Today's Stories

February 9, 2009

Vicente Navarro
Why Sanjay Gupta is the Wrong Man for Top US Health Job

February 6-8, 2009

Alexander Cockburn
Obama's First Bad Week

Ishmael Reed
Saint Thelma's Book

James Abourezk
Obama, Mitchell and the Palestinians

William Blum
Obama and the Empire

Patrick Cockburn
Maliki's Triumph

Henry A. Giroux
Educating Obama

Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Darwin's Living Legacy

Mouin Rabbani
A New Low on Gaza?

David Yearsley
Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Springsteen!

Saul Landau
The Wrestler: an American Tragedy

Jules Rabin
Israel's Disproportionate Responses

Raymond J. Lawrence
A Country Awash in Money But Going Broke

Janette Habel
Castro's Socialism in Crisis

Dave Lindorff
Economy on a Thread

Missy Beattie
Blackout at the Gaza Zoo Massacre

Dale Gieringer
The Opium Exclusion Act of 1909: Marking 100 Years of Failed Drug Prohibition

John Ross
Davos vs. Belem; Swine vs. Pearls

Richard Rhames
Jobs is a Four Letter Word

Bob Wing
Obama, Race and the Future of U.S. Politics

Robert Bryce
Corn Dog Update: Another Study Exposes Bio-Fuel Scam

David Macaray
AFL-CIO and Change to Win in "Re-Wed" Talks

James L. Secor
Inaugural Questions Nobody Asks: Notes from Kuala Lumpur

Jason Flom /
Anthony Papa
The Scourging of Michael Phelps

Norm Kent
Ten Reasons to Get High About Pot in 2009

Kim Nicolini
When Utopia Crumbles: Why Revolutionary Road was Shut Out of the Oscars

Lorenzo Wolff
Ridiculous Flow: How Cee Lo Green Sells Soul

Poets' Basement
Emily Dickinson (with Commentary by Daniel Wolff)

Website of the Weekend
S.J. Gould: Darwin's Untimely Burial

February 5, 2009

Michael Mandel
Self-Defense Against Peace

Saul Landau /
Philip Brenner
Killing the Monroe Doctrine

Ralph Nader
Tax the Speculators!

Robert Bryce
The Unraveling of the Ethanol Scam

Russell Mokhiber
Occupied Territory

Sameh Habeeb /
Janet Zimmerman
Innocents Lost

Dave Lindorff
Small Change

Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero
Beyond Green Capitalism

George Ochenski
A Blow to Big Coal in Montana

Website of the Day
Putting CEO Pay in Context

February 4, 2009

Arno J. Mayer
On Corruption

Paul Craig Roberts
The War on Terror is a Hoax

Patrick Cockburn
The Iraqi Elections

Jonathan Cook
An IDF Jihad?

Fred Gardner
Obama's Mixed Messages on Marijuana

Stan Cox
Slumwrecking Millionaires: India's Fragile New Temples

Margaret Kimberley
The Deepening Economic Crisis

Lawrence Velvel
Agony & Desperation: Madoff's Victims

Dave Lindorff
A Generals' Revolt?

Doug Giebel
A Helping of Bitter Beltway Baloney

Serge Quadruppani
Student Protests Sweep Italy

Website of the Day
The San Francisco 8

February 3, 2009

David Price
Counterinsurgency & Anthropology: Roberto Gonzalez on Human Terrain Systems

Bill Moyers
Obama's Wars: an Interview with Pierre Sprey and Marilyn Young

Kirkpatrick Sale
Obama's Lincoln Thing

Conn Hallinan
When Mind Wounds Don't Count

Peter Morici
The Slippery Slope of Stimulus

George Ciccariello-Maher
From Oakland to Santa Rita: "Fired Up, Can't Take It No More"

Muhammad Idrees Ahmad
The BBC's Nadir

Allan Nairn
What Does It Take to Get a Meal Here, an Earthquake?

Norman Solomon
Why are We Still at War?

