Help The Middle ClassNews and Information For The Heart Of America
Student Loan Repayment Relief Is On The Way
Repaying a student loan could soon be a little less painful.
Starting this week, anyone with a federal student loan can apply for a program, run by the Department of Education, that caps monthly payments based on income, and forgives remaining balances after 25 years. Those choosing to work in public service could have their loans [...]
Ahmadinejad Says The Iranian ‘Soft Overthrow’ Has Failed
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says unspecified foes caused the turmoil in which hundreds of thousands of Iranians protested alleged election fraud. A reformist group calls for an end to demonstrations.
Reporting from Beirut — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his controversial reelection affirmed by clerical allies a day earlier, on Tuesday hailed his victory as a triumph for the [...]
Opinion/Johah Goldberg (L.A. Times): Pork — It’s For Everyone, Including Obama
The president’s ’solutions’ to the economic crisis amount to spending as much as possible for as long as possible.
There’s an old joke about a fantastic three-legged pig and a farmer. It comes in many versions. In some tellings, the pig saves the farmer’s life. In another, it can talk. And the punch line always comes [...]
Opinion: Our Role In Iraq Is Still Not Over
U.S. troops are out of Iraq’s cities but not its future. Even a best-case scenario is likely to feature an American role there for years — militarily as well as diplomatically.
That does not mean a permanent large U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Under a security deal struck with the Bush administration, American forces are to [...]
REALITY WATCH: Arizona, California, Indiana, Mississippi And Pennsylvania Ready to Shutdown
Reporting from Indianapolis and Denver — The last time Indiana missed its deadline for passing a budget and had to shut down the government was during the Civil War.
But on Monday, as lawmakers raced to hammer out an agreement over school funding, state agencies began preparing 31,000 workers to be temporarily out of a job. [...]
Consumer Confidence Hits The Wall (Again): Stocks Slide (Again)
Investors are adding consumer confidence to their growing list of things to worry about.
Stocks fell sharply today after a private research group said consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in June.
Even with the slide, stocks ended the second quarter with sharp gains. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 15% for the April-June period, its best [...]
U.S. Pulling Out of Iraqi Cities: Some Cheer, Some Afraid
Tuesday marked the deadline for American troops to pull out of Iraq’s towns and cities — a long-anticipated date that has been met by street festivals in Baghdad.
Celebrations were tempered, however, by fears of renewed violence as insurgents seek to use the date to stage new attacks.
Newscasters on state TV network Al-Iraqiya draped Iraqi flags [...]
Help Your Kids With Student Loan Payments
The average college grad comes out owing $22,500, per FinAid.org – a scary sum in good economic times. Now unemployment for BA holders is at its highest since the Labor Department started keeping track in 1992, making that debt burden even more onerous.
If your kid is crushed by the bills, offer this advice before offering [...]
Supreme Court Overturns Sotomayor’s Decision In New Haven Firefigther’s Case
The Supreme Court ruled on Monday, in a case with enormous implications for workplaces across the country, that white firefighters in New Haven suffered unfair discrimination because of their race when the city scrapped the results of a promotional exam.
“The city’s action in discarding the tests violated Title VII,” the court held in a 5-to-4 [...]
Drug Trafficking In Your City: Justice Department Special Report
Where do all those drugs in your hometown come from? Which vehicles are most likely to be transporting drugs? Which highways and side roads are the most traveled by narcotics traffickers? The answers are contained in a new series of reports published for 32 market cities, from the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center.
Made public [...]
