Finalize the contract when necessary

BUDAPEST — Daniel Szabo and Gergo Birtalan are both optimistic about their job prospects in their native Hungary, which has a low unemployment rate for college and university graduates. But the two Hungarian students are in totally different situations. When Mr. Szabo, 24, graduates soon from law school, he will be free to go wherever in the world he wants. But Mr. Birtalan, 18, was required to sign a contract at the beginning of his first year as a sociology major because of a new rule introduced in September. As a beneficiary of the state-funded university system, he will be obliged to work for two years in Hungary for every year of his subsidized studies. Such contracts, the only ones of their kind in Europe, have met with broad opposition and street protests from both high school and university students. If Mr. Birtalan finishes a typical three-year degree, his movements will be restricted for six years after graduation, when he will be in his late 20s, or even older if he … [Read more...] about Students Receive Subsidized Studies in Hungary — for a Price

Arthur Blank, the Atlanta Falcons' owner, used a bit of New York humor when he made clear last summer that quarterback Michael Vick would never play for another team. "I said, 'You understand that the only way you're going to leave Atlanta will be in a box,"' Blank said yesterday during a news conference at the Falcons' practice facility in Flowery Branch, Ga. He used a bank instead to ensure that Vick will be, as Blank said, "a Falcon for life." Vick, 24, became the highest-paid player in the N.F.L. yesterday, when he agreed to a 10-year contract through 2013 that could be worth as much as $130 million, according to an executive with an N.F.L. team who had knowledge of the deal. It includes a $37 million bonus, outstripping the $34.5 million that Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning received with his seven-year, $98 million deal last spring. "This is big," said Vick, who is in his fourth season. "I'm very excited to know that I'll be here and have an opportunity to … [Read more...] about Vick Signs 10-Year Deal to Remain With Falcons

Every Tuesday and Friday, Ezra Klein invites you into a conversation about something that matters, like today’s episode with David French. Listen wherever you get your podcasts . Transcripts of our episodes are made available as soon as possible. They are not fully edited for grammar or spelling. [MUSIC PLAYING] EZRA KLEIN: I’m Ezra Klein. This is “The Ezra Klein Show.” All right. Before we start today, we are taking questions for the upcoming “Ask Me Anything” episode. So if you’ve got anything, anything at all to ask me that you want to hear answered on the show, send that into [email protected] We are accepting questions until Sunday, April 2. So anything that comes in after that, we’re not going to consider. We just get a lot. And we got to start sorting through it. So send it in before Sunday, April 2, if you want it to be part of the show. Speaking of dates, I’m recording this on Monday, March 27. And it’s a Monday with a lot of uncertainty. We … [Read more...] about Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews David French

In the new film “Lace Crater,” a young woman named Ruth has a one-night stand with a ghost named Michael. She catches something, and soon her body is covered in goo and she’s puking black ooze. We last see her pale and wrapped in a blanket, Michael by her side. We’ll get to how one obtains a supernatural lover in minute. But first: lace crater? Harrison Atkins, who wrote and directed the film, elaborated: “Lace is this word associated with traditional femininity that has to do with sexual shame,” he said. “Crater is this word that evokes an impact or an absence left after an impact. I think of the lace crater as this void that’s left in the world after Ruth disappears in it.” A meet-cute comedy mixed with Brooklyn ghost story, “Lace Crater,” with an opening date of July 29, is the latest entry in the horror genre’s long fixation on sexually transmitted diseases. Intimacy, illness and stigma have been ingredients of “It Follows” (2015), about a sexually transmitted condition … [Read more...] about As if Becoming a Vampire Isn’t Bad Enough

Kelly Ripa is opening up about her experiences with sexism on the set of her daytime talk show Live! , which she’s co-hosted since 2001. In a new cover story for Variety , the television personality claims that ABC refused to give her a permanent office while she hosted the show with Regis Philbin , eventually moving her into a janitor’s closet. “It was the strangest experience I’ve ever had in my life,” Ripa told the magazine. “I was told that I couldn’t have an office. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially because there were empty offices that I could have easily occupied.” The network told Ripa that the empty offices were reserved for executives visiting from the West Coast, according to the former All My Children star. After three seasons of Live! with Regis and Kelly, Ripa finally negotiated her own space. But the network offered her something less than ideal for a network talk show host. “It was after my fourth year that they finally cleaned out the … [Read more...] about Kelly Ripa Reveals Shockingly Sexist Working Conditions at ‘Live With Regis and Kelly’

Homeowners held record levels of equity last year. According to CoreLogic , the average borrower had $280,000 in home equity in early 2022 — a gain of $64,000 over the previous year and a whopping $125,000 over five years. Not much has changed. "While equity gains contracted in late 2022 due to home price declines in some regions, U.S. homeowners on average still have about $270,000 in equity, nearly $90,000 more than they had at the onset of the pandemic," says Selma Hepp, chief economist for CoreLogic . With house prices still high and near-record equity levels, now may be an excellent time to convert your equity into cash via a home equity loan or HELOC. Here's how. One of the biggest perks of homeownership is the opportunity to build wealth. As you pay down your mortgage, you build equity — the dollar amount of your home that you own. Of course, the housing market also plays a role: If home prices rise, your equity may increase, and vice versa. To estimate your … [Read more...] about Your home has never been a more powerful asset