by Libby Schultz

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited Giese Manufacturing Co. in Dubuque last Monday. Addressing a crowd of about 200 people, Romney wore jeans and a plaid shirt and stood on a metal stage with the background of a metal “Iowa” sign with his last name engraved in it, a gift from the workers of Geise Manufacturing.

Libby Schultz

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addresses people at Giese Manufacturing Co. in Dubuque on Monday, Nov. 7.

During the speech, Romney addressed a few of his plans of what he has to offer if he become the president. Calling America’s problem the “Obama Great Recession, he stated that his first plan after winning the election would be to cut government spending. He addressed that he wants to change America by making it a “job creating machine, like it was in the past.” His speech was centered around changing government by making it simpler, smaller and smarter. He further explained that his plan is to cut 500 billion dollars out of government spending  by his first term “by cutting programs we just don’t need.” These programs included “Obamacare,” which by 2013 would save 95 billion dollars and other things we can’t afford. He asked “is it worth borrowing money from China to pay for it (certain programs), knowing that we couldn’t possibly pay it back in our life time?  We can’t keep passing our debts off to our kids.”

Romney stated he would allow some programs to go to the state level. The benefits from that would be that each state would do what was best for the people of that state, as each state is different. “Sending Medicaid alone back to state level would save 100 billion dollars,” Romney stated. He also said that he wants to eliminate 10% of government employees, as they should not be making more money than those in the private sector.

Although Mitt only spoke for roughly 15 minutes he was well received.

Libby Schultz

Romney’s short speech centered on government spending and making America a job creating machine, like it was in the past.

Having survived the confidence vote on Saturday Nov. 3, Prime Minister Papandreou is looking for any way to save the economy in his country now. One of the first things that Papandreou is looking to do is to form a crises coalition to help run the country for the next four months. The details on this coalition and the idea of an international bailout are still a bit sketchy despite the call for action and an ultimatum for Athens to get serious about the economy. Greece is due to literally run out of money in the next few weeks, the economy has come to a standstill and the country lies in wait to see what will happen next.

Papandreou, with significant pressure from his socialist party, agreed to step down when the new coalition government takes over. The ideation that Europe is going to keep the unified euro is at best a menial idea, the drachma is seeming to be the way that the Greek people will be going, the money is flying out of the country faster than ever before. Residents of Greece have been sending their money out of the country in droves. The failing economy has the Greeks in fear that their country will not only go in to bankruptcy but that retail business, as they know it, will come to a grinding halt, although that has begun to happen in the lower end retail shops as it is.

Across the country the normally bustling shops sit empty. One shop owner told the Associated Press that he had not had a sale in more than three months. Because he cannot afford to pay his electricity bills, there was no light to illuminate his storefront display of jewels. This proprietor who wished to remain nameless went on to say, “My regular customers, most of whom he rarely sees these days, owe 14,000 euros, about $19,300. Those that he does see are looking to pawn their family heirlooms to get by.”

“The politicians are playing games with the people,” he said, his eyes red with exhaustion and stress. “This city is boiling. I am not a protester, but soon the top on the kettle will pop.”

The feelings that this single merchant expressed is not uncommon among the people of Greece. As the politicians hop from crisis to crisis to attempt to satisfy their country the exasperation from the public becomes more and more apparent so much so that even the most obscure member of parliament will not come out into the public without at least one body guard at their side.

The roller coaster ride that the economic crises has taken over the past few months has been one that even the bravest of souls dare not tackle. The European Union told its bickering parties to explain by Monday evening how they would form a unity government to enact the 130 billion euro, which translates to $179 billion US dollars, emergency funding package.

An agreement, reached late on Sunday at talks led by President Karolos Papoulias. “Today was a historic day for Greece,” government spokesman Ilias Mossialos said, adding that the new coalition would be sworn in and hold a confidence vote within a week, if all went as planned. Others are not so optimistic with this new plan. Former conservative finance minister, Stefanos Manos stated ”I’m afraid the new government will very soon turn out to be problematic.”

In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett in the ABC’s The Dick Cavett Show, John Lennon remarked that he doesn’t believe in overpopulation. “That’s kind of a myth the government has thrown out to keep your mind off Vietnam, Ireland and all the important subjects.” The population that year was merely 3.74 billion. Just four decades later, the population has grown to 7 billion, almost double of what we had that year.

Seeing the famine in East Africa, unrest in Syria and Wall Street protests, one cannot deny the lavish lifestyles for a few, but poverty for too many others. Almost a billion people go hungry every night. There are fears and concerns over how the world’s resources are going to sustain ever-growing populations and hungry bellies.

