Year: 2011

Mark Cuban, Occupy Wall Street, and Your Predatory Student Loans

~ Chris Cocca ~ 5 Comments
Mark Cuban
This man is the only person making sense.

I’m one of those people who tends to love Mark Cuban.  I love that he’s outspoken, I love that he takes risks, and I love that he’s a goofball who often acts, like my grandfather might have said, “like he doesn’t know what to do with himself.”   In short, Mark Cuban is good for America.

Last week, Cuban posted “soapbox advice” to the Occupy movement.   He talks about the evils of Wall Street, the lie that companies act in the best interest of their shareholders and other things you’d expect from a corporate (I’m sorry) maverick.  He makes a lot of great points, my favorite of which is his stance on student loans:

3.  Limit the Size of Student Loans to $2,000 per year

Crazy ? Maybe, maybe not.  What happened to the price of homes when the mortgage loan bubble popped ? They plummeted. If the size of student loans are capped at a low level, you know what will happen to the price of going to a college or  university ? It will plummet.  Colleges and universities will have to completely rethink what they are, what purpose they serve and who their customers will be. Will some go out of business ? Absolutely. That is real world. Will the quality of education suffer ? Given that TAs will still work for cheap, I doubt it.

Now some might argue that limiting student loans will limit the ability of lower income students to go to better schools. I say nonsense on two fronts. The only thing that allowing students to graduate with 50k , 80k or even more debt  does is assure they will stay low income for a long, long time after they graduate ! The 2nd improvement will be that smart students will find the schools that adapt to the new rules and offer the best education they can afford. Just as they do now, but without loading up on debt.

The beauty of capitalism is that people like me will figure out new and better ways to create and operate for profit universities that educate as well or better as today’s state institutions, AND I have no doubt that the state colleges and universities will figure out how to adapt to the new world of limited student loans as well.

Finally, the impact on the overall economy will be ENORMOUS. There is more student loan debt than credit card debt outstanding today. By relieving this burden at graduation, students will be able to participate in the economy

Okay, so we need to think more fully about the real issue of getting more low-income students into the nation’s best schools.  I agree that Mark’s not really there on that.  But you know what?  Schools like Princeton (Princeton!) are starting to give need-based breaks to students at levels never expected, in some cases forgiving the bulk of tuition out the outset.  They’re not doing it because the market or the government is making them.  They’re doing it because they are progressive, and because they can afford to.  I mean seriously, why should I go to a Michigan State, as great as it is, if I can go to a Princeton for (close to) free?

The bigger question:  why is no one but Mark Cuban talking about the outlandish cost of government and the outlandish ease with which one can secure outlandish student loan debt as anything other than an academic bubble?  That’s exactly what it is.  Worse, many, many of the folks who took out those loans banking on the kind of employment degrees from prestigious universities used to guarantee are currently unemployed.  Why?  Because the economy sucks, for one, and because everyone and their brother has an advanced degree these days.   The market is over-saturated with overqualified, over-debted talent.   We’re talking about an entire double-bound generation getting screwed on both ends of the equation.  Should everyone have known better and not taken out those loans?  Maybe.  Should all of the people whose homes were foreclosed have known better?  Saying yes to one of those questions is saying yes to both.

Let’s go ahead and say yes to both.  That doesn’t negate the predatory practices of commercial real estate lending during the housing bubble, and it doesn’t get student loan providers, including, ahem, the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, off the hook, either.  Demonize the bankers till the cows come home, hang effigies of bad mortgage writers in Zaccotti Park, but don’t forget the role that cynical, opportunistic lending to aspiring students (we’re talking about 18-year-olds here, in many cases) who geeked out enough on the American dream to go to college in the first place play. Let’s not forget the indefensible tuition charged by many colleges, either.  In some cases, these institutions offer loan forgiveness for people in public service or low-income community-building vocations.  As a divinity school student, I spent a lot of time thinking about forgiveness, and it seems to me that we, the double-bound, aren’t the ones who need to be forgiven.

Mark, let’s burst the academic bubble.  Presidential candidates, what say you?

DC Reboot: Superman #1, Batman #1, Flash #1

~ Chris Cocca ~ 2 Comments
From when the New 52 was still new:

As you might recall, I really liked the social justice superheroics of Action Comics #1.  Last night, I finally got around to reading Superman #1, Batman #1, and The Flash #1 and wanted to share my thoughts.

Superman #1:  Very ambitious.  We have the struggles of new vs. old media, the problems with media conglomerates in general, Superman as guardian of the past, Clark Kent rejecting a sweet cable news deal because 1) he despises cable news and 2) millions of people would see his face every day, like, forever, a Perry White full of vim and vigor, saying “let’s show them the hard-hitting analysis that only print can deliver!”  A lot of things like that, which I eat. right. up.   The conflict between Supes and the actually “villain” of the arc wasn’t as interesting to me, but I do like the fact that the book serves as a one-shot while giving us the seeds of some classic arcs.  Clark loves Lois like Dobie Gillis loved Tuesday Weld.  And there’s even a young (much nicer) Warren Beatty type between them.

