Legal Action Against Universities for Selling a Lie

I will not be surprised if more of this kind of thing starts to happen. Lawyers that have recently graduated are suing the various schools that they've attended.

The reason behind the lawsuit is a claim that these iinstitutions are inflating facts and figures regarding prospects and earnings to get more people enrolled.

At the heart of this story is the fact that universities across the country use statistics on employment and earnings to lure students into a trap of debt. When many students get out they are incapable of getting work and paying back those big bills.

This lawsuit is something to watch as it might set a precedent for this type of legal action. If successful we might see some major changes in the university system across the nation. Why not a return to apprenticeships for many vocations? Why not reasonable prices for higher education.

Read the full story here.

Obesity and the Poor

I'm tired of hearing that America is the only place in the world where you can be poor and still be fat. Here is the problem with this old and divisive argument, the food supply in America is full of junk and poison.

The cheaper the food the worse it is for you with processed items, preservatives and cheap sugars like high fructose. Now,  look at other inexpensive foods in your grocery store: bread, potatoes, canned foods, boxed and processed foods.

These aren't diet food friends, they are full of carbohydrates or empty calories or preservatives. Canned foods have BPA in them and the more processed the food the less healthy it is.

Poor people that have $100 to buy food for their family are going to end up with more bad food than good food. And that bad food adds up to weight and health problems. Don't think that's true? Researchers at Georgia Health Sciences University published evidence linking high fructose to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. This cheap form of sweetener is in everything from cereal and soda to salad dressing and 

One Reason the Rich Get Richer

We all know that saying about how the rich just get richer. It's pretty much a universal truth because those with money can invest, they have powerful friends and connections to the best jobs, get the best deals when they buy property, as their bank accounts grow they make more on interest than many of us earn working a job.

Basically the rich have access to tools that the rest of us do not. This is like playing a game against an opponent who starts off at the finish line. Making this case abundantly clear is a recent 60 Minutes story about how our elected officials in Congress can legally profit from insider trading.

Congress can use insider knowledge from companies to make out like bandits on the stock market. If you were to do this you would go to jail. They, however, have a legal pass on this activity. Don't think this is right? Me either and hopefully it makes you angry.

Here is the 60 Minutes story that ran in November of 2011.

Apple Promises to Improve Working Conditions

That fancy little piece of technology you have was probably made by slave labor. Apple isn't the only company that exploits the poor all over the world, but they are in the  news for promising to make changes at their China plant. Apple products, which are known for their high price tags, are made on the cheap employing some of the cheapest labor on the planet.

Now, many companies have been caught using slave labor and promised to make changes. They make the promise then the stories go away and in reality nothing changes. As soon as the spot light goes away so do the changes.

 I don't know if that is going to happen in the case of Apple but it would be shocking if it didn't. It is just too easy to take advantage of poor people, no matter where they live.

Want to read about Apple and their vow to improve working conditions? Here you go.

Whitney Houston Died... So what

Yes, I mean it just like it sounds. Whitney Houston died from what looks like accidental drowning due to drugs. She got high, took a bath and die. While many are saying this is some big tragedy I can't help but think about the state of the world, the homeless, the sick people dying due to lack of health care and proper treatment, starving families that can't keep up with the rising cost of food....

You see, what happened to her was self-inflicted. She had money, fame and fortune and decided to do drugs and guess where that often leads? A life of struggling and often an early death. This isn't shocking, it isn't surprising, it's the natural course of events with the choices she made.

Some of you might say that she was an addict, and that is a big problem that she can't really be blamed for. I don't believe that this is the case, but aside from this there is an obvious difference from Whitney Houston and the rest of us. She had the financial resources to go to rehabilitation while most of us do not. Bottom line is, she had choices and made all the wrong one.

What about you, struggling to get your rent in on time and have some food for your family every day. What about you strapped with debt, making too little or unable to find work at all, unable to save for the future? See, the state of our nation is the real tragedy not the fact that a spoiled celebrity drowned due to their own weakness.

The American Dream Film

Wonder why the dollar has less and less powerful? Ever wonder why we got so far down this road of inflation, debit and economic hardships?  Check out this powerful documentary - it is short, animated and makes a complicated subject easy to understand!

Being Poor

Photo Credit: Stuart Miles

Being poor means trying to balance needs against the things you can't control, like utility bills and rent. For instance, if your electric bill over half of your available funds you are left to juggle things like fuel in your car, groceries for the week and household necessities.

