Unconventional Wisdom

I’ve been talking since last month about getting a new phone particularly a Blackberry. Of course since my carrier is AT&T that require a data plan because I do plan to use the internet on it.

Since data plans are going down from at the minimum $30/month it might sweeten the deal for me if it was something I was going to do. The only downside is that it won’t be unlimited but then I’m not sure how much downloading I would do on a mobile phone. At best the services to be utilized would be either texting or mobile photography where I can upload to an online service to display the photo.

Also if I was getting a Blackberry this new plan could benefit me since there are no plans on my part to buy an iPhone.

My only thing is I really wish the price of a Blackberry could go down a little bit!

The event shared courtesy of Marathon Pundit!

Last month ShoreBank was spared an impending bank failure thanks to last minute help from either the federal government and Wall Street. On the right there are many who take issue with it because we’re in the time of taxpayer funded bailouts.

I often would follow this activity on my other blog, The Sixth Ward, primarily because ShoreBank has a branch in Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood (contained within Chicago’s 6th Ward). One of my bloggers there would declare this to be a disappointment since ShoreBank bought that branch which was once an independently owned bank called Independence Bank. If that hadn’t occured we may have had FIVE black-owned banks in Chicago instead of the current four we do have today.

At the same time while I do believe those business with bad business plans should fail I don’t have a problem with the fact that ShoreBank hadn’t failed and was bailed out. Of course it has been said that federal money was involved and since the Federal Government has been spending like crazy since Obama became President, I can see where many have a problem.

Hopefully ShoreBank will avoid the issues of its past that got it near the point of failure. In the future it can take the example of another neighborhood bank, Seaway Bank and Trust which avoided the issues of other banks by being conservative on their lending.

The Instapundit himself wrote this column about the value and cost of going to college these days.

The buyers think what they’re buying will appreciate in value, making them rich in the future. The product grows more and more elaborate, and more and more expensive, but the expense is offset by cheap credit provided by sellers eager to encourage buyers to buy.

Buyers see that everyone else is taking on mounds of debt, and so are more comfortable when they do so themselves; besides, for a generation, the value of what they’re buying has gone up steadily. What could go wrong? Everything continues smoothly until, at some point, it doesn’t.

Yes, this sounds like the housing bubble, but I’m afraid it’s also sounding a lot like a still-inflating higher education bubble. And despite (or because of) the fact that my day job involves higher education, I think it’s better for us to face up to what’s going on before the bubble bursts messily.

College has gotten a lot more expensive. A recent Money magazine report notes: “After adjusting for financial aid, the amount families pay for college has skyrocketed 439 percent since 1982. … Normal supply and demand can’t begin to explain cost increases of this magnitude.”

Consumers would balk, except for two things.

First — as with the housing bubble — cheap and readily available credit has let people borrow to finance education. They’re willing to do so because of (1) consumer ignorance, as students (and, often, their parents) don’t fully grasp just how harsh the impact of student loan payments will be after graduation; and (2) a belief that, whatever the cost, a college education is a necessary ticket to future prosperity.

Bubbles burst when there are no longer enough excessively optimistic and ignorant folks to fuel them. And there are signs that this is beginning to happen already.

I can certainly relate to this, since not only am I a recent college graduate (at least a year ago), but I have some debt to pay back to. At that I chose not to attend a cheaper alternative as well.

I believe it’s OK to pursue a prestige degree as I had, however, if you want to avoid the student loan route it’ll take some serious financial planning. You might want to put some money away for tuition especially before college or work part-time during college. In addition to pursuing other alternative money to fund education especially in the form of scholarships and grants.

And Reynolds is right. Perhaps we need to re-evaluate some of the degrees that colleges offer. And evaluate what skills these various disciplines intend to distill. Surely some of the skills that are important in higher education will be valuable in the workforce as well. And I’m referring to both writing skills and research skills.

Read the whole thing! It’s worth your attention.

I’ve always thought about the idea of “black flight” where for whatever reason blacks will leave urban communities and would be replaced by whites. I’m talking gentrification somewhat because that does appear to be what happens in changing minority or low-income communities.

Still whats going on in Dallas’ school system:

The movement mirrors, on a smaller scale, massive white flight from the district in the 1970s.

Black students formed a majority in Dallas schools through the 1980s and ’90s. Over the last 10 years, though, the number of black children has fallen by nearly 20,000, or about a third. Meanwhile, Hispanic children have filled their seats as the district’s overall enrollment remains fairly flat at about 157,000.

Today, about 41,000 black students attend DISD schools. They make up 26 percent of the district compared with 106,000 Hispanic children, or 68 percent. White students are 5 percent of the district.

The trend seen in Dallas schools is part of a larger national move away from inner cities for many black families, but the plunge is steeper in Dallas ISD than other urban districts in Texas and is among the biggest declines nationally.

Interviews with dozens of parents reveal that the exodus is not fueled by a single reason, but by myriad forces including issues of race, class, perceptions of problems within DISD, an explosion of charter schools and the quest for the American dream in the suburbs.

Adelfa Callejo, a Latina civil rights activist, said it’s like history repeating itself.

“They’re doing exactly what the whites are doing, abandoning the school district,” Callejo said. “That will leave us with a lack of black leadership. You need leaders of all races to make it happen.”

I can understand the quest for better schools. When it was time to send me to high school once upon a time safety trumped quality. It was of less concern to my parents to send me to a better school than to insure that I would still be safely tucked away in the neighborhood. Thus I didn’t go to a good school during my teenaged years.

Well I still don’t have to worry about sending any kids to school since I don’t yet have any. At the same time I want the best education for those children I plan to have. It’s unlikely that I would ever move to insure that since there are those schools in the public school system where my children could have a quality education.

I think Ms. Callejo makes a valid point about a lack of diverse leadership. Everone has a hand in making a public school system viable. Especially in an urban area where we hear all too often how the system has failed our young people.

Via Instapundit!

I’ve basically held off posting on this series for a while. Perhaps I was disappointed that the Black Hawks dropped two games in Philadelphia. Either way I was glad the Hawks came back to win 7-4 in game 5 at the United Center.

Here are highlights from the last two games in Philadelphia. Game 3 was a very good game, but the Hawks let game 4 get away from them.

Game 3

Game 4

Finally back in Chicago for Game 5

If I was able to post on the blog you would likely see one of these two images in the sidebar.

This image I found on Twitter denotes that last game the Hawks need to win to clinch the Stanley Cup championship.

This image I had up since the end of the San Jose and until the Hawk’s loss in Game 3 is merely an NHL take on a Chicago Cubs tradition. A W (win) flag for the Chicago Black Hawks.

However Blogger has been down last night and while I expect that Blogger will be up later today or tonight consider this blog a back-up to It’s My Mind.

There were a post or two I hoped to be up by today or in the next few days, but I can’t save them to even publish later until Blogger is back up to speed.

I especially want to talk about the Black Hawk’s victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Chicago last night to come within one game of winning the Stanley Cup. Expect to see highlights of the last three games here!

In fact I think that’ll be the first post here!