Unfortunately, the content of Clark’s exclusive story about Superman and the big incident, which we get in caption boxes, doesn’t feel like the front-page work of a great reporter.  I’m eager to give George Perez the BOD on this because 1) I’m a writer, and yeah, it’s freaking hard, and 2) he’s George Perez. Maybe Clark’s unpolished style is part of his cover?  There’s also a very strange crossover page from Stormwatch that makes Ben 10 look like Beowulf.

Overall, a good read with a lot of interesting things to say in the first half about history, time, urban renewal, economic decay.  I want to give it a 7 out of 10, but Action was so good, Superman feels more like a 6.5.  I’m conflicted.  I’ll go 7.  That seems high on a ten-point scale, but not as good when you think about it as a percentage and covert that to an an academic grade.  (This is why I blog).

7.

Batman #1:  The best of the bunch.    Bruce’s new contact lens tech is great, the Batcave looks great, and the internal monologue that stitches most of the story together is top-notch.  Bruce’s love for Gotham, and his investment in its future, could be a template for the philosophies of hope surrounding some very pressing real-world reclamation projects.  He exudes a strong ethos, suggesting that forward-thinking and risk-taking for the common good are moral virtues.  I’m not saying this was a civics lessons disguised as a comic book, but it was uplifting and hopeful.  Not something you tend to expect from a Bat-book.  And did you notice that I keep saying “Bruce”?  That’s an effect of good writing and successful character development in a matter of pages.   This still isn’t a book for kids, as a crime scene near the end (central to the hook for issue 2) reminds us.  If you’re looking for a Batman title for younger readers,  The Brave and The Bold is good  if you don’t mind mostly slap-stick violence.

8.6

Flash #1:  There’s a very special place in my heart for the Flash.  But my Flash is and always will be Wally West.  Jay Garrick is my second favorite.  That’s not a comment on my feelings about Baby Boomers in general…Wally is the Flash I grew up with, an imperfect hero struggling with all kinds of emotional issues and mentored by an icon from the Golden Age.  What’s not to love?  I totally get that Wally’s favorite Flash is his uncle, original mentor, and former partner, Barry Allen.  I totally understand the overwhelming sense of loss that pervades Wally’s Flashness, especially in the 90s, is what makes his character so compelling.  I also love that he’s a screw up.  I’m not 100 percent sure where he’ll shake out in the new DCU, but I hope there’s a prominent place for him.  I hope he’s not de-aged like all the Robins, but I suppose he has to be if Barry and Iris aren’t married yet.

Onto the Barry-centric book at hand.  Loved the splash page.  Captured the Silver Age feel that brought us Barry in the first place.  The story moved quickly (ha) and ended on a cliff-hanger that has me interested.  It felt like a younger read, something akin to those titles from DC’s early-90’s Impact line.  (The Fly was my favorite).  Since Impact was meant to introduce new, mostly younger readers to old characters at an accessible level and the reboot is meant to do the same, mission accomplished.   The Flash has always been one of the most kid-friendly of the major DC heroes (emotional issues that we adults love aside), and I think that will continue.

It was a fun read, which is the point of a Barry book.  I don’t like the new suit.  Too panel-y.

8

A good mix, but nothing touches Action.

Tim Cook’s Apple Legacy Can Be Written Now

~ Chris Cocca ~ 3 Comments
Steve Jobs at the WWDC 07
Image via Wikipedia

Like many of you, I was very, very upset when I learned of Steve Jobs’ passing.   He was a technological and commercial visionary in an era that lacked many great leaders.  In lieu of trusted political, religious, and economic pioneers, Jobs became something of our proxy president, a stand-in prime minister always pointing to the future not only of his industry, but of what his industry enabled: radical departures and improvements in the ways we form, execute and share ideas, art, and change.  In some ways, his work has always been about some of the most human parts of humanness; his devices wouldn’t have made a difference if we haven’t always craved better ways to make and tell our stories.  Imagine a Jobs at NASA, at EPA, at the UN.  Imagine a Jobs in Congress.  Imagine the broadening that leaders  like Jobs might bring to our political stories, to our narratives of justice, war, and peace.  This is why the news of his death found me having to sit down and say “godd-mn.”

For all of the accolades, we were reminded in the hours following Jobs’ passing that so many of the devices he invented and brought to market have been and are still being produced by companies like FoxConn in places like Shenzhen, China, in conditions that most of us should find deplorable.   In the Venn diagram of activism and portable devices, almost all of us land in a damning place of overlap: churches, social justice agencies, occupiers of Wall Street…whether we’re Macs or PCs, iOses or Androids, we’re all part of the human rights crisis Mike Daisey brings to light in the link above.  Bill Gates is part of it.  Larry Page is part of it.  Steve Jobs was and Apple is a part of it.  Tim Cook, Apple’s new CEO, is part of it.

Tim, in the weeks and months to come, more will be written about Steve Jobs and his Apple legacy than about the war in Burma, the plight of the American homeless or the injustices endured by workers in the very factories where your amazing products are produced.  It’s not too early to begin thinking about your own Apple legacy.  End the relationship with FoxConn until conditions there are safe and just.  Make Apple a B-Corp.  Stun the world.  Again.

