Shorter Obama administration: yes, we will preserve acknowledged social ills against which we’ve inveighed when prevailed upon by massive expenditures of money and influence. No, I guess this is not so much reason for hope or evidence of change.
Last year, the Obama administration vowed to stop for-profit colleges from luring students with false promises. In an opening volley that shook the $30 billion industry, officials proposed new restrictions to cut off the huge flow of federal aid to unfit programs.
But after a ferocious response that administration officials called one of the most intense they had seen, the Education Department produced a much-weakened final plan that almost certainly will have far less impact as it goes into effect next year.
The story of how the for-profit colleges survived the threat of a major federal crackdown offers a case study in Washington power brokering. Rattled by the administration’s tough talk, the colleges spent more than $16 million on an all-star list of prominent figures, particularly Democrats with close ties to the White House, to plot strategy, mend their battered image and plead their case.
No reason for disappointment here.
The Edge of the American West 
3 comments
December 10, 2011 at 4:32 pm
saintneko
My visualization of this situation is grinding up our future economic productivity into a fine powder and snorting it like crystal meth.
December 10, 2011 at 7:46 pm
WTF Pancakes
Honestly, the only thing that disappoints me about the Obama administration is that it has been the polar opposite of what was promised during the campaign.
December 11, 2011 at 2:16 am
David in San Jose
This is an important signal of the price system. The next industry that the Democrats subject to a shakedown will have more data and they will be less likely to overpay, thus increasing the productivity of the economy or something.