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Phil Ashburn started working at Western Electric in 1972 and stayed there for 30 years, even after the company split up. Eventually he ended up at a phone company called Pacific Bell. “It was a great company to work for. The company took care of you and you took care of the company,” he said.

The fight that was waged against Jim Crow racism is alive in fights for democracy today, here and abroad.

The New York Fed has blessed us this week with a whole lot of new data points about student debt, in a series of three blog posts and the release of their quarterly Household Debt and Credit Report.

Walmart just gave half a million people a raise. Could you be next?

The retail giant announced on Thursday that it would increase the minimum pay for its workers to $10 an hour, affecting roughly a third of its 1.4 million employees. [...]

By law, employers in the U.S. cannot make hiring decisions based on applicants' age, race, sex or religion. But what about their credit history?

A disturbing new report by the think tank Demos explains how companies across the country are using credit checks to vet potential employees. Researchers found that one in seven people with poor credit reported being told they wouldn't be hired for a job because of their financial history.

In response to Walmart's announcement to raise the wage for 500,000 employees, Demos Senior Policy Analyst Catherine Ruetschlin issued the following statement:

Mayor Bill de Blasio's vision for the five boroughs is to move past the "tale of two cities," to create "a city where everyone has a shot at the middle class," he said during his State of the City address earlier this month.

But just who is part of New York City's middle class? It is not an exact science. Here's why. [...]

A City Council report from 2013, however, expanded the definition of middle class upward to a family earning roughly $200,000.

It’s early, but arguably the most important paper of the year has already been released. The author, Michael Jay Barber, finds persuasive evidence that those who donate more than $200 (.22% of the population in 2014), wield more influence over our political system than anyone else. 

Last week’s New York Times reported that the Hillary Clinton campaign has tapped more than 200 experts to solve a problem: how to address the public’s anger over income and wealth inequality without “overly vilifying the wealthy.” We are left to ponder whether the campaign might vilify the wealthy some, but not too much.