title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: Terauley Street, Louisa Street, Downey's Lane and Albert Lane were closed and disappeared from the city street grid to make way for the new complex. Albert Street and James Street were preserved only to the extent of their frontage around Old City Hall (although at the request of the Church of the Holy Trinity, the city of Toronto required that pedestrians be able to cross through the mall where Albert Street once existed at all times, which is still possible. Trinity Square, however, lost its public access to Yonge Street, and became a pedestrian-only square with access via Bay Street.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: The exterior of the Eaton Centre store was designed in the style of the 1970s, intended at that time to be a statement of Eaton's dominance and its aspirations. Urban planners and designers have lamented this original exterior design. The complex was oriented inwards, with very few street-facing retail stores, windows or even mall entrances to animate the exterior. Much of the Yonge Street façade, facing what was once one of Toronto's primary shopping thoroughfares, was dominated by nine storey parking garage. At the insistence of the Metro Toronto government, which had jurisdiction over major roads and wanted right-of-way to add an additional lane to Yonge Street, the complex was set back a considerable distance from Yonge Street, thus further weakening the centre's streetscape presence.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: Despite the controversy and criticisms, the centre was an immediate success, spawning many different shopping centres across Canada bearing the same brand name of Eaton. The mall's profits were said to be so lucrative that it has often been credited with keeping the troubled Eaton's chain afloat for another two decades before it succumbed to bankruptcy in 1999. Today, the Eaton Centre is one of North America's top shopping destinations, and is Toronto's most popular tourist attraction.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: One of the most prominent sights in the shopping mall is the group of fibreglass Canada geese hanging from the glass ceiling. This group of sculptures, named "Flight Stop", is the work of Canadian artist Michael Snow. It was also the subject of an important intellectual property court ruling. One year, the management of the centre decided to decorate the geese with red ribbons for Christmas, without consulting Snow. Snow sued, arguing that the ribbons made his naturalistic work "ridiculous" and harmed his reputation as an artist, and in "Snow v Eaton Centre Ltd", the court ruled that even though Eaton Centre Limited owned the sculpture, the ribbons had infringed Snow's moral rights. The ribbons were ordered removed.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: When the Eaton's chain went bankrupt in 1999, many of its corporate assets were acquired by Sears Canada, which included the lease on the department store space at the north end of the mall, giving Sears a prime location in Toronto's downtown core for the first time. Sears Canada briefly ran the department store as part of an upscale eatons mini-chain but by 2002 the store was rebranded to Sears. Sears Canada converted the uppermost four floors of the nine-storey department space to corporate offices, replacing their previous headquarters at 222 Jarvis Street, and the lowest floor was converted to mall retail space, but the resultant four-level department store was still Sears' largest in the world at about . Shortly after Sears' acquisition of Eaton's, the Timothy Eaton statue was moved from the Dundas Street entrance to the Royal Ontario Museum.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: In the early 2000s, owner Cadillac Fairview redesigned the mall's Yonge Street façade, bringing it closer to the street and making it more closely resemble an urban shopping district, with stores opening directly onto the street, and presenting a variety of façades to create the perception of an urban streetscape.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: Further redevelopments, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, added new retail space. The west side of the complex, opposite Albert Street, was expanded. The glass atrium in the northeast corner at the intersection of Yonge and Dundas streets was redesigned, with a number of former tenants—including a Toronto Police Service office—relocated or evicted, to make way for H&M's Canadian flagship store designed by Queen's Quay Architects International Inc.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: One of the mall's two parking garages, the nine-storey Dundas Parkade on Dundas Street with its two spiral stack ramps and the multiplex cinema below it, was demolished in 2003. In the place of the garage and of a vacant development site on the southeast corner of Dundas and Bay streets, a new wing of the Toronto Eaton Centre was opened in 2006, containing Canadian Tire and Best Buy, with Toronto Metropolitan University's Faculty of Business and a new parking garage with 574 spaces on the upper levels. This work was done by Queen's Quay Architects International Inc. with Zeidler Partnership Architects.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: In 2014, the retail complex occupies about , making it the second-largest mall in Ontario (after Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga but ahead of Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto's north end).


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: On June 18, 2010, Cadillac Fairview announced a two-year, renovation and revitalization plan for the mall. Upgrades include new flooring throughout, the redevelopment of the centre's two existing food courts, upgrades and expansions to washroom facilities, lighting improvements, new railings, new entry doors, and green initiatives.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: In June 2010, a would-be shopper was filmed shouting at the locked doors of an entrance to the Eaton Centre, which was in the process of entering lockdown as the G20 Summit street protests loomed nearby and was later uploaded to YouTube. The video quickly became an Internet meme, but was removed by the original poster shortly thereafter. However, the video has been re-uploaded hundreds of times by other users.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: As part of a $120 million renovation, the Eaton Centre replaced the aging food courts at each end of the mall with one larger new food court in the north, which opened in September 2011, and a relocated and expanded Richtree Market restaurant at the south end, which opened on September 9, 2013. However, Richtree Market permanently closed on March 9, 2020, amid the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: The new north food court, the Urban Eatery, features typical food court outlets, outlets of smaller Toronto-based chains, and international-style cuisine. There are 900 seats spread over more than and 24 outlets within the Eatery. Some of the more notable restaurants include Chick-fil-A (set to open in Spring 2023), KFC, McDonald's, Sbarro, Subway, and Tim Hortons.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: Disposable packaging has been mostly replaced with cutlery and plastic cups and dishes; the area began with over 100,000 dishes and 20,000 cups. There are no garbage or recycling receptacles in the Urban Eatery; patrons bring their food trays to staffed collection stations, where items are sorted. A pulping machine makes 90 percent of the mall's food waste pulpable, and a solid waste compactor reduces the content of 50 bags of garbage into no more than two bags of pulp.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: Canadian sporting goods retailer Sport Chek is the only non-food retailer located in the Urban Eatery.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: On June 2, 2012, a shooting took place in the Urban Eatery food court while the mall was heavily crowded with shoppers. Seven people were shot: one of them, 24-year-old Ahmed Hassan, died at the scene while another, 22-year-old Nixon Nirmalendran, died at a hospital on June 11, 2012. According to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, Hassan and Nirmalendran may have had gang affiliations and both were targeted. Others were injured in the panic as people fled the area, including a 28-year-old pregnant woman who began undergoing labour but did not give birth.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: Two days after the shooting, 23-year-old Christopher Husbands turned himself in to authorities and was charged with first-degree murder. He was found guilty of second-degree murder and guilty of five counts of aggravated assault, one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and one count of reckless discharge of a firearm. At the time of the shooting, he was under house arrest. Four months prior to the shooting, he had survived an attack in which he was beaten and stabbed more than twenty-five times by six associates. Jessica Ghawi, an American tourist who had left the food court minutes prior to the shooting, was killed seven weeks later in a mass shooting at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado. In April 2015, Husbands was sentenced to 30 years-to-life imprisonment.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: Husbands was granted a new trial in July 2017 as the Ontario Court of Appeal stated the judge had made a mistake in their decision to deny "rotating triers" in selecting the jury. Originally convicted of second-degree murder, Husbands's lawyer stated, "He experienced auditory and visual hallucinations. He has no memory of the events that followed inside the food court." They are making the case that his actions were a result of disassociation, a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), caused from being stabbed 20 times earlier that year, and therefore should not be held criminally responsible for the casualties and assaults. It was the same defense used during his first trial.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: In late November 2019, Husbands was found guilty of two counts of manslaughter, five counts of aggravated assault and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and reckless discharge of a firearm. On the manslaughter convictions, Husbands was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility of parole by 2021.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: It was announced on October 29, 2013, that Sears Canada would close its flagship location at the mall. On January 15, 2014, Nordstrom announced that it would be taking over some of the space vacated by Sears. The former lower level of Sears (part of Level 1 and part of Level 2 of the mall) was replaced with various retailers, which opened in fall 2015. Examples of these retailers include the Jays Shop, which sells official Toronto Blue Jays merchandise. Afterwards, a three-floor Nordstrom opened in fall 2016 alongside Uniqlo, an expanded H&M and a Samsung Store.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: In January 2014, Hudson's Bay Company announced it would sell the Hudson's Bay Queen Street complex, including the Simpson Tower offices and Queen Street West location of its namesake department store, to Cadillac Fairview and lease the site for 25 years. Prior to this transaction the Hudson's Bay Queen Street complex had separate management/ownership and was not considered part of the Eaton Centre, nonetheless it was connected to the Eaton Centre via a pedestrian bridge and underground Path. After the sale closed, the Queen Street complex department store space was renovated to accommodate the first Canadian location of Saks Fifth Avenue, a chain also owned by Hudson's Bay. The old pedestrian bridge over Queen Street linking the Eaton Centre and the Hudson's Bay store, which had been in service since the 1970s, was replaced by a new skywalk that opened in 2017.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: Free Wi-Fi became available throughout the Eaton Centre in late 2014. Before then, free Wi-Fi was only available in larger restaurants, Indigo Books and Music, and the Apple Store. The Eaton Centre's free Wi-Fi requires a Facebook account, a Twitter account, or an e-mail address to access.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: A small part of the northern end of the Toronto Eaton Centre's Level 3 was set aside for the official 2015 Pan American Games pop-up shop during June and July 2015, and during the 2015 Parapan American Games in August.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: The Toronto Eaton Centre was closed during June 2020 amid both the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests and reopened in July 2020. One of the stores above the Urban Eatery was replaced with additional public food court space to allow for social distancing, though that additional food court space closed again amid the second wave of the pandemic per provincial policy as Toronto underwent another COVID-19-related lockdown.


title: Toronto Eaton Centre

text: On the evening of September 20, 2022, a multi-vehicle fire occurred in the upper levels of the mall's parking garage and shoppers had to be evacuated.


