Day 3 of the protest Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Whatever happened to the American dream of going to college, landing a great job and living happily ever after? College is supposed to be about getting off to a great start, but it?s a financial noose that threatens to kill our young and everybody else too. The U.S. has the dubious distinction of now having more than $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt.
?The crisis has the full attention of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which in a recent blog?, presented its sobering findings. ?Unlike other consumer credit products, student debt keeps growing at a steady clip. Students borrowed $117 billion in just federal student loans last year. And students continue to borrow private student loans, which lack the income-based repayment and deferment options of federal student loans. If current trends continue, there will be consequences not just for young people, but for all of us,? wrote CFPB?s student loan ombudsman Rohit Chophra.
Worse still, he writes, according to data from the Department of Education, federal student loan debt isn?t growing just with new originations ? with so many borrowers unable to keep up with interest payments, debt is growing even for many who have left school. Too much debt means too much risk for a generation of young people, many of whom are struggling in today?s economy.
Better Homes and Gardens? Real Estate recently unveiled its new online and television reality series, ?Home, First Home?(SM). The series, which features real stories from first-time homebuyers across the country, as well as advice from Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate affiliated sales associates, can be found online at youtube.com/bhgrealestate and will air on the [...]
Austin Real Estate article courtesy of susanne who writes for RISMedia ? Consumer News and Advice. You can find the original post at RISMedia ? Consumer News and Advice.
A credit card that lets you earn cash or points can help cut the cost of your fill-ups. But if you want to get the best payback, you need to shop around and compare offers. Two new reports show the rewards cards offered by the big oil companies are not the way to go.?
?Don?t think you?re saving a lot by having one of those gas company credit cards,? says Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of comparison website CardHub.com. ?For most people, you?ll literally get almost nothing in return for giving up your flexibility.??
For example, with the Conoco card you need to buy at least 45 gallons of gas in a month to get the meager savings of 5 cents a gallon. And rewards stop after 110 gallons in any qualifying month.?
The Citgo card limits rewards to the first 90 days after opening a new account. The payback is capped at $50. After the first three months, there is no reward.?
A survey by another comparison site, NerdWallet.com, came to the same conclusion: You?d be better off with a general purpose rewards card.?
Anisha Sekar, vice president of credit and debit products at NerdWallet, analyzed cards from five major brands: BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Gulf and Shell. She found that these branded cards offer few rewards and have many gimmicks.?
?There is so much fine print,? Sekar says. ?You?ll find limits on how much you can earn a month and limits on how you can redeem what you?ve earned.??
Card Hub analyzed the major gas reward credit cards and picked these as the worst:?
Chevron and Texaco Gas Card: This card only saves you 10 cents per gallon, but at current prices that's only 2.7 percent. (You can get 3 to 5 percent on most good rewards cards.) Savings are capped at $300 per year. You stop earning rewards after the first 60 days.?
Shell Platinum MasterCard: Savings with this card are variable. If you spend less than $500 per month, you get absolutely nothing. Spend $500 to $999.99 in one month and you save 10 cents a gallon off the Shell gasoline you buy the next month.?
Do oil company gas cards make sense for anyone? Card Hub?s Papadimitriou says these cards are for people with damaged or limited credit who want to be able to pull up for a fill-up and not have to pay in cash. For everyone else, he says, a generic rewards credit card that can be used at any station makes more sense.?
What are the best reward gas credit cards right now?? I contacted four websites that specialize in credit card comparisons -- CardHub.com, LowCards.com, Credit.com and NerdWallet.com -- and asked for their top picks for gas cards. Three cards got the most recommendations.
Chase Freedom Visa: It pays 5 percent cash back on up to $1,500 of gasoline purchases in the first and third quarters. The rest of the year the gas reward drops to 1 percent. This card offers a $200 cash bonus if you spend $500 in the first three months. No annual fee.
American Express Blue Cash Everyday Card: You get 2 percent back on gasoline, 3 percent on grocery and department store purchases and 1 percent on everything else. Spend $1,000 in the first three months of receiving the card and you get a $100 cash back bonus. No annual fee.
Pentagon Federal Credit Union Platinum Rewards Credit Card: With this PenFed Visa card you earn points that you convert to cash (in the form of a Visa prepaid card), merchandise or travel. The points work out to 5 percent for gas, 3 percent for groceries and 1 percent for everything else. And there?s a bonus: You get 5,000 points after your first purchase and 20,000 points if you spend $1,000 in the first three months of having the card. There is no annual fee. You don't need to be in the military or work for the government. Anyone who joins the National Military Family Association ($15 one-time fee) or Voices for America's Troops ($20 one-time fee) can get the card.
