Tuition for Four Years Could One Day Cost $420K+ (For 1/16/12)

The 4-year total tuition to attend one of the U.S.'s most prestigious colleges will rise to $422,320 in 2034, if current trends continue for children born this year. Public universities will average $81,000 by comparison. Students will pay off debt to attend college for the rest of their lives. The main reward for taking on student loans to get a college degree is a higher-paying job. Manufacturing job losses have shrunk income and benefits for Americans without college degrees. Minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation because of Republican policies. Without reform, only students from households of the Top 1% will be able to afford college. http://www.alternet.org/story/153788/%24422%2C320_for_a_college_degree_with_tuition_skyrocketing%2C_it_is_time_to_rethink_high

Fox News: Majority of Americans (for 1/15/12)

According to a Fox News poll as of December 2011, 51 percent of American voters think President Obama has done a poor job in his first three years in office. But, Democrats have an 82%/11% approve-to-disapproval rating of Obama's overall performance across the entire term to date. Poll participants stated at a 94% rate that the struggling economy needs improvement or growth. But, Obama still stands a good shot at re-election due to GOP's failure to produce a strong candidate who would reform the tax code and clean up the corruption in the banking system. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/09/fox-news-poll-disapproval-president-obama-is-up/

GOP Rep Scolds Constituent; Tells Her to Join Military (for 1/14/12)

Arkansas Congressman Steve Womack yelled at constituent Kelly Eubanks and told her to join the military to pay for college. House Republicans cut 2011 Federal Pell grant spending for 100,000 students in need. Womack's aides tried to interrupt her and he did not directly answer her demands. http://thinkprogress.org/education/2012/01/13/404358/gop-rep-berates-student-pell/

Romney Profitted from Tax Breaks, Subsidies (for 1/13/12)

During Mitt Romney's tenure, Bain Capital invested in Steel Dynamics to help its steel mill grow to over 6,000 jobs now in Indiana's DeKalb County. He has not told the public how Indiana and DeKalb County provided Bain with very favorable tax breaks and subsidies. Bain made a June 1994 investment of $18.2 million in Steel Dynamics and reaped $104 million off it five years later. Bain received $37 million in subsidies for the mill and despite citizen opposition, DeKalb County raised income taxes for infrastructure upgrades to benefit Bain, which also received $23.4 million in property tax relief from the County. State tax credits of $4.4 million also went to Bain. GS Industries, another Bain Investment, was based in Kansas City and went broke in 2001. Bain reaped huge dividends from GS Industries while taking away paychecks, health insurance, and some retirement benefits from 700 workers. Bain wanted the U.S. Government to back $50 million on this investment. Stories like these will drive the public to demand real tax reform that gets rid of subsidies that benefit corporations, investors, and the wealthy. The Cato Institute, a free-market think tank, has even decried these as example of "corporate welfare." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bain-subsidies-20120113,0,1268299.story

Four Times More Illegal Corporate Political Spending (for 1/12/12)

Just one percent of respondents to the 2009 National Business Ethics Survey saw businesses breaking the law on political spending. That just jumped to four percent. The big reason this activity is occurring is the upcoming 2012 Election, with many in the business community dissatisfied with President Obama's handling of the economy. The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on Citizens United in January 2010 is the vehicle that let this happen, by allowing unlimited campaign spending by third parties without disclosure. Also, employees report more instances of bribery and illegal payments to governing authorities. http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/01/12/403738/survey-illegal-corporate-campaign-contributions-up-400/

Jon Stewart Points out GOP Candidates' Hypocrisy over Romney's Bain Capital Record (for 1/11/12)

Jon Stewart points out the hypocrisy of other Presidential Contenders launching attacks in the GOP debates on Mitt Romney over his track record of firing thousands of people while at Bain Capital. Stewart says, "Mitt Romney answered the Republicans' eHarmony ad" for the Presidential nomination. On The Daily Show, he played clips of all the contenders talking about free markets, deregulation, and lower taxes. http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/jon-stewart-romney-answered-gops-e-harmony-ad-and-now-rivals-hate-him.php http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/10/jon-stewart-gop-hypocritical-class-warfare-mitt-romney_n_1196232.html?ref=comedy

GOP Presidential Candidates Attack Romney's Greed (for 1/10/12)

Independents, Democrats, liberals, and anybody else who does not have a right-wing viewpoint regularly attack Mitt Romney for cutting jobs to make massive profits for himself. In the GOP debates however, his rival contenders have gone after him and broke ranks with current GOP economic thought. Romney started Bain Capital, a prviate equity firm, in 1984 and was its first CEO. Of 77 companies Bain invested in over 15 years, 22% of them went bankrupt as Bain bought them, ran up lots of debt, sold them off, and laid off thousands of workers. Jon Huntsman said, "he likes firng people." Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry both believe Romney raided businesses, destroying jobs to enrich his investors. But, he remains the leading GOP Presidential Candidate to win the nomination. Which suggests that most GOP voters do not have a problem with all of the jobs going overseas and dismiss it has a harsh reality of the mythical free market capitalism that they believe in. Which also suggests that they do not believe that Romney's tactics as a corporate raider do not harm the economy, despite evidence to the contrary. http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/01/09/400769/republican-pile-on-bain-capital/ http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/01/09/400404/romney-bain-bankrupts-billions/