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College is Ruining Lives! How to Stop Student Debt’s Paralyzing Spiral (Salon)
David Dayen calls for free tuition at public colleges and universities, and for the federal government to stop using private student loan servicers that put profits ahead of borrowers.
- Roosevelt Take: Loan servicers lose money when student loans are paid off ahead of schedule, but Roosevelt Institute Fellow Mike Konczal says that shouldn’t concern taxpayers.
The Fed of Magical Thinking: Why is Janet Yellen Ignoring the Rest of Us? (The Guardian)
The Federal Reserve uses a measure of inflation that doesn’t include food or gas, which Heidi Moore says leaves the central bank out of step with ordinary Americans’ concerns.
Cutting the Poor Out of Welfare (NYT)
Thomas Edsall blames recent increases in extreme poverty on ostensibly anti-poverty policy shifts that support married and working adults over all other people living in poverty.
Obama: US Must ‘Strengthen Unions’ (The Hill)
Justin Sink reports on the President’s statements on unions at a town hall meeting in Pittsburgh, where he credited organized labor with building the country’s middle class.
Increasing Wages is an Effective Poverty Reduction Tool (TalkPoverty)
Elise Gould says that rising inequality is the flip side of nearly three decades of stagnant wages, and reversing this stagnation will require pro-worker labor policy.
Does Innovation Always Lead to Gentrification? (Pacific Standard)
Kyle Chayka argues that innovation districts, filled with new and growing businesses, should be built to benefit an economically diverse population instead of just young workers.
