Media

NEW YORK, NY—While much of the country’s attention is focused on the need for job growth, a new report released today by national public policy organization Demos reveals the ways in which the use of credit history in hiring acts as a significant barrier to employment and may lead to discriminatory hiring practices, particularly for people of color and the long-term unemployed.

Every time Washington confronts one of the imminent fiscal crises that seem to be normal operating procedure these days, my mind flashes back to an absurdist scene in the Saturday Night Live spinoff “Wayne’s World 2.”

When Wayne and his sidekick Garth happen upon a group of men hauling watermelons and chicken crates, they speculate that they’ve wandered into an outdoor market. On the contrary, the laborers inform them, their job is simply to stack their goods in one spot, then move them a few minutes later.

The wealthy are remarkably adept at feeling vicitimized, despite their unprecedented income gains over the past few decades and their unparalleled level of political clout in a democracy where money equals free speech. 

A new study from Brandeis University’s Institute on Assets and Social Policy shows a dramatic increase in the wealth gap between white and African-American families from 1984 to 2009. The study is remarkable in its depth, as it followed the same set of families over the 25-year period. The total wealth gap between white and African-American families rose from $85,000 in 1984 to $236,500 in 2009.

Ever wonder why the government seems fine with cutting unemployment benefits and welfare programs? Part of the answer may be that the rich vote more than the poor.

It's time to ensure that workers, no matter what their immigration status, have the same rights, and that their status isn't used an excuse to justify abusive behavior. 

Why elected officials are turning away from the economic policies that long guaranteed hardworking Americans the opportunity to join the middle class.

Yesterday the Supreme Court heard arguments about the constitutionality of a key part of the Voting Rights Act.  This landmark piece of civil rights legislation transformed what had been for some Americans an empty promise of a right to vote into the beginning of an ability to exercise that right.

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler has come out swinging against a proposal to allow voters in his state to register on Election Day. Coloradans currently must register at least 29 days ahead of time, and Gessler is dusting the cobwebs off a well-worn bogeyman in an attempt to keep it that way. In a recent op-ed in the Denver Post, Gessler wrote: