So this is an example of emails that I have been receiving quite frequently while abroad.
"
"
"The Higher Education Fiscal Crisis Protects the Wealthy"
By Peter Phillips
Police are arresting and attacking student protesters on University of California
(UC) campuses again. “Why did he beat me I wasn’t doing anything,” screamed a young
Cal Berkeley women student over KPFA radio on Friday evening November 20. Students
are protesting the 32% increase in tuition imposed by the UC regents in a time of
severe state deficits. The Board of Regents claims that they have no choice.
Students will now have to pay over $10,000 in tuition annually for a public
university education that was free only a few decades ago.
The corporate media spins the tuition protests as if we are all suffering during the
recession. For example, the San Diego Union Tribune November 20 writes, “These
students need a course in Reality 101. And the reality is that there is virtually no
segment of American society that is not straining with the economic recession. With
UC facing a $535 million budget gap due to state cuts, the regents have to confront
reality and make tough choices. So should students.”
Yet, the reality is something quite different. Our current budget crisis in
California and the rest of the country has been artificially created by cutting
taxes on the wealthiest people and corporations. The corporate elites in the US, the
top 1% who own close to half the wealth, are the beneficiaries of massive tax cuts
over the past few decades. While at the same time working people are paying more
through increased sales and use taxes and higher public college tuition.
The wealthy hide their money abroad. Rachel Keeler with Dollars & Sense reports that
over the years, trillions of dollars in both corporate profits and personal wealth
have migrated offshore in search of rock-bottom tax rates and the comfort of no
questions asked. Offshore banks now harbor an estimated $11.5 trillion in individual
wealth alone, and were a significant contributing factor to the international
economic downturn in 2008.
According to the California Budget Project, tax cuts enacted in California, since
1993, cost the state $11.3 billion dollars annually. Had the state continued taxing
corporations and the wealthy at rates equal to those fifteen years ago there would
not be a budget crisis in California. Even though a budget deficit was evident last
year, California income tax laws were changed in February of 2009 to provide
corporations with even greater tax savings—equal to over $2 billion per year.
California is similar to the rest of the country where the wealthy and corporate
elites enjoy economic protection through increased costs to working people.
Higher education has been cut in twenty-eight states in the 2009-10 school year and
further, even more drastic cuts, are likely in the years ahead. California State
University (CSU) system is planning to reduce enrollments by 40,000 students in the
fall of 2010. The CSU Trustees have imposed steep tuition hikes and forced faculty
and staff to take non-paid furlough days equal to 10% of salaries.
The students who are protesting tuition increases know they are being ripped off.
They know that we are bailing out the rich with hundreds of billions dollars for
Wall Street and massive budget cuts for the rest of us. The corporate media doesn’t
explain to over-taxed working families how they are paying more while the rich sock
it away.
The current economic crisis is a shock and awe process designed to undermine
low-cost higher education, force labor concessions from working people and protect
the wealthy. We need higher taxes on the corporations and the top 1%, combined with
free public college education and tax breaks for working families. And, we must have
a media that tells us the truth about inequality and wealth. A true economic
stimulus increases spending from the bottom up not the top down.
Peter Phillips is a professor of sociology at Sonoma State University, President of
Media Freedom Foundation, and recent past director of Project Censored."
Daily News at: http://mediafreedom.pnn.com/5174-independent-news-sources
Validated News & Research at: http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/
Daily Censored Blog at: http://dailycensored.com/
Project Censored: http://www.projectcensored.org/"
By Peter Phillips
Police are arresting and attacking student protesters on University of California
(UC) campuses again. “Why did he beat me I wasn’t doing anything,” screamed a young
Cal Berkeley women student over KPFA radio on Friday evening November 20. Students
are protesting the 32% increase in tuition imposed by the UC regents in a time of
severe state deficits. The Board of Regents claims that they have no choice.
Students will now have to pay over $10,000 in tuition annually for a public
university education that was free only a few decades ago.
The corporate media spins the tuition protests as if we are all suffering during the
recession. For example, the San Diego Union Tribune November 20 writes, “These
students need a course in Reality 101. And the reality is that there is virtually no
segment of American society that is not straining with the economic recession. With
UC facing a $535 million budget gap due to state cuts, the regents have to confront
reality and make tough choices. So should students.”
Yet, the reality is something quite different. Our current budget crisis in
California and the rest of the country has been artificially created by cutting
taxes on the wealthiest people and corporations. The corporate elites in the US, the
top 1% who own close to half the wealth, are the beneficiaries of massive tax cuts
over the past few decades. While at the same time working people are paying more
through increased sales and use taxes and higher public college tuition.
The wealthy hide their money abroad. Rachel Keeler with Dollars & Sense reports that
over the years, trillions of dollars in both corporate profits and personal wealth
have migrated offshore in search of rock-bottom tax rates and the comfort of no
questions asked. Offshore banks now harbor an estimated $11.5 trillion in individual
wealth alone, and were a significant contributing factor to the international
economic downturn in 2008.
According to the California Budget Project, tax cuts enacted in California, since
1993, cost the state $11.3 billion dollars annually. Had the state continued taxing
corporations and the wealthy at rates equal to those fifteen years ago there would
not be a budget crisis in California. Even though a budget deficit was evident last
year, California income tax laws were changed in February of 2009 to provide
corporations with even greater tax savings—equal to over $2 billion per year.
California is similar to the rest of the country where the wealthy and corporate
elites enjoy economic protection through increased costs to working people.
Higher education has been cut in twenty-eight states in the 2009-10 school year and
further, even more drastic cuts, are likely in the years ahead. California State
University (CSU) system is planning to reduce enrollments by 40,000 students in the
fall of 2010. The CSU Trustees have imposed steep tuition hikes and forced faculty
and staff to take non-paid furlough days equal to 10% of salaries.
The students who are protesting tuition increases know they are being ripped off.
They know that we are bailing out the rich with hundreds of billions dollars for
Wall Street and massive budget cuts for the rest of us. The corporate media doesn’t
explain to over-taxed working families how they are paying more while the rich sock
it away.
The current economic crisis is a shock and awe process designed to undermine
low-cost higher education, force labor concessions from working people and protect
the wealthy. We need higher taxes on the corporations and the top 1%, combined with
free public college education and tax breaks for working families. And, we must have
a media that tells us the truth about inequality and wealth. A true economic
stimulus increases spending from the bottom up not the top down.
Peter Phillips is a professor of sociology at Sonoma State University, President of
Media Freedom Foundation, and recent past director of Project Censored."
Daily News at: http://mediafreedom.pnn.com/5174-independent-news-sources
Validated News & Research at: http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/
Daily Censored Blog at: http://dailycensored.com/
Project Censored: http://www.projectcensored.org/"
Good news, right?
This scares me and really doesn't encourage me to go back to
California. While I have been here there have been a lot of times when
people ask me where I am from and if it is a shop owner, they
might put the price up.
I have a friend that is interested is going on
a trip with her husband for a week and told the travel agent that she had a
budget of around $1,000. The travel agent was showing her a few choices
and then asked my friend where she was from and she replied,
"California." All of a sudden, she began to show my friend trips for $5000 per
week.
It is a little ridiculous, but the stereotype is there for a reason.
I find myself being extremely cheap these days. It is only when people come to visit me that I remember how much less I am paying for things.
Why would I want to leave?
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