Looked at against this backdrop, the recent volatility in the stock market, not to mention the downgrade of the US from triple-A status, makes perfect sense. Global corporations are actually weirdly absent from the list of institutions in which the public has lost its trust, but the way in which they’ve quietly grown their earnings back above pre-crisis levels has definitely not been ratified by broad-based economic recovery, and therefore feels rather unsustainable. Meanwhile, the USA itself has undoubtedly been weakened by a shrinking tax base, a soaring national debt, a stretched military, and a legislature which has consistently demonstrated an inability to tackle the great tasks asked of it.
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It looks increasingly as though we’re entering Phase 2 of the global crisis, with 2008-9 merely acting as the appetizer. In Phase 1, national and super-national treasuries and central banks managed to come to the rescue and stave off catastrophe. But in doing so, they weakened themselves to the point at which they’re unable to rise to the occasion this time round. Our hearts want government to come through and save the economy. But our heads know that it’s not going to happen. And that failure, in turn, is only going to further weaken institutional legitimacy across the US and the world. It’s a vicious cycle, and I can’t see how we’re going to break out of it.
The PBS NewsHourreports on the latest “Kids Count” report prepared by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Among other findings, the report noted that nearly 20 percent of American children live in poverty.
A new report from the N.C. Budget and Tax Center documents the individual and economic benefits of postsecondary educational credentials, particularly those awarded at the sub-baccalaureate level.
Research shows that certificates and other such credentials can play an important role in enabling students to achieve success in the workplace and can make attainment of a degree more accessible and likely, especially for adult workers. Credential attainment can have positive effects on labor and social outcomes if the educational programs are tailored to the labor market and are long‐term—and if the credential represents one year or more of study. Of the 38,181 sub‐baccalaureate certificates awarded in North Carolina in 2007‐08, only 6,789 required more than one year of study.
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Credentials are a tool for providing “rapid post‐secondary attainment and portable skills and knowledge.” However, whether credentials requiring less than a year of study are providing such benefits to North Carolina workers is an open question in need of more data and research.
The PBS NewsHour reports on the growth of wealth inequality in the United States and how the actual distribution of wealth is much more unequal than people generally think.
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