Media

Anyone who has hung around progressive circles for the past two decades has invariably logged a small chunk of their lives in frustrating "vision" conversations. The problem, always, was coming up with the elevator pitch for a Balkanized liberalism that was more a grab bag of specific causes than a movement guided by a few simple values. Progressives spent many long years envying the parsimony of a conservative ideology built around the mantra of small government, traditional values, and a strong defense.

As summer comes to an end, much of the country is still suffering from drought conditions. While rain brought relief to areas in the East, the Plains and Western parts of the country are still experiencing above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation levels.

Well, it's official: Most Americans don't know squat about financial investing.

That's one of the chief conclusions of a 212-page study of financial literacy that the SEC, collaborating with the Library of Congress, released late last month:

Should Dodd-Frank be overturned, the financial industry stands to make (with government backing, of course) a ton of money. It’s unsurprising that its repeal has become a centerpiece of the 2012 campaign, with Wall Street donating far more to candidates who want to overturn or weaken the law. What is surprising is how brazen they’ve gotten.

NEW YORK – As millions of young adults begin their fall semesters across the nation, new findings from a national survey by policy center Demos reveal the relationship between college costs and credit card debt, and its impact on students and their parents.

READ "COLLEGE ON A CREDIT CARD: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS IN 2012"

Major findings in “College on a Credit Card: The Experience of The Middle Class in 2012” include:

Laws disenfranchising felons and ex-felons, many passed post-Reconstruction, were sometimes designed with the purpose of disenfranchising African American voters, and often were implemented to do so.

The United States needs to be reimagined. A recent study from the Pew Research Center tells us that in economic terms the middle class "has suffered its worst decade in modern history." It's shrinking.

With jobs scarce, wages declining and the nation's wealth concentrating ever more intensely at the top, the middle class has shrunk in size for the first time since World War II.

Now that the Democratic Party has released their policy platform, we can compare what the two parties envision for the future.  One huge point of difference is that the Democratic platform acknowledges climate change and the scientific backing for this claim. In contrast, the GOP openly mocked the idea of climate change even though their convention was delayed by a hurricane.

Requiring voters to present government-issued photo identification at the polls is a poll tax.