If nearly 70 percent of graduates are borrowing, 30 percent (including 35 percent of public college graduates) are not. Who are these students? What type of family or financial resources do they have at their disposal? What are their work habits? In short, what does it take to graduate debt-free these days? This brief answers these questions.
Signed into law on May 22, 2009, the Credit CARD Act has benefited millions of households in ways that directly affect their monthly budgets. Demos’ 2012 National Survey on Credit Card Debt of Low- and Middle-Income Households finds that the Credit CARD Act empowers Americans to take control of their finances by increasing the transparency of credit card statements and dramatically reducing unfair and excessive fees and
penalties.1 New estimates show that the CARD Act has saved U.S. consumers $50.4 billion, or $12.6 billion a year, in fees alone.
Discrimination has no place in New York. At our best, we’re a city where people of all races, ethnicities, creeds, and backgrounds have an opportunity to work hard and make their mark. But today in New York, many qualified job seekers are turned away from employment because of their personal credit history.
In today’s economy, a college education is essential for getting a good job and entering the middle class. Yet, despite this reality, college costs are rising beyond the reach of many
Wisconsinites, and student loan debt has become a clear and present danger to both the Wisconsin and American economies.
Higher education has long been our nation’s primary lever of upward mobility. As a result, throughout our nation’s history, we have committed to ensuring that all individuals, regardless of cost, would be able to attend college. But that commitment has faltered in the last generation as states reduced funding for higher education and family incomes stagnated. Today, college costs are rising beyond the reach of many Granite Staters.
* This essay is adapted from a lecture delivered on the occasion of the award of the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa to Bina Agarwal at the Lustrum Ceremony of the 55th Anniversary of the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands, October 18, 2007.
INTRODUCTION: GOING DEEPER THAN STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
A popular recent meme on liberal social networks and left-leaning blogs summarizes ideological differences as follows:
While the partisan message is clear (only with liberalism's compassionate box-stacking does everyone get to watch baseball), conservative and libertarian critics of liberal equality also helped spread the image, mocking the inherent unfairness of giving some peo
INTRODUCTION
In the three decades after the Second World War, low- and middle-income households enjoyed income gains that grew in tandem with rising GDP levels and actually outpaced the gains enjoyed by the richest households. In short, if you wanted to report how “the U.S. economy was doing” or “how the U.S. economy was working for the vast majority,” you could just recite overall income growth rates.
Voting is the bedrock of our democracy. In a government of, by and for the people, casting a ballot is the fundamental means through which we all have a say in the political decisions that affect our lives. Yet today, without substantial interventions, the freedom to vote is at great risk.
Public policies can either fuel or ease racial disparities in wealth. This report marks the first-ever systematic analysis of the impact of different policies, highlighting the policies that could help erase the racial wealth gap.
How our work to enforce Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act has resulted in over 3 million new voter registration applications through public assistance agencies.
Repeatedly during his campaign, Donald Trump appealed to black voters by asking, “What do you have to lose?” We now have enough evidence to answer the question definitively: everything.
16 policies and practices that would make registration more accessible and seamless, lead to more effective and efficient election administration, and strengthen protections for voters’ rights.
