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Image of a hand lowering a voter registration sheet into an orange box with stacks of voter registration papers on both sides

Threats to Ballot Access: New Report Examines Risks of Wrongful Voter Removals Across the Country

Dēmos examines ballot access issues, voter suppression in AZ, GA, OH, CA, IN, WI, MI, NC, TX, LA 

Press release/statement
August 10, 2023

We are changing the conversation around our democracy and economy by telling influential new stories about our country and its people. Get our latest blog and media updates here. For more in-depth explorations and analyses, visit our Resources page.

Featured
Ground level view of the Wall Street Stock Exchange

Unfinished Business: Revisiting Dodd-Frank and the Path to Economic Progress

On the anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, we reflect on recent banking failures and the inequities inherent in our current financial system. 

Blog
Daniella Zessoules
Black mother and daughter looking at the city river

A Supreme Court Power Grab: Attacking Federal Agencies to Advance an Extremist Agenda

Why the Court's decision to limit the EPA's power to regulate water access is yet another case of eroding the power of the other branches of government at the expense of Black and brown people.

Blog
Ashley Tjhung
supreme court

Supreme Court's Rejection of Affirmative Action Widens the Divide: Dēmos Calls for Renewed Efforts to Combat Systemic Racism

“The 14th Amendment is supposed to be a shield against racism, and now it’s being used as a sword.” 

Press release/statement
Taifa Smith Butler

Pennsylvania's Misguided Assets Test for SNAP

If Congress doesn't succeeed in gutting SNAP benefits through the Farm Bill, which now proposes sweeping cuts to food stamps, it seems various state legislatures will do whatever they can to get that job done. A few weeks ago, I wrote about North Carolina's proposed background checks for SNAP
Blog
Ilana Novick

Rally, Report Urge Higher Wages for Service Workers in Federal Facilities

Even with a freeze on basic pay rates and unpaid leave days and repeated attacks on the federal workforce, being a federal employee means you have a good, though as of late, a less-lucrative job. That can’t be said by everyone in the federal workplace.
In the media
Joe Davidson

Good Jobs Nation: How to Reform Government Contracting to Pay Living Wages

My name is Roxanne Mimms and I work for a food service contractor at the National Zoo. I work full time but make barely minimum wage. I’m here because workers can’t live off what contractors pay us. I’m here because I don’t want my two children to grow up on public assistance. I’m here because I
Blog
Amy Traub

Small Donors are Actually Part of the Solution, Not the Problem.

In his column today, Ezra Klein makes a very strange, and untrue, assertion. In talking about campaign finance reform, Klein claims that small donors are as problematic as big money. Klein writes:
Blog
J. Mijin Cha

A Stilleto in the Back of Financial Reform

On Tuesday, the House Financial Services Committee voted out six bills that would make changes to the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that could have far-reaching consequences. The bank lobbyists deserve a bonus this year.
Blog
Wallace C. Turbeville

Existing Pre-K Programs Are Struggling in the States

As we contemplate the possibly bright future of pre-K laid out in Obama’s state of the union address this year, in which the feds work together “with states to make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America,” along comes a sobering glimpse of what public preschool looks like
Blog
Sharon Lerner

Taxpayers Indirectly Employing More Low-Wage Workers Than Walmart And McDonald's Combined

Lucila Ramirez, 55, has been cleaning the bathrooms and tables at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station for 21 years. Despite her long record of service, Ramirez says she makes only $8.75 per hour, and receives no benefits or sick days. “I work in a federal building doing work on behalf of the government
In the media
Jillian Berman

New Report Reveals American Tax Dollars Fuel Low-Wage Work, Worsen Inequality

NEW YORK, NY – With much attention on labor strikes spreading across the country to protest low pay and poor working conditions in the retail and fast food industries, national public policy center Demos releases a new report today documenting a surprising part of the economy where low wages are
Press release/statement

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: 401(k)s Have Failed. Time for Mandatory Savings

BlackRock, Inc., is the largest asset management company in the world, with nearly $4 trillion under management. It is also a major player in the 401(k) business. So it's worth paying attention to the fact that yesterday, BlackRock's CEO, Larry Fink, gave a speech at NYU in which he declared that
Blog
David Callahan

Bank of America Gets Virtually Free Money, Why Not Students of America?

For years now, I’ve been asking myself how the federal government justifies charging students nearly 7 percent for loans when banks can get federal funds virtually interest-free (the Fed discount window rate is currently 0.75%).
Blog
Heather McGhee