than modestly subsidize the indebtedness that causes delays in major purchases and harm to the economy. But you could certainly do worse than reducing the massive amount of money the government makes off student borrowers (and I don’t think you have to pay for it; an investment in higher ed pays off itself in the long run). Continue reading Elizabeth Warren faces right-wing stooge: Here’s who’s quietly funding her top critic – Salon