David Macaray
The Late, Great UAW

Website of the Day
The Bloody Cove

February 2, 2009

Uri Avnery
Under the Black Flag: Israeli War Crimes

Ralph Nader
What to Do About Wall Street

Gareth Porter
Generals Move to Obstruct Obama's Iraq Withdrawal Orders

Paul Craig Roberts
The Death of American Leadership

Harvey Wasserman
The Nuclear Industry's Latest Money Grab

Rannie Amiri
Gaza and the Crimes of Mubarak

Cal Winslow
Stern's Gang Seizes UHW Union Hall

Steve Early
Checking Out of Stern's Hotel California

Alan Farago
Superbowl as Panopticon

Diane Farsetta
Banning Domestic Propaganda

January 30 / February 1, 2009

Alexander Cockburn
Obama and the Oddsmakers

Michael Hudson
Obama's New Bank Giveaway

Ismael Hossein-Zadeh
"Too Big to Fail:" a Bailout Hoax

Dave Lindorff
The Ugly Truth: the American Economy is Not Coming Back

Saul Landau
Freedom Fighters, Terrorists or Schlemiels?

Andy Worthington
Blame the Chef: How Cooking for the Taliban Can Get You Life in Gitmo

Subcomandante Marcos
Gaza Will Survive

Robert Jensen
Future Farming: an Interview with Wes Jackson

Ron Jacobs
Return of the Democrats

Gareth Porter
Is Gates Undermining Another Opening to Iran?

Allan Nairn
Hope for the Dump Cities?

Laura Carlsen
NAFTA's Dangerous Security Agenda

Rev. William E. Alberts
The Feelings of a Stranger

Christopher Brauchli
From Gitmo to Supermax?

Jules Rabin
Israel and the Bomb

Col. Dan Smith
Thoughts From an Inauguration Refugee

Missy Beattie
The US Garden of Evil

Tom Barry
Obama's Immigration Challenge

J. Michael Cole
The Downfall of an Academic

Manuel Garcia, Jr.
Burning the First Amendment

Dan Bacher
How Dam Removal Can Save the Klamath River

David Rosen
Last Gasp of the Culture Wars?

Don Monkerud
Religion in the American Bedroom

Binoy Kampmark
Updike: Apostle of the Middlebrows

Lorenzo Wolff
Playing Down a Bad Reputation: the Lovin' Spooful's Near Perfect Record

David Yearsley
When Orfeo and Euridice Lived Happily Ever After in Upstate New York

Poets' Basement
Valentine and Rihn

January 29, 2009

Peter Linebaugh
Tom Paine's Birthday

Paul Craig Roberts
Is It Time to Bail Out of America?

Riz Khan
The Future of Gaza: an Interview with Jimmy Carter

M. Reza Pirbhai
Pakistan: a New Cambodia?

Wajahat Ali
Obama's Al-Arabiya Interview

Gregory Vickrey
What About the Environment? Cap and Trade and Selling Out

Dina Jadallah-Taschler
Whither the Two State Solution?

Alison Weir
Killing Palestinians Doesn't Count: Fact-Checking Ceasefire Breaches

Alan Farago
Economy Without Escape Routes

Walter Brasch
Taxing a House of Cards

Website of the Day
Madoff Inc.

January 28, 2009

Norman Finkelstein
Behind the Bloodbath in Gaza

Noam Chomsky
Obama's Emerging Policies on Israel, Iraq and the Economic Crisis

Patrick Cockburn
Is Mitchell's Mission Already Doomed?

Rob Larson
The Clinton Foundation Donors

George Wuerthner
Who Will Speak for the Forests?

