(.
4A - Monday, March 23, 2009
)pinion
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
7 1C 44 i tgan Batl
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GARY GRACA ROBERT SOAVE COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position oftthe Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations represent solely the views oftheir authors.
FROM THE DAILY
Joining ObamaCorps
Studentsshould accept responsibility of community service
President John F. Kennedy's famous words, "Ask not what
your country can do for you, but what you can do for your
country," are still relevant 50 years later. The House recent-
ly passed the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Educa-
tion Act, which focuses on improving education, green energy and
health care through community service programs - specifically,
the federal service organization AmeriCorps. While the U.S. Sen-
ate should work quickly to pass similar legislation, called the Serve
America Act, currently under consideration, students should rec-
ognize the value of community service in a time when communi-
ties threaten to buckle under economic stress.
0
The GIVE Act, which was passed by the
House on Thursday, will expand the Ame-
riCorps program significantly and increase
education stipends. AmeriCorps will be
expanded to 225,000 service positions,
an increase of 300 percent. The education
stipend provided for student volunteers in
AmeriCorps will also increase to $5,350,
the same amount as the maximum Pell
Grant. This is expected to cost the govern-
ment $6 billion in the next five years. The
bill is also proposing that Sept. 11 be made a
national day of service, though it would not
be a national holiday.
Most importantly, the bill aims to use
community service initiatives to improve
three areas that President Barack Obama
has repeatedly stressed: education, green
energy and health care. Though the fed-
eral government, under Obama's guidance,
has recognized its responsibility to solve
these issues, these three areas aren't just
important because Obama says so - they
are critical for reviving the nation's slowly
sinking economy and diminishing condi-
tions of poverty. Because the act is focused
on pressing issues, this new initiative is a
good way to encourage people to volunteer
in local communities.
Education in underprivileged commu-
nities is one way to bridge socioeconomic
gaps and is vital to redirect manufacturing-
based economies not only in Michigan, but
also nationally. In the same vein, progress in
alternative energy technology will open up
a booming industry that protects the envi-
ronment. And, of course, improving health
care services are vital for solving issues that
underprivileged families continuously face.
The Senate needs to support the House's
bill to make sure these projects become
a reality. But the government's efforts to
support community service won't amount
to much unless students take advantage of
them. The expansion of AmeriCorps is a
prime opportunity for students to give back.
While the economy struggles, students are
among the few groups of people with the
time and opportunity to serve. And while
students should always heed the call to ser-
vice, what's also true is that service may
now be more viable for many students than
getting a job after graduation.
Creating a national day of service is a
nice gesture, but no one should be waiting
around for an official call to go help suf-
fering communities. Students especially
should take it upon themselves to make giv-
ing back a priority, regardless of whether
it's timely or not.
The least I can say is that he's a poor ignoramus."
- Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, commenting on President Obama's allegation
that Chavez is responsible for exporting terrorism, as reported yesterday by CNN.
CHRIS KOSLOWSKI T T PAT E-MAIL CHRIS AT CSKOLOW@UMICH.EDU
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Taxation frustration
I always tell my students that the half is a tangled thicket of provisions If you don't have health insurance,
best way to learn about American collectively known as tax expendi- can't afford to contribute to a retire-
public policy is to do their own tures. Once you hire a jungle guide ment plan and can't afford to buy your
taxes every year. or an accountant to take a machete own home, you don't see a dime in
Filling out your to the torturous language, you'll find benefits from these programs, which
own tax forms a bunch of goodies that let you pay cost the Treasury Department rough-
shows you what fewer taxes. Three of the most com- ly $300 billion last year.
our society's pri- mon goodies are deductions, exemp-
orities are and tions and tax credits.
precisely how your In general, deductions and exemp-
personal income tions allow you to reduce the amount W hy the rich get
is going to fund of your income that is subject to tax,
it. If you don't pay while credits directly reduce the tax off too easy when
attention to those PATRICK you owe.
debates, the people O'MAHEN Collectively, these tax expendi- it comes to taxes.
who do - and their tures reduced federal revenues by
lobbyists - will be $800 billion last fiscal year, according
more than happy to the Tax Policy Center.
to rewrite those laws to their benefit Guess what? That $800 billion dis- Now, one can argue that some of
and your detriment, proportionately goes to the wealthy. these programs help middle and low-
If you're interested in justice, or Perhaps the most egregious exam- income people to buy their own home
just getting your fair share of deduc- ple is the Bush-era cuts on dividends or save for retirement. That's true, but
tions, take your federal 1040EZ or and other capital gains. Since few because of high or non-existent caps
1040A forms and follow me as we Americans directly own stock, gener- on the benefit, they tend to provide
plunge into the fascinating world of ally only people in the top one tenth much greater benefits to a Manhattan
federal fiscal policy. of one percent of tax payers have banker writing off interest payments,
one of the first things you notice is to worry about dividends. In 2005, on his $5 million townhouse than a
that federal income tax rates are pro- Political Scientist LarryBartels noted Detroit family who just purchased a
gressive - wealthy individuals pay a that taxpayers earning $1 million or $55,000 home.