The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, often called the "bank bailout of 2008", was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, passed by the 110th United States Congress, and signed into law by President George W. Bush. It became law as part of Public Law 110-343 on October 3, 2008, in the midst of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. It created the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to purchase toxic assets from banks. The funds were mostly redirected to inject capital into banks and other financial institutions while the Treasury continued to examine the usefulness of targeted asset purchases.


title: Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

text: A financial crisis had developed throughout 2007 and 2008 partly due to a subprime mortgage crisis, causing the failure or near-failure of major financial institutions like Lehman Brothers and American International Group. Seeking to prevent the collapse of the financial system, Secretary of the Treasury Paulson called for the U.S. government to purchase several hundred billion dollars in distressed assets from financial institutions. His proposal was initially rejected by Congress, but the ongoing financial crisis and lobbying by President Bush ultimately convinced Congress to enact the proposal as part of Public Law 110-343.


text: Early estimates for the bailout's risk cost were as much as $700 billion; however, TARP recovered $441.7 billion from $426.4 billion invested, earning a $15.3 billion profit or an annualized rate of return of 0.6%, and perhaps a loss when adjusted for inflation.


text: After the freeing up of world capital markets in the 1970s and the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act in 1999, the banking practices (mostly Greenspan inspired "self-regulation") along with monetized subprime mortgages sold as low risk investments, reached a critical stage during September 2008, characterized by severely contracted liquidity in the global credit markets and insolvency threats to investment banks and other institutions. In response, the U.S. government announced a series of comprehensive steps to address the problems, following a series of "one-off" or "case-by-case" decisions to intervene or not, such as the $85 billion liquidity facility for American International Group on September 16, the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.


text: The legislation had its origin in early 2008 when Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson directed two of his aides, Neel Kashkari and Phillip Swagel, to write a plan to recapitalize the U.S. financial system in case of total collapse. The plan, which was also presented to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, called for the U.S. government to purchase about $500 billion in distressed assets from financial institutions.


text: The original proposal was submitted to the United States House of Representatives, with the purpose of purchasing bad assets, reducing uncertainty regarding the worth of the remaining assets, and restoring confidence in the credit markets. The bill was then expanded and put forth as an amendment to . The amendment was rejected via a vote of the House of Representatives on September 29, 2008, voting 205–228.


text: Supporters of the plan argued that the market intervention called for by the plan was vital to prevent further erosion of confidence in the U.S. credit markets and that failure to act could lead to an economic depression. Opponents objected to the plan's cost and rapidity, pointing to polls that showed little support among the public for "bailing out" Wall Street investment banks, claimed that better alternatives were not considered, and that the Senate forced passage of the unpopular version through the opposing house by "sweetening" the bailout package.


text: On October 1, 2008, the Senate debated and voted on an amendment to H.R. 1424, which substituted a newly revised version of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 for the language of H.R. 1424. The Senate accepted the amendment and passed the entire amended bill, voting 74–25. Additional unrelated provisions added an estimated $150 billion to the cost of the package and increased the length of the bill to 451 pages. ("See" Public Law 110-343 for details on the added provisions.) The amended version of H.R. 1424 was sent to the House for consideration, and on October 3, the House voted 263–171 to enact the bill into law. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law within hours of its congressional enactment, creating the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to purchase failing bank assets.


text: On Monday, October 6, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 700 points and fell below 10,000 for the first time in four years. The same day, CNN reported these worldwide stock market events: Britain's FTSE 100 Index was down 7.9%; Germany's DAX down 7.1%; France's CAC 40 dropping 9%; In Russia, trading in shares was suspended after the RTS stock index fell more than 20%; Iceland halted trading in six bank stocks while the government drafted a crisis plan.


text: On October 8, the British announced their bank rescue package consisting of funding, debt guarantees and infusing capital into banks via preferred stock. This model was closely followed by the rest of Europe, as well as the U.S Government, who on the October 14 announced a $250bn (£143bn) Capital Purchase Program to buy stakes in a wide variety of banks in an effort to restore confidence in the sector. The money came from the $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Program.


text: Over the next six months, TARP was dwarfed by other guarantees and lending limits; analysis by Bloomberg found the Federal Reserve had, by March 2009, committed $7.77 trillion to rescuing the financial system, more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year.


text: U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed a plan under which the U.S. Treasury would acquire up to $700 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities. The plan was immediately backed by President George W. Bush and negotiations began with leaders in the U.S. Congress to draft appropriate legislation.


text: Consultations among Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox, congressional leaders, and President Bush, moved forward efforts to draft a proposal for a comprehensive solution to the problems created by illiquid assets. News of the coming plan resulted in some stock, bond, and currency markets stability on September 19, 2008.


text: The proposal called for the federal government to buy up to US$700 billion of illiquid mortgage-backed securities with the intent to increase the liquidity of the secondary mortgage markets and reduce potential losses encountered by financial institutions owning the securities. The draft proposal was received favorably by investors in the stock market, but caused the U.S. dollar to fall against gold, the Euro, and petroleum. The plan was not immediately approved by Congress; debate and amendments were seen as likely before the plan was to receive legislative enactment.


text: Throughout the week of September 20, 2008, there was contentious wrangling among members of Congress over the terms and scope of the bailout, amplified by continued failures of institutions like Washington Mutual, and the upcoming November 4 national election.


text: The plan was introduced on September 20, by Paulson. Named the Troubled Asset Relief Program, but also known as the Paulson Proposal or Paulson Plan, it should not be confused with Paulson's earlier 212-page plan, the "Blueprint for a Modernized Financial Regulatory Reform", that was released on March 31, 2008.


text: The proposal was only three pages long, intentionally short on details to facilitate quick passage by Congress.


text: A key part of the proposal is the federal government's plan to buy up to $700 billion of illiquid mortgage-backed securities (MBS) with the intent to increase the liquidity of the secondary mortgage markets and reduce potential losses encountered by financial institutions owning the securities. The draft proposal of the plan was received favorably by investors in the stock market.


text: This plan can be described as a risky investment, as opposed to an expense. The MBS within the scope of the purchase program have rights to the cash flows from the underlying mortgages. As such, the initial outflow of government funds to purchase the MBS would be offset by ongoing cash inflows represented by the monthly mortgage payments. Further, the government eventually may be able to sell the assets, though whether at a gain or loss will remain to be seen. While incremental borrowing to obtain the funds necessary to purchase the MBS may add to the United States public debt, the net effect will be considerably less as the incremental debt will be offset to a large extent by the MBS assets.


text: A key challenge would be valuing the purchase price of the MBS, which is a complex exercise subject to a multitude of variables related to the housing market and the credit quality of the underlying mortgages. The ability of the government to offset the purchase price (through mortgage collections over the long-run) depends on the valuation assigned to the MBS at the time of purchase. For example, Merrill Lynch wrote down the value of its MBS to approximately 22 cents on the dollar in Q2 2008. Whether the government is ultimately able to resell the assets above the purchase price or will continue to merely collect the mortgage payments is an open item.


text: On February 10, 2009, the newly confirmed Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner outlined his plan to use the $300 billion or so dollars remaining in the TARP funds. He mentioned that the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve wanted to help fund private investors to buy toxic assets from banks, but few details have yet been released. There is still some skepticism about the premise that taxpayers can buy troubled assets without having to overpay. Oppenheimer & Company analyst Meridith Whitney argues that banks will not sell bad assets at fair market values because they are reluctant to take asset write downs. Removing toxic assets would also reduce the volatility of banks' stock prices. Because stock is a call option on a firm's assets, this lost volatility will hurt the stock price of distressed banks. Therefore, such banks will only sell toxic assets at above market prices.


text: On April 6, 2008, the State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group reported that the pace of foreclosures exceeded the capacity of homeowner rescue programs, such as the Hope Now Alliance, in the first quarter of 2008.


text: The original plan would have granted the Secretary of the Treasury unlimited power to spend, proofing his or her actions against congressional or judicial review. Section 8 of the Paulson proposal states: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." This provision was not included in the final version.


text: In his testimony before the U.S. Senate, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson summarized the rationale for the bailout:


text: In his testimony before the U.S. Senate on September 23, 2008, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke also summarized the rationale for the bailout:


text: Regarding the $700 billion number, "Forbes.com" quoted a Treasury spokeswoman: "It's not based on any particular data point. We just wanted to choose a really large number."


text: According to CNBC commentator Jim Cramer, large corporations, institutions, and wealthy investors were pulling their money out of bank money market funds, in favor of government-backed Treasury bills. Cramer called it "an invisible run on the banks," one that has no lines in the lobby but pushes banks to the breaking point nonetheless. As a bank's capital reserve of deposits evaporate, so too does its ability to lend and correspondingly make money. "The lack of confidence inspired by Lehman's demise, the general poor health of many banks, this is going to turn this into an intractable moment," Cramer said, "if someone in the government doesn't start pushing for more deposit insurance."


