Media

It’s not about smart phones, selfies or social media. Millennials aren’t making some of life’s biggest purchases because we’re broke. As James Carville might say, “it’s the economy, stupid.”

Reading the money pages of popular publications as a millennial can be infuriating. Every other article seems to stumble through clumsy speculation about my generation’s financial decisions, as if they’re so mysterious. 

One of the issues that helped fuel last week's national fast-food workers strikes is the growing income disparity between rank-and-file workers and the chief executives in charge of those multi-billion-dollar companies.

”I can't breathe.“

Eric Garner's death cannot be in vain. More so than even the Ferguson Grand Jury verdict, the videotaped killing of Mr. Garner must spur wholescale reform in addressing the use of police abuse and excessive force in our broken criminal justice system.

But it all starts with the office of the prosecutor.

(New York, NY) – Yesterday, the Illinois General Assembly passed Senate Bill 172, which would allow voters to register and vote on Election Day. This bill’s passage follows the successful implementation of the state’s pilot program this past November, and would also offer a grace period for registration on university campuses, expand early voting, and modernize current registration processes.

In response, Demos Vice President of Policy and Outreach Lenore Palladino issued the following statement:

Same‑Day Registration in Illinois is now permanent.

Eric Garner said “I can’t breathe” 11 times as a New York City police officer squeezed his neck in an illegal chokehold. More officers piled unto the 43-year-old until he was lying motionless on the ground. It was all caught on video from beginning to its sickening end.

Unfortunately for voters, the $3.7 billion spent over the most recent election cycle did not come with a gift receipt. Despite being rung up as the most expensive midterm in US history, nearly two-thirds of Americans sat out the election -- the lowest voter turnout in more than 70 years.

For the past four months, the people of Ferguson have been standing up for the very oldest American ideal: democracy, a say in the decisions that affect their lives. Just now, I was shocked to learn that the state of Missouri will not pursue a trial over the killing of Mike Brown. This latest miscarriage of justice shows that our democracy is still haunted by the oldest American reality, present at our nation’s creation: a belief by many in power that not all of our voices, and lives, truly count. We can, and must, do better.

(NEW YORK, NY) – Following the nation’s most expensive mid-term election cycle, where political spending hit an unprecedented $3.7 billion high, the national public policy organization Demos has released a new report on the federal election spending of big box retail companies.