A few cautions Before you apply for any credit card, take the time to read all the terms and conditions. Be sure you know how the cash-back offer works and look for any restrictions. These pitfalls include:
Spending categories that rotate each quarter. That 5 percent reward on gasoline purchases could be limited to certain times of the year. And you may have to go online to sign up for that higher reward every quarter.
Spending tiers that must be reached in order to qualify for the maximum cash-back reward.
Limits on how much you can earn in a quarter or a year.
Rewards credit cards have some of the highest interest rates. So they are only for people who pay off their bill on time each and every month. If you miss even one month, you?ll lose money.?
"The interest charges are going to outweigh whatever you would have earned on the reward,? notes Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. ?Instead focus on cards that have the lowest possible interest rate.?
You can compare these cards at sites such as: CardHub.com, LowCards.com, Credit.com, NerdWallet.com and Bankrate.com.
Mark your calendars, Canadian fans. The UFC announced today they will visit the home and native land of welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre three times in the remainder of 2012.
They will start in Calgary on July 21, where Jose Aldo will fight a yet-to-be-named fighter. After that, it's UFC 152 in Toronto Sept. 22, and UFC 154 in Montreal Nov. 17. St. Pierre, who was present at the press conference, announced the Montreal date.
"When you get an injury like I have and you're off for a long period of time, the only thing you wish is to get back fast as possible," he said. "I don't know if it will be in the U.S. or Canada, but I wish and I pray that I have a chance to perform in 2012. No matter where it will be, I want to come back and fight in 2012."
St. Pierre is a native of Montreal, and has enjoyed great success when fighting in front of the rabid home crowd Canada can provide. His last two fights were won in Canada, and he exacted revenge on Matt Serra, one of the few men to beat him, in Montreal.
Though he isn't likely to rush his recovery from an ACL tear, he also has plenty of motivation to be ready to go on Nov. 17.
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) ? The messages were flying in the Kansas locker room at halftime.
Elijah Johnson told his team to stop second-guessing itself. Tyshawn Taylor reminded the Jayhawks that they'd been in trouble before. Coach Bill Self finally stood up and told his team that it would take sheer toughness to rally past Purdue.
"When things don't go well and you get behind and you play uphill the whole way, it takes some energy and it takes some toughness," said Self, whose team fell behind by double-digits early and still trailed by six at the break. "My message to the whole team was trust each other."
All those messages came through loud and clear.
Johnson finished with 18 points, including the go-ahead basket in the final minute, and No. 2 seed Kansas held off Robbie Hummel and the No. 10 seed Boilermakers 63-60 on Sunday night in a dramatic third-round game in the NCAA tournament.
"I felt it would come down to one possession no matter what," Johnson said, "the whole time."
Purdue was clinging to a 60-59 lead and had the ball and under a minute remaining when Lewis Jackson, the shot clock winding down, lost control at the top of the key. Johnson picked it up and went the other way for the go-ahead lay-in with 23.3 seconds left.
Hummel missed an open 3-pointer at the other end and Taylor scored a transition dunk for the Jayhawks with 2.5 seconds left, giving the roughly 15,000 fans who had made the three-hour drive from the Kansas campus reason to let out a roar for one of the first times all night.
After a timeout, Purdue sharpshooter Ryne Smith managed to get off a decent look at a long, potential tying 3-pointer. It hit off the backboard, clanked off the rim and finally fell away.
The Jayhawks leaped in jubilation. The Boilermakers sank in defeat.
"It stinks," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "It stinks to lose."
Thomas Robinson fought through double-teams all night for 11 points and 13 rebounds, and the Jayhawks (29-6) got enough production from everyone else to erase a 10-point second-half deficit and reach the Midwest Regional semifinals in St. Louis.
Kansas will face No. 11 seed North Carolina State.
"What a great game. It wasn't the best played, but it was a grind-it-out, typical Big Ten game," Self said. "Hummel was unbelievable and we just hung in there."
Hummel finished with 26 points and nine rebounds for the Boilermakers (22-13), who were trying to reach the round of 16 for the third time in four years. D.J. Byrd and Terone Johnson finished with 10 points each for Purdue.
The Jayhawks' biggest lead all night was their final one. They overcame a ragged night from Robinson by getting 10 points from Taylor and 10 more from Travis Releford.
"That isn't a team loaded with just four or five guys," Painter said.
Purdue couldn't have gotten off to a much better start, and neither could Hummel, who hit three 3-pointers while making his first four shots. The senior forward, who has come back from two torn ACLs in his right knee, even followed his first miss with a basket to make it 19-8.
