OPINION
7B
MONDAY MARCH 31, 2008
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY GANSAN
COMMENTARY
Economy causes strife for students
Attention all students: the economy sucks.
It will likely continue to suck long after the classes of 2008 and 2009 have graduated.
It all seems fairly humorous to me, considering just four years ago the biggest money issue for college students was a possible cap on tuition costs. Pick up any issue of Newsweek or watch a 24-hour news channel, and you will learn that many daunting economic ailments such as increasing inflation, stagnant wages and rising unemployment sap graduating students for all they're worth.
Middle-class students with parents who have modest-to-boastful incomes should be more aware of the parental nest egg. Economists suggest that Americans between 18-30 will subsidize their parents' Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security at the largest proportions in the history of these programs. Baby boomers will pose a huge strain on government spending.
Compound this with the problem that students are taking out loans at record highs. According to The College Board, private loan recipients rose 30 percent from 2004 to 2005. Banks push loans with interest rates that would make Capital One blush, and they claim these loans are convenient and necessary.
The American dollar is worth less and less every year. The Canadian dollar outpaces America by approximately one cent now. And don't even think about traveling to the United Kingdom unless your surname is Trump.
Lou Dobbs may be on to something when he says there is a war on the middle-class, and special interests are the main perpetuators. Some conservatives in Congress, who eagerly lob the socialist moniker for their respective economic plans, seem to have no qualms with stabilizing or rescuing flailing banks and other poisoned Wall Street entities with
taxpayer money (Bear Stearns, Bank of America, anyone?).
But in all fairness, neither of the candidates has proposed policies that come close to solving pressing economic problems. According to most analysts, these proposals wouldn't pay for themselves and would cause today's college graduate to pay much higher taxes.
Students are somewhat aware of the pitfalls of loans that target workers with less-than-stellar credit. Unfortunately, many college students haphazardly wield credit cards like magical items and sometimes fail to make regular payments.
Even more destructive are checking account overdrafts that can encourage a preventative charge-off of that bank account, which acts as a giant beacon to future lenders, which is bad unless one does not want to get a job, a new car, etc.
Many Americans don't know their country is in debt to countries like India and Mexico. Incessant borrowing from other countries blunts the potency of the future American dollar by deepening the national debt, which we as future laborers will have to neutralize.
Conventional wisdom says a college education is quite necessary and sometimes expensive. Couple this with the frightful apparition of a receding economy and wasteful government spending on entitlement and social programs (not to mention a duo of wars), and students have something of a lose-(maybe)-win situation.
Students cannot do anything about inflation or gas prices, but they can be careful about credit card debt and student loans.
It wouldn't hurt politicians to be more concerned about people losing their homes than the Wall Street aficionados losing their year-end bonuses.
This topic's urgency will settle in when that starting salary of $75,000 can barely cover monthly expenses that would have been manageable a decade ago.
Williams is a Coffeyville junior in English and pre-law.
BLOGS@KANSAN.COM
Mixtapes are a great way to get music out to the general public
For the past few years, the music industry has struggled with sales because of illegal downloading. This is why I love the idea of the mixtape.
Rappers have been using mixtapes to their advantage for years.
pop culture catastrophe
It's great for up-and-coming rappers, because they can get their voice heard in places they normally wouldn't be heard. My suggestion is that artists outside
A lot of the time, mixtap really plug an artist's upcoming album and can result in better sales.
of rap try this mixtape thing.
Happy listening to all!
—Matt Lindberg
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FROM THE DRAWING BOARD
Max Rinkel
COMMENTARY
Bad habits die hard, even in election season
I have a bad habit I'm going to have to break if I ever want to fulfill my dream of being elected president of a home-owners' association: I have been known to exaggerate the truth.
First I told myself it was something I had to do to protect myself. Had I used my real name at the library, the faculty would know I was ditching German class (again). Then I went on a trip to Washington, DC, and told the beggars who asked my name that I was Steve Lawrence. Why were they asking my name, anyway?
There was a time that the American people accepted that from their leaders, but not anymore. Now we demand complete honesty (or at least a more-complete destruction of contradictory evidence).
I knew my dishonesty had become a problem when I lied to my doctor. I had a medical problem that could have been associated with my city government desk job. When I got to the doctor's office and filled out the paperwork, I decided that I could claim a thrilling job description and, as long as it was still a desk job, I wouldn't be keeping my doctor from anything
My dishonesty started as a fantasy I'd think about but never do. Then one day I signed in to the high school library as "Nikita Khrushchev," and it was all downhill from there.
he needed to know. Instead of writing "city planner" for my line of work, I wrote "hostage negotiator"
The doctor came in to my room and went through my questionnaire. He said, "So, you're a hostage negotiator?"