But is feeding the growing population really a problem? Although we don’t seem to be able or willing to make that happen, we have always seen food being wasted on a massive scale in one part of the world and starvation on the other. The world has become much clearer and reachable with the advent of modern technology and transportation. Just like the world has advanced in health care, can’t it too advance in food production and distribution?

The bigger problem then is sustainability. With the world’s population using resources crazily, what is a future generation going to use? Where are they going to get paper from, what are they going to do with the toxic gas emissions and deforestation, loss of species and global warming? This makes the concerns of sustainability imperative. The overpopulation explosion could spawn even greater protests and greater actions.

Sometimes I wish Lennon’s remark was true that the overpopulation is really a myth and that the governments are merely bringing up these issues to keep people’s minds off conflicts and other important things. Well, when the world’s population reaches 8 billion, we’ll know.

-Lorian Staff

Smriti Shakya

by Daniel McDermott

Did you know that we have a Student Union? If you did, do you have any idea what the Student Union does? This year, one of the main goals of the Student Union is to make students more aware of what we are doing for you. We have nine committees that are working on several different student issues.

The first committee is the Marketing and Communications committee. They have been using Facebook, Twitter, OrgSync, and eventually YouTube to give the students updates. In addition, the committee will be helping to publicize student organization events. If you are interested in this service, please contact the head of this committee, Kinsey Campbell.

The second committee is the Aesthetics Committee. They started out by looking into the possibility of getting a bonfire pit somewhere on campus. Due to current fire codes, this is unfortunately an impossibility. They are now assessing what the student body’s priority list is for improvements on campus. Make sure you look for the survey in the future to make sure that your opinion is heard.

The third committee is the Bus Route Committee. The purpose of this committee was to work with the city of Dubuque, Clarke and University of Dubuque to establish a bus route targeting college students. This bus route will take students to movie theatres, grocery stores, and the mall during the day and at night will shuttle students downtown. The city of Dubuque has passed a grant to fund the project and it is expected to be implemented during this semester.

The next committee is the Student Entertainment Center Committee (SEC).  Created by Chris Higgins last year, the SEC would be a place centrally located on campus, where students can gather to socialize. It is intended to have big screens, arcade games, billiards, comfortable furniture, and many other possibilities. The preliminary plans have been handed over to the Aesthetics Committee to see if this is actually a student priority.

The fifth committee is the Wider Selection in the Pub Committee.  So far they have worked with Loras College Campus Dining to get chicken wraps back into the pub and offered other suggestions that will help improve Campus Dining as a whole. Also they are going to start a conversation about bringing alcohol into the Pub—no promises.

Our sixth committee is the Campus Pride Committee. This committee will strive to improve school spirit by encouraging attendance at sporting events, theatrical productions, band concerts, choir concerts, and many other activities. They are responsible for the new “This Week at Loras” email that students have received and will be selling Duhawk Nation shirts outside the Café this week.

The seventh committee is the Sustainability Committee, which is dedicated to reducing Loras’ carbon footprint. One way they are doing this is the new UCarShare program, making it possible to rent a car by the hour to run errands. Hopefully students will begin to leave their car at home and utilize this program. It has a very easy website to use and is affordable. Please make sure to test drive our new Prius and Cube that we have on campus.

The final committee is the Mission and Identity Committee. The members of this committee serve as our student representatives, and will also be in charge of organizing our Student Union service project and keeping track of service hours.
As you can see the Student Union is hard at work for its students. As committees accomplish their goals, they are rolled over into new committees. Most importantly, we are constantly looking for student input. Feel free to contact your class representatives or email us at student.union@loras.edu. We would love to hear your suggestions. Make sure you like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LCStudentUnion.

As the year 2011 nears its end, I feel that the year will be best remembered as the Year of the Protest. From the protests that filled the streets of Madison, WI, against Gov. Walker’s policies towards unions, to the Arab Spring revolutions in Egypt and Libya, to the summer riots that struck Athens. Now in the fall, America has found its voice in Occupy Wall Street, collectively known as Occupy Together. What began back in the middle of September as hundreds of New Yorkers camped out in a park, has now spread around the globe to cities as far away as Tokyo and Auckland.

When the movement was just getting underway in the U.S., many were quick to judge the protestors for being leaderless and not having a clear idea of what they were protesting against. But listen to the chants of “We Are the 99%!” and “Banks Got Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out!” to know what they want. They want change in how the money is distributed and, specifically, to decrease the influence and power of corporations and their money over the U.S. government. Simply put, the American people are fed up with the crumbling economy and high unemployment that has plagued their lives for so long and are frustrated when those with money and power chose to ignore the situation at hand.

