I’m no fan of Robert Reich, but back in 2007 he spoke honestly about ObamaCare: Young people will pay more, old people will not get all the care they want in the last years of life, and medical advancement will be stunted. A rare occasion for a liberal.
Could a student that worked a summer minimum wage job make enough to pay a year’s tuition in 1978? If someone was to work a full-time summer job today, how much would the minimum wage need to be?
In 1978, the minimum wage was $2.65. Working a full-time summer job (40 hrs x 12 weeks) would gross $1,272.
I couldn’t find the average tuition for a four-year degree in 1978, but in 1981 it was $3,951.
That 1978 summer job would only pay 32.1% of that tuition bill, leaving one $2,679 short. The claim that working a summer job at minimum wage would pay a year’s tuition is obviously false.
Fast forward to 2014. What will minimum wage get you?
Working a summer job at today’s minimum wage of $7.25 would gross $3,489.
The average annual tuition in 2012 was $33,716 (2012 is the most recent data I could find). A full-time summer job in 2012 would only pay 10.3% of that tuition.
Granted, $7.25 today is not equal to $2.65 in 1978. 1978’s $2.65 per hour, when adjusted for inflation, would equal $9.69/hour today; that means $2.65 in 1978 was worth 33% more than $7.25 is worth in 2014.
The average annual tuition in 1981 was $3,951. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $9,554 (in 2012). The average yearly tuition in 2012 came to $33,716. That’s a whopping 352% increase in tuition costs.
Today’s minimum wage rate lags behind the wage in 1978. What is extraordinary, however, is the exponential increase in college tuition.
To earn $33,716 working a minimum wage job full time during the summer break, the minimum wage would need to be $70.24.
Sources:
Historical minimum wage data: http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm
Education costs: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76
Ten life lessons to change the world, from Naval Admiral William H. McRaven, University of Texas (Austin) 2014 Commencement Address.
“Barack Obama only read about (insert scandal here) in the newspaper.” This incompetence is what we get for elevating a mediocre community organizer and hack lawyer to the office of President.
Listen to Obama, Jay Carney and others explain that they are getting their information from the news:
Maybe President Obama should stay off the golf course once and a while and go to briefings.
More to come on this idiocy. I heard some childish spokesperson on Mitch Albom’s show own WJR claiming that Angela Davis would be a more appropriate commencement speaker than CEO Marry Barra. We’re no fan of General Motors, especially the illegal takeover and bankruptcy of the company by the Obama administration, but this child-spokesperson had nothing good to say about GM nor Marry Barra, and what she did say was incoherent.
Audio to come. In the interim, here is the infantile manifesto of this organization.
Resolution issued by the Graduate Employees Organization (AFT Local 3550, AFL-CIO) and approved by the Student Union of Michigan, April 2014
General Motors CEO Mary Barra will give the UM commencement address on May 3 and will also be awarded an honorary doctorate by the university. According to the University Record, “Barra has established an exemplary career in the predominantly male world of the auto industry.” The same article praises her “vision,” “business acumen,” and “leadership.”
The results of GM’s business acumen are nothing to applaud, though. Barra and her company have done enormous harm to people and the environment. Although Barra is now being depicted as some sort of feminist, it is in fact women who have been the most negatively affected by her and her company—after all, it is women who tend to bear the heaviest burdens when family members lose their jobs, when the banks foreclose on struggling households, when the environment is poisoned, and when people are killed in preventable car accidents.
The most visible evidence of GM’s crimes is the ongoing scandal over its belated vehicle recalls. So far, defective ignition switches in the Chevy Cobalt and other models have been linked to at least 13 deaths, and possibly hundreds more. Each replacement ignition switch would have cost only 57 cents. But 57 cents was too much. Instead, GM lied to the victims’ families and even threatened them. Barra’s precise level of knowledge about the defects is still unclear, but recent evidence confirms that she had been aware of certain problems in the Cobalt and other vehicles several years ago (she served in several senior VP positions for GM prior to becoming CEO in January).
The recall scandal is just the tip of the GM iceberg. A less publicized scandal is GM’s illegal firing of injured workers from its Chevrolet plant in Colombia. GM cut corners on plant safety and, when workers were injured, it fired them and got corrupt Colombian officials to cover it up. Again, the effect on women has been disastrous. While the injured male workers have waged a public campaign for justice, their wives, daughters, and mothers have shouldered the private burdens of sustaining their hungry families. Jhessica Ospina, whose disabled father Manuel was fired by GM, has been forced to work 60 or more hours a week to help keep her family in their home. Jennifer Bohórquez, the wife of injured worker Carlos Trujillo, has borne the primary responsibility of caring for the family’s four small children.
