OAKLAND-

CALIFORNIA- A UC Berkeley professor who’s outside California’s State Capitol said there’s a positive energy infusing today’s protests after a week of tumult within the system.

UCB School of Education Professor Ingrid Seyer-Ochi is at the corner of L Street and 11th just outside California’s State Capitol, participating in today’s rally to defend and advocate for public education. She’s surrounded by a crowd she describes as mostly made up of college students, faculty and some families with young children, carrying signs like “Learning is not a Luxury,” “UC Incorporated,” and “Please Fund My School.” The speeches so far have mostly focused on fee increases and access to higher education, Seyer-Ochi says, with less attention to K-12.

Ochi says her ride up to the Capitol—financed by an individual donor who signed on to back 15 buses from Berkeley to Sacramento—had a “high energy feel,” with students and faculty mingling freely, not always knowing which was which. Faculty members were asked to wear nametags so they’re easily identifiable once they join the crowd, and many are wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the California Faculty Association and California Teachers Association alongside slogans of their own.

Faculty, students, and supporters of California public education will be out in force at massive statewide protests for the March 4 Day of Action to Save Public Education. A 21-year-old UC Berkeley student from a working class San Francisco Bay Area family says local communities aren't represented at the university.

 As we've been reporting, student frustration at rising tuition is at a boiling point.

This junior says all the classes in her ethnic studies major are impacted, even as expensive capital projects dominate the university landscape.

Hassan Cheney is a hustler.

It’s not what you think. Yes, the term “hustle” can mean making money illegally. But it also has deep roots in the African American community. Being a hustler is to earn money on any product or service you can offer.

“I see people with jobs hustling; working full time, but on the side braiding hair, or selling knives,” Cheney says, from his South Los Angeles neighborhood. “The hustle only lasts for so long. I’ve seen certain people with the same hustle go out make hundreds of dollars a day and (other people) only make 10 dollars.”

Twenty six year old, Cheney, hustles his music instrumentals. He needs the money to pay rent and tuition. Cheney is a senior at Cal State Northridge. His homework these days, however, consists of only one thing: finding a job.

“From the Valley to LA, I’ve been filling out applications wherever I can find a job,” Cheney says. “I know people with Masters and BAs and they can’t find work.”

Cheney definitely has his work cut out for him. Even before the recession, African Americans experienced higher rates of unemployment than any other group in the nation. But the wounded economy has worsened the job situation. The national unemployment rate hovers around ten percent, while the rate for blacks is at 16.5 percent.

The issue caught the attention of the Congressional Black Caucus. It wants President Obama to do more for the African American community. CBC Chairwoman, Barbara Lee (D-Ca) released a statement this month in response to a January jobs report.

Aired on American Public Media's Marketplace Money on February 27, 2010

Rachel's story is the last in a three-part Youth Media International series for Marketplace.  How has the recession influenced students dreaming about careers in the finance industry?  

(download mp3)

Right next to the American Stock Exchange building is the High School of Economics and Finance. And for most of the students at this school, Wall Street isn't just their neighbor—it’s their potential employer. Like senior Makeeda Loney.

Makeeda Loney: I do like to make money and the aspect of making money interested me. So I thought maybe if I came here, I would learn more about the business world, which I have.

More than 800 students attend this New York public high school. The school doesn’t keep numbers about how many students end up on Wall Street. But they have academic requirements to prepare students for a career in finance. Like taking a class every year on topics ranging from macroeconomics to personal finance. Hiro Shinohara is a former stock trader who teaches social studies. He says most students at the school don’t come from a wealthy background.

Hiro Shinohara: In fact 75% of our students come from homes where yearly income less than 15,000 a year... they're barely surviving, these are families that are going pay check to pay check. And with the recession, I think there's no question it's hitting these families the hardest.

 Aired on American Public Media’s Marketplace on February 26th, 2010. Lauren's commentary is part of a three-part Youth Media International series for Marketplace.  Has the economic downturn changed the way college graduates feel about Wall Street?  

(download mp3)

By Lauren Silverman

A few years ago I secretly dreamed about working on Wall Street. I used to picture myself in a pinstripe business suit strutting past the Charging Bull before the opening bell.

Working there seemed cool. It was like working for the company that makes the blackberry – before the iphone…or working for Enron – before the bankruptcy.

I remember one day. It was August of 2009 right before the crash. I was interning for a big non profit. I went out to meet up with some friends who all worked in the same field as I did…and then I met a girl who was working in a whole other world…She had an internship with Goldman Sachs.

I tried not to choke on my coffee. Goldman Sachs was my Lady Gaga. She was working on some big corporate buyout --- but of course, she couldn’t say much – the information was “classified.” She got to work at 7:00 AM each day, and from the way she talked about stock analysis I imagined she knew how to use Bloomberg analytics like an elementary school calculator. To me, she was the queen bee, and I was just one of her workers.

Then the bailouts happened… And I changed my mind about Wall Street like that.

I remember watching the bailouts and bonuses fiasco from my desk with the other interns on TV and yelling at the screen. We were furious – I mean red in the face. Those companies seemed to throw around money like paper airplanes. Employees got their bonuses for losing big. And they didn’t seem to care about the risks they took.

