Media

While recent CBS and Gallup polls show that most Americans remain divided over whether or not the recent sequestration cuts are in fact negative, many low-income families are already bracing for their impact. SNAP benefits and the Children's Health Insurance Program may be safe, but WIC benefits and certain housing vouchers are scheduled to take a blow, leaving many families without resources to fall back on. 

Attorney General Eric Holder made it official in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee: Some banks are so big that criminal prosecution poses an unacceptable danger to the U.S. and world economies. This is not Holder's opinion alone. In the past, the Justice Department has consulted with the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to assess the consequences of criminal prosecution. This is a government-wide problem.

New Jersey was ready when Hurricane Sandy rushed ashore the evening of October 29, 2012. Teams from FEMA and the National Guard had been activated, nuclear reactors had been shut down, and the Red Cross had prepared meals and shelters.

The carefully laid plans didn’t prevent the storm from wreaking record-setting devastation – including 37 deaths in New Jersey alone.

During an appearance on CNBC yesterday, Charlie Munger, deputy to billionaire investor Warren Buffett, had some harsh words for high-frequency trading, the practice used by huge financial firms to trade stocks in milliseconds. “Take the rapid trading by the computer geniuses with the computer algorithms,” said Munger. “Those people have all the social utility of a bunch of rats admitted to a granary.”

It is often assumed that the majority of Americans who don't vote are poor and nonwhite. Not so. While it is true that low-income Americans vote at much lower rates, the majority of nonvoters -- in raw numbers -- are white middle class Americans. 

Republican governor Bobby Jindal attracted attention earlier this year when he said that Republicans must stop being the "stupid party." But in that same speech Jindal said something equally important:

Employment credit checks illegitimately obstruct access to employment, keeping qualified workers out of jobs they need. It’s an argument Demos has been making for a few years, but the new study we released this week provides additional data to back it up.

Eighty years ago, in the 1930s, the auto industry -- a centerpiece of America's industrial economy -- was not yet unionized. Yet within twenty years, the big carmakers and the United Auto Workers would be effectively sharing power in Detroit, and building cars had become a reliable path into the middle class for workers with only a high school diploma, or not even that. 

The Dow may be at a record high, leaving many traders and CEOs elated, but as the New York Times reported Monday, the share of national income going to American workers is near an all time low.