Democracy & Civics

Banks Take Aim at Student Loan Plan

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Opposition is emerging to President Barack Obama’s plan to take private banks out of the student loan business. Student indebtedness has grown to an average of nearly $23,000 per individual, and student loans remain a lucrative business for U.S. banks, earning $85 billion annually, according to news reports. The White House plan would cut out the middleman and let students borrow directly from the government, with the hope of making more money available for loans, while saving an estimated $94 billion over the next decade. Citigroup has already begun an e-mail campaign urging its borrowers to write Congress to oppose the plan, notes Talking Points Memo. And executives for Sallie Mae, the biggest provider of student loans, said if the plan is adopted as proposed, an undetermined number of banking jobs could be lost.

Oakland Toxic Tour

Port’s Diesel Pollution Stirs West Oakland Protest

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By Kwan Booth (article) and Kim Komenich (photography, audio)
Crowdfund this story with Spot.Us
Part One in a Series

West Oakland’s struggles over diesel pollution linked to high local rates of asthma and cancer brought a confrontational protest to a recent Port of Oakland meeting — the latest in a year-long clash between residents, port officials and the trucking industry. Heads turned and presentations stopped mid sentence as approximately 50 community activists and union truck drivers stormed the meeting early on, equipped with protest signs, a bullhorn and calls for “good jobs, clean air.” “Protesters interrupt May 2 Port of Oakland meeting”
At issue is the proposed Comprehensive Truck Management Program, which would require new pollution controls for trucks serving the port. Although the protesters said the plan wouldn’t be effective, many independent truckers said it would put them out of business due to added costs for pollution controls. Emotions ran high, and one truck-company owner who attempted to speak was repeatedly shouted down by protesters.

Featured

Brazil: Blacks Move Ahead to Stay Behind

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Brazil’s African-descended citizens now have a .2 percent majority nationwide, but lack proportional access to education and food. This includes almost four times the rate of illiteracy and longer work hours compared to their European-descended countrymen. Photo: Brazilian child/Carf

Democracy & Civics

Nicaragua Targets Illiteracy

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Nicaragua’s leftist government is linking a new literacy campaign to July’s 30th anniversary of the overthrow the Somoza dynasty. The program is a repeat performance for President Daniel Ortega, who led the country after Sandinista guerrillas toppled the Somoza family dictatorship in 1979. According to Inter Press Service, a left-leaning news source, the National Literacy Campaign in 1980 reduced illiteracy in the country from 52 to just below 13 percent, before succumbing to further civil war and ongoing political conflict. Now, the government hopes to meet UNESCO standards of under five percent illiteracy in the next few months. Nicaraguan government statistics showed more than half a million citizens, out of a population of 5.3 million, were illiterate in 2005.

Democracy & Civics

Brazilian Blacks Assume Majority, Not Equity

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Brazil’s African-descended citizens now stand at 49.6 percent of the population, edging out their European-descended brethren by .2 percent, but lacking proportional access to education and food. Twenty percent of Brazilian blacks are more likely to be illiterate, and have to work as much as 76 hours for their “basic food basket,” compared to a 6 percent illiteracy rate and 54 hours of work for basic food needs for Caucasians, reports Merco Press. In 1888 Brazil became the last country in South America to abolish slavery. President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has proposed new quotas for blacks in universities, in an effort to drive social and economic integration. –Brittany Owens/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“Black population becomes the majority in Brazil”
MercoPress, April 25, 2009