text: Skepticism regarding the plan occurred early on in the House. Many members of Congress, including the House of Representatives, did not support the plan initially, mainly conservative free-market Republicans and liberal anti-corporate Democrats. Alabama Republican Spencer Bachus has called the proposal "a gun to our head."


text: On September 19, 2008, when news of the bailout proposal emerged, the U.S. stock market rose by 3%. Foreign stock markets also surged, and foreign currencies corrected slightly, after having dropped earlier in the month. The value of the U.S. dollar dropped compared to other world currencies after the plan was announced. The front end oil futures contract spiked more than $25 a barrel during the day Monday September 22, ending the day up over $16. This was a record for the biggest one-day gain. However, there are other factors that caused the massive spike in oil prices. Traders who got "caught" at the end of the October contract session were forced to purchase oil in large batches to cover themselves, adding to the surge in prices. Further out, oil futures contracts rose by about $5 per barrel. Mortgage rates increased following the news of the bailout plan. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.78% in the week before the plan was announced; for the week ending September 25, the average rate was 6.09%, still far below the average rate during the early 1990s recession, when it topped 9.0%.


text: There was concern that the current plan created a conflict of interest for Paulson. Paulson was a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, which stood to benefit from the bailout. Paulson had hired Goldman executives as advisors and Paulson's former advisors had joined banks that were also to benefit from the bailout. Furthermore, the original proposal exempted Paulson from judicial oversight. Thus, there was concern that former illegal activity by a financial institution or its executives might be hidden.


text: The Treasury staff member responsible for administering the bailout funds was Neel Kashkari, a former vice-president at Goldman Sachs.


text: In the Senate, Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) was the leading Republican author of the TARP program while he had a multimillion-dollar investment in the Bank of America.


text: Protests opposing the bailout occurred in over 100 cities across the United States on Thursday September 25. Grassroots group TrueMajority said its members organized over 251 events in more than 41 states. The largest gathering has been in New York City, where more than 1,000 protesters gathered near the New York Stock Exchange along with labor union members organized by New York Central Labor Council. Other grassroots groups have planned rallies to protest against the bailout, while outraged citizens continue to express their opposition online through blogs and dedicated web sites.


text: Supporters of the plan included presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.


text: Critics included Senator Bernie Sanders, Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Congressman Ron Paul, Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, and Senators Christopher Dodd, Richard Shelby, and Jim Bunning.


text: In a "Wall Street Journal" opinion piece, Senator Hillary Clinton advocated addressing the rate of mortgage defaults and foreclosures that ignited this crisis, not just bailing out Wall Street firms: "If we do not take action to address the crisis facing borrowers, we'll never solve the crisis facing lenders." She proposed a new Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), similar to that used after the Depression and which was launched in 1933. The new HOLC was to administer a national program to help homeowners refinance their mortgages. She also called for a moratorium on foreclosures and freezing of rate hikes in adjustable-rate mortgages.


text: Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, said that any bailout had to include plans to recover the money, protect working families and big financial institutions, and be crafted to prevent such a crisis from happening again.


text: Investor Warren Buffett says he could put in $10B plus $90B nonrecourse debt; that is, without having to repay beyond $10B if mortgages did not repay. (This is 10 to 1 leverage, 10 times upside with 1 times downside.) He also said that the government should pay market price, which may be below the carry value. Buffett says "I would think they might insist on the directors of the institutions that participate in this program waiving all director's fees for a couple of years. They should, maybe, eliminate bonuses." Buffett says "if someone wants to sell a hundred billion of these instruments to the Treasury, let them sell two or three billion in the market and then have the Treasury match that, ... . You don't want the Treasury to be a patsy." Mr. Buffett's company owns financial companies which will benefit directly or indirectly.


text: Investor George Soros opposed the original Paulson plan: "Mr Paulson's proposal to purchase distressed mortgage-related securities poses a classic problem of asymmetric information. The securities are hard to value but the sellers know more about them than the buyer: in any auction process the Treasury would end up with the dregs. The proposal is also rife with latent conflict of interest issues. Unless the Treasury overpays for the securities, the scheme would not bring relief." – but called Barack Obama's list of conditions for the plan "the right principles".


text: Other critics included Carl Icahn Jim Rogers, and William Seidman. Seidman compared the bailout with action he and his team at the Resolution Trust Corporation took during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s: "What we did, we took over the bank, nationalized it, fired the management, took out the bad assets and put a good bank back in the system."


text: In hindsight, economists generally agree that unemployment would have been significantly higher without the program.


text: Suggested alternative approaches to address the issues underlying the financial crisis include: mortgage assistance proposals try to increase the value of the asset base while limiting the disruption of foreclosure; bank recapitalization through equity investment by the government; asset liquidity approaches to engage market mechanisms for valuing troubled assets; and financial market reforms promoting transparency and conservatism to restore trust by market investors.


text: This process consisted of nationalizing most of the private industries. The short-term effects were evidently costly, but the beneficiary repercussions were vastly favorable to a sustainable economic future.


text: According to Jon Daemon, the proposal was dismissed by bureaucrats and lobbyist in accordance to the private banks and federal reserve dispatchers.


text: Over the weekend (September 27–28), Congress continued to develop the proposal. That next Monday, the House put the resulting effort, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, to a vote. It did not pass. US stock markets dropped 8 percent, the largest percentage drop since Black Monday in 1987.


text: Congressional leaders, including both presidential candidates, started working with the Bush Administration and the Treasury department on key negotiation points as they worked to finalize the plan. Key items under discussion included:


text: Just after midnight Sunday, September 28, leaders of the Senate and House, along with Treasury Secretary Paulson, announced a tentative deal had been reached to permit the government purchase of up to $700 billion in mortgage backed securities to provide liquidity to the security holders, and to stabilize U.S. financial firms and markets. The bill was made final later that Monday morning. A debate and vote was scheduled for the House for Monday, September 29, to be followed by a Senate debate on Wednesday. In an early morning news conference, on Monday September 29, President George W. Bush expressed confidence that the bill would pass Congress, and that it would provide relief to the U.S. economy. A number of House Republicans remained opposed to the deal and intended to vote against it.


text: That same day, the legislation for the bailout was put before the United States House of Representatives and failed 205–228, with one not voting. Democrats voted 140–95 in favor of the legislation, while Republicans voted 133–65 against it. During the legislative session, at the conclusion of the vote, the presiding chair declared the measure, HR3997, to be unfinished business.


text: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a press conference after the vote: "The legislation has failed. The crisis has not gone away. We must continue to work in a bipartisan manner." Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, appearing at a joint press conference with Senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, said a bailout plan could still pass Congress. Dodd said: "We don't intend to leave here without the job being done. While it may take another few days, we're confident that can happen."


text: Following the House vote, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 777 points in a single day, its largest single-day point drop until 2018. The $1.2 trillion loss in market value received much media attention, although it still does not rank among the index's ten largest drops in percentage terms. The S & P lost 8.8%, its seventh worst day in percentage terms and its worst day since Black Monday in 1987. The NASDAQ composite also had its worst day since Black Monday, losing 9.1% in its third worst day ever. The TED spread, the difference between what banks charge each other for a three-month loan and what the Treasury charges, hit a 26-year high of 3.58%; a higher rate for inter bank loans than Treasury loans is a sign that banks fear that their fellow banks won't be able to pay off their debts. Meanwhile, the price of U.S. light crude oil for November delivery fell $10.52 to $96.37 a barrel, its second largest one-day drop ever, on expectations of an economic slowdown reducing oil consumption and demand. The Dow Jones industrial average recovered 485 points or about 62% of the entire loss the very next day.


text: Markets which had expected the bill to pass and had moved on to debating whether it would be sufficient were already skittish after news that Wachovia Bank was being bought out by Citigroup to avoid collapse. The events were compounded by news from Europe that Dutch-Belgian Fortis Bank was given a $16.4 billion lifeline to avoid collapse, failing British bank Bradford & Bingley was nationalized, and Germany extended banking and real estate giant Hypo Real Estate billions to ensure its survival.


text: Later in October, after the bill had been passed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average would drop by more in percentage terms, and market volatility remained at historically high levels, as measured by the VIX.


text: On Wednesday evening, October 1, 2008, the Senate debated and voted on a revised version of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA 2008). The legislation was framed as an amendment to HR1424, substituting the entire bill with the newly revised text of the EESA 2008. The amendment was approved by a 74–25 vote, and the entire bill was also passed by the same margin, 74–25 (R: 34-15, D: 40-10). Only cancer-stricken Senator Ted Kennedy did not vote. Under the legislative rule for the bill, sixty votes were required to approve the amendment and the bill. A House leader accused the Senate of legislating "by blunt force" without public consent.


text: Describing the Senate's reason for passing the bill, former Senator Evan Bayh "described a scene from 2008 where Ben Bernanke warned senators that the sky would collapse if the banks weren't rescued. 'We looked at each other,' said Bayh, 'and said, okay, what do we need.


text: The revised HR1424 was received from the Senate by the House, and on October 3, it voted 263-171 to enact the bill into law. Democrats voted 172 to 63 in favor of the legislation, while Republicans voted 108 to 91 against it; overall, 33 Democrats and 24 Republicans who had previously voted against the bill supported it on the second vote.


text: President Bush signed the bill into law within hours of its enactment, creating a $700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets.


