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Posted on March 30, 2012
Welcome to My blog

Prime Mortgage Defaults Grow Faster than Subprime Defaults

Posted on August 26, 2008
Defaults in prime mortgages -- loans made to borrowers with relatively high credit ratings -- outpaced delinquencies in subprime loans, as reported by the Economic Times. However, overall delinquency rates for subprime loans remains considerably higher for subprime loans...

DC Public Schools & Performance-Based Compensation

Posted on July 03, 2008
Michelle Rhee, a Teach For America alum and current chancellor of DC public schools, is proposing a ground-breaking change to teacher compensation in the District's public schools. From the Washington Post:D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee is proposing a contract that would give mid-level teachers who are paid $62,000 yearly the opportunity to earn more than $100,000 -- but they would have to give up seniority and tenure rights, two union members familiar with the negotiations said yesterday...

The Housing Crisis -- Part 3 of 3

Posted on June 25, 2008
WaPo's third installment in its analysis of the housing crisis focuses on a less visible (at least compared to the more visible increase in foreclosure filings) effect of the imploding subprime lending market -- namely, the impact on state run investment funds...

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The Housing Bubble -- Part 2 of 3

Posted on June 18, 2008
As shown in the chart above, courtesy of the Center for Responsible Lending, home prices have dropped precipitously, and are poised to continue their slide.Localized pricing data provides a bit more insight:While the loss in homeowner equity is troubling by itself, this sustained downward trend is particularly alarming considering the high number of homeowners who are highly leveraged, and are thus more vulnerable to price decreases as they have less equity built into their home (this is relevant for homeowners who are attempting to sell -- if a homeowner plans to continue residing in a home, decreased or increased equity is largely irrelevant)...

The Housing Bubble -- Part 1 of 3

Posted on June 17, 2008
The Washington Post recently opened a three part series on the mortgage crisis and housing bubble. Part One opens with a Gatsby-esque soiree of housing industry barons. The article then takes a more thoughtful turn to the historical underpinnings of the modern mortgage market...

Education Reform -- Gateway to College launches in Philadelphia (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on June 10, 2008
The last installment of the Inquirer's look into Philadelphia's dropout crisis can be found here. The story is heavy on sentamentalism and light on introspection, but a few quotes are worth including:[The need for programs for dropouts] still far outstrip the options...

Education Reform -- Gateway to College launches in Philadelphia (Part 2 of 3)

Posted on June 05, 2008
Part II of the Inquirer's look at Philadelphia's efforts to remediate its high drop out rate delves into the causes behind students dropping out of the Gateway program. The program launched with two classes of twenty students:Of the original 20, only 13 remained...

Education Reform -- Gateway to College launches in Philadelphia

Posted on June 01, 2008
In the first of a three-part series, the Philadelphia Inquirer explores the problem of high school dropouts in the City of Brotherly Love. A recent study showed that roughly 50% of public-school ninth graders actually graduate high school in four years; more than eight thousand drop out every year in Philadelphia...

Subprime Crisis: Effects on Future Purchasing

Posted on May 26, 2008
Rachel Godsil and I will be publishing Protecting Status: The Mortgage Crisis, Eminent Domain, and the Ethic of Homeownership in Fordham Law Review later this year. A series of posts will follow on this topic. First--the effects of bankruptcy, foreclosure, and "short selling" on a homeowner's ability to purchase another home in the future...

Charter School Debate

Posted on May 26, 2008
Washington Post reviews Keeping the Promise? The Debate Over Charter Schools; money quote:But the book's overall message is that charters are not what the happy stories in the media make them seem and that there should be better ways to improve learning...

Atlantic Yards Project: Kelo Revisited?

Posted on April 03, 2008
The NY Sun covers the efforts by holdout residents in Brooklyn who are hoping the Supreme Court of the United States will prevent Forest City Ratner from completing the planned redevelopment of the Atlantics Yards. Based on the public reaction to the Supreme Court's Kelo v...

Inner City Sex Trafficking

Posted on March 16, 2008
Much of the debate surrounding Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace emphasized that the high-priced prostitutes that he used were consenting adults, and thus, his was a victimless crime. (For a response to the victimless crime argument, see this NY Times op-ed...

Charter Schools as Laboratories

Posted on March 07, 2008
The NY Times reports that a Washington Heights-based charter school will be offering teachers a salary of $125,000 (plus a bonus based on school-wide performance). This is more than twice as much as teachers in NYC public schools earn. The question is whether higher salaries will result in improved student performance...

More on Levees; Eminent Domain

Posted on February 27, 2008
From the New York Times Op-Ed: "Last month, a 30-foot section of levee ruptured in Fernley, Nev. While the cause of the breach, which swamped 450 homes and forced dozens of people to evacuate, is unknown, anyone familiar with the drowning of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina will tell you this: Levees fail...

