In The News

[unforth]

GM, Chrysler and Ford Ask for Billions of Taxpayers Dollars, Again - should we bail out the automakers? Discuss. (I, personally, don't think we should, even though I'm very scared of the repercussions if when they fail.)
College Tuition Increasing At Much Higher Rate than Family Incomes - this article would be a lot more helpful if it gave more of an idea of WHY this is happening.
Chambliss (R) Now Senator of Georgia - for those who were hoping for the Dem 60 (which was damned unlikely) - it's now gone for good.
Episcopal Church Likely to Split Over Ordination of Gay Bishop - apparently, this is the culmination of 5 years of bickering.

Comments

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Well, at least they're asking for loans, not outright handouts. I'm friendlier to loan or equity bailouts. And while market discipline is good, there's also the issue of how much economy is tied up in them. And in Canada too -- weak automotive there is eroding Ontario's status as a fiscal bedrock.

If they did fail, the government would be out a lot of money as well, in unemployment benefits and possibly outright welfare, plus the drop in taxes and possible erosion of the social and physical infrastructure of a large chunk of the US.

And yeah, the Anglican thing has been a long time thing. You'll note at the end of the article that women priests are also a problem, but gays have been the highlight. The English and North American churches are generally a lot more liberal than the African ones.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

As for colleges, the article mentions falling state budgets, for public universities. As for private ones, there's the tumbling stock market:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28031648/

Of course skyrocketing tuition has been going on for a while (modulo things like Princeton doing away with tuition) but endowments collapsing won't help.