text: The revised plan left the $700 billion bailout intact and appended a stalled tax bill. The law has three major divisions, Division A: the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008; Division B: Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, and Division C: the Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008. The tax part of the law has provisions that will have a net expenditure of $100 billion over 10 years. It had been stalled due to a disagreement between Democrats that did not want to increase spending without a corresponding increase in taxes and Republicans, who were adamantly opposed to any tax increases.


text: On October 3, 2008, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act became law with the signing of Public Law 110-343, which included the act. Below is a list of key items and how the legislation deals with them.


text: Although the original bill proposed as late as September 20 contained no such provision, Section 128 of the Act allowed the Federal Reserve System (the Fed) to begin paying banks a high interest rate on their deposits held for reserve requirements. It reads:


text: The Fed announced that it would begin paying such increased interest on both reserve and excess reserve balances on October 6, 2008. Banks immediately increased the amount of their money on deposit with the Fed, up from about $10 billion total at the end of August 2008, to $880 billion by the end of the second week of January 2009. In comparison, the increase in reserve balances reached only $65 billion after September 11, 2001 before falling back to normal levels within a month. The U.S. Treasury Department explained the changes, saying:


text: The Federal Reserve will continue to take a leadership role with respect to liquidity in our markets. It is committed to using all of the tools at its disposal to provide the increased liquidity that is now required for the effective functioning of financial markets. In this regard, the authority to pay interest on reserves that was provided by EESA is essential, because it allows the Federal Reserve to expand its balance sheet as necessary to support financial stability while conducting a monetary policy that promotes the Federal Reserve's macroeconomic objectives of maximum employment and stable prices. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department are consulting with market participants on ways to provide additional support for term unsecured funding markets.


text: Reactions to the change were mixed, with banks generally approving of their new ability to earn high interest without risk on funds that they would otherwise need to use to extend credit in order to make a profit for their shareholders, while those involved in the commercial paper markets, the primary and secondary sectors of the goods and services economy, shipping, and others depending on the liquidity of credit from banks were more skeptical of the further pressure against credit availability in the midst of the ongoing credit liquidity crisis.


text: The day after the change was announced, on October 7, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed some confusion about it, saying, "We're not quite sure what we have to pay in order to get the market rate, which includes some credit risk, up to the target. We're going to experiment with this and try to find what the right spread is." The Fed adjusted the rate on October 22, after the initial rate they set October 6 failed to keep the benchmark U.S. overnight interest rate close to their policy target, and again on November 5 for the same reason. Beginning December 18, the Fed directly established interest rates paid on required reserve balances and excess balances instead of specifying them with a formula based on the target federal funds rate.


text: The government issued $400 billion of short-term debt intended to help replace the $1.8 trillion commercial paper market which was wiped out by the change, (exacerbated by money market funds' sudden refusal to support commercial paper as well) but the world economy began to deflate as international shipping, dependent on commercial paper, slowed in some regions to a few percent of levels prior to the change. The FDIC announced a new program on October 14, under which newly issued senior unsecured debt issued on or before June 30, 2009, would be fully protected in the event the issuing institution subsequently fails, or its holding company files for bankruptcy. The FDIC program is expected to cover about $1.4 trillion of bank debt.


text: The Congressional Budget Office estimated that payment of interest on reserve balances would cost the American taxpayers about one tenth of the present 0.25% interest rate on $800 billion in deposits:


text: Those expenditures pale in comparison to the lost tax revenues worldwide resulting from decreasing economic activity due to damage to the short-term commercial paper and associated credit markets.


text: On January 7, 2009, the Federal Open Market Committee decided that, "the size of the balance sheet and level of excess reserves would need to be reduced." On January 13, Ben Bernanke said, "In principle, the interest rate the Fed pays on bank reserves should set a floor on the overnight interest rate, as banks should be unwilling to lend reserves at a rate lower than they can receive from the Fed. In practice, the federal funds rate has fallen somewhat below the interest rate on reserves in recent months, reflecting the very high volume of excess reserves, the inexperience of banks with the new regime, and other factors. However, as excess reserves decline, financial conditions normalize, and banks adapt to the new regime, we expect the interest rate paid on reserves to become an effective instrument for controlling the federal funds rate." The same day, "Financial Week" said Mr. Bernanke admitted that a huge increase in banks' excess reserves is stifling the Fed's monetary policy moves and its efforts to revive private sector lending.


text: On January 15, Chicago Fed president and Federal Open Market Committee member Charles Evans said, "once the economy recovers and financial conditions stabilize, the Fed will return to its traditional focus on the federal funds rate. It also will have to scale back the use of emergency lending programs and reduce the size of the balance sheet and level of excess reserves. 'Some of this scaling back will occur naturally as market conditions improve on account of how these programs have been designed. Still, financial market participants need to be prepared for the eventual dismantling of the facilities that have been put in place during the financial turmoil,' he said."


text: At the end of January 2009, excess reserve balances at the Fed stood at $793 billion but less than two weeks later on February 11, total reserve balances had fallen to $603 billion. On April 1, reserve balances had again increased to $806 billion, and late November 2009, they stood at $1.16 trillion.


text: The bill authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to establish the Troubled Assets Relief Program to purchase troubled assets from financial institutions. The Office of Financial Stability is created within the Treasury Department as the agency through which the Secretary will run the program. The Secretary is required to consult with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development when running the program.


text: The bill authorizes $700 billion for the program. The Treasury Secretary has immediate access to the first $250 billion. Following that, an additional $100 billion can be authorized by the President. For the last $350 billion, the President must notify Congress of the intention to grant the additional funding to the Treasury; Congress then has 15 days to pass a resolution disallowing the authority. If Congress fails to pass a resolution opposing the funding within 15 days, or if the resolution passes, but is vetoed by the President, and Congress does not have enough votes to override the veto, the Treasury will receive the final $350 billion.


text: The Treasury Secretary is required to obtain a financial warrant guaranteeing the right to purchase non-voting stock or, if the company is unable to issue a warrant, senior debt from any firm participating in the program. The Secretary is allowed to make a de minimis exception to the rule, but that exception may not exceed $100 million.


text: If the Treasury purchases assets directly from a company, and also receives a meaningful equity or debt position in that company, the company is not allowed to offer incentives that encourage "unnecessary and excessive risks" to its senior executives (that is, the top five executives). Also, the company is prohibited from making golden parachute payments to a senior executive. Both of these prohibitions expire when the Treasury no longer holds an equity or debt position in that company. The company also is given "clawback" permission; that is, the opportunity to recover senior executive bonus or incentive pay based on earnings, gains, or other data that proves to be inaccurate.


text: If the Treasury purchases assets via auction, and that purchase exceeds $300 million, any new employment contract for a senior officer may not include a golden parachute provision in the case of involuntary termination, bankruptcy filing, insolvency, or receivership. This prohibition only applies to future contracts; golden parachutes already in place will remain unaffected.


text: In either scenario, no limits are placed on executive salary, and existing golden parachutes will not be altered.


text: For mortgages involved in assets purchased by the Treasury Department, the Treasury Secretary is required to (1) implement a plan that seeks to maximize assistance for homeowners, and (2) encourage the servicers of the underlying mortgages to take advantage of the HOPE for Homeowners Program of the National Housing Act or other available programs to minimize foreclosures. Furthermore, the Secretary is allowed to use loan guarantees and credit enhancements to encourage loan modifications to avert foreclosure. The bill does not provide a mechanism to change the terms of a mortgage without the consent of any company holding a stake in that mortgage. Section 110: Assistance to Homeowners of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 "requires federal entities that hold mortgages and mortgage-backed securities to develop plans to minimize foreclosures".


text: This $24 billion asset detoxification plan was requested by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Sheila Bair, but the Treasury did not use the provision. "The primary purpose of the bill was to protect our financial system from collapse," Secretary Henry Paulson told the House Financial Services Committee, "The rescue package was not intended to be an economic stimulus or an economic recovery package."


text: The bill establishes that actions taken by the Treasury Secretary regarding this program are subject to judicial review, reversing the request for immunity made in the original Paulson proposal.


text: Several oversight mechanisms are established by the bill. Contractors were also used to help manage the TARP funds.


text: The Financial Stability Oversight Board is created to review and make recommendations regarding the Treasury's actions. The members of the board are:


text: A Congressional Oversight Panel is created by the bill to review the state of the markets, current regulatory system, and the Treasury Department's management of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The panel is required to report their findings to Congress every 30 days, counting from the first asset purchase made under the program. The panel must also submit a special report to Congress about regulatory reform on or before January 20, 2009.


text: The Comptroller General (director of the Government Accountability Office) is required to monitor the performance of the program, and report findings to Congress every 60 days. The Comptroller General is also required to audit the program annually. The bill grants the Comptroller General access to all information, records, reports, data, etc. belonging to or in use by the program.


text: The bill creates the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Special Inspector General's purpose is to monitor, audit and investigate the activities of the Treasury in the administration of the program, and report findings to Congress every quarter.


text: From the date of enactment of the bill (October 3, 2008) until December 31, 2009, the amount of deposit insurance provided by the FDIC is increased from $100,000 to $250,000.


text: Title II sets out guidelines for consultation and reporting between the Treasury Secretary, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Congressional Budget Office.


text: CAMELS ratings are being used by the United States government to help it decide which banks to provide special help for and which to not as part of its capitalization program authorized by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.


