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Modest Pension Benefits Play Little Role in Financial Crisis DETROIT — In their push for bankruptcy, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and other public figures are incorrectly looking at Detroit’s long-term debt—figures generated using aggressive and in some cases inaccurate assumptions—to the detriment
Press release/statement
They just don’t want to let President Obama govern. That conclusion is hard to avoid after the last few months of shutdowns, threats, and now unprecedented obstruction in the Senate that culminated in the third filibuster in three weeks of President Obama’s judicial nominees.
Blog
Liz Kennedy

The causes of Detroit's bankruptcy and what the city's emergency manager can do to turn it around.

Research
Wallace C. Turbeville
A New York-based think tank released a report today questioning Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s assertion that the city’s long-term debt is responsible for its fiscal problems, or that pension contributions are at major hurdle for the city’s finances. Instead, the report by Wallace Turbeville
In the media
Todd Spangler
Matt Helms
As usual, comedian Stephen Colbert hit the nail on the head. “Walmart is taking care of its employees... Not living wage care, but can of peas care.” The late-night satirist was responding to a Cleveland Plain Dealer article finding that Walmart set up a Thanksgiving food drive to benefit its own
Blog
Amy Traub
So it turns out that Walmart could afford to give its workers a nice raise without jacking prices if it simply redirected profits now used to buy back its own stock to better reward its huge labor force -- the people, by the way, who make the profits possible. This is the finding of a Demos report
Blog
David Callahan
Today is World Toilet Day, which strikes me as a good moment to reflect on how government can radically improve people's daily lives.
Blog
David Callahan
We need to restore the positive concept of public goods that existed decades ago.
Blog
June Sekera

How Walmart Can Invest in Its Workforce Without Costing Customers a Dime

Research
Catherine Ruetschlin
Amy Traub
A historic $13 billion settlement is in the works between the federal government and JP Morgan -- the biggest-ever penalty for wrongdoing by a bank. But this settlement is unlikely to deter tomorrow's lawbreakers in finance, and here's why.
Blog
David Callahan