Many more examples could be cited: GM’s abuse of assembly line workers here in the United States, its role in creating Michigan’s foreclosure crisis, its major contribution to global warming, and its dumping of toxic chemicals in the United States, Colombia, and elsewhere. GM is also linked to the U.S. military-industrial complex that has profited off human suffering in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where women have been disproportionately impacted by the sexual violence and multitude of hardships that accompany war; Mary Barra herself sits on the board of General Dynamics, the sixth-biggest Pentagon contractor. All of these issues are women’s rights issues, and in each case GM has been firmly anti-woman.
The Graduate Employees Organization at the University of Michigan calls upon the administration to rescind Mary Barra’s speaking invitation and honorary doctorate, and to replace Barra with someone who has instead made a positive contribution to women’s rights and human welfare.
I truly hope Dr. Benjamin Carson continues to be an important player in our political conversation. Perhaps he will grace us by running for office.
So thankful.
The good Lord has kept us and given us another day to do his will.
After reading the many posts recently, I was left pondering and reflecting upon my life and how valuable we all are to God’s greater plan. There was a sad revelation that race and its many isms continue to divide and separate us from our divine purpose. Everyone has a perspective and many feel they have a monopoly on the truth and fairness. Why does the issue of racism and those that espouse it divides us and causes us to say some of the most hurtful and divisive things to one another. Humility reminds us all that we can never fully serve the greater good if we are incapable of hearing different perspectives, which may lead to an even higher truth. Can we not express ourselves to each other without being malign and reduced to ad Hominem attacks ? All of you that contribute to this space, are irreplaceable and precious gifts given to this planet by God alone. When posting your ideas and feelings, always consider whether they uplift and reflect the God within all of us. This is absolutely possible, whether we vehemently agree or disagree with our sisters and brothers.
I am not as eloquent or gracious as the dear doctor.
81-year old Donald Sterling and his “girlfriend” (aka, paid escort, prostitute, hoe) María Vanessa Perez. (aka, V. Stiviano)
Donald Tokowitz Sterling is a very shrewd businessman and obviously a fool. He not only has a history of racist remarks, he also has a legacy of cheating on his wife, Rochelle (“Shelly”) Stein, with prostitutes, which is a category V. Stiviano may belong. Most “business relationships” do not have the owner of a corporate empire lavishing a female employee of questionable talent with a Ferrari, two Bentleys, a Range Rover, and a $1.8 million duplex, not to mention more than $250,000 cash (as reported by NYMag.com)
Most in the media are focused on Sterling’s “racist” remarks, where he pleads with his “girlfriend” not to bring “blacks” to the L.A. Clippers games (the team Sterling owns) because he is “embarrassed” by the “phone calls” and “questions” from his friends. His friends are probably calling him with advice and questions about his judgement to be with a woman fifty years his junior that is making a fool of him.
My question: Why are people outraged at his comments and not his infidelity?
According to several reports, Sterling has a well-known reputation for paying for sex. Which, I would imagine, is painful to his wife. Where is the outrage for this behavior?
Where is the outrage that a “girlfriend” would record conversations and release them to the media?
My guess is that Magic Johnson will end up owning the L.A. Clippers.
The Instagram of Magic Johnson and Stiviano
Here’s the audio of Sterling pleading with Stiviano not to embarrass him (via TMZ)
While Barack Obama continues to “lead” with his behind and offers up empty threatens to Vladimir Putin (like suspending his Netflix account), the people of the Ukraine are in real danger from the diminutive Russian leader’s actions.
From Boycott Russia Today and Vice Video: Journalist Simon Ostrovsky, who was kidnapped by pro-Russia separatists and released several days later, tells of his ordeal.
In a video posted by Tracking Terrorism and other news outlets, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen, proclaims “We must eliminate the cross … the bearer of the cross is America.”
Let’s see how America reacts to this statement. Is this country the “bearer of the cross” or will denounce that assertion in a futile attempt to appease the misguided souls of al-Qaeda?
U.S. intelligence sources say the 15-minute video appears to be recent and authentic, and added that they are surprised by the video. No doubt the video caught them by surprise, as Mr. Obama claimed some time ago that “al-Qaeda has been decimated.”
If Barack says it is so – lots of times – it must be true, right?
via The Washington Post
via Daily Mail
via CNN
via Fox News
via Newsweek
via CBS
via ABC
via NBC
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