Dear Commons Community,

Mario Cuomo, former New York Governor, and father of NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, died yesterday, hours after his son was sworn in for his second term. The New York Times has an obituary on his life and legacy. My own views on Governor Cuomo are mixed.

First, he surely was an inspiring orator who had a way with appealing to people’s feelings when speaking about progressive issues – family, housing, education, employment opportunities.  He was a counter-conscience to President Ronald Reagan who tended always to see and portray America in its most favorable light.

Second, Cuomo provided important leadership for the Democratic Party in the 1980s and early 1990s. However, his oratory outstripped his actual accomplishments as governor. There were few new programs or major governmental accomplishments during his long tenure as governor.

Third, what I like most about Cuomo was his background. As a second-generation Italian American growing up in Queens, he had to struggle to accomplish what he did. Surely there was no silver spoon or family connections that enabled him to achieve the highest elected position in the state. Most people who knew him said it was hard work, family values, and a good education that enabled him to be successful in the competitive world of politics.

For further insights into Mario Cuomo, Elizabeth Kolbert has a fine piece in The New Yorker.

Our condolences to his family and may he rest in peace!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

College student debt has been much discussed as having grown as a significant burden to students and their families. A new report published at The Brooking Institution by Beth Akers and Matthew M. Chingos raises questions about whether this situation is as dire as that promulgated by policymakers and the media.   A summary of the findings are as follows:

“In this report, Beth Akers and Matthew Chingos analyzed more than two decades of data on the financial well-being of American households and find that in reality, the impact of student loans may not be as dire as many commentators fear.

The authors draw on data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) administered by the Federal Reserve Board to track how the education debt levels and incomes of young households evolved between 1989 and 2010. Their analysis produces three particularly noteworthy and new findings:

1. Roughly one-quarter of the increase in student debt since 1989 can be directly attributed to Americans obtaining more education, especially graduate degrees.  The average debt levels of borrowers with a graduate degree more than quadrupled, from just under $10,000 to more than $40,000.  By comparison, the debt loads of those with only a bachelor’s degree increased by a smaller margin, from $6,000 to $16,000.
2. Increases in the average lifetime incomes of college-educated Americans have more than kept pace with increases in debt loads.  Between 1992 and 2010, the average household with student debt saw an increase of about $7,400 in annual income and $18,000 in total debt.  In other words, the increase in earnings received over the course of 2.4 years would pay for the increase in debt incurred.
3. The monthly payment burden faced by student loan borrowers has stayed about the same or even lessened over the past two decades.  The median borrower has consistently spent three to four percent of their monthly income on student loan payments since 1992, and the mean payment-to-income ratio has fallen significantly, from 15 to 7 percent.  The average repayment term for student loans increased over this period, allowing borrowers to shoulder increased debt loads without larger monthly payments.

Although the data analyzed confirm significant increases in average debt levels, they provide little indication of a significant contingent of borrowers with enormous debt loads. In 2010, only two percent of young households owed more than $100,000 on their student loans.

Ultimately, Akers and Chingos conclude that typical borrowers are no worse off now than they were a generation ago, and also suggest that the borrowers struggling with high debt loads frequently featured in media coverage may not be part of a new or growing phenomenon.”

Akers and Chingos provide new light on the student debt issue which has been much discussed and used as a prod by policymakers for higher education to rein in its costs.  Their findings need further review but if substantiated, have helped significantly in understanding the nuances of the issue.

Tony