He proved too quick for Robinson to guard and too strong for Kevin Young as the Jayhawks kept searching for anybody who could put a body on him ? they even tried seldom-used Justin Wesley.
The miserable start by Kansas was enough for Self to scream at his team during one defensive trip down floor, "You told me you were ready!"
Hardly seemed to be the case.
Kansas opened the game by missing 15 of its first 17 shots and all seven of its 3-point tries, compounding lousy offense by getting into foul trouble. Taylor, Young and Releford all sat stretches in the first half after picking up two early fouls.
The Jayhawks finally trimmed the lead to 31-30 with under 3 minutes left in the first half, but Lewis Jackson got inside for a basket, and Hummel managed to swish a closely guarded 3 from about 30 feet as the shot clock wound down to make it 36-30 at the break.
Hummel had 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting in the first half, while the Jayhawks' trio of stars ? Robinson, Taylor and Johnson ? managed 12 points on a combined 4 for 18.
"I wanted to come out and be aggressive, especially the first half. It seemed like everything I was taking was going in," Hummel said. "It was a crazy feeling you have as a player."
Purdue extended the lead to 42-32 early in the second half, even after Kansas employed a zone defense to slow down Hummel. Johnson led the charge on offense, and the Boilermakers kept locking down Robinson in the post, frustrating the player of the year candidate to no end.
Kansas never went on its patented run, instead slowly clawing back into the game.
The Jayhawks trimmed the lead to 47-44 midway through the second half, but came up empty with four open shots on offense. They got within 52-49 minutes later only for Taylor to turn the ball over. And it was 52-51 with 5? minutes left when Hummel drove for a layup high off the glass.
Kansas never led until Johnson hit a deep 3-pointer with just over 3 minutes left to make it 57-56. Terone Johnson answered with back-to-back baskets for Purdue to regain a 60-57 lead, but Taylor's alley-oop jam off a feed from Elijah Johnson made it a one-point game.
And set up a dramatic final flurry between Kansas and Purdue.
"We just kept grinding and grinding," Taylor said, "and we ended up making some big plays down the stretch."
Record-breaking grant: New research project to investigate the causes of mental disordersPublic release date: 19-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kirsten Olesen kol@sun.au.dk (45) 23-38-24-44 Aarhus University
Causes for mental disorders will now be thoroughly investigated; more than 16.2 million euros -- the largest grant ever awarded to a Danish research team in this field -- will support Danish researchers in their pursuit of understanding mental disorders
Is it possible to prevent the development of schizophrenia? Can certain patients develop autism if they carry a specific gene and have been exposed to a viral fetal infection? Should all ADHD patients take the same type of medication?
This unique research project will try to answer these questions. The project is based at Aarhus University and will be known as 'The Lundbeck Foundation's Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research' (iPSYCH). The grant of DKK 121m from the Lundbeck Foundation is the largest grant ever awarded to Danish psychiatric research.
- We will investigate why some people develop mental disorders. We will identify biological disease mechanisms, and we also intend to provide the basis for better treatment and prevention, says Dr. Brglum, Professor of Medical Genetics at Aarhus University and Scientific Director of the research project.
The many faces of psychiatry
The project will study five specific mental disorders: schizophrenia, manic depression, depression, autism and ADHD. All disorders are associated with major human and societal costs all over the world. The new thing is that researchers will study these disorders from many different angles, ranging from genes and cells to population studies, from fetus to adult, from cause to symptoms of the disorder, and this knowledge will be combined in new ways across scientific fields.
- People suffering from a mental disorder such as schizophrenia may have very different lives: a family life with children and a job or a life characterized by chronic disease and homelessness. The disorders do not affect all patients in exactly the same way. We do not know why, but we do know that our current treatment methods are far from optimal because we need more knowledge about the causes behind the disorders, but also about the differences in the development, says Dr. Brglum.
- Our main goal is to identify the causes of these disorders by studying the interplay between genetic and environmental factors and thereby find new targets for treatment. The perspective is to offer better and individualized treatment, providing a better life for each individual patient with the disorder and perhaps even ways to prevent the development of the disorder in some cases, he says.
Professor Mikael Rrth, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Lundbeck Foundation, is pleased with the research opportunities that the new grant will offer:
- Mental disorders are determined by a combination of genetic and psycho-social factors. The research project will combine unique Danish registers and biobanks and is expected to pave the way for better treatment in the future, says Dr. Rrth.
International collaboration
iPSYCH consists of leading researchers within psychiatry, genetics and register-based research. The team collaborates with e.g. the SSI (Statens Serum Institut) under the Danish Ministry of Health, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), deCode Genetics in Iceland and the Genetic Biobank of the Faroe Islands. In combination, this will provide unique opportunities for creating ground breaking new knowledge, which may result in better and more individualized treatment of patients by considering genetic profile, environmental factors and clinical symptoms in combination.