text: "The New York Times" states: "The criteria being used to choose who gets money appears to be setting the stage for consolidation in the industry by favoring those most likely to survive" because the criteria appears to favor the financially best off banks and banks too big to let fail. Some lawmakers are upset that the capitalization program will end up culling banks in their districts.


text: Known aspects of the capitalization program "suggest that the government may be loosely defining what constitutes healthy institutions. [... Banks] that have been profitable over the last year are the most likely to receive capital. Banks that have lost money over the last year, however, must pass additional tests. [...] They are also asking if a bank has enough capital and reserves to withstand severe losses to its construction loan portfolio, nonperforming loans and other troubled assets." Some banks received capital with the understanding the banks would try to find a merger partner. To receive capital under the program banks are also "required to provide a specific business plan for the next two or three years and explain how they plan to deploy the capital."


text: The United States annual budget deficit for fiscal year 2009 surpassed $1 trillion. The original Paulson proposal would lift the United States federal debt ceiling by $700 billion, to $11.3 trillion from $10.6 trillion.


text: A review of investor presentations and conference calls by executives of some two dozen US-based banks by "The New York Times" found that "few [banks] cited lending as a priority. An overwhelming majority saw the bailout program as a no-strings-attached windfall that could be used to pay down debt, acquire other businesses, or invest for the future."


title: Predicament bondage

text: Predicament bondage is a form of bondage in which a person is restrained and forced to experience opposing sensory forces. The default position is typically intended to cause muscle fatigue, such as standing on tiptoe, which forces the subject to choose a more physically painful position. For example, they may let themselves lower their weight and stand while forcing a rope to pull and painfully stretch their genitals.


title: Predicament bondage

text: Predicament bondage can also involve the use of a single position in which remaining still will not cause any discomfort for the subject, but moving their body will pull on ropes, weights or other devices meant to cause them pain, or even referring to the situation of not allowing the subject knowledge of how to escape, even if escape is possible or making the process of escape undesirable, such as forcing them to expose themselves publicly. The subject may then be tickled, sexually stimulated, or otherwise enticed to move uncontrollably.


title: Predicament bondage

text: When performed with multiple submissive participants, a predicament bondage scenario may force one to choose a position that causes pain to the other whom they know and love. The dilemma of being able to spare a loved one pain by submitting to pain, or sparing oneself from pain by submitting another to it, is used in BDSM and master/slave play.


title: Harrier (bird)

text: A harrier is any of the several species of diurnal hawks sometimes placed in the subfamily Circinae of the bird of prey family Accipitridae. Harriers characteristically hunt by flying low over open ground, feeding on small mammals, reptiles, or birds. The young of the species are sometimes referred to as ring-tail harriers. They are distinctive with long wings, a long narrow tail, the slow and low flight over grasslands and skull peculiarities. The harriers are thought to have diversified with the expansion of grasslands and the emergence of grasses about 6 to 8 million years ago during the Late Miocene and Pliocene.


title: Harrier (bird)

text: The genus "Circus" was introduced by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. The type species was subsequently designated as the western marsh harrier. Most harriers are placed in this genus. The word "Circus" is derived from the Ancient Greek "kirkos", referring to a bird of prey named for its circling flight ("kirkos", "circle"), probably the hen harrier. The name "harrier" is thought to have been derived either from Harrier (dog), or by a corruption of "harrower", or directly from "harry".


title: Harrier (bird)

text: "Ring-tail" is an informal term used by birders for the juveniles and females of several harrier species when seen in the field and not identifiable to an exact species. Ring-tail harriers include the juveniles and females of Montagu's harrier ("Circus pygargus"), hen harrier ("Circus cyaneus"), and pallid harrier ("Circus macrourus").


title: Harrier (bird)

text: The subfamily Circinae has traditionally included the genera "Polyboroides" and "Geranospiza" which include three species - the Madagascar harrier-hawk, ("Polyboroides radiatus"), the African harrier-hawk, ("Polyboroides typus") and the crane hawk, ("Geranospiza caerulescens"). This may however not be a valid subfamily as the monophyletic genus "Circus" is nested within the "Accipiter" groups while the other two genera are paraphyletic and are part of the larger Buteonine clade. Many species in the genus "Circus" show very low diversity in their mitochondrial DNA due perhaps due to extreme drops in their populations. They are prone to fluctuations with varying prey densities.


title: Era (musical project)

text: Era (styled as +eRa+) is a new-age music project by French composer Eric Lévi. Some of the lyrics were written by Guy Protheroe in an imaginary language similar to Greek or Latin, but deliberately devoid of any exact meaning. Musically, the project blends Gregorian chants with modern elements and genres, especially rock, pop and electronic music.


title: Era (musical project)

text: Era’s first album, "Era", was released in 1996 and became a worldwide success, helped by its first single, "Ameno". It sold over 6 million copies and became the most exported French album at the time. It was followed by "Era 2" in 2000 and "The Mass" in 2003. In 2008, the project saw a significant departure from its previous themes and presented a more electronic soundscape with Arabic influences in its fourth album, "Reborn". In the following two years, Era released "Classics" and "Classics 2", which consisted in contemporary reinterpretations of classical works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, amongst others. In 2013, Era released an album in collaboration with French singer and actress Arielle Dombasle entitled "Arielle Dombasle by Era" and, in 2017 an album titled "The 7th Sword".


title: Era (musical project)

text: Era mixes Gregorian chants and occasionally world music with contemporary electronic and pop-rock arrangements. It is reminiscent of new-age music projects such as Enigma, Gregorian, and Deep Forest. Lyrics are written in Latin and English and, some are based on beliefs of the 13th century French heretics, the Cathars.


title: Era (musical project)

text: Era's live shows and music videos often feature artists dressed in medieval or traditional clothes and armour. Usually, actors Pierre Bouisierie and Irene Bustamante perform at Era shows.


title: Era (musical project)

text: Most Era songs are sung in an imaginary language inspired by Latin, but with no intended meaning, while others are in actual Latin. They also have some songs in English such as "Mother" and "Looking For Something" and, in Arabic, such as "7 Seconds".


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: There's a Riot Goin' On (sometimes referred to as Riot) is the fifth studio album by American funk and soul band Sly and the Family Stone. It was recorded from 1970 to 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Sausalito, California and released later that year on November 1 by Epic Records. The recording was dominated by band frontman/songwriter Sly Stone during a period of escalated drug use and intra-group tension.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: With the album, Sly and the Family Stone departed from the optimistic sound of their previous music and explored a darker, more challenging sound, employing edgy funk rhythms, primitive drum machines, extensive overdubbing, and a dense mix. Conceptually and lyrically, "There's a Riot Goin' On" embraced apathy, pessimism, and disillusionment with both Stone's fame and 1960s counterculture amid a turbulent political climate in the United States at the turn of the 1970s, influenced by the decline of the civil rights movement and the rise of the Black Power movement. The album's title was originally planned to be "Africa Talks to You", but it changed in response to Marvin Gaye's album "What's Going On" (1971), released six months before "Riot".


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: A commercial success, "There's a Riot Goin' On" topped the "Billboard" Pop Album and Soul Album charts, while its lead single "Family Affair" reached number-one on the Pop Singles chart. The album was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of at least one million copies in the US. Originally released to mixed reviews, the album has since been praised as one of the greatest and most influential recordings of all time, having impacted the funk, jazz-funk, and hip hop genres in particular. It ranks frequently and highly in many publications' best-album lists, including "Rolling Stone"s "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", on which it placed 99th in 2003 and 82nd in 2020.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: Having achieved great success with their 1969 album "Stand!" and performance at Woodstock, Sly & the Family Stone were due to have submitted an album of new recordings to Epic Records by 1970. However, Sly Stone missed several recording deadlines, worrying CBS executive Clive Davis, and a "Greatest Hits" album was released in an eighteen-month stretch during which the band released no new material, except for the single "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)". Relationships within the band were deteriorating, with friction between the Stone brothers and bassist Larry Graham.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: Epic executives requested more product from the band, and the Black Panther Party, with which Stone had become associated, was demanding he make his music more militant and reflective of the black power movement, that he replace drummer Greg Errico and saxophonist Jerry Martini with black instrumentalists, and replace manager David Kapralik. After moving to Los Angeles, California in late 1969 Stone and his bandmates began to use cocaine and PCP heavily rather than recording music. During this time Sly & the Family Stone released only one single, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" / "Everybody Is a Star", issued in December 1969. Although "Star" was a positive song in the vein of their previous hit "Everyday People" (1968), "Thank You" featured a darker political theme.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: By 1970, Stone had become erratic and moody, missing nearly a third of the band's concert dates. He hired streetwise friends Hamp "Bubba" Banks and J.B. Brown as his personal managers, and they enlisted gangsters Edward "Eddie Chin" Elliott and Mafioso J.R. Valtrano as his bodyguards. Stone assigned these individuals to handle his business dealings, find drugs and protect him from those he considered enemies, among them his own bandmates and staff. A rift developed between Sly and the rest of the band, which led to drummer Gregg Errico's departure in early 1971. Speculation arose as to the release of new studio material. In a December 24, 1970 article for "Rolling Stone" magazine, journalist Jon Landau wrote:


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: Stone's intention of a darker, more conceptual work was influenced by drug use and the events that writer Miles Marshall Lewis called "the death of the sixties"; political assassinations, police brutality, the decline of the civil rights movement and social disillusionment. According to "The Austin Chronicle", "slowed down, [Sly's] quest for post-stardom identity mirrored black America's quest for post-Sixties purpose."