Allan Nairn
South-East Asian Groups Threaten Retaliation Over Gaza Invasion

M. Junaid
Levesque-Alam
A Muslim's Memo to Obama

Stefan Simanowitz
The Silent Trade

Charles R. Larson
The Autumn of the Patriot

Website of the Day
Veggie Love: PETA's Banned Superbowl Ad

January 27, 2009

Winslow T. Wheeler
Save the Economy by Cutting the Defense Budget

Yigal Bronner /
Neve Gordon
Fueling the Cycle of Hate

Joshua Frank
Obama's Neocon: the Curious Case of Richard Holbrooke

Jordan Flaherty
Torture at a Louisiana Prison

Ralph Nader
Access to Economic Justice

Rev. José M. Tirado
How Iceland Fell: a Hundred Days of (Muted) Rage

Benjamin Dangl
Bolivia Looking Forward

Russell Mokhiber
What If Israel Were in Your Neighborhood?

Martha Rosenberg
Who Says Technology Transfer Doesn't Pay?

C. G. Estabrook
The Inaugural Address: the Digested Read

Website of the Day
Who Profits From the Occupation?

January 26, 2009

Paul Craig Roberts
Speaking the Truth is a Career-Ending Event

Deepak Tripathi
The BBC's Day of Shame

Vijay Prashad
The India Lobby: Drunk with the Sight of Power

Peter Lee
Geithner's Pop Gun Volley at China

Allan Nairn
The Torture Ban That Doesn't Ban Torture

Uri Avnery
On the Wrong Side of History

John Sayen
The Next Shoe to Drop

Dave Lindorff
Afghanistan is No Threat to America

Lawrence R. Velvel
Investing with Madoff

David Macaray
Obama vs. Labor

Roger Burbach
Winds of Change in Cuba

Norman Solomon
The Ghost of LBJ

Website of the Day
Landscapes of Occupation

January 23 / 25, 2009

Alexander Cockburn
The Ghosts at Obama's Side

P. Sainath
The Freefalling Economy

Patrick Cockburn
In Israel, Detachment From Reality is the Norm

Saul Landau
Reasons for War?

Sasan Fayazmanesh
Our Current Economic Crisis: the Monks' Cure

Alan Farago
The Problem with the Stimulus

Christopher Brauchli
When Due Diligence is a One-Way Street

Andy Worthington
Return to Law?

Ron Jacobs
Obama's Pentagon: Bowing to the Masters of War?

Lawrence Velvel
Investing with Madoff: My Experience (Part Four)

Henry A. Giroux
The Audacity of Educated Hope

David Yearsley
The Music That Wasn't There: Chamber Music for Obama's Masses

Raymond F. Gustavson
Here We Go Again: General Shinseki and Veterans

Dave Lindorff
The Way Forward

Roberto Rodriguez
Fighting for Migrant Justice in the Desert

Dina Jadallah-Taschler
The Struggle of an Un-People

Fidel Castro
Meeting Cristina

J. Michael Cole
Can Obama's Shift on Terror Succeed?

Bob Fitrakis /
Harvey Wasserman
It's Time to Free Leonard Peltier

Ramzy Baroud
Breaking Gaza's Will

Mohammad Ali Shabani
The Aftermath of the War on Gaza

Richard Rhames
Panning for Pyrite on a Cold Day at the Mall

Stephen Martin
Voices in the Mirror

Lorenzo Wolff
Jurassic Radio

Kim Nicolini
Katrina's Endless Loop

Poets' Basement
Fleming, Henson, First, Jaramillo and Glendinning

Website of the Weekend
Cartoon Love

January 22, 2009

Paul Craig Roberts
Another Real Estate Crisis is About to Hit

Kathy Kelly
Worse Than an Earthquake

Allan Nairn
US Intel Nominee Lied About Church Murders

Lawrence Velvel
Investing with Madoff: My Experience (Part Three)

Andy Worthington
Halting the Gitmo Trials

Peter Morici
How to Fix the Banks

Joseph G. Davis
The First MBA Presidency and the Business Academy: a Damage Assessment

Adriana Kojeve
The Democrats on Israel: a Brief Oral History

Benjamin Dangl
Bolivia Poised for Historic Vote

Website of the Day
Support the Gaza Community Mental Health Program

January 21, 2009

Gabriel Kolko
Understanding Gaza

Harry Browne
Obama's Work Ethic

Michael Colby
Ready. Aim. Organize.

