what isn't ok, especially in Instapopulists or blog posts is making up acronyms, mnemonics as if they are economic terms, or posting serious misinformation, incorrect statistics, etc.

Think of this as college and obviously if one wrote fictitious analysis, statistics or wrote 3 letters up at random to create an acronym that doesn't correlate to standard, economics acronyms or mnemonics....that's going to get someone an F for the test.

With the federal loan repayment plans at least you only have to pay a percentage of your income. However, that percentage increases (under the new IBR plan) as your income does. It's like an additional progressive tax on top of our already progressive tax system, and I doubt if the majority of graduates are going to ever pay off all that debt (especially lawyers like myself - see e.g. http://bigdebtsmalllaw.wordpress.com/) given that all our jobs are being outsourced. It sure doesn't provide a lot of motivation to work hard!

before it hit the MSM. You're ahead of the curve midtowng.

Some of these are politically impossible I believe, but this tax, if it was just on a commodity so strongly linked to the overall economy, the national interest, it's worth trying something like this, but I agree, this must be international, although it's clear some nations are considering it.

Overall, this is what it looks like to me. They spent trillions saving the financial oligarchy and made them stronger, meanwhile the U.S. middle class is plain getting raped.

You have a typo, ridicules instead of ridiculous.

Can you go into more facts, connections?

I also don't think the Treasury changed it's mission. One could claim that has always been the mission. Geithner was involved in the NY Fed and also part of the original "bail out plan".

I think Tobin Tax is a good idea. Has to be international. Rate can be very small.

But beyond that, many other things would be good. Bring back Glass-Stiegel. Abolish credit derivatives or at least put them on exchanges. Regulate compensation in finance, mandate 10 year clawback on bonuses. National usury law. Increase capital requirement based on size of banking institution, and keep increasing it until we have much smaller banks. Small banking is good, big banking dangerous to everyone.

Return to the kind of restricted international capital flows the world had under Bretton Woods. End all agreements to the contrary such as NAFTA, CAFTA, and GATT. Abolish IMF and World Bank. Cancel all international loans to poor countries by attaching them to the crooked leaders who made them instead. Make international agreements instead to enforce the most rigorous environmental and labor standards around, including EFCA.

International carbon tax, with proceeds divided among every living adult human in the world equally.

when supposedly the Obama administration was going to "help students". ~24k in debt off the bat with just this year a 4.7% decrease in overall U.S. wages/salaries.

I wonder about the availability of scholarships.

I saw another pretty damning statistic with some grad students attempting to negotiate standard of living.

58% of TAs were making about $7k/yr and supposed to live on that.

That's another real problem...for Americans at least, if you are lucky enough to obtain funding for graduate school, that funding is simply not enough to even rent a cardboard box...
so, awesome, you got this great research associate position or whatever it is....only to discover you cannot afford to go anyway.

When I went to school, I had the lucky break to literally work my way through, often over breaks, working in my field of study (i.e. wages high enough to carry me along).

That too appears to be dead. That corporations are not offering internships, fellowships, co-ops and so on which one can do to pay for college.

What a complete waste, a refusal to invest in the U.S. future, the U.S. citizenry.

Post removed for being merely personal experience.

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Maximum jobs, not maximum profits.

In the two years since the crisis began, neither the Fed nor policymakers at the Treasury have taken steps to remove toxic assets from banks balance sheets. The main arteries for credit still remain clogged despite the fact that the Bernanke has added nearly $900 billion in excess reserves to the banking system. Consumers continue to reduce their borrowing despite historically low interest rates and the banks are still hoarding capital to pay off losses from non performing loans and bad assets. Changes in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rules for mark-to-market accounting of assets have made it easier for underwater banks to hide their red ink, but, eventually, the losses have to be reported. The wave of banks failures is just now beginning to accelerate. It should persist into 2011. The system is gravely under-capitalized and at risk.

It's really true and why I keep posting what is going on with regulation and Congress.

The minute that spotlight is off, well, they are counting on the American people having a 10 minute attention span, which frankly, they do and the MSM doesn't help anything but continually reporting on "polls" and "political maneuvering" instead of what is specifically in each bill before Congress, each proposal and what that implies
(and is a very good reason for us to exist!)

There is nothing more that pisses me off than to watch the financial oligarchy use this situation to keep on doing what they were doing, even making it worse, getting stronger, now on the taxpayer dime, and use taxpayer funds to block regulation and reform.

@*)$@!

Also, when you see a great, in depth article, with recent analysis, etc. (vs. just kind of fluff opinion), you can put it in an Instapopulist with a few critical or teaser quotes too to get our attention to it.

There is a major war going on for any regulatory reform and we do have some good warriors in Congress...although the Senate...God, does the Senate need a good flush! They block EVERYTHING substantive it seems!

Anyway, a spot light on the specifics and why those specifics are important, opening it up to discussion on the ramifications of proposals, including negatives....
helps refocus that spotlight on reforms...