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Internships have long been a part of building a career trajectory and most students have resigned themselves to the fact that internships will be unpaid. Many college students spend summers interning at various places, hoping to gain some hands-on experience, a few recommendations and some sense of what they would like to do after graduation. However, the unpaid internship is now creeping into life after graduation.[...]

NEW YORK, NY – Today Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray caved to the ultimatum issued by Walmart and vetoed a living wage bill that was passed by the D.C. City Council. The bill would have required retailers with corporate sales of $1 billion or more and operating in spaces of 75,000 square feet or larger to pay employees no less than $12.50 an hour.

In response to the veto, Demos Vice President of Policy and Outreach Heather McGhee issued the following statement:

Last week, we highlighted how the outside money group, Jobs for New York, was dominating the New York City Council races. So, how did they do? Not too shabby—of the 20 candidates they supported, 16 won, two are still too close to call, and two candidates were unsuccessful.

The standard rap against regulation is that government uses a meat cleaver to clean up problems in the private sector that are better tackled with more nuance. 

Yet regulation—or the threat of it—often serves to spur smart self-regulation that wouldn't otherwise occur. You want to see a scalpel at work? Wave around a meat cleaver. 

A case in point is how banks are getting more serious about addressing consumer complaints now that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has created a database of complaints about banks and other financial institutions. 

After a marathon hearing that wrapped up in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the City Council of Richmond, Calif., voted to allow the use of eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages, becoming the first city in the nation to take such a concrete step toward the novel and risky strategy for helping people avoid foreclosure.

Mark October 8 on your calendar – that’s when the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that’s being called Citizens United 2.0.

In an earlier, harsher America it was not uncommon for people to work well into old age. In 1945, about half of Americans 65 and over were still in the labor force. And that was at a time when most work was physical in nature. 

Then came the great rise in postwar prosperity, with the spread of defined benefit pensions (often won by unions), the expansion of Social Security benefits, the creation of Medicare, and big leaps in housing wealth that provided nest eggs for retirement. 

Washington DC needs jobs. When D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray made this point at a press conference this week, he may not have realized he was making a strong case in favor of the Large Retailer Accountability Act.