Lawrence R. Velvel
Investing with Madoff: My Experience

Audrey Stewart
Starting Over in Gaza

Wajahat Ali
Obama and the Muslims

Binoy Kampmark
The Marketing of Hope

David Kεr Thomson
Abolition

John Ross
In My Own Bones

Allan Nairn
Killer in Chief: Will This President Murder Civilians?

Sheldon Richman
The Peaceful Transfer of Violent Power

Website of the Day
Globistan

January 20, 2009

Chuck Spinney
Hosing Obama Israeli Style

Kathy Kelly
The Strongest Weapon of All

Raymond Deane
The EU, Gaza and the Lisbon Treaty

Ralph Nader
State Terrorism Against Gaza

Audrey Stewart
Why I am in Gaza

Jonathan Cook
Israel's Doctrine of Destruction

Harvey Wasserman
A Ten-Point Solar Agenda for Obama

Christopher Ketcham
Inauguration Ad Nauseam

Robert Jensen
A Citizen's Oath of Office

Dave Lindorff
Commie Chorus on the Mall: This Land Really is Made for You and Me

David Macaray
SAG Watches It All Slip Away

February 9, 2009

Out of Sight

Can You Afford College?

By NICOLE COLSON

The conventional wisdom is that getting a college education is part of the "American Dream"--and a prerequisite to a good job and successful career.

But as the recession deepens, more and more students are finding it difficult or even impossible to pay for school--and higher education is becoming more a preserve of the haves in U.S. society than it has been in several generations.

Some are forced to scramble for alternative sources of income--in the form of extra jobs, scholarships or loans. Others, finding themselves caught in the "credit crunch" and suddenly deemed by banks to be an unacceptable risk, are being cut off from student loans. And parents who might have been able to rely on the value built up in their homes to help pay for their children's college costs are finding themselves without options.

Meanwhile, as states balance budgets by cutting higher education funding, and colleges and universities see their endowments shrink, a growing number of schools are depending on higher tuition and fees to make up for budget shortfalls.

Thus, a UCLA survey of 240,000 incoming four-year college students compiled between April and October of last year found that even before the worst of the recession, students were feeling financially strapped. Just under half of those surveyed planned to get a job to meet expenses during college--the highest figure in the 32 years that the survey has asked the question.

In addition, the percentage of students attending their first-choice college dropped to a 34-year low of 61 percent. More than 17 percent of students were accepted by their first-choice school, but chose somewhere else instead.

The proportion of students who said that what they were offered in financial aid played a "very important" or "essential" role in their college choice increased to 43 percent--also the highest recorded figure for that question. The survey also survey found that 8 percent of students attending four-year institutions were expecting to work full-time--again, the highest figure in the study's history.

Meanwhile, tuition and fees are skyrocketing at schools that receive public funding. In California, for example, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget would raise university fees around 10 percent. Florida Gov. Charlie Christ is trying to give several state schools more power to raise prices. And universities in both states plan to cut enrollment slots.

Meanwhile, "other states could not wait until fall and have passed unusual midyear increases, including a staggering 14-percent increase in New York," the Associated Press reported.

For students at New York's public colleges, this translates into a $600 tuition increase, at the same time that funding for the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) is being cut by $348 million.

In addition, New York Gov. David Paterson has proposed cutting $47 million from the state's need-based grant program, the Tuition Assistance Program, and making requirements for assistance stricter. Under the proposal, students would be required to take more course credits--15 instead of nine--to receive full assistance.

This comes on top of the fact that state aid to SUNY's four-year colleges and graduate schools had already fallen by 5 percent per student since the early 1990s--and CUNY funding was down by 14 percent.

Nationwide, applications for federal student aid for the current academic year are running 10 percent above last year's record-setting number, according to the Department of Education.