The Occupy Wall Street movement firmly believes in peaceful protesting and solidarity in their quest for change. However, the news is filled with daily arrests of hundreds of protestors by police. In any event, these arrests and sometimes subsequent brutality by police (usage of mace pepper spray and batons) against the peaceful protestors has only made the movement grow in strength.

Only time will tell what becomes of the Occupy Wall Street protests and whether change in the system will be enacted by the government. In the meantime, the protestors’ enthusiasm for change seems unwavering. Many may criticize the movement as being leaderless and without a set list of changes, but perhaps it is those same critics who stood by and let the economy slide as far as did. The Occupy Wall Street movement gives voice to change that the people want; to hope for the future and to believe again in the American dream. And they will not be ignored.

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul made a short appearance in downtown Dubuque Tuesday afternoon. After a brief speech, he answered public questions for a little over an hour at Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC).

Fresh from a Monday night appearance on the “Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, Paul was introduced to the crowd of about 125 by A.J. Spiker, a member of the Republican Party of Iowa, and a co-chair to Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.

“It’s a pleasure to be back in Dubuque,” said Spiker. “The people of Dubuque are very important to the Ron Paul campaign.”

Rajendra Thakurathi | My Duhawk

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul spoke Tuesday afternoon at Northeast Iowa Community College.

His speech focused on the economic policies that are currently being implemented by President Barack Obama, as well as those he hopes to change if he gains the office.

“People are starting to recognize we have some big problems,” said Paul. “One of the biggest ones is too much spending and too much debt. I think that’s what people are anxious to talk about.”

One of those people is junior Andy Miller, who was in attendance.

“He’s a candidate who is very untraditional, and that’s what I think we need in order to bring about real change in Washington,” Miller said.

Paul proposed vast cuts in foreign aid, the Federal Reserve’s policing of printing money and military spending, as well as retaining the rights to personal liberty and financial freedom.

“You have to live within your means,” he said. “When you’re not earning enough to pay your bills, you have to do something about it. When the (personal) debts are paid down, you can have growth again.

Paul also attacked the U.S.income tax.

“If you have a right to liberty, then you have a right to do whatever you want with your life,” he said. “If you have the incentives to work hard and earn some money, then you have a right to keep your money. That’s what the Founding Fathers understood; they didn’t invent this notion of the income tax. That came later on in 1913 in an attempt to help the government grow.”

Rajendra Thakurathi | My Duhawk

“I really like how he focuses on personal liberties,” said Miller. “I like his consistent voting record throughout the duration of his career in politics and his ideas on smaller government and less federal spending.”

Paul will stay in Iowa for the next few days with stops in the town halls of Muscatine, Clinton and Nevada.

Are you sick of corruption in government?

Everybody complains about it. We all hate it. Though, at the same time, we still see others support politicians like stray dogs following someone carrying a sack full of sausages. It’s pathetic. The solution, in fact, has very little to do with politics and everything to do with ending the Federal Reserve System.

Wait, don’t they manage and regulate the U.S. economy? Yeah, you can say that, but for whom do they manage it?

We are told a few things about the Federal Reserve: it provides full employment; it’s the lender of last resort; it controls inflation; and it manages interest rates and regulates the economy.

These intentions, while noble, actually end up destroying the very principles that allow a free society to thrive, and turn a moral society immoral, where corruption flourishes.

Currently, our economy runs on something called fiat money – where the U.S. dollar is managed by a central bank and backed by virtually nothing. Therefore, when the Fed prints more dollars it devalues the dollars you own, and taxes everything you’ve earned. In essence, the government is committing theft.

The process of inflation is of course a little more complicated than that; so let me explain.

When the Fed prints more dollars, who do you think is getting the money first? It’s not your average Joe that’s for sure; its government contractors and anyone who is politically well-connected.

When dollars are first printed and finally spent within the economy, they have not been devalued yet. They are still fresh and prices haven’t risen. To put simply, after person A receives and spends this newly created money, they do not pay for the higher prices. But, persons B, C and D (generally the average Joe) must bear the burden of rising prices in the economy.

Soon, after this process takes place, then wages rise. It’s rigged so that person A – someone politically well-connected – can live an easier, less stressful and more prosperous lifestyle. It discourages savings, encourages speculation in the markets and is most harmful to those living on fixed incomes. Inflation is immoral in every sense of the word.

The Fed is also known for its ability to manage interest rates (the price for money). The Fed, in most cases, prefers to keep these rates low, with hopes this strategy will keep investment high and the economy growing. The problem with this approach, though, is that artificially low rates interfere with the price system.

Prices aren’t just dollars and cents. They provide signals and communicate to investors and entrepreneurs when projects should begin. But when the Fed lowers these rates below market levels, they are in effect getting investors drunk on alcohol. As a result, they are misled into making decisions they would not have otherwise made.

