5/21/2015
By Charles Payne, CEO & Principal Analyst

Not long ago, we learned that Ronald Nelson, a student from Memphis Tennessee, was accepted into all eight Ivy League schools. He decided on the University of Alabama.

Despite his 4.58-weighted GPA and 15 AP courses, Ronald worried it would simply cost his middle-class parents too much to get him through an Ivy League school, none of which offered him merit scholarships.

So, this kid who is a homegrown American Dream gets kicked to the curb.

Don't get me wrong, the University of Alabama is a great school, but with his grades, imagine what he would become with Harvard's help.

Recently, I got similar news from my niece who was accepted into Columbia, but her working parents couldn't afford it, so she’s off to Temple. Why couldn't Columbia finance her degree? Consider all the industries that finance their products to customers.

They have the cash.

It seems to me if these universities have the gall to ask for the amounts they do for their degrees, it's about time to put their money up. With the cost of tuition going through the roof and the government looking to raise taxes on everything that moves to fund their profligate spending, it's time to consider moves that benefit everyone- where we all have skin in the game.

The Taxpayers share of college debt is racing toward $900 billion. Why should Main Street be on the hook when the same hardworking men and women can't even get scholars into great schools without putting up everything they own?

It's the Economy, Stupid

Is America in a recession? It's hard to remember the last time an important economic release came in better than expected. Moreover, many have been unmitigated disasters, including the industrial production on Friday.

We are seeing freefalling consumer confidence, slacking retail sales, and the probability of the first quarter of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) being revised into the negative category is very high.

Ironically, the thing that might save the economy and the stock market rally is the slumping U.S. dollar.

Charles Payne
Wall Street Strategies

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