Hi friends! I’m sure you never would have guessed this, but the economy’s undergoing a bit of a hiccup at the moment. Some doomsayers are calling it the “Great Recession.” Heck, even the Negative Nancys over at the Associated Press are jumping on the wah-wah wagon: apparently, half of the nation’s graduating class of 2012 will be jobless or underemployed after graduation. Yow. Now I … Continue reading What do you do with a BA in…

Social Security is without a doubt one of America’s most popular government programs. It has long been viewed as the “third rail” of American politics, meaning if a politician touches it they die. While a majority want the system to remain as it is, there is a sizable minority (mostly Republicans) who want Social Security to be changed or abolished. Most believe that Social Security … Continue reading Is social security sustainable?

“What drags our entire economy down is when the benefits of economic growth and productivity go only to the few … the gap between those at the very, very top and everybody else keeps growing wider and wider and wider and wider.” So read the President’s teleprompter as he spoke in front of a rally in support of his “Buffet Rule” proposal last week. The … Continue reading A barrage of budgets; charlatans all

We’ve been duped. Hoodwinked. Bamboozled. However you prefer to say it, our generation has had the wool pulled over our eyes. I was always told as a kid that if you want a good job, you go to college. It made sense: more education would equal more opportunities and more money. In 1940, less than 5 percent of Americans over the age of 25 had … Continue reading Employment, thy name is cursed

Voting in elections is a constitutionally given right. It’s one of those perks of young adulthood most Gusties have recently acquired. At 18, we can join the army, gamble, buy spray paint, porn and cigarettes. And, most importantly, we can finally vote. This November’s elections will be a first for many young Gusties, and the first chance to vote in a presidential election for a … Continue reading The hidden cost of voting

This past Thursday, Dr. Charles Krauthammer, Pulitzer Prize winning author and columnist for the Washington Post, came to speak at Gustavus as a part of the Lindau Symposium. By most accounts the event was a smashing success. Well over 600 people attended—so many in fact that the event filled one overflow room and moved into a second. Dr. Krauthammer gave an erudite and intelligent summation … Continue reading The black and gold standard

Some time early in my middle school career, a friend of mine, a Greek immigrant, introduced me to what was essentially a Korean knock-off of World of Warcraft. The game, called Mu, came complete with every reason there was to get hooked, at about half the production value, with no subscription fee or price. English speakers were a minority in this online world, so when … Continue reading Use your words

There has been a great deal of political posturing the last year or so over the national debt. Both sides agree that the deficit and the debt need to shrink. Unfortunately, that is where their agreement ends. The Republicans maintain that the only way to shrink the debt is through program cuts alone, while the Democrats believe that some programs will need to be cut … Continue reading A deficit of reason

Apathy is hard to come by at Gustavus. Seriously. Even those whose lives revolve around such seemingly apathetic activities as skipping class and all-day Call of Duty marathons most likely watch enough of The Daily Show online to have a cause célèbre of choice. It’s hard to come here and find nothing to champion, no club through which to galvanize fellow students into support, no … Continue reading The love vote