greater proportion of their income in more a year paid more than half of Worse still, most of these programs
tax than poor people do. In 2008, the the tax on dividends. Yet Bush's cuts are only deductions or non-refund-
first $8,950 a single adult taxpayer on dividend taxes and capital gains in able tax credits, which means that
earns is non-taxable. Above that, you combination with previously existing only individuals who would other-
pay taxes at steadily increasing rates deductions cost $48.6 billion a year. wise have scads of taxable income
as your income increases. Currently, The result? can take advantage of them. If I only
the lowest tax bracket is 10 percent In 2003, Investor Warren Buffett earn $20,000 a year, I can only take
and the highest is 35 percent. noted that Bush's changes would have $20,000 in deductions, whileif I eari
One major effect of President left him paying three percent of his $200,000, I can take $200,000 in
George W. Bush's tax cuts was to cut income in taxes, in comparison to his deductions. One notably progressive
rates. Until 2001, federal income tax secretary, who paid 30 percent of her exception to this rule is the Earned-
brackets ranged from 15 percent to 39 income. Income Tax Credit, which allows
percent. After that, all taxpayers saw That thump you just heard was the low-income taxpayers to get money
declines in their tax rates. In 2002, I increasing tax burden and cuts in gov- back beyond their tax liability.
saved $338. ernment services falling on the medi- So the next time you have the
Thanks, George. I'll buy you an an-income household, which only opportunity to do your taxes, take
O'Doul's the next time I'm in Dallas. makes about $46,000 a year. it. Wading through those deductions
or maybe he should buy me dinner But it gets worse. lines and instructions might seemlike
- because not only did the rate cuts The top three deductions, accord- a frustrating waste of time, but it's
benefit the wealthy, but his other tax ing to the Tax Policy Center, are worth it to gain an understanding of
policies also helped individuals who employer-provided health-insurance, who benefits from U.S. fiscal policy.
needed it least. contributions to 401k and traditional
Tax brackets are only the straight- Individual Retirement Account plans - Patrick O'Mahen can be
forward half of the story. The other and deductions on home interest. reached at pomahen@umich.edu.
An amateur at the Big Dance
40
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari, Emily Barton, Elise Baun, Harun Buljina, Ben Caleca,
Satyajeet Deshmukh, Brian Flaherty, Emmarie Huetteman, Emma Jeszke,
Sutha K Kanagasingam, Shannon Kellman, Jeremy!Levy, Erika Mayer, Edward McPhee,
Matthew Shutler, Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder
NICOLE PREMO ,EWP01NT
Preventing the hike
I
I
Last Thursday, students supporting the "Stop
the Hike" initiative met with the Regents to
plead their case. Their proposal is simple - stop
increasing tuition. While the idea sounds appeal-
ing to undergraduate students, the proposal is as
implausible as it is shortsighted. The University
must adjust its tuition costs to grapple with the
effects of inflation and decreasing state fund-
ing. But the Center for Education Policy within
the Roosevelt Institution - a student-run think
tank and public policy group on campus - pro-
poses a one-year moratorium on tuition hikes.
This would allow students, faculty, regents and
experts to collaborate on the best way to deal
with tuition in the long run.
There is no denying that a University of Michi-
gan degree is becomingmore and moreexpensive.
Just last year, both in-state and out-of-state stu-
dents saw a 7.4 percent increase in tuition costs.
The increase is representative of a larger trend
- tuition has increased 47 percent since 2002.
But the overarching hike does not come without
rationale. As. state appropriations decline, the
University has to use alternative methods of gen-
erating immediate capital. Consequently, student
tuition has become the source of an increasingly
large proportion of the University's general fund,
reaching a high of 62 percent in 2007.
While a pragmatic approach is necessary, the
University and its budget committees must rec-
ognize that an indefinite tuition hike is absurd.
By continuing to shift the burden onto students,
the University will only delay actually dealing
with the issues that make the hike necessary.
Instead, the University can better serve its
students and its own long-term, self-sustaining
goals simultaneously by instating a moratorium
on tuition hikes for the 2009-2010 academic year.
The University could use this fiscal year to reas-
sess its economic policies in light of forthcoming
developments such as stimulus package money,
possible economic upturn and market develop-
ment.
Kim Dancy, co-director of the Roosevelt Cen-
ter for Education Policy, advocated for the mora-
torium in a policy brief presented to the regents
during their Thursday meeting. In addition to
arguing that ever-increasing tuition is not a
responsible budget strategy, the proposal out-
lined the broader socioeconomic context of the
issue and the burden it imposes on students and
their families. In her brief, she argued, "With
the highest unemployment rate in the nation for
January (11.6 percent), it is clear that economic
decline has hit hard, making the prospect of
entering or continuing a degree program unat-
tainable for many individuals."
