The wild story of the short-notice, three-hour viewing period for a national-security document on the August Friday that summer recess started
Source: The Hidden Classified Briefing Most of Congress Missed – The Atlantic
Yet another example of how the national security edifice stands in the way of duly elected officials governing by withholding information from them in every way legally permitted or unlikely to be discovered.
The federal government has made it easier than ever to borrow money for higher education – saddling a generation with crushing debts and inflating a bubble that could bring down the economy
Source: The College-Loan Scandal: Matt Taibbi on the Ripping Off of Young America – Rolling Stone
Could a college or university pledge to not raise tuition for 10 years and achieve that goal? What would it need to do and would any be willing to try?
A reform that would protect classified information even as it helped tip off Congress and the public to surveillance abuses
Source: Let’s Give Every NSA Employee an Anonymous Whistleblowing Opportunity – The Atlantic
This is an interesting idea. I think the general concept of an anonymous, multiple-choice-only quiz could also be used in a corporate environment to deal with other sensitive issues (e.g. waste, compensation, ethics vs. legality).
Glenn Greenwald: Edward Snowden: ‘Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, and the rest of our internet titans must ask themselves why they aren’t fighting for our interests the same way’
I think it is interesting that some people are starting to take action (e.g. closing their businesses) in reaction to this, scare tactics or not. I also think it is somewhat concerning that the government did not just lean on the big firms, but has also started leaning on the little guys. Leaning on the big corporations is unsurprising to me because the government’s “reward” for succeeding is very high, with millions of records captured, and the risk is very low since the companies don’t have much choice but to comply if they lose legal appeals because their shareholders wouldn’t let them simply close up shop.
The politics of this certainly come across from both sides. However, I have a hard time damning them for doing what has worked in the recent past (slogans, tag lines, blowing things out of proportion, etc.) when a convincing case could be made that their position will *definitely* lose if they don’t politi-fight this way. This is annoying, but I really see no way around it.
Factory workers assembling the Moto X will make as little as $9-an-hour, if the help wanted ads are to be believed.
Source: Motorola’s New Smartphone: Made in the U.S.A., but Not for Much Pay – The Atlantic
Is $17/hour a “middle-class” wage? What range *is* a “middle class” wage?
Plenty of smart people have taken a stab at that question. In the past few years, the “middle class” income range has been described as between $32,900 and $64,000 a year (a Pew Charitable Trusts study), between $50,800 and $122,000 (a U.S. Department of Commerce study), and between $20,600 and $102,000 (the U.S. Census Bureau’s middle 60% of incomes).
Psychologist Ken Eisold, a contributor to Psychology Today, said, though, that the way people describe their social status has more to do with what’s going on in their heads than their wallets.
Source: Middle class a matter of income, attitude | USA Today
In many American communities, families working in low-wage jobs make insufficient income to live locally given the local cost of living.
Recently, in a number of high-cost communities, community organizers and citizens have successfully argued that the prevailing wage offered by the public sector and key businesses should reflect a wage rate required to meet minimum standards of living.
Therefore we have developed a living wage calculator to estimate the cost of living in your community or region. The calculator lists typical expenses, the living wage and typical wages for the selected location.
Source: Living Wage Calculator