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: Sly Stone mostly worked on "There's a Riot Goin' On" alone in a studio that he had built for himself at The Plant Studios, also known as The Record Plant, in Sausalito, California, or at his home studio in the loft of his Bel Air mansion. He would often lie down in the bed and record his vocals with a wireless microphone system. According to the other Family Stone members, most of the album was performed by him alone, overdubbing and sometimes using a drum machine to lay down beats, namely the Maestro Rhythm King MRK-2, which featured preset rhythms. Stone felt that the rhythm box made unrealistic sounds if used as designed, so he resorted to overdubbing the drum sounds manually, contributing to the dense mix.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: Other band members contributed by overdubbing alone with Sly instead of playing together as before. For "Family Affair" and some other tracks Stone enlisted several other musicians including Billy Preston, Ike Turner, and Bobby Womack instead of his bandmates, and several female vocalists mostly omitted from the final mix. The album's muddy, gritty sound was due in part to this overdubbing and erasing and mixing techniques nearly drowned out undubbed sounds. Miles Marshall Lewis stated, "Never before on a Sly and the Family Stone album were songs open to so much interpretation, and even more so, dripping with cynicism. On the other hand you can hardly hear what he's saying for most of the album. Like Radiohead's "Kid A" (2000) or even the Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main St." (1972) more recent to the time, a murkiness in the mix of the record inhibits complete comprehension of the words."


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: In the fall of 1971 Stone delivered the final mixes to the CBS Records offices, relieving the worried Davis. CBS issued "Family Affair" as the first single, the band's first in nearly two years. A somber, electric piano-based record sung by Sly (in a low, relaxed tone) and sister Rose Stone, it became their fourth and final number-one pop hit. It is one of the earliest hit recordings to use a drum machine – a slightly earlier Sly Stone production, Little Sister's "Somebody's Watching You", was also among the first.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: The album departs from the optimistic psychedelic soul sound of the group's 1960s records, instead embracing a darker sound featuring filtered drum-machine tracks. Songs such as "Luv 'n Haight", "Thank You for Talking to Me Africa", and "Spaced Cowboy" are characterized by edgier, unrelenting grooves with rhythmic sounds resembling murmuring noises. Conceptually, "Riot" embraces apathy as a source for deriving rhythmic and emotional energy, departing from the more welcoming sentiments of songs like "Dance to the Music" (1968). As "The New York Times" writer Jon Pareles explains, it was "about turning away from the post-1960s turbulence of the Nixon presidency and withdrawing into music as a hazy refuge", exemplified in the opening track "Luv n' Haight" and its declaration of "Feel so good inside myself, don't want to move".


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: "Luv n' Haight" is satirically titled as a reference to the Haight-Ashbury scene, while the music and lyrics express disillusionment with the 1960s counterculture. "BBC Music"s Stevie Chick cites the track, with its "desperate call-and-response set to fiercely combative lick", as an example of "Riot"s "dark" and "troubled" funk. "Africa Talks to You" is a nine-minute funk jam written in response to the backlash Sly Stone received from estranged fans and friends, record industry associates, and the media. According to biographer Eddie Santiago, the lyrics cynically portray "fame and its cold retrogression into perceived insanity", with a chorus that reflects "Sly's feelings on being cut down in his prime like a tree in the forest."


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: The album's title track is silent and listed as zero minutes and zero seconds long. For many years it was speculated that this cryptic track listing and the title of the album referred to a July 27, 1970, riot in Chicago for which Sly & the Family Stone had been blamed. The band was to play a free show in Grant Park but the crowd became restless before the band began and started rioting. Over a hundred people were injured, including several police officers, and the reason given to the press was that the band was late and/or refused to perform. The original LP jacket featured a photo collage with a picture of the band-shell in Grant Park overlaid with a photo of a police car. However, in 1997 Sly Stone said that the "There's a Riot Goin' On" track had no running time simply because "I felt there should be no riots."


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: The closing track "Thank You for Talking to Me Africa" is a slow reworking of Sly and the Family Stone's 1969 "Thank You" single. The result is described by AllMusic's Matthew Greenwald as a blues- and gospel-influenced examination of urban tension and the end of the 1960s. He goes on to say it is "perhaps the most frightening recording from the dawn of the 1970s, capturing all of the drama, ennui, and hedonism of the decade to come with almost a clairvoyant feel."


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: The original cover art for "Riot" featured a red, white, and black American flag with suns in place of the stars. No other text or titles appear on the cover, although Epic executives added a "Featuring the Hit Single 'Family Affair'" sticker to the LP for commercial viability and identification purposes. Family Stone A&R director Steve Paley took the photograph. Three of the custom flags were created: one for Sly, one for Epic Records, and one for Paley.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: In an interview with Jonathan Dakss, Stone explained the album cover's concept, stating "I wanted the flag to truly represent people of all colors. I wanted the color black because it is the absence of color. I wanted the color white because it is the combination of all colors. And I wanted the color red because it represents the one thing that all people have in common: blood. I wanted suns instead of stars because stars to me imply searching, like you search for your star. And there are already too many stars in this world. But the sun, that's something that is always there, looking right at you. Betsy Ross did the best she could with what she had. I thought I could do better."


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: The outer album sleeve features a photo collage, by artist Lynn Ames, depicting American cultural images of the early 1970s. Featured on this collage were color photos and black & whites of the Family Stone, the Capitol, a grinning boy in plaid pants, the American flag with a peace sign in place of the stars, the Marina City twin towers of Chicago, a Department of Public Works caution sign, a piece of the Gettysburg Address, the tail end of a gas guzzler, drummer Buddy Miles, the Lincoln Memorial, soul musician Bobby Womack, a bulldog, several anonymous smiling faces, and Sly's pit bull, Gun.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: "There's a Riot Goin' On" was met with a divided response from professional critics and general listeners, who found its production and lyrical content particularly challenging. Reviewing in November 1971 for the "Los Angeles Times", Robert Hilburn disapproved of the Family Stone's stylistic change from "soulflavored" songs such as "Everyday People" and "Hot Fun in the Summertime", while saying that "there is little on the album that is worth your attention". Fellow critic Greil Marcus called the record "Muzak with its finger on the trigger." Others were more overt in their praise. "Rolling Stone" reviewer Vince Aletti wrote that, "At first I hated it for its weakness and its lack of energy and I still dislike these qualities. But then I began to respect the album's honesty". Aletti cited it as "one of the most important fucking albums this year" and "the new urban music... not about dancing to the music, in the streets. It's about disintegration, getting fucked up, nodding, maybe dying. There are flashes of euphoria, ironic laughter, even some bright stretches but mostly it's just junkie death, oddly unoppressive and almost attractive in its effortlessness". A columnist for "Hit Parader" magazine gave "Riot" a favorable review, and stated that the album has "a lot that makes Sly the in-person rave that he is." In "The Village Voice", Robert Christgau concluded that "what's expressed is the bitterest ghetto pessimism", backed by "subtle production techniques and jarring song compositions", while declaring "Riot" to be "one of those rare albums whose whole actually does exceed the sum of its parts".


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: "There's a Riot Goin' On" was included on several music publications' "End of the Year" lists and critics' polls, including "The Village Voice"s Pazz & Jop albums list at number seven. The album achieved commercial success with two hit singles and reaching number-one on the "Billboard" Pop Albums and Soul Albums chart. It later came to be viewed by critics as one of the greatest and most influential albums. Christgau wrote in 2007 that the "temptations and contradictions" of commercial stardom consumed Sly Stone and resulted in "the prophetic 1971" album, "its taped-over murk presaging "Exile on Main St.", its drum-machine beats throwing knuckleballs at <nowiki>[</nowiki>Miles Davis<nowiki>]</nowiki> and <nowiki>[</nowiki>James Brown<nowiki>]</nowiki>, it was darker than the "Velvet Underground and Nico" and funkier than shit, yet somehow it produced two smash hits, including the stark, deep 'Family Affair'." AllMusic described the album as "funk at its deepest and most impenetrable," stating that "what makes "Riot" so remarkable is that it's hard not to get drawn in with him, as you're seduced by the narcotic grooves, seductive vocals slurs, leering electric pianos, and crawling guitars." Zeth Lundy of "PopMatters" deemed it "a challenging listen, at times rambling, incoherent, dissonant, and just plain uncomfortable" with "some episodic moments of pop greatness to be found". Lundy went on to discuss its radical departure from the band's past music:


