Media

Gretchen Morgenson’s New York Times article on the New York Fed’s ongoing bailout of Bank of America is a much needed reminder of the tar baby embraced by the government in 2008 when it decided to save the banks in their current form rather than changing the system fundamentally.

Homeless families in New York City seeking relief from the extreme cold used to be supported by the city’s Code Blue policy, which requires homeless shelters to admit anyone who comes to their doors in below freezing temperatures. Since late 2011 however, the Bloomberg Administration has quietly changed the policy to a version in which only those who can prove they have no other alternatives are allowed admittance into shelters.

On Wednesday, the New York City Council passed a law banning discrimination against the unemployed by a huge, and veto-proof, margin -- 44 to 4.

We’ve highlighted how the U.S. media leads the world in the amount of time given to climate deniers, even though nearly 80 percent of Americans believe in climate change.

One of the best proposals to come out of the State of the Union was the President's proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour, phased in over three years, and tie it to the cost of living so it automatically adjusts. If anything, the proposed minimum wage is still too low. If the minimum wage had kept up with the rate of inflation, it would now be over $10.

Easthampton, MA – Today, more than 200 civil rights, voting rights and criminal justice organizations sent a letter calling on the U.S. Census Bureau to seize a timely opportunity to research alternative ways to count incarcerated people in the decennial Census.

President Obama's proposal last night to raise the Federal Minimum Wage to $9 (from $7.25) is sure to rekindle the perennial debate about whether such an increase will stall hiring for low-skilled workers, or whether small businesses will be able to sustain their payrolls with higher wage requirements. 

President Obama came out strongly for tax reform in his State of the Union address, casting this challenge as crucial for raising for new revenue and avoiding harsh cuts. Obama argued that the U.S. could:

save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the well-off and well-connected. After all, why would we choose to make deeper cuts to education and Medicare just to protect special interest tax breaks? How is that fair? How does that promote growth?

President Obama’s State of the Union Address included an important call to fix the long lines and other problems that plagued voters in 2012.