Healthcare Reform: Senator Clinton

Posted on February 18, 2008
Sen. Clinton?s plan is comparable to Senator Obama?s, and even the two candidates agree their plans are 95% similar. The largest difference is that she plans on mandating insurance for everyone, without exception. She will offer a ?refundable tax credit to help working families pay for coverage,? and a ?refundable small business tax credit to provide an incentive to offer employee coverage...

Healthcare Reform: Senator Obama

Posted on February 18, 2008
Senator Obama?s ?plan begins by covering every American? regardless of pre-existing conditions or illnesses, and he will focus on prevention and public health to prevent chronic conditions before they occur. His goal is to offer affordable premiums, co-pays, and deductibles, and to offer subsidies to those that don?t qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP programs...

Education Reform: Senator John McCain

Posted on January 29, 2008
Senator John McCain's plan to reform American education focuses on "excellence, choice, and competition." The Senator advocates the right of parents to place their children in any school "of demonstrated excellence, including their own homes." He believes schools should compete for "the most effective teachers" and "reward them...

Education Reform: Governor Mitt Romney

Posted on January 29, 2008
Governor Mitt Romney's "conservative strategy to raise the bar in education" focuses on promoting school choice & increasing local control. He recognizes the importance, in particular, for students in failing schools to be able to exercise school choice to get "the resources and opportunities they need to succeed...

Education Reform: Governor Mike Huckabee

Posted on January 29, 2008
Governor Huckabee offers a detailed analysis of his plan to reform American education. I applaud the Governor for recognizing the need to ?judge the success of our schools by the results we obtain, not the revenue we spend.? Too often, reform plans are advocated simply for the price tag attached to them...

Education Reform: Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Posted on January 29, 2008
Mayor Rudy Giuliani?s plan for education reform focuses solely around school choice. He calls for a federal voucher program, modeled after Washington, DC, Cleveland & Milwaukee. The Mayor also advocates the expansion of charter schooling, and providing parents of students with special needs the opportunity to seek placement in private schools through IDEA funding...

Education Reform: Rep. Ron Paul

Posted on January 29, 2008
Congressman Ron Paul's plan to reform education is to "abolish the unconstitutional, wasteful Department of Education." Unfortunately, that is about the extent of his articulated plan to improve education. He cites to his efforts in Congress to increase tax deductions to offset the cost of attendance at non-public schools...

Education Reform: Senator Barack Obama

Posted on January 24, 2008
Senator Obama emphasizes ?zero to five? efforts for infants, and moving states toward voluntary, universal pre-school. He proposes quadrupling funding for early Head Start.He supports the goals of No Child Left Behind, but recognizes that it?s under-funded...

Education Reform: Senator Hillary Clinton

Posted on January 23, 2008
Senator Clinton calls for universal pre-K for all four-year olds, ?quality? child care & Head Start, and in-home parenting lessons. The scope of these parenting lessons is unclear; however, bringing the government into the house to teach parenting skills raises a variety of objections...

Education Reform: Senator John Edwards

Posted on January 23, 2008
Senator John Edwards calls for the ?Great Promise??universal pre-school for four-year olds, and calls for teachers with four-year degrees to head these classrooms. Considering the shortage of teachers in traditional classrooms, however, it?s unclear where this surge of quality, college-educated instructors will come from...

Education Reform: Rep. Dennis Kucinich

Posted on January 23, 2008
In the following series of posts, I will explore the Democratic and Republican candidate?s positions on education reform. I will start with the Democrats, and in particular, Representative Dennis Kucinich. Of the four Democratic candidates, Congressman Dennis Kucinich has the least persuasively presented plan for improving public education...

Make a Difference: #4

Posted on January 22, 2008
DonorsChoose offers excellent opportunities to become involved in supporting under-resourced classrooms around the country. The organization was launched by a former South Bronx public school teacher who saw first hand the scarcity of materials in public school classrooms...

Make a Difference: #3

Posted on January 21, 2008
VolunteerMatch will provide you with a variety of volunteer opportunities based on location, distance you're willing to travel, and general areas of interest (i.e, human rights, arts & culture, disaster relief, housing, medical, seniors); it can also narrow options based on the age of the volunteer, and whether you're planning on working by yourself or with a group...

Make a Difference: #2

Posted on January 13, 2008
MIR ("Make It Right"), is a nonprofit working to redevelop New Orleans, particularly the Lower 9th Ward, through building "houses that [are] not only stronger and healthier, but that [have] less impact on the environment." The site also provides some historical background on the Lower 9th written by David Brinkley, author of "The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast...

Make a Difference: #1

Posted on January 07, 2008
In the coming days, I will be posting a series of links to webpages that facilitate individual action in the community, both on the local and global level. Some focus on monetary support, others on your time and energy, while others are seeking to inform...

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