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: "There's a Riot Goin' On" has been considered one of the first instances of the funk music later popularized by George Clinton and Funkadelic, the Ohio Players, and similar acts. The album, as well as the follow-ups "Fresh" and "Small Talk", are considered among the first and best examples of the matured version of funk music, after prototypical instances of the sound in Sly & the Family Stone's 1960s work. "Riot"s sound also helped inspire Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock to crossover to jazz-funk. It was called "a masterpiece of darkly psychedelic funk" by AllMusic contributor Steve Huey, and "a phenomenal, dirty, psychedelic funk album" by "Drowned in Sound" journalist Jon Falcone, who said it soundtracked the political and social turbulence that opened the 1970s. Paul Grimstad from "Brooklyn Rail" regarded it as a "frigid yet weirdly intimate" avant-pop record.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: In 1994 "There's a Riot Going On" was ranked number 14 in Colin Larkin's "Top 50 Soul Albums". Larkin described the album as "unlike anything heard before in black music". A 2003 article for "Rolling Stone" commented; "Sly and the Family Stone created a musical utopia: an interracial group of men and women who blended funk, rock and positive vibes... Sly Stone ultimately discovered that his utopia had a ghetto, and he brilliantly tore the whole thing down on "There's a Riot Goin' On", which does not refute the joy of his earlier music." In addition to being featured near the top of several major publications' "best album" lists, "Riot" was also ranked at number 99 on "Rolling Stone"s 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, one of four Sly & the Family Stone entries to be included on the list; it is the second highest of the band's entries, preceded by "Greatest Hits" (#60), and followed by "Stand!" (#118) and "Fresh" (#186). In the 2020 updated list, the album was raised to number 82 and became the highest ranked of the three Sly & The Family Stone entries, ahead of "Stand!" (#119) & "Greatest Hits" (#343). "Pitchfork" named it the fourth best album of the 1970s.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: "Riot"s songs have been extensively covered and sampled. Artists who have covered or reworked its songs include Iggy Pop, John Legend, Lalah Hathaway, Ultramagnetic MC's, De La Soul, Beastie Boys and Gwen Guthrie. Dave Rosen of "Ink Blot" magazine said that the album sounds unique, ironically in view of its vast influence; "Sly employed the unconventional (and possibly entirely original) technique of mixing live drums with what was at the time a primitive drum machine ... The introspective, yet political lyrics, the hard and dirty funk grooves, the inspirational, yet depressing songs—all of these elements would come to influence not only peers like Marvin Gaye and James Brown, but two generations of rappers and funkateers who paid homage to Sly's vision by making his samples and beats an essential backbone of their own innovations. Sly's "Riot" is still goin' on." In a book on the album for the 33⅓ series, Miles Marshall Lewis described it as "one of the most powerful and haunting albums to inspire the hip hop movement." The singer Bilal names it among his 25 favorite albums, appreciating the drum machine sounds in particular.


title: There's a Riot Goin' On

text: All tracks written, produced and arranged by Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart for Stone Flower Productions.


title: Rose Cross

text: The Rose Cross (also called Rose Croix and Rosy Cross) is a symbol largely associated with the legendary Christian Rosenkreuz; Christian Kabbalist, alchemist, and founder of the Rosicrucian Order. The Rose Cross is a cross with a rose at its centre, often red, golden or white and symbolizes the teachings of a Western esoteric tradition with Christian tenets.


title: Rose Cross

text: The Rosicrucian Manifestos were written during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, and have an underlying theme of reform. In 1520, Martin Luther had a seal made with a five-petaled white rose encapsulating a heart, with a simple cross in the centre. Johannes Valentinus Andreae, a likely candidate for the authorship of the third Rosicrucian manifesto, the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, came from a family whose crest featured an X-shaped cross with roses in the four corners.


title: Rose Cross

text: Many allegorical and esoteric explanations for the Rose Cross have arisen over the centuries. Some groups, such as the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, purport that the rosy cross predates Christianity, where "the cross represents the human body and the rose represents the individual's unfolding consciousness.


title: Rose Cross

text: It has also been suggested that the rose represents silence while the cross signifies "salvation, to which the Society of the Rose-Cross devoted itself by teaching mankind the love of God and the beauty of brotherhood, with all that they implied." Others saw the Rosy Cross as a symbol of the human process of reproduction elevated to the spiritual: "The fundamental symbols of the Rosicrucians were the rose and the cross; the rose female and the cross male, both universal phallic [...] As generation is the key to material existence, it is natural that the Rosicrucians should adopt as its characteristic symbols those exemplifying the reproductive processes. As regeneration is the key to spiritual existence, they therefore founded their symbolism upon the rose and the cross, which typify the redemption of man through the union of his lower temporal nature with his higher eternal nature."


title: Rose Cross

text: The Rosicrucian manifestos tell an allegorical story of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, founded in the early 14th century, or between the 13th and 14th centuries, as an Invisible College of mystic sages, by a sage having the symbolic name of Christian Rosenkreuz in order "to prepare a new phase of the Christian religion to be used during the coming age now at hand, for as the world and man evolve so also must religion change".


title: Rose Cross

text: Paracelsus, who was called the "Luther of Medicine", describes these mystics sages as "persons who have been exalted (verzueckt) to God, and who have remained in that state of exaltation, and have not died (...) nobody knew what became of them, and yet they remained on the earth". Some modern Rosicrucian groups suggest that the Rosicrucian Order has been active since the beginning of the Renaissance period, not only as an hermetic Order, but also through forerunners – geniuses of the western world, sometimes also known to be Freemasons – in the literary, cultural, ethical, political, religious and scientific fields.


title: Rose Cross

text: In the late 18th century, Karl von Eckartshausen, a German Christian mystic, described the true Adepts of the Rose Cross in the following terms: "These sages, whose number is small, are children of light, and are opposed to darkness. They dislike mystification and secrecy; they are open and frank, have nothing to do with secret societies and with external ceremonies. They possess a spiritual temple, in which God is presiding". Later, in the early 20th century, Max Heindel, a Rosicrucian Initiate, believed that the roots of the Brothers of the Rose Cross, immersed in the western mystery tradition, are almost impossible to be traced as "theirs is a work which aims to encourage the evolution of humanity, they have labored far back into antiquity—under one guise or another".


title: Rose Cross

text: The "Orden des Gold- und Rosenkreutz", also known as the Fraternity of the Golden and Rosy Cross, was founded in the 1750s and is believed to be the first Rosicrucian order which existed outside of allegory. Their ten-grade system went on to influence Masonic and Hermetic initatory groups.


title: Rose Cross

text: Connections between Freemasonry and Rose Cross exist from times preceding the formation of actual Grand Lodge (Landmarks of Andersen in 1717), as it is proved by the poem Threnodie of Henry Adamson (1638) "We are brethren of the Rosie Crossie, We have the Mason Word and second sight" The Rosy Cross is also a symbol found in some Masonic Christian bodies and employed by individuals and groups formed during the last centuries for the study of Rosicrucianism and allied subjects, but derived from the adoption of a red rose.


title: Rose Cross

text: The Masonic Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was founded in England in 1865 and uses the same grade system as the Gold und Rosenkreutz. The English group has since inspired other Masonic and initiatory Societas Rosicruciana organizations internationally.


title: Rose Cross

text: Within the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite concordant body of Freemasonry, the Eighteenth Degree is specifically concerned with the rose cross and confers the title of "Knight Rose Croix". Of one version of the degree, Albert Pike wrote in 1871,


title: Rose Cross

text: Thomas De Quincey in his work titled; "Rosicrucians and Freemasonry", suggested that Freemasonry was possibly an outgrowth of Rosicrucianism.


title: Rose Cross

text: The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded by three members of the SRIA, and made use of the rosy cross as well, including 'The Ritual of the Rose Cross," designed for spiritual protection and as preparation for meditation. Based on the Rosicrucian symbolism of the Red Rose and the Cross of Gold, it is also a key symbol of the Golden Dawn's Second Order. According to Israel Regardie, the Golden Dawn rosy cross contains attributes for the Elements, Planets, Zodiac, Hebrew alphabet, alchemical principles, the hexagram and pentagram, the Sefirot of the Tree of Life, and the formula of INRI. On the back side of the rosy cross is inscribed the motto of the Zelator Adeptus Minor at the bottom, "The master Jesus Christ, God and Man" between four Maltese crosses, and in the center, written in Latin, "Blessed be the Lord our God who hath given us the Symbol Signum."


title: Rose Cross

text: This lamen is a complete synthesis of the masculine, positive, or rainbow scale of color attributions, which is also called the Scale of the King. The four arms of the cross belong to the four elements and are colored accordingly. The white portion belongs to the Holy Spirit and the planets.


title: Rose Cross

text: The petals of the rose refer to the twenty-two paths on the Tree of Life and the Twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is the cross in Tiphareth, the receptacle and the center of the forces of the Sephiroth and the paths. The extreme center of the rose is white, the reflected spiritual brightness of Kether, bearing upon it the Red Rose of Five Petals and the Golden Cross of Six Squares; four green rays issue from around the angles of the cross. Upon the white portion of the lamen, below the rose, is placed the hexagram, with the planets.


title: Rose Cross

text: Around the pentagrams, which are placed one upon each elemental colored arm, are drawn the symbols of the spirit and the four elements. Upon each of the floriated (the arms) of the cross are arranged the three alchemical principles of sulfur, salt, and mercury. The white rays issuing from behind the rose at the inner angles between the arms of the cross are the rays of the divine light issuing and coruscating from the reflected light of Kether in its center; and the letters and symbols on them refer to the analysis of the Key Word – I.N.R.I.


title: Rose Cross

text: The symbol of the rosy cross played a substantial role within the system of Thelema as developed by Aleister Crowley. In a cosmological context, the rose is Nuit, the infinitely expanded goddess of the night sky, and the cross is Hadit, the ultimately contracted atomic point. For Crowley, it was the job of the adept to identify with the appropriate symbol so to experience the mystical conjunction of opposites, which leads to attainment. In this sense, the rose cross is a grand symbol of the Great Work:


title: Rose Cross

text: The rosy cross is further symbolic of the grade of Adeptus Minor in the A∴A∴, the Qabalistic sphere of Tiphareth on the Tree of Life, the magical formula INRI, and the concepts of Light (LVX) and Life.


