Media

Hurricane Sandy is the most recent storm to have shed light on the dangers of development in waterfront areas along the Eastern seaboard, but communities from Colorado to Missouri to South Dakota have also grappled for years with the growing risk of environmental damage from everything from rising rivers to forest fires -- dangers that are growing more acute thanks to climate change.

Americans made their voices heard on Election Day 2012, according to a new analysis.

One of the many parts of the financial sector that the crisis exposed as desperately in need of reform was the 401(k) industry. In 2008 alone, the securities industry lost over $2 trillion in workers’ hard-earned 401(k) and IRA savings.

Just sixty-one individuals gave $285.2 million to Super PACs in the 2012 elections, contributing the same amount as 1,425,500 small grassroots donors to the major party presidential candidates, according to a new report from Demos and U.S. PIRG.

This report, the fourth in a series, focuses on "the overwhelming influence of a tiny number of wealthy donors."

A new Media Matters study shows that not only was climate change absent from the Presidential debates, it was virtually absent from media coverage. Total media coverage of climate change was just over three and a half hours since August 1st. However, the vast majority of this -- two and a half hours worth -- was on MSNBC. The other networks combined spent 51 minutes discussing climate change.

Poverty’s up, but still ignored. The drumbeat of evidence shows that it remains, despite the recovery, persistently high. The official Census poverty measure this summer found a record 15 percent of Americans living in poverty. But, as expected, that lowballs it. The official measure, which hasn’t been updated in fifty years, is inadequate.

Walmart maintains its low prices on the backs of workers. Reuters reports:

Tuning in to the latest round of fiscal panic, you might think that Congress and the President have been doing exactly nothing about the deficit over the past few years. Of course, though, that is wrong: Major steps have already been taken to control government spending. According to a new analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities:

One of the most visible signs of climate change was last summer’s prolonged extreme drought. Over eighty percent of the corn and soybean crops were impacted. Not surprisingly, we saw record food prices globally. Price increases due to drought are easy to understand given the reduction in crop supply that accompanies drought.