I said, "That's right."
I know that stunts like this have to stop or else they will derail my political career. No more claims of "sniper fire," no matter how badly I'm losing. I will no longer claim to be People magazine's reigning Sextiest Man Alive, despite how plausible it seems. Although I might make extensive use of the Internet, I will stop telling people that I invented it.
He said, "So what do you really do?" And then he made sort of a big deal out of crossing out my previous answer and writing in my new one.
Gone are the days when Thomas
Of course, in the past few decades, America has made great strides in no longer giving a crap if its elected leaders have anything to hide.
Minster '08: Now More Than Ever.
Eagleton had to give up a vicepresidential nomination because of previously suffering from depression.
Now we're all looking forward to the Democrat Party's convention in Denver, fully expecting Hillary Clinton to go nuts and knock over the microphone stand like in the climactic scene of "Billy Madison."
Following the ouster of New York governor Eliot Spitzer, his replacement, David Paterson, has decided to head off any future embarrassing revelations by providing them all to the media himself. He acknowledged affairs he may have financed with campaign money, and he admitted to past drug use.
If that's really what it takes these days, then let me get two things off my chest: I wish happy birthdays to people even though I don't really care if they have happy birthdays, and when flying, I use the noise of the airplane engines to allow me to fart with impunity.
I hope you can see past these youthful indiscretions and support the electoral juggernaut that is my campaign for home-owners' association president.
Minster is a Lawrence senior in economics.
There, I've said it.
» TALK BACK TO THE KANSAN OPINION DESK
Was Earth Hour effective?
The World Wildlife Fund of Australia asked people and businesses to turn off their lights and electronics to shed light on the issue of climate change by reducing electricity use and carbon dioxide emissions.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The goal of Earth Hour was to highlight the difference an individual can make to fight global warming. Did this event succeed?
Gordon Kubanek, Frank de Jong and Chris Bradshaw hold candles below the unlit Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Saturday. From Rome's Colosseum to the Sydney Opera House, floodlight icons of civilization went dark dawn for Earth Hour.
Send your thoughts to kansanopdesk@gmail.com. Replies to this week's Talk Back topic will be printed on Friday.
editorials around the state
Sebelius sensitive to climate change
In vetoting an ill-considered bill that would have allowed two massive new coal-fired power plants, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius sent this message to state lawmakers:
Wall Street is convinced that carbon regulation is coming, and three major investment banks recently announced new rules requiring utilities to show
Kansas can't continue to ignore climate change or the growing momentum nationally to regulate carbon.
that coal-plant proposals factor in the cost of future regulation
Instead of pushing quickand-dirty solutions to state energy needs, Kansas lawmakers should get behind this reality-based approach.
The Wichita Eagle March 25 editorial
Minimum wage isolates state
Kansas has the embarrassing distinction of being the only state in the nation with a minimum wage below the federal level.
An effort by House Democrats to boost the state's minimum wage and put it on track with the federal wage stalled Thursday. House Republicans scuttled the proposal, which was tied to a labor bill, by voting to send the bill back to committee.
The Garden City Telegram March 24 editorial
To contribute to Free For All, visit Kansan.com or call 785-864-0500. Free For All callers have 20 seconds to talk about anything they choose.
BOB SAGET!
If you vote for United Students,you are retarded!
Oh, Justin, I didn't know they came that small!
I wish I never got a Facebook it makes me look at your profile obessively when I don't know what's going on between us for some sort of clue.
--everywhere.
Hello people. I really don't care how much alcohol you can consume, so please stop talking about it. Thanks.
I would study more in Watson if the desk lamps worked and there wasn't dead ladybugs everywhere
My friend had sex on my TV set. That ain't right!
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I miss you so much right now.
To the bouncer at Abe and Jakes that got me back my ID after the door guy took it, I love you! Love, the girl who is forever in your debt.
He makes me feel accepted, normal and beautiful. Too bad he doesn't know it.
To the idiot who pulled the Oliver fire alarm at 3 a.m., I hope you don't get laid for a long, long time.
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It's all fun and games until you wake up to find puke in your shower the next morning.
At KU, we have a pretty weak showing on CollegeHumor.com. We're #43. I guess other schools really do have a better party scene.
I love the movie "The Prince and" at 1 a.m. just after thinking that all chances of romance and love are impossible.
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Don't blow it, Bill. Let them play.
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To all people involved in Student Senate: Bring back Uni!
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