Media

COLUMBUS, OH – Voting rights, civil rights and labor organizations are joining forces to erect get-out-and-vote billboards in four Ohio and Wisconsin cities this week, pushing back against an anonymously-financed billboard campaign aimed at intimidating voters and depressing voter turnout.

Judging by all the complaints about the Dodd-Frank Act, you might think that Washington over reacted to the financial excesses of a few years ago and that the Feds can now ease up on Wall Street.

In fact, though, bad behavior among America's money men -- and yes, those doing wrong are typically men -- continues onward at a furious pace. Consider just the past month at the SEC:

Other outside dark money groups get the press, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gets results. That's because the Chamber, the biggest lobbying organization in the country, doesn't disclose its donors, among whom are the most powerful companies in the country. Those corporations use the Chamber's to anonymously funnell money into competitive races. In the beginning of October alone, they've spent almost $5 million dollars on political races. But that's not the source of their unmatched influence.

The Roberts Court's campaign finance jurisprudence has one over-arching theme: morphing the First Amendment into a tool for powerful and wealthy.

Four years ago, voter turnout was 49 percent -- the highest since 1968. Still, it remains to be seen if voters will come out in droves as they did during the election. To make sure that no avoidable factors -- ranging from intimidation to a lack of a photo ID -- keeps people at home on Nov. 6, five organizations are hitting the ground to do what they can to encourage all groups to get out and cast their ballots.

When it comes to climate change, there is one area in which the U.S. leads all other nations. Our media gives more time and attention to climate deniers than any other country. The study looked at five other countries besides the U.S.- Brazil, China, France, India and the UK- to see how leading newspapers in each country dealt with climate skepticism. It found that coverage of climate skepticism is mostly limited to the U.S. and to the U.K.

A new report out by the Citizens for Tax Justice offers further evidence of just how screwed up and porous our corporate tax system has become.

Big companies are making boatloads of money overseas and then often piling it up in tax havens. Which means that not only are they not paying U.S. taxes on these profits -- since taxes can be deferred until cash is brought home -- but nor are they paying taxes to foreign governments.

Helping young people being crushed by their student debt is a nice idea. It's also easier said than done, even when policymakers mean well.

A new report from the Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) has bad if not suprising news for recent and future grads: average student debt for the class of 2011 rose 5 percent to $26,600 up from $25,250 in 2010. 

TICAS points out that this number could be even higher, since their findings rely on data provided voluntarily by colleges and universities and many declined to report.