"The financing system for college is in real crisis," Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers, told the Associated Press. "Every one of the participants in the system is experiencing hardship--higher education institutions, states, aid donors and families all are cash-strapped."

* * *

THINGS WERE bad enough before the crisis hit.

College costs have risen more than 400 percent since the 1980s. In 2008, the average student graduated with more than $20,000 in loan debt. Additionally, the amount of unregulated private student loans that families have taken on has more than tripled in the past five years, and nearly one in 10 college students has loans with interest rates that are as high as 20 percent.

As author Nan Mooney notes:

According to a recent College Board report, about 60 percent of 2007 college graduates had student debt, each taking out an average of $22,700 in loans. Graduates are expected to begin repaying within six months, healthy job market or no. Loans can be deferred, but never erased (unless you die or are permanently disabled). And when those payments do come due, many will face the prospect of paying back not only fixed-rate federal loans, but also high-interest private loans.

The private loan industry is now responsible for 24 percent of student lending. Before the economic crisis hit, it was the fastest-growing sector of the student loan industry. And though the $700 billion bailout bill includes provisions to enable the U.S. Treasury to buy troubled assets, including private loans, from student loan providers, it provides no relief for the students who have taken out such high-interest loans.

According to a National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education report released in December, the cost of attending college has risen nearly three times faster than the cost of living--and could eventually put higher education out of reach for most Americans.

"College tuition continues to outpace family income and the price of other necessities, such as medical care, food and housing," the center said. Adjusted for inflation, college tuition and fees rose 439 percent from 1982 to 2007--a bigger increase than in medical care, housing and food expenses, according to the report. Median family income rose just 147 percent during the same period, the report said.

"The nation's colleges and universities have become less affordable for students and their families since the early 1990s," said the report. "This year continues the trend in deteriorating college affordability in the majority of states."

For poor and working-class students, the situation is especially bleak. According to the report, "On average, students from working and poor families must pay 40 percent of family income to enroll in public four-year colleges. Students from middle-income families and upper-income families must pay 25 percent and 13 percent of family income, respectively."

In addition, students who enroll in college are taking on more and more debt in order to stay there. "Over the last decade, borrowing has more than doubled," the report said.

* * *

THAT IS, of course, when students can borrow at all. Not only are more and more students finding themselves mired in debt after graduation as they face a bleak job market, but one side effect of the financial crisis has been that many banks have suddenly stopped or severely curtailed lending to students.

According to Finaid.org, a Web site that tracks the student loan industry, some 60 private lenders provided $19 billion to students in 2008. In the wake of the economic crisis, however, 39 of those have now stopped lending to students--and the remaining lenders have made it harder to borrow. According to Mooney:

Though money is still available--only 25 of the top 100 lenders, although responsible for 91.5 percent of loans, have dropped out--increasingly, there are conditions attached.

Lenders are pulling back from the community college and trade school markets--where there are higher default rates, lower graduation rates and lower job placement--at the same time that community colleges are seeing an increasing number of applicants seeking an affordable education option.

Community colleges and other two-year institutions are traditionally an option for working-class students and "non-traditional" students (often older students, already working full- or part-time, returning to school in an attempt to start a new career) who often are unable to afford tuition at a four-year college.

And while community colleges spend less per student compared to other types of colleges, they have cut spending the most sharply as government aid has declined.

"Students are paying more, and a greater share of the costs, but are arguably getting less," Jane Wellman, executive director of the Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity and Accountability, told the New York Times.

For students like Elizabeth Lalasz, who attends Chicago's Truman College, suddenly being cut off from loans can throw an entire academic career in jeopardy.

Lalasz, a first-year student in the associate's degree nursing program, knew that money would be an issue when she was accepted in May, and she began filling out her financial aid paperwork.

