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Insurers justify the use of credit screening for insurance purposes by pointing to internal industry data showing that, on average, people with lower scores are more likely to make an insurance claim. The problem is, they don’t have a convincing explanation for why people with poor credit tend to make more claims.

The shale gas industry has been booming in recent years, not only fueling growth in stated U.S. gas reserves, but also controversy over its environmental impact. Although high-volume fracking combined with horizontal drilling has allowed producers to get at hard-to-extract shale gas, many argue that the technique’s impact on the environment requires further study. Despite the environmental controversy, the industry still has plenty of supporters.

Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney prosecuting the insider trader cases, is quoted in a recent New Yorker article as saying that a lack of manpower was the reason that authorities hadn't prosecuted more people involved in the financial crisis: "If the well is dry," he said, "a thousand more people aren't going to get you water in that well." 

When Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes published a book entitled The $3 Trillion War, they were criticized by some academics and reviewers for inflating the costs of the Iraq war. Well, now it appears that the authors' figures may have been too low.

For Immediate Release
June 29, 2011

Alex Amend, [email protected], 212.389.1411
Anna Pycior, [email protected], 914.330.1103

Demos Has Published Numerous Reports on Negative Impact of Voter ID Legislation

Representative Sandy Levin is one of the top Democrats in Congress when it comes to trade issues and given that he represents Michigan -- where the economy has been battered by globalization -- it is no surprise that he has long taken a critical stance on free trade agreements. But Levin is not entirely hostile to such pacts.

According to a recent Pew poll, evangelical Christians believe they're losing influence in the United States. That's far from clear; From 2004 to 2008, the evangelical share of the vote in the Presidential election increased, from 20 percent to 23 percent.

Herbert may be less stressed these days, but he's back in the hot seat in the latest installment of POLITICO's "Answer This"

Tell us your favorite joke.

From Steven Wright: I got a new shadow. I had to get rid of the other one. … It wasn’t doing what I was doing.

When’s the last time you used profanity?

A little while ago. It’s a terrible term that my buddies and I used with pathological frequency in high school, and I haven’t broken the habit yet.

I have been predicting for the past few months that as part of a bipartisan budget deal Republicans will agree to raise revenues by reducing tax breaks and then cloak this retreat in high-minded rhetoric about "tax reform."