Depending upon your earnings and how much your fixed bills are, you might be left with little, nothing or less than nothing. That's right, after trying to take care of your needs many people are left in overdraft or with nothing more than expensive credit cards to scratch by. This cycle is extremely difficult to break free from.

And, now add to this equation the rising cost of fuel, food and other needed items. This is the trap tens of millions of people find themselves in all across the United States! Unable to provide for their families, unable to save for the future and increasingly depressed and hopeless.

Are you caught in this trap? While you might be inclined to hide your poverty you shouldn't. There are far more of us than there are of them!

Student Loan Debt Will Sink U.S. Economy

Photo Credit: Krenjith Kishnan

Student loan debt is something very near and dear to me, after all I'm in deep. Like many of you I kind of bought the lie that it was normal for education to be something you mortgaged your entire future over. It's normal for a college degree to cost tens of thousands of dollars and if you don't get one you are going to be poor forever.

Well, guess what, I have one and I'm still poor only now I have tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt to pay off. Thanks. So, when I see a Fox News headline that student loan debt might be the next big economic crisis I have to laugh. You think? See, when people like me can't afford to pay back our debt there is a big problem.

When millions of soon-to be graduating students can't get jobs, end up on welfare and can't do things like buy cars, homes OR pay back the loans, there is an even bigger problem. What is funny is that this is just not being talked about. This was a topic in some of my college classroom discussions 6 years ago. We saw it coming and wondered what would happen.

So, are you in debt for an education you can't really put to use? Don't be ashamed, be pissed off - we were scammed and now it's coming back to bite all of society. What do you think?Student loan debt is the next big crisis

Credit Card Company Vultures

Photo Credit: Phanlop88

It is perfectly legal to take advantage of poor people. Credit cards are notorious for this, preying off of people with bad credit, charging outrageous interest rates and adding ridiculous fees anywhere they can.

Making money off the back of the struggling masses is nothing new.  In fact, sticking it to the poor is huge business - we're talking to the tune of many billions each and every year.

Now, you might wonder why it's such a big deal. Nobody has a gun held to their head and people can opt to not use these cards,right? And, after all, somebody with bad credit is a risk so the fees are in line with that risk. We'll look at these two falsehoods briefly.

The bad credit issues is something we should talk about in depth, but for now lets just look at it like this. The entire credit system is riddled with errors, organizational problems and gives an uneven and inaccurate picture in many circumstances.

Have you ever been late on a payment? Have you ever been billed in error? Now, try getting an error removed from your credit score and come back and chat with me on your results. I can save you lots of stress and time; correcting your report is virtually impossible yet credit agencies across the nation use that to take money right out of your wallet. Now, is that fair?

Of course not, they have set up the system in their favor and force you to play. Don't think anybody is forced to play? Well, have you tried to rent a car? Have you had huge sums of money sucked out of your debit card account and put on hold to book a flight because they basically penalize you for using a debit instead of a credit card?

And, have you ever had an illness or unexpected job loss leave you without the funds to buy food for your kids? In these cases you whip out the credit card for groceries and end up in their trap for years.  So, before you let big business slide, consider how their game works in the real world;we're all hurt by their actions.

You can read for yourself here. 

What's Up With America

Photo Credit:Creativedoxfoto

Most Americans don't have enough money to simply pay all of  their bills, in full, each month. Most of us have to pay what we can, juggle what is owed and make those fun phone calls where you ask for more time. The time of living pay check to pay check  is over, most of us can't even make it through that valley in between.

What has happened to America? Why is it acceptable that every adult needs to work 2 jobs just to keep modest provisions for their family? It seems like we've been slowly conditioned to think that it is perfectly normal to struggle and limp through life, indebted to student loan companies, credit card companies, mortgage companies...

Do you remember when then President George Bush told a poor struggling mother working multiple jobs that her situation was uniquely American. He was smiling. A man that never worked a day in his life smiling that a woman struggling to raise her kids was working herself to death and still unable to make it.

Call me crazy but I don't think we all should be in debt from the moment of birth til death and work ourselves into early graves. This isn't okay friends and remember, there are far more of us then there are of them. Once we remember this we have a chance for change!

Yeah, I Know, Everybody on Food Stamps is Scamming...

Today on the radio I heard a local talk show host talking away from the Conservative/Republican talking points about Obama being the Food Stamp president.


Going further, like desperate for attention radio talk show hosts always do, he went on to say that if people are on Food Stamps it's because they have no pride. That he would never live on them because he'd go "flip burgers" and work 3 jobs ....Yeah, you've heard this all before and so have I.