Since Stafford loans--the federal loans that are generally an alternative for those who can't qualify for Pell grants (need-based grants for very low-income students)--weren't available through Truman College, Lalasz was forced to look to a private lender. But when Lalasz went to her bank, JPMorgan Chase, she was informed that it no longer handles loans for students at Truman. As she said in an interview:

They tried to look it up, and basically said, "Your college isn't on the list." I said, "What does that mean exactly?" He said, "Well, Truman College isn't on the list this year. It may be on the list next year. But right now, we just don't offer loans to your college."

I said, "So what should I do?" He said, "You can try to apply [for a loan] next year." I said, "But I'm going to school this year, and I really need this money. What should I do?"

As it turns out, Chase isn't alone in restricting lending to students at two-year colleges. The New York Times reported in June that:

[s]ome of the nation's biggest banks have closed their doors to students at community colleges, for-profit universities and other less competitive institutions, even as they continue to extend federally backed loans to students at the nation's top universities.

Citibank has been among the most aggressive in paring the list of colleges it serves. JPMorgan Chase, PNC and SunTrust say they have not dropped whole categories, but are cutting colleges as well. Some less-selective four-year colleges, like Eastern Oregon University and William Jessup University in Rocklin, Calif., say they have been summarily dropped by some lenders.

The practice suggests that if the credit crisis and the ensuing turmoil in the student loan business persist, some of the nation's neediest students will be hurt the most. The difficulty borrowing may deter them from attending school or prompt them to take a semester off. When they get student loans, they will wind up with less attractive terms and may run a greater risk of default if they have to switch lenders in the middle of their college years.

Students are left scrambling to find alternatives when their expected funding fails to materialize. In California, for example, tens of thousands of students were forced to look for other lenders when Citigroup suddenly stopped making loans to students at all the community colleges in the state.

* * *

IN LALASZ'S case, her bank recommended that she look for a student loan from Wachovia--which was then about to go bust. Then, Chase offered to come through on a personal loan--but, as Lalasz noted, it would require immediate repayment at a higher interest rate, as opposed to student loans, under which repayment is deferred until school is finished.

"I said, 'But the whole point is I don't want to work full time and go to school, so how am I supposed to pay you back?'" she said. "He just sort of stared at me and then offered the Wachovia option again, and then subsequently went on to say that he would offer me a deal on my credit card."

Such "choices" are becoming the norm. As Jacqueline K. Bradley, assistant dean for financial aid at Mendocino College in California, told the New York Times, "If we put too many hurdles in [students'] way to get a loan, they'll take a third job or use a credit card. That almost guarantees that they won't be as successful in their college career."

As Lalasz put it:

There's no safety net for anybody at the school, and no options in that sense...Most people work full-time and go to school at night, and that's just a typical thing that most students here are going through, because there's no other means by which they can support themselves...A majority of people that I'm in class with have a full-time job and go to school--or they have a severance package from being laid off that they're living off of right now.

Because of the intensity of the nursing program in the second year, Lalasz doesn't think working while going to school is an option. For now, it seems, the only alternatives left are finding someone to cosign a loan or a family member to borrow from.

In Lalasz's case, although her mother was willing to cosign a loan, "The loans on offer that potentially we could get are Sallie Mae loans, which is a frightening prospect--and your credit has to be incredible, even to get a loan with a cosigner," she said.

Instead, her mother hopes to lend her a portion of her retirement income--which is based on her husband's pension from his time as a Wisconsin public schoolteacher. However, even that could be in jeopardy. As Lalasz explained:

It's one of the largest pensions in the country--it's through the state of Wisconsin, But my mom received a letter about a month ago saying that because it's based on the market...they're projecting that there will be a 30 percent decrease in the amount of money that they're going to be providing their pensioners. So that means hopefully it won't continue to drop--not only for me, but for her.

As Lalasz summarized:

A lot of people are looking to going back to school, and two-year community colleges are very desirable in that sense, because they seem affordable. But if you don't have a job, how are you going to go back? And if they don't offer anybody financial aid, how are you possibly going to afford it?

If college is supposed to be a stepping-stone to the American Dream, what many of today's college students face is more of a nightmare.

Nicole Colson writes for the Socialist Worker.

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