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Our personal information is compiled, traded, analyzed and sold off as never before. Not only do business and government track us online, but retailers trace our cell phones through stores, and vast, little-known databases can keep us from getting jobs, qualifying for loans, and opening bank accounts.

The next big campaign finance case to go before the Supreme Court began in February 2012 in the grand ballroom at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel during the "Ronald Reagan Banquet" at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Fast food workers in Detroit and Flint, Mich. participated in the week of rolling fast food strikeson Wednesday, the third straight day of labor activism in what now appears to be the largest industrial action in the industry’s history.

The next big campaign finance case to go before the Supreme Court began in February 2012 in the grand ballroom at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel during the "Ronald Reagan Banquet" at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

A longstanding rap against Barack Obama, going back to his Senate years, is that he confuses making speeches with making change. Of course, though, moving the public is often a crucial pre-condition for moving a policy agenda. And speeches can help do that. 

Much like the back catalog of our favorite bands, the Obama administration has a collection of policy proposals that have never gotten much attention, much less become legislative greatest hits. As he embarks on a series of economic speeches over the next few months, Obama would do well to examine his own policy back catalog. 

On July 24, President Obama delivered a speech in Galesburg, IL, to lay out his vision for an economy that works for everyone and what he hopes to do to get us there. During his speech, he acknowledged that gridlock in Washington will likely prevent Congress from providing sensible solutions, but he said, “Whatever executive authority I have to help the middle class, I’ll use it." I hope the President keeps his word because he has the power to lift two million working Americans out of poverty.  He just has to choose to use it. I work at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

After the D.C. Council approved a bill that requires large retailers to pay their workers a "living wage" of $12.50 -- and Walmart retreated from the capital in protest -- we thought it'd be worth considering what that requirement could do for the economy.

When Congress reconsiders the Voting Rights Act this session, they should consider the few pages of history conspicuously missing from Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion—an opinion that relies not only on bad logic but also bad history.