The funny thing is, apart from this sort of chest-pounding, attention-seeking, false-bravado diatribe, is the fact that this lie is continually perpetrated on broadcast media. The lie is that nearly everybody on Food Stamps is a scammer, hiding money, driving a BMW and cheating the system. That in truth, very few people need such help.


This is the big lie that is told every day in America and it splits us all into groups; easily controllable groups.

Now, if you've ever had to buy food with Food Stamps you know the tinge of embarrassment that seizes you every time you go to check out. You know that secret mental plea, " please let there be no problems" because if there happens to be a computer glitch you'll have to declare out loud  "yes, this is food assistance" so that the cashier can get things straightened out on her end. To think that the majority of people needing help are happy to go through such pride-stealing endeavors is just illogical.

No, the truth is that there are very few people scamming Food Stamps; workers ensure that you provide income and plenty other documentation of your situation. The truth is that this many people really need help, as a supplement to their own income or to help them due to a job loss.

The truth is that THIS MANY AMERICANS ARE REALLY LIVING IN POVERTY!  

Now, that you won't hear most talk show hosts go on and on about. That is too scary. That is too raw and real and big a problem for them to tackle. You, my impoverished friend, you and I know the truth and I think it's about time we stop being so quiet about it!

The Poverty Trap

This weekend I had to go to the doctor because I had an illness that just wasn't getting better. Nearly 2 weeks of symptoms, disruption to normal life and reduced productivity and finally I had to go. The reason I finally went was because I was worried I was going to end up with pneumonia...again.

The reason I waited so long was because I have no health coverage, no money in the bank and rent was just due. This isn't a good time, if there ever is one, to be ill.

This made me think of the trap my family is in and one that many of you are in as well. When you already work over 40 hours and are unable to cover normal living expense there is no room for illness. No room for a missed day of work or a doctor bill or a prescription. I wonder how many people are made sick just because people like me cannot afford to take a day off to recover?

This poverty trap has tens of millions of us in its grasp, living in a world of juggling past due bills, over draft fees, making partial payments here or there just to keep the lights on a bit longer.  Working class people calling up food banks to see if they can get help and standing in line at indigent clinics trying to get antibiotics because they just had to pay their rent and utility bills.

Are you in the poverty trap? How long have you been here, friend and do you have any hope of ever getting out?

Poverty Guidelines

Poverty guidelines for Alaska are a bit different, you can basically add a couple grand across the board due to the increased cost of living. Here is the problem, and you probably already understand this because you're living it.  Look at the poverty guidelines for a family of 4. 

If you are in an area where you can find rent for $600 that adds up to $7,200. That leaves $15,150 for everything else: food and non-food essentials, utilities, car insurance, health insurance if  you're lucky, gas in the car, potentially a car payment.  Now, rent in this price range isn't even available in many areas of the United States, and in some places this kind of rent lands you in a dangerous area.

Let's pretend you could feed a family of 4 on $450 a month. I say pretend because we all know you can't really do this unless you're eating bologna and Ramen noodles exclusively. But, if you could this would add up to $5,400 and leaves just $9,750 for everything else on that list.

Now, imagine you can get away with just $350 in utilities for your home. Electric, water, gas, trash pick up etc.... We all also know this is impossible,  my heating alone is over this, but let's just pretend again. This adds up to $4,200.

This leaves just $5,550 for everything on that list. Non-food essentials, gas in your car, upkeep of a car, car insurance, potentially a car payment. What about clothes for the kids? School supplies? A winter jacket? What about cost for joining a soccer team or other extra- curricular activity? A modest birthday present? 

Obviously this leaves no room for health insurance and I sure hope you don't get sick because not only will that cost you, it will also decrease your earning as you miss work. You see, people living in poverty have no chance to escape when this is the reality they deal with from year to year. 

2.6 Million More Americans in Poverty

Last September the Census Bureau reported that another 2.6 million people "slipped into poverty" putting the number of Americans living below the "official" poverty line at 46.2 million. That's right, 46.2 MILLION Americans living in poverty according to the official standards.


How many millions more living in poverty, hovering above the official poverty income guidelines but still struggling to eat and keep a roof over their head? Poverty is the new face of America, my friend and the numbers back it up!


Check out the New York Times article for yourself.

Poverty in America

If you're here you're probably poor, struggling to recover from poverty or worried about your own slip into poverty. I hope you stop by often, share your own experiences and join in the conversation. Poverty isn't a dirty word, it isn't something you should be ashamed of and it's not your fault. Let's get through this together, what do you say?