Online Education Companies Donate To Congressman, He Introduces Bill Subsidizing Them
Bad actors in the for-profit education industry — leading for-profit colleges, private charter schools, and other education profiteers — are accelerating a profitable scam: online education. As my colleague Lee Fang documented in a cover story for The Nation last year, these “online learning” companies have infiltrated American schools, extracting millions of dollars for software
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This Is Why You’re Fat: The 2012 Farm Bill And The Real Obesity Lobby
Nearly half of all Americans will be obese by 2030, researchers reported at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Weight of the Nation conference in Washington earlier this month. 42 percent of us are projected to be obese, placing a huge strain on our already compromised health care system. Brian Fung at The Atlantic points
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Bill McKibben On The $146 Million Spent By Big Oil Lobbying Each Year: ‘We’re Going To Fight’
Yesterday, climate change pioneer Bill McKibben and his organization, 350.org, joined with Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Keith Ellison to launch a new bill that would cut $113 billion in subsidies to the coal, oil, and gas lobby over the next decade. The oil industry received about $7 billion in tax breaks in 2011, despite
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After Obama Moves To Protect Vets From Predatory Colleges, Some In Congress Run To Their Defense
Last week, President Obama made headlines when he signed an executive order designed to protect U.S. troops, veterans, and their families from the predatory abuses of some for-profit colleges. The executive order takes aim at some deceptive recruiting practices by these colleges — which soak up taxpayer dollars with little accountability — and requires them
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Congressman Pushing Spying Law CISPA Got 15 Percent Of His Campaign Funds From Companies Who Want It
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) allows private corporations, security firms, and the government to peek into and share your online information without you ever knowing about it or having any legal recourse against it. These intrusions are so severe that the Obama administration has threatened to veto the version of this bill
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Exclusive: Washington Post’s Kaplan and Other For-Profit Colleges Joined ALEC, Controversial Special Interest Lobby
Republic Report has learned that the Washington Post Company’s Kaplan for-profit college division, was, last year, a member of the controversial business advocacy group the American Legislative Exchange Council. Other major for-profit education companies also joined ALEC. Republic Report has obtained a July 2011 document showing Kaplan Higher Education and other for-profits as members of
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For-Profit Colleges Attack New Effort To Prevent Fraud With $32 Billion of Your Tax Dollars
The for-profit college industry gets about $32 billion of its approximately $35 billion annual revenue from federal financial aid. Fifteen of the largest for-profits get 86 percent of their money from federal student aid programs – such as Pell grants, student loans, and the G.I. Bill. Yet every time someone proposes making their schools more
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Virginia Foxx Defends Student Debt While Predatory Colleges Who Create Debt Fund Her Campaign
Last week, ThinkProgress’s Scott Keyes found an amazing interview with Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) where she totally dismissed the concerns of students who have large amounts of debt as a result of getting an education. “I have very little tolerance for people who tell me that they graduate with $200,000 of debt or even $80,000
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