Sydney's Current Event

Title: Unemployment Rate: How Low Can it Go?

Scource: CNN Money

Article: http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/04/news/economy/unemployment-rate/index.htm

In this article, it discusses the two opposing views of if the unemployment rate will ever return to its normal rate at about 5%. Back in 2008, the American Economy took a sudden dive into what we now call "the Great Recession." Stock Markets around the world were effected by this, the housing market went down, and the unemployment rate soared from 5% to 10%. In February of this year, the rate decreased 8.3%. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believes that the sudden rise in the unemployment rate was only due to the regular business cycle, and that by 2014, the rate will return to its normal numbers. On the other hand, Nobel Prize winning economist Edmund Phelps believes that due to permanent shifts in the job market, the return to a 5% unemployment rate is a "pipe-dream."

Based on the two viewpoints, do you think that the unemployment rate will return to its normal 5%, or do you think it will stay up at 8.3%?

Bobby's Current Event

There is No Student Loan Crisis

http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/30/news/economy/student-loans/index.htm?iid=SF_E_LN

This article talks about how the student loan "crisis" is really just a myth. There is no denying that the amount of student debt has gone up in the past few years however it is not and economic disaster like some make it out to be. Since 2007 student loans have increased from $600 billion to over $1 trillion. Also the amount of undergraduate students have risen from 19 million in 2007 to 22 million in 2010. This increase in students has had a great effect on the amount of student loans which explains the large jump in overall debt. Individuals' debt was averaged at $27,200 per student for the 2010-2011 school year. This may seem like a high average but only 10% of borrowers owe more than $45,000 this large outlier has brought the average way up. About 90% of students owe less than $31,000. Most Students are also able to pay there debt after graduation. In 2009 the default rate on student loans is only 8.8% most of which comes from for-profit schools whose default rate is 15% nationwide. Because of this, the government has begun to place new rules and schools with high default rates can loose federal loan programs.

My probing question is how do you feel about college debt? Does it worry you or do you think that it will be manageable?