Misblog

Originally Published October 20, 2009; Last Updated May 19, 2010; Last Republished May 19, 2010:

As our policymakers begin debating our education policy and how best to unwind the "securitized" student loans their focus must be on continuous access to low cost or no cost education¹ for all Americans.

The notion of education as a discrete series of steps ending with a workforce entry event has always been obsolete—education must be our focus, not debt repayment or return on investment².

Ironically, it's recently become a well-known capitalist charade³ to unwind each "securitized revenue stream" onto our government—the same government many "capitalists" judge unfit.

YouTube:

• UPDATED 10/24/2009 University of California President Yudof announces a one billion dollar fund raising goal aimed at doubling the number of scholarships available at each of the 10 UC campuses.

Web:

• UPDATED 05/19/2010 SFGate, UC plans to cut $500 million in admin costs.
• UPDATED 04/09/2010 SFGate, UC Berkeley suspensions draw ACLU rebuke.
• UPDATED 03/29/2010 SFGate, Protesters feel stifled by UC Berkeley crackdown.
• UPDATED 03/05/2010 SFGate, Day of education protests heat up.

• UPDATED 12/11/2009 CSM, Why many college dropouts say they left: the need to work.

  It seem useful to make the comparison that the direct cost savings from canceling one Virginia-class submarine (VCS) would fund the UC president's billion dollar scholarship fund just short of three times (x2.8).

  The indirect cost savings (40 years of operational overhead) from canceling one of the planned 29 VCS would add about another billion for a total of almost four billion dollars of scholarships.

  It’s your choice ships or scholarships—at the end of one is an educated youth; the other cylinders of scrap high yield steel.

  It's also useful to note that 28 VCS, still fantastically excessive, enables our navy to continue submarine operations at an inexplicable "Cold War" operational tempo.

  Finally, It's useful to note that our admirals will build and justify as many VCS as we'll fund. Stated differently there will never be shortage of "proposed missions" for a Virginia-class submarine.

  If VCSs were so numerous they were colliding in the open oceans our admirals would assert we needed more VCS to prevent the VCS from colliding on the high seas.

  Finally, recent draft navy documents indicate our navy is proposing another $80 billion to replace the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), currently referred to as the sea based strategic deterrent (SBSD) or Ohio-class replacement submarine. A minimum of one-half billion dollars has already been spent on SBSD design work.

• UPDATED 12/11/2009 UPI, Police arrest 26 at S.F. State.

• UPDATED 11/19/2009 UPI, University of California fee hike approved.

  How about reducing the salary of the UC president and each of the top administrators for the 10 UC campuses by 32 percent.

• University of California, Project You Can launches at Fresno high school.

  How is it that UC President Mark G. Yudof is paid $591,084⁴ plus pension contributions annually, at a time when most of our children cannot afford to go to college without incurring significant debt?

• CongressDotOrg, Overhauling student loans
• TBI, Did JPMorgan And Citi Screw Taxpayers By Cheating On Student Loans? (JPM, C, NNI)

-----notes-----

1. Offsetting our seniors' social security checks for education costs is not a no-cost or low-cost education policy.

Saddling our young under-graduates with $80K+ (graduate school 120K+) in student loan debt is not a no-cost or low-cost education policy.

Forcing parents to pay $50K annual tuition or risk disadvantaging their children for life is not a no-cost or low-cost education policy.

2. It's uncertain how the notion that a human being is educable to some arbitrary "break-even point" crept into our education policy, but it's offensive, ignorant, and blindsighted policy.

3. Our capitalists (and many some policymakers) appear more focused on the latest financial schemes instead of on creating next generation jobs.

4. See University of California Executive Compensation Report for Calendar Year 2008 (.3M pdf)