Media

As expected, Paul Ryan repeated one of the top mistruths of this election season last night -- namely that President Obama robbed Medicare of $716 billion to fund the Affordable Care Act.

For months, various experts and news sources have pointed out what a distortion this is. As Politifact noted in August:

Martha Raddatz was deservedly praised as a moderator at the vice-presidential debate in Kentucky last night. But, reading the transcript again, maybe that praise was a bit overdone. Raddatz may not have been another empty seat, but her question on Social Security perpetuated a frequent myth.

Senator Schumer offered a much needed intervention in the tax debate in a speech on Tuesday. What Schumer said is that revenue-neutral tax reform was a fantasy and that any big Congressional deal on tax reform had to include higher rates on the wealthy, as well as more revenue overall.

Yes and yes to both points.

Kimberly Kelley of Tampa has provided Florida elections officials with thousands of names of people she thinks may be ineligible to vote and should be removed from the rolls. On Election Day, she’ll join thousands more — people of all political stripes — to monitor balloting.

“I believe there is fraud both ways. I don’t think it’s a specific group,” said Kelley, a registered Republican whose group is called Tampa Vote Fair. “We’re just there to observe. We’re not going to intimidate anyone.”

A new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows how investments in the green economy produce results far beyond sustainability gains. EPI took the BLS green jobs data and matched it with current employment trends. By doing so, they found:

The latest attempt to throw a collar on for-profit colleges is the The College Student Rebate Act of 2012. House Representatives John Tierney (D-Mass.) and George Miller (D-Calif.) put it in front of a congressional committee in mid-September.

Should the Act pass, it would require for-profit schools to devote 80% of their revenue to "educational and related expenses." If they fail to do so, the schools would be required to refund an amount equal to the margin by which they exceeded the cap.

NEW YORK - As the Supreme Court hears oral argument in Fisher v. University of Texas case challenging the constitutionality of the school’s undergraduate admissions program on Wednesday, October 10, Demos stands with the United States Student Association (USSA) along with hundreds of other community, corporate, military and civil rights leaders, students and other allies in support of diversity in higher education.

Just as every fall, we are warned about powerful hurricanes that could devastate coastal areas, every four years we hear warnings about an “October surprise” that could upheave the political landscape on the eve of the election. This year, the “surprise” threatens to hit land on November 2: it is the prospect that a million workers could receive a layoff notice on the Friday before the election. 

When workers at a Southern California warehouse that stores goods for Walmart walked out on strike last month,  it was no isolated incident.