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...upside is likely to be a reduction in the number of people who default on their student loans, a financial disaster that can destroy credit ratings and hike up interest rates on future loans. "In this economic recession, a lot of students are having a difficult time just paying for normal things like groceries or rent," says Carmen Berkley, president of the U.S. Student Association, an advocacy group. "This is really going to make sure that students are able to keep up with their loans and don't have to default. We want to be able to have good credit...
...Olha Stupak, who was one of the casino's senior supervisors. With a child about to enter university, car-loan repayments to make and rent to pay, she's going to struggle to get by on her savings and unemployment benefits. "I'm looking for work, but it's difficult because of the crisis," she says, looking around at the empty tables. "I know all about roulette, poker and blackjack. But other jobs require different work experience." (See pictures of Russia celebrating Victory...
...dragged on. Big Oil might also be emboldened to make deals on oil fields in the Kurdish areas since last week, when the Chinese oil giant Sinopec announced that it was acquiring the Swiss oil company Addax Petroleum, which operates in Iraqi Kurdistan. "It will be much more difficult to blacklist Sinopec," says Yousni. "This is China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, not some small oil company," he says. Having dared to take on Baghdad, China has increased the Kurds' ability to become an autonomous economic power, and perhaps allowed other companies to follow suit. "The Chevrons...
...further altered California politics by requiring a two-thirds majority for tax increases either at the state or local level. This requirement along with a constitutional provision requiring a two-thirds majority to pass a budget - the result of a proposition passed in 1933 - means it is far more difficult to raise taxes or pass a budget in California than in other states. For more than 30 years California has been living with a system of minority rule in which 34% of the legislature or a local community can stonewall the majority. Facing this post-Proposition 13 system, California...
...sheer complexity of the stimulus measure makes it difficult to bird-dog. Though the Recovery Act was a single piece of legislation, it included thousands of funding streams for tens of thousands of projects. About $144 billion is allocated directly into state coffers for continuing existing programs that have been heavily burdened by the recession, like Medicaid. Hundreds of billions more have been set aside for tax cuts and continuing benefits to the poor and unemployed. The most visible part of the program, and the most politically explosive, is the roughly $152 billion for infrastructure investment, for which...