The iPSYCH project team consists of the following researchers:
Professor Anders Brglum, Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital (Scientific Director of iPSYCH): anders@humgen.au.dk; tel: +45 8716 7768 or +45 60202720
Professor Ole Mors, Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital: nielmors@rm.dk; tel: + 45 7847 1166
Professor Preben Bo Mortensen, Aarhus University: pbm@ncrr.dk; tel:. +45 8716 5359
Professor Thomas Werge, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark: thomas.werge@regionh.dk; tel: +45 4633 4968
Professor Merete Nordentoft, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark: merete.nordentoft@regionh.dk; tel: +45 3531 6239.
###
More information:
Anne-Marie Engel, Director of Research, the Lundbeck Foundation: ame@lundbeckfonden.com; tel: +45 3912 8000.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Record-breaking grant: New research project to investigate the causes of mental disordersPublic release date: 19-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kirsten Olesen kol@sun.au.dk (45) 23-38-24-44 Aarhus University
Causes for mental disorders will now be thoroughly investigated; more than 16.2 million euros -- the largest grant ever awarded to a Danish research team in this field -- will support Danish researchers in their pursuit of understanding mental disorders
Is it possible to prevent the development of schizophrenia? Can certain patients develop autism if they carry a specific gene and have been exposed to a viral fetal infection? Should all ADHD patients take the same type of medication?
This unique research project will try to answer these questions. The project is based at Aarhus University and will be known as 'The Lundbeck Foundation's Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research' (iPSYCH). The grant of DKK 121m from the Lundbeck Foundation is the largest grant ever awarded to Danish psychiatric research.
- We will investigate why some people develop mental disorders. We will identify biological disease mechanisms, and we also intend to provide the basis for better treatment and prevention, says Dr. Brglum, Professor of Medical Genetics at Aarhus University and Scientific Director of the research project.
The many faces of psychiatry
The project will study five specific mental disorders: schizophrenia, manic depression, depression, autism and ADHD. All disorders are associated with major human and societal costs all over the world. The new thing is that researchers will study these disorders from many different angles, ranging from genes and cells to population studies, from fetus to adult, from cause to symptoms of the disorder, and this knowledge will be combined in new ways across scientific fields.
- People suffering from a mental disorder such as schizophrenia may have very different lives: a family life with children and a job or a life characterized by chronic disease and homelessness. The disorders do not affect all patients in exactly the same way. We do not know why, but we do know that our current treatment methods are far from optimal because we need more knowledge about the causes behind the disorders, but also about the differences in the development, says Dr. Brglum.
- Our main goal is to identify the causes of these disorders by studying the interplay between genetic and environmental factors and thereby find new targets for treatment. The perspective is to offer better and individualized treatment, providing a better life for each individual patient with the disorder and perhaps even ways to prevent the development of the disorder in some cases, he says.
Professor Mikael Rrth, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Lundbeck Foundation, is pleased with the research opportunities that the new grant will offer:
- Mental disorders are determined by a combination of genetic and psycho-social factors. The research project will combine unique Danish registers and biobanks and is expected to pave the way for better treatment in the future, says Dr. Rrth.
International collaboration
iPSYCH consists of leading researchers within psychiatry, genetics and register-based research. The team collaborates with e.g. the SSI (Statens Serum Institut) under the Danish Ministry of Health, Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI), deCode Genetics in Iceland and the Genetic Biobank of the Faroe Islands. In combination, this will provide unique opportunities for creating ground breaking new knowledge, which may result in better and more individualized treatment of patients by considering genetic profile, environmental factors and clinical symptoms in combination.
The iPSYCH project team consists of the following researchers:
Professor Anders Brglum, Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital (Scientific Director of iPSYCH): anders@humgen.au.dk; tel: +45 8716 7768 or +45 60202720
Professor Ole Mors, Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital: nielmors@rm.dk; tel: + 45 7847 1166
Professor Preben Bo Mortensen, Aarhus University: pbm@ncrr.dk; tel:. +45 8716 5359
Professor Thomas Werge, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark: thomas.werge@regionh.dk; tel: +45 4633 4968
Professor Merete Nordentoft, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark: merete.nordentoft@regionh.dk; tel: +45 3531 6239.
###
More information:
Anne-Marie Engel, Director of Research, the Lundbeck Foundation: ame@lundbeckfonden.com; tel: +45 3912 8000.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 19-Mar-2012
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