In a more normal year, the alumni fund-raising plea that turns up in the mail right about now seems perfectly in tune as the day for thanks gives way to a month of giving.
But this year is different. Huge numbers of people have lost their homes to foreclosure. Unemployment is on the rise. And a good chunk of the United States automobile industry could wither away within months, taking hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs with it.
Full-text article by Ron Lieber is available via the New York Times, 11.28.08.