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Like so many young Americans, Derek Wetherell is stuck. At 23 years old, he has a job, but not a career, and little prospect for advancement. He has tens of thousands of dollars in student debt, but no college degree. He says he is more likely to move back in with his parents than to buy a home, and
In the media
Ben Casselman
Marcus Walker
Over the past two decades, both political parties have basically embraced a low-wage economy in which paltry wages for millions of Americans is offset by favorable tax treatment: both through the EITC and other credits, and low or zero tax rates for earners at the bottom of the economic ladder. Toss
Blog
David Callahan
Progressive groups are warning that the Supreme Court may be on the verge of allowing federal candidates to collect multi-million dollar checks from donors. Speaking to reporters on Monday, attorneys and representatives from the campaign finance watchdog groups Democracy, Public Citizen and Demos
In the media
Byron Tau
Occupy Wall Street was born exactly two years ago today, and even as that movement reached its zenith later in the fall of 2011, it was easy to dismiss the activists who took over financial centers around the nation. Their policy agenda was amorphous and their organizational processes seemed
Blog
David Callahan
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View of high rise buildings from the street
Five years after the fall of Lehman Brothers and the worst financial crisis since 1929, one thing seems certain: another meltdown of the financial system will eventually happen. Why? Because we still haven't fixed many of the problems that led to the last crisis.
Blog
David Callahan
Wallace C. Turbeville
Why are social justice organizations up in arms about an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case involving political contribution limits? It might have something to do with America's widening income inequality, which in many ways is being financed by wealthy campaign donors. A ruling in favor of lifting
In the media
Brentin Mock
California is going to raise its minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2016, and surely one reason is the wave of strikes by low-wage workers over the past year. When workers hit the picket lines, it's tempting to gauge their chances of success in narrow terms: Will they force concessions from their
Blog
David Callahan
The top .01 percent of earners made nearly five percent of the national income in 2012. That’s just 16,000 Americans that make over ten million dollars a year.
Blog
Joseph Hines
Have you heard of the Freedom Partners? According to a Politico investigation, the group raised and spent $250 million in 2012 to shape political and policy debates. According to IRS filings, the group has 200 donors, each of whom paid at least $100,000 in annual dues. And while its head, Marc Short
Blog
J. Mijin Cha
The Tea Party crazies are at it again in Washington, making John Boehner and Eric Cantor look like flexible moderates by comparison. While Boehner and Cantor want to avert a government shutdown—which is the last thing the GOP needs right now—extremist members of the House stand ready to bring the
Blog
David Callahan