| How to make mountainous student debt less huge
There's student loan debt. And then there's student loan DEBT. The former is the $20,000 in loans of the typical college graduate. The latter is four or six times that amount, typically racked up by those attending grad school at an elite university or medical school. .
Callous disrespect taints a 'sacred day'
Every day we have shoplifters," Bhatia told me. "But for these kids to come from the parade and do this kind of stuff, on such a sacred day as this. . . . "
Bhatia came here from India 20 years ago and spent 10 years working two jobs to save enough money to buy a 7-Eleven store in Inglewood, then another on King Boulevard near Crenshaw. He's reconciled himself to the high cost of doing business in inner-city Los Angeles.
At the King Boulevard store, he spent $82,000 on security guards last year. He has 16 surveillance cameras streaming video to a backroom monitor. He contracts with a security firm that can summon the LAPD instantly and broadcasts periodic alerts over the store's loudspeaker to let customers know they're being watched.
Still, most of the time, he and his employees watch helplessly as shoplifters victimize the store.
From dreams to debt
In May 2006, after the couple had started investing, Pacific Wealth flew them and Aileen's sister to Tucson and paid their hotel bill so they could attend a Pacific Wealth seminar to hear glowing testimonials from other investors. Guest speakers included McLeod and James Duncan. Duncan said the organization didn't advertise and was picky about whom it recruited, Aileen Ramirez said. Pacific Wealth's real estate arm, Stonewood Consulting Inc., found the couple investment homes to buy. The Ramirezes signed the papers, following Stonewood's instructions not to sign certain lines or to date the documents. Aileen Ramirez, who, like many Pacific Wealth investors, is Filipino, said Pacific Wealth leaders built up her sense of confidence when they talked about their Christian values, which she said are dear to the Filipino community.
American Capital Increases Q4 Dividend 14% to $1.00
American Capital's Board of Directors has declared a fourth quarter 2007 regular dividend of $1.00 per share to record holders as of December 7, 2007, payable on January 16, 2008. This is a $0.04 per share increase over its guidance, $0.08 per share increase over the third quarter 2007 and a 14% increase over the fourth quarter 2006 dividend of $0.88 per share. American Capital has paid or declared total 2007 dividends of $3.72 per share, which are expected to be a distribution from ordinary taxable income. This is a 12% growth over the total 2006 dividends of $3.33 per share. American Capital anticipates that its 2007 ordinary taxable income will exceed dividends paid in 2007 and will elect to pay a 4% excise tax and retain excess ordinary taxable income for future dividends. LONG-TERM CAPITAL GAINS DIVIDEND POLICY American Capital also announced a change to its dividend policy for net long-term capital gains.
Disputed Accord in Student Loan Case
Department officials portrayed the settlement reached with the Nebraska Education Loan Network, or Nelnet, as a defeat for the for-profit company. They noted that they were declining to pay an estimated $882 million in additional reimbursement requests that the company has pending under the same loophole, and ending future payments on such loans to other lenders as well unless the lenders can prove, through audits, that they qualify for the funds. Nelnet officials themselves, too, took issue with the department’s finding but said they had settled the case to allow the company to move on. But Congressional and other critics accused the department of going soft on Nelnet and other lenders. They blasted administration officials for failing to fully follow the recommendation of the department’s inspector general, who contended in a September audit report that Nelnet should be forced to repay all funds earned through the loophole, though which lenders were paid a 9.5 percent government subsidy on a certain class of student loans.
Dan Rodricks
Icompare the names in reports of killings in Baltimore with the names of men who called The Sun during the last 10 months to ask for help in finding jobs that might get them out of dealing drugs or other potentially deadly crimes. So far, I know only of one man who came in from the street for help, returned to his old lifestyle and ended up dead because of it. The lesson for Easter: Life can be renewed April 16, 2006 There are young men out there - teenage boys from Baltimore to Columbia, from Aberdeen to Annapolis - who will be making decisions this spring. Some will have to decide where to go to college in the fall, or which lacrosse team to play with this summer, or which girl to ask to a prom. Some will have to decide whether to continue to be a stickup boy or a young thug who sells heroin.
Overthrowing the incompetent a noble tradition
At first glance it seems eccentric to compare the Rum Rebellion with the later dismissals. First, Johnston was operating in a very different political system. He was not an officially appointed umpire, in the way Game and Kerr were. His dismissal of Bligh was illegal, which is why it was done with armed force and Johnston was later tried and found guilty. And second, Johnston is widely believed to have been the tool of the powerful civilian John Macarthur, and to have acted out of self-interest to preserve his own income from trading in spirits. If correct, this interpretation of the events of 1808 would clearly place Johnston into a very different category to Game and Kerr, independent officials who stood to derive no material benefit from their actions. However, its possible to dispute both arguments.
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