This is called mal-investment – where poor/misguided decisions are made by investors, and booms and busts take place in the economy, i.e the housing crash. It’s a “cluster of errors,” where investments are made that cannot be fulfilled, and an eventual bust occurs because of excess credit in the economy. The problem is never the bust, though. The true cause for recessions and depressions is the boom that is created by the artificially low rates.

Interestingly enough, it’s the bust in the economy that serves as the “correction.” The same thing happens when you wake up Sunday morning with a killer hangover. Do you recover by downing another bottle of Jack Daniel’s? Of course not. There is a painful, but necessary adjustment. Too often, though, this adjustment never takes place because politicians can’t be your hero if they simply let the economy “correct itself.”

This can be described as the Austrian business cycle theory. This cycle is not something that happens for inexplicable reasons either; it happens because incentives and behaviors are manipulated by the Federal Reserve.

To close, the Fed does not exist to look out for the little guy. It exists to keep us happy enough to stay quiet, while padding the pockets of the politically well-connected. The Fed funds endless wars, it helps grow the welfare state and it causes booms and busts in the economy. It’s the enabler of the corruption we all want to see eliminated.

So, forget about solving the problem by electing new congressmen/women or raising taxes on the rich. Go to the source, pull the plug and “End the Fed.”

A good portion of Duhawks will be graduating in a few weeks with large sums of debt. Yup, sorry to be so depressing, but its true — college is expensive. Predictably, I hear students and parents complain about the costs (and stress) associated with paying these monstrous loans.

But rarely do I hear students ask “why” — why is college so expensive? If it bothers us so much, why not try to fix the problem? Most students would say, “Well, that’s what government loans are for. The poor need financial assistance in order to afford a college education.”

This solution simply addresses a symptom of the problem, but fails to cure the actual disease. The problem with tuition rates isn’t that college is inherently expensive. A contributing factor is the government — and its subsidization of higher education — that makes it so expensive to begin with.

The government website says “about two-thirds of subsidized Stafford Loans are awarded to students with family adjusted gross income (AGI) of less than $50,000, one-fourth to students with family AGI of $50,000 to $100,000, and a little less than 10 percent to students with family AGI over $100,000.” Federal aid to college students, says the National Center for Policy Analysis, rose from $61.1 billion in 1999 to 116.8 billion in 2009. After adjusting for inflation, the NCPA reports “the average amount of a federal student loan increased 180 percent from 1990 to 2008.”

It is this very policy that contributes to the crushing debt that we Duhawks will be facing after graduation.

You may say that the government has a duty to help the poor and disadvantaged get an education! How dare you question this? No, the government doesn’t give a damn about helping the poor, and here’s why.

First, one point no one wants to bring up is that colleges and universities already know students have access to low-interest loans courtesy of the government.

As a result, aware that potential students will enjoy artificially increased purchasing power, college administrators cut back on their own aid programs and raise tuition costs. It’s the very existence of these loan programs that make getting a college education so expensive in the first place. In other words, the government is breaking your leg, handing you a crutch and saying, “See? Without me, you couldn’t walk!”

A good hypothetical example that helps explain why college tuition rates are so expensive is to imagine 100 people in room attempting to buy a television, with various groups of people having $300, $200 or $100 in their pockets. Now, what if I walked into the room and handed each person a check for $100? Some people in the room would wonder why, but I could just tell them I was helping the poor afford televisions.

What would happen? Well, because each person now appears to be $100 richer, the TV companies would have the incentive to demand more money for their televisions, causing prices to rise. Not only that, but more people would walk into the room after learning about this handout, and the demand and prices for televisions would skyrocket.

Televisions are not being subsidized by the government, however; which is a good thing, because according to the Census Bureau, 97 percent of poor households have a color television, and over half own two or more color televisions.

But wait, if the government stopped providing student loans, wouldn’t tuition for college be set on the free market? “Oh, not the free market!”

Relax. For argument’s sake, let’s say the government stopped providing financial aid to all students. Most students across the country wouldn’t be able to afford tuition rates as they are currently priced. Accordingly, universities would find their classrooms nearly empty. This consequence, while sounding like Armageddon for college presidents, would actually be very beneficial to students. Because there would be no third party artificially inflating the purchasing power of prospective students, colleges would be forced to decrease tuition rates to levels that are actually affordable for most students — even students in low-income families.

Instead of the government inflating costs, the market — based on supply and demand — would determine tuition rates. Don’t worry, though; just as the price for televisions decreased under pure market conditions, your tuition rates would drop as well.

Intentions don’t always equal results; and when the government claims they want to help the poor, they’re likely “breaking their legs” instead.