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The Growing Economic Divide: Occupy Allentown on October 29

~ Chris Cocca ~ Leave a comment

The Justice and Advocacy Committee of the Lehigh Valley Conference of Churches began planning a creative learning event about the growing Economic Divide in America long before we’d heard of #OccupyWallStreet, Occupy Together, or Occupy Allentown.  The Occupy movement affirms the the urgency of these issues for people of faith, and for all people.  Please join us at Zion’s Liberty Bell Church (also known as Zion’s Reformed UCC) at 620 W. Hamilton Street in Allentown on Saturday, October 29th.  Everything you need to know about workshop options, presenters, schedules, and registration is here.

 

Lehigh Valley Families Earn Less, Drive More

~ Chris Cocca ~ 1 Comment
The PPL Building (seen here in the distance) i...
Allentown, the heart of the metro region.

I hate when people say  “I told you so.”  I also hate when people say “I hate to say ‘I told you so.'”  Since lots of people have been saying a lot of what follows for a long time, let’s get right down to it.  Beyond anecdote and intuition, Matt Assad, Scott Kraus and Eugene Tauber give it to us straight in today’s Morning Call:

Lehigh Valley families earn less than they did 10 years ago and commute a heck of a lot more.  We know it. We’ve sensed it. We’ve sat on 22 and 78 far too long far too many times, always, in these last four years, for diminishing financial returns.  We know, don’t we, that these commutes are bad for our mental health, bad for our social life, bad for our family time, bad for our wallets and bad for the air?  But we drive more and more for less and less, because, really, what choice do most of us have?

I talk about this a lot in my work with the Air Quality Partneship of Lehigh Valley – Berks.  We can save money, time, and quality of life by abandoning outdated, unhealthy commuter practices.  We can carpool and we can carpool more.  We can take mass transit.  We can pressure our employers to incentive transit and commuter programs that have already been established.

Not even two weeks ago, we learned that the air quality in the Lehigh Valley metro region is even worse than the federal government is telling us, according to the latest scientific standards.  More single-car, single-rider commuting means more smog and, in long and short terms, greater health care costs.  Increased costs of living and decreased qualities of life. When are we, as consumers, commuters, voters, and employees going to get serious about this issue? When are we going to demand that our employers and elected officials do the same?

Assad, Kraus, and Tauber also report on the widening economic gap the 2010 Census confirms.  Kraus and Tauber offer more analysis here.  It just so happens that the Lehigh County Conference of Churches is presenting a one-day learning experience on October 29 called “The Growing Economic Divide: Which Side Are You On?”  Steve Schnapp, a nationally recognized educator with United for a Fair Economy, will be leading interactive educational experiences around these issues.  Please register for this event, which is sponsored by Lehigh Valley partners including Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley (CACLV); Penn Northeast Conference of the United Church of Christ; Peace & Justice Committee (Mennonite: EDC/FMC); Congregations United for Neighborhood Action (CUNA), and the Peace and Justice Committee of First Presbyterian Church of Allentown.

The Superheroics of Social Justice or “Action Comics #1: Awesome Then, Awesome Now.”

~ Chris Cocca ~ 6 Comments
Action Comics #1 (June 1938), page 1: Superman...
Image via Wikipedia

You probably know about the DC Comics relaunch.  I picked up the new Action Comics #1 and really, really liked it.  Supes looks like Woody Guthrie.  He can’t fly (yet?) and is a wrecking ball for social justice.  He trifles with authorities and struggles to pay rent.  A hero for our times if there was one.

Commentators have been talking about this as a return to Superman’s activist origins.  Indeed, a read through the original Action Comics #1 from 1938 reveals a bold American character, an immigrant, “champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who has sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!”

I love this guy.  Read the original Action #1 here, and cheer with me as Supes dispatches the governor’s butler in a last-minute attempt to save an innocent woman from state execution.  Like I said, a hero for our time if there was one.

Kindle Fire an Aptly Named Product (Yes, This is About Amazon’s Deplorable Working Conditions in the Lehigh Valley)

~ Chris Cocca ~ 7 Comments

Twitter is just ablaze (see what I did there?) with news about Amazon’s new Kindle Fire.  It’s touch. It’s cheap. It slices and dices and makes three different (pizza slice falls on Master Splinter’s head.  I never did have resolution about that).

The Kindle Fire by Amazon.  The must-have gift this Christmas.  The incredible price point of $199.  Made possible, of course, because Amazon runs facilities like those in Breinigsville, Lehigh Valley, PA, where conditions over the summer were so unsafe that Amazon used the local ambulance corps. as a concierge service.  “Well, you know, it was hot this summer,” says Amazon.  Then why weren’t the same dangerous conditions observed at any of the many other warehouses in within a stone’s throw of Amazon’s facilities? Curiouser and curiouser.

The Kindle Fire: Because Our Warehouses Are Hot as Hell!

The Kindle Fire: Because That’s What We Do To Temps and Employees Who Use Heat-Induced Sick Days!

The Kindle Fire: So Cheap, We’re Hoping You Ignore our Human Rights and Safety Violations!

The Kindle Fire: Give the Gift of Worker Abuse This Christmas!