"Despite 'risks associated with such a poli-
cy," she wrote, "it is in the best interests of the
majority of University students to maintain a
climate of academic distinction and diverse stu-
dent population."
The proposed one-year tuition increase mora-
torium presents aunique opportunity for collabo-
ration between the administration and students.
The University should reassess tuition increase
as the answer to fulfilling budget benchmarks.
Rather than spendingthe year with other budget
officers developing a new plan that yet again asks
the students to make up for that which the state
can no longer provide, the budget officers and
regents should spend the year with students, pol-
icy makers and state representatives to figure out
long-term solutions to maintaining and improv-
ing access to higher education in Michigan.
It is the responsibility of the University as an
institution to address this economic difficulty in
new and innovative ways. And it is long past time
to throw out the old, shortsighted tuition hike
solution for the sake of long-term budget sustain-
ability.
Nicole Premo is co-director of the
Roosevelt Center for Education Policy.
used to appreciate sports
more. I had a varsity jacket
in high school, practically
collected Under
Armor workout
gear and was able
to name a handful
of professional ath-
letes. You'd hardly
know it from the -
confused look on
my face as I some-
how found myself MEG
watching Thurs- YOUNG
day's NCAA Tour-
nament games.
When I got to
the University, one of the first things
I did was buy season football tickets.
I even managed to sit through the
entire Appalachian State game last
year. But that hardly lasted.
By October, Michigan sports
became eerie to me. On football
Saturday mornings, with the entire
town wearing matching T-shirts,
"Hail to the Victors" sounded like a
national anthem and the marching
band seemed surreal and nationalis-
tic, like a Soviet demonstration. Sur-
rounded by my classmates singing
the fight song, I didn't understand
what we were fighting for. Why do
people identify with their favorite
team so strongly? They aren't the
ones down there running on the
field. Sports seemed so arbitrary and
overblown.
These feelings lasted my entire
freshman year, as well as during last
year's football season. Needless to
say, I didn't waste money on any kind
of tickets again.
But around the time of this year's
Super Bowl, my boss at Cafe Ambro-
sia, Ed, decided to take me to task.
"You lefties," he told me, "only feel
this way because you're bad at sports
yourselves'" He describes himself
as the only liberal who sees value
in them. He sees beauty and heart
in athletics, and asked me to look at
them as I would at art or music.
My main problem with sports is
how commercial they've become.
Clearly, athletics carry a lot of power,
and hundreds of millions of dollars
at our University are spent on them.
People have to pay through the nose
for season tickets, signed merchan-
dise and ESPN6. But Ed defended
sports, saying commercialization
happens to all forms entertainment.
"Just look at the music industry," he
said.
He's slowly convincing me that,
at the heart of the game, something
more meaningful is going on. What
that is, he didn't tell me what it is.
But he challenged me for saying that
sports don't mean anything.
He told me about moments in sports
history when athletes had everything
to fight for. In the 1936 Olympics in
Berlin, Jesse Owens won four gold
medals in track and field events that
were all but a' referendum on Third
Reich eugenics. When Joe Louis
knocked out German Max Schmel-
ing in the same year, it sent the same
message home. In 1947, Jackie Robin-
son broke the color barrier in Major
League Baseball. Ed asserted that
Western Texas's victory against the
University of Kansas catalyzed the
desegregation of southern collegiate
basketball teams.
He told me about the history of
the game. Once, sportsmen worked
as grocers in the off-season, before
the multi-million dollar contracts we
have today. In some sports, players
still do.
Last Thursday, my friend and I
went to our boss's house for the Clem-
son vs. Michigan basketball game.
Four kids hollered and jumped up
and down in front of the television,
cheering on the Wolverines. One of
the boys had never seen a basketball
game before, and yet he was point-
ing and booing as loud as the rest of
them. It wasn't until then I realized
'the power of competition.
It was difficult.to see through the
commercialization of something like
March Madness, but the Wolver-
ines' return to the playoffs felt like
an appropriate time. Michigan was
banned from the playoffs in 2002 and
2003 after it came to light that former
basketball booster Ed Martin had
paid off players in the '90s. Not since
1998 has our team made it as far as we
did Thursday night. And we made it
How 'M' basketball
illustrated the
meaning of sports.
to the playoffs, fair and square.
My boss likes collegiate sports
because of the distance they keep
from huge returns. He appreci-
ates the guys who aren't playing for
money but for love of the game. I real-
ized that I may not love the game as
the players or true sports fans do, but
S can appreciate the way their passion'
brings them together.
I've decided to give sports another
chance. Maybe it's the terrible econ-
omy. Maybe it's the way I felt in the
last 30 seconds of Thursday's game.
Sports can bring people closer togeth-
er and overcome boundaries that few
other mainstream pasttimes can. I'm
still dubious about franchised goods,
multi-million dollar contracts and
Madonna love triangles, but I think
I can finally stop arguing with Ed.
Sports have spirit, after all.
- Meg Young can be reached
at megyoung@umich.edu.
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