Now, I know things are getting a bit better for the finance industry. I know banks have paid back some of the government bailout money. I know some investment firms are hiring again. But there’s a permanent cloud lurking over Wall Street and a bad taste that’s still in my mouth. I don’t feel envious about those queen bees anymore. Chasing the Wall Street dream left plenty of those workers without a hive.

So you won’t find me dreaming about a job on Wall Street. Most my friends feel the same way. The big financial institutions need to work on their reputation before my generation signs over ours.

Rachel Krantz produced this audio postcard from a meeting of the Ethics Society at the NYU Stern School of Business.

The story aired on Marketplace Morning Report on February 25, 2010.  The piece is part of a three-part Youth Media International series for Marketplace. How has the recession changed the way business school students think about ethics?

My name is Janice Shay and I'm currently the co-president of the Stern Ethics society. I had this marketing internship my freshman year and I was doing the book keeping for them and I saw a lot of the things they were doing, in terms of expenses... I knew it was just the executives of the company just having dinners, but they counted it as a company expense. So I didn't think that was very ethical. But at the same time, I was just a freshman. And I didn't have very much power and I was just an intern.

MEETING SOUNDS: You can give them pressure and say if you don't agree to hear you are going to end up in the unemployment line.

I'm Terence Tabili, I'm a senior here at NYU Stern. I study business management with a specialization in entrepreneurship. On my spare time I run my own company.

MEETING SOUNDS: We can get them in the middle of the room and we can say "a" or "b"? Where do you go?

Terrence: Our company--we actually had a product that we had to deliver to a client but we found out it was defective really late in the process. If we did tell them there's a problem with it, they said that since they were on a tight time schedule that we would suffer a big penalty. I think it was 2000 dollars a day. So in the end we decided to fess up and the company gave us an extension to finish the project, so we weren't charged a penalty and we were able to correct the problem. And when I brought this case to the Stern Ethics society they kinda chose the same thing, though some kids were kind of sketchy about it and said they would hide it.

MEETING SOUNDS: But lulu, did discuss world com. We had choice "a" and "b". What would you choose?

JANICE: With our club, if we're telling them these situations, hopefully they're learning from that and they don't do that in the future. Because they're the future, they're the next generation so in the future they encounter any ethical dilemmas they'll think-- this is what happened with Bernie Madoff, this is what happened with Enron. Hopefully that resonates in their minds when they go out in the workplace.

When getting ready to go to college my mother told me not to sign up for any credit cards offers unless I talked to her first. College students are constantly targeted by credit card companies at college fairs, pre-approved cards, freebies and more. But not so much anymore thanks to the new credit card from reform. Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, also known as the Credit CARD Act, will go into effect on Feb. 22, 2010. This is meant to help protect people from credit card companies hidden fees, change in APR (interest), and fine print. When proposing the bill President Obama said, "Americans know that they have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe but they also have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties and hidden fees that have become all too common in our credit card industry."
 

The Credit CARD Act has many aspects to help Americans, and is going to attempt to help the Under 21year olds who often get swept up in the instant gratification of credit. The Act will affect Under 21 year olds in several ways:

Basically,
• Credit for young consumers: Ban credit cards for people under 21 unless they have a co-signer or proof that they have income to pay them back, Bans pre-screening and pre approved credit cards, and the Under 21 year old has get permission from co-signer to increase credit limits on joint accounts
• College marketing: Colleges have to disclose the student information they give credit card information; Credit card issuers are required to file annual reports with the Federal Reserve Board detailing the terms and conditions of all business, marketing and promotional deals with colleges and universities, including the amount of any payments made to the school; Recommend colleges universities and alumni associations to not allow credit card companies to promote on campus or near campus (now near campus is defined as 1,000 miles from the border of the campus)
• No more freebies or promotional gifts to get young
More details
(VIA: Creditcard.com)

College students have already reacted. Some student like Cierra Jackson, a 21-year-old public relations major at Florida A & M University, says "I think it's a good law. Most people get credit cards and are in debt before they finish their first year in college." While others are strongly opposed like Todd VanDuzer, 19, a business major at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. He says he has Capital One and Chase credit cards with no debt. He says, "I think such a law is ridiculous because it is further limiting our rights that we deserve as adults. If we can get tried in court as an adult and go to war, we deserve the same rights as an elder would.

Video and more after the Break

Our friends at KQED have gotten into the web widgets game with their "You Decide" series of info-polls.

Our friends at Michigan Radio and PRX have put together an hour long special on the state of the economy, illustrating the crisis through the stuggles of individual Americans: 

Since late 2007 America has been in an economic crisis. From a story about a family living on a beach, to a former GM employee looking to downsize his life, to a teenager weighing options for after high school, this one hour newscast compatible documentary explores how people are finding the strength and situations that get them through economic hard times by presenting personal stories and intimate portraits alongside contextual interviews and reports. Jennifer White is the program's host. "Finding Our Bootstraps: Americans Deal with Recession" was produced at Michigan Radio and showcases work from independent and station-based contributors to PRX.ORG - The Public Radio Exchange.

You can hear the whole program online or download the mp3 at the link above.