title: Rose Cross

text: The rose cross also has a place in the system of Ordo Templi Orientis. It is associated with the Fifth Degree, the title of which is "Sovereign Prince Rose-Croix, and Knight of the Pelican and Eagle." Of it, Crowley writes in "An Intimation with Reference to the Constitution of the Order":


title: Rose Cross

text: The Fellowship of the Rosy Cross is a Christian mystical organization established by Arthur Edward Waite in England in 1915. It developed after the end of Independent and Rectified Rite of the Golden Dawn. Waite made its rites to reflect his interest in the history of the Rosicrucian Order, Freemasonry, and Christian mystical teachings through the ages. Most of its members were Freemasons or theosophists. One of its most noted members was the novelist Charles Williams who was a member from 1917 to at least 1928 and possibly later. There were plans to establish a branch in the United States but they appear never to have been fulfilled. The order is still extant in England today. Arthur Edward Waite wrote also a book entitled "The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross", which presents the brotherhood as a Christian order dating from the Middle Ages.


title: Rose Cross

text: One modern form of the "Rosie Cross" is found in a Rosicrucian Christian symbol that places a crown of red roses ennobling a white rose at the centre of the cross; radiating behind is the golden five-pointed star, an allusion also to 'the Five Points of Fellowship'. It is the symbol of the fraternity that has prepared a great lodge for the Brethren to be gathered.


title: Rose Cross

text: The Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, commonly known as AMORC, is the largest Rosicrucian group today, with twenty-three Grand Lodges or Jurisdictions worldwide. There are two primary versions used by AMORC. One is a Gold Latin Cross with a Rose at its center. Another is a downward pointing triangle with a Greek (equilateral) Cross inscribed within the triangle and a top oval reminiscent of an Egyptian Ankh. In both cases the symbolism suggests that "together, the rose and cross represent the experiences and challenges of a thoughtful life well-lived." In addition, the Gold Latin Cross version represents the human person with arms outstretched in worship, with the rose at its center as the unfoldment of the human soul over many lifetimes of work.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Student loans in the United States are a form of financial aid intended to help students access higher education. In 2018, 70 percent of higher education graduates had used loans to cover some or all of their expenses. With notable exceptions, student loans must be repaid, in contrast to other forms of financial aid such as scholarships, which are not repaid, and grants, which rarely have to be repaid. Student loans may be discharged through bankruptcy, but this is difficult.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Student loan debt has proliferated since 2006, totaling $1.73 trillion by July 2021. In 2019, students who borrowed to complete a bachelor's degree had about $30,000 of debt upon graduation. Almost half of all loans are for graduate school, typically in much higher amounts. Loan amounts vary widely based on race, social class, age, institution type, and degree sought. As of 2017, student debt constituted the largest non-mortgage liability for US households. Research indicates that increasing borrowing limits drives tuition increases.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Student loan defaults are disproportionately common in the for-profit college sector. The schools whose students have the highest amount of debt are University of Phoenix, Walden University, Nova Southeastern University, Capella University, and Strayer University. Except for Nova Southeastern, they are all for-profit. In 2018, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that the 12-year student loan default rate for colleges was 52 percent. As of 2012, 39 percent of federal student loan defaults occurred for people who attended for-profit colleges.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: The default rate for borrowers who do not complete their degree is three times the rate for those who did. A 2018 Brookings Institution study projected that "nearly 40 percent of students who took out loans in 2004 may default by 2023."


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Federal student loans were first offered in 1958 under the National Defense Education Act (NDEA). They were available only to select categories of students, such as those studying engineering, science, or education. The program was established in response to the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite. It addressed the widespread perception that the United States had fallen behind in science and technology. Student loans became more broadly available in the 1960s under the Higher Education Act of 1965, with the goal of encouraging greater social mobility and equal opportunity.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: The US first major government loan program was the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae), formed in 1973.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Direct-to-consumer private loans were the fastest-growing segment of education finance. The "percentage of undergraduates obtaining private loans from 2003–04 to 2007–08 rose from 5 percent to 14 percent" and was under legislative scrutiny due to the lack of school certification.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: The rules for disability discharge underwent major changes as a result of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. The regulations took effect July 1, 2010. In June 2010, the amount of student loan debt held by Americans exceeded the amount of credit card debt held by Americans. At that time, student loan debt totalled at least $830 billion, of which approximately 80% was federal and 20% was private. By the fourth quarter of 2015, total outstanding student loans owned and securitized had surpassed $1.3 trillion.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Guaranteed loans were eliminated in 2010 through the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act and replaced with direct loans. The Obama administration claimed that guaranteed loans benefited private companies at taxpayer expense but did not reduce student costs.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HCERA) ended private-sector lending under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) starting July 1, 2010; all subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans, PLUS loans, and Consolidation loans are under the Federal Direct Loan Program.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: As of July 1, 2013, borrowers determined to be disabled by the Social Security Administration would be accepted for loan discharge if the SSA placed the individual on a five- to seven-year review cycle. As of January 1, 2018, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 established that debt discharged due to the death or disability of the borrower was no longer treated as taxable income. (This provision is scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2025.)


title: Student loans in the United States

text: In an effort to improve the student loan market, LendKey, SoFi (Social Finance, Inc.) and CommonBond began offering student loans and refinancing at lower rates than traditional lenders, using an alumni-funded model. According to a 2016 analysis by online student loan marketplace Credible, about 8 million borrowers could qualify for refinancing.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's February 2017 "Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit" reported 11.2% of aggregate student loan debt was 90 or more days delinquent.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: On July 25, 2018, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued an order declaring that the Borrower Defense Program (enacted in November 2016), would be replaced with a stricter repayment policy, effective July 1, 2019. When a school closes for fraud before conferring degrees, students would have to prove that they were financially harmed. As of 2018, 10% of borrowers were in default after three years and 16 percent after five years.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: On August 21, 2019, President Donald Trump ordered loan forgiveness for permanently disabled veterans, saving 25,000 veterans an average of $30,000 each.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: In 2021, student loan servicers began dropping out of the federal student loan business, including FedLoan Servicing on July 8, Granite State Management and Resources on July 20, and Navient on September 28. According to Sallie Mae, as of 2021, 1 in 8 families lenders are using private student loans when federal financing doesn't cover all college costs.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: In July 2021, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that private student loans are dischargeable in bankruptcy, following two other cases.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: In August 2021, the Biden administration announced it would use executive action to cancel $5.8 billion in student loans held by 323,000 people who are permanently disabled.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Starting in March 2020, federal student loan borrowers received temporary relief from student loan payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. This relief was subsequently extended multiple times, and is set to expire at the end of June 2023.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: According to repayment data released by the Education Department, in December 2021, just 1.2 percent of borrowers were continuing to pay down their loans during the over two years of optional deferment.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Student loans play a significant role in U.S. higher education. Nearly 20 million Americans attend college each year, of whom close to 12 million or 60% borrow annually to help cover costs. As of 2021, approximately 45 million Americans held student debt, with an average balance of approximately $30,000.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: In Europe, higher education receives more government funding, making student loans less common. In parts of Asia and Latin America government funding for post-secondary education is lower usually limited to flagship universities, like UNAM in Mexico and government programs under which students can borrow money are uncommon.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: In the United States, college is funded by government grants, scholarships, loans. The primary grant program is Pell grants.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Student loans come in several varieties, but are basically either federal loans or private student loans. Federal loans are either subsidized (the government pays the interest) and unsubsidized. Federal student loans are subsidized for undergraduates only. Subsidized loans generally defer payments and interest until some period (usually six months) after the student has left school. Some states have their own loan programs, as do some colleges. In almost all cases, these student loans have better conditions than private loans.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Student loans may be used for college-related expenses, including tuition, room and board, books, computers, and transportation.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Approximately 30% of all college students do not borrow. In 2019, the average undergraduate who had taken on debt had a loan balance of about $30,000 upon graduation. Almost half of the student loans are for graduate education, and those loan amounts are typically much higher.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: According to the Saint Louis Federal Reserve Bank, "existing racial wealth disparities and soaring higher education costs may replicate racial wealth disparities across generations by driving racial disparities in student loan debt load and repayment."


title: Student loans in the United States

text: Low-income students often prefer grants and scholarships over loans because of their difficulty repaying them. In 2004, 88.5% of Pell Grant recipients who had Bachelor’s degrees graduated with student loan debt. After college, students struggle to break into a higher income bracket because of the loans they owe. Though, it’s been shown that when it comes to student loan forgiveness and advocacy around this issue, lower-socioeconomic groups are the ones most motivated to contact their legislators about student loans. In 1995, 64 percent of students whose family incomes falling below $35,000 were contacting their legislators concerning student loans.


title: Student loans in the United States

text: According to the New York Times, "recent black graduates of four-year colleges owe, on average, $7,400 more than their white peers. Four years after graduation, they still owe an average of $53,000, almost twice as much as whites."


title: Student loans in the United States

text: According to a CNBC analysis, the highest student debt balances are carried by adults aged 25–49, with the lowest debt loads held by those aged 62 and older.