Media

Are big corporations taking over American elections? It depends whether you ask liberals or conservatives, who can’t even agree on the basic facts.

In the liberal universe, big corporations have swallowed politics. Common Cause President Bob Edgar summed up this version of reality at a press conference in March, declaring: “We, the people, will not stand idly by while the country’s major corporations use their massive wealth to buy our democracy.”

The home mortgage crisis and Great Recession destroyed a generation of economic progress for African-American families. Now, reports the Washington Post, the discriminatory impact of credit scores and reports could cement the disadvantages into place for decades to come.

The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal the last in a three month trend of weak job growth. With only 80,000 jobs added in the month of June, the economy failed to generate enough work to keep up with the population growth of the labor force, much less fuel a recovery for America’s workers.  The unemployment rate for all workers held steady at 8.2 percent.

Even though it’s only the 9th of July, nearly 3,400 maximum and minimum temperature records have been tied or broken so far this month. Dozens of people have died and the lack of rainfall combined with the extreme heat is threatening the Midwest’s corn crop.

The LIBOR-fixing scandal that has engulfed Barclays and prompted investigation of Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, UBS, Lloyds, Deutsche Bank, ICAP (the huge broker for traders) and possibly others has been down-played by some experts and induced outrage from others. More fines like the $453 million extracted from Barclays will undoubtedly be announced. And perhaps more resignations such as those of Barclay’s CEO and COO last week are in the offing. But the financial press is struggling to find the broader implications.

The New York Times Editorial Board has raised another problem with declaring the Medicaid exception unconstitutional: Many people who live below the poverty line are likely to be left without healthcare coverage all together. This is especially true in the seven states that have already committed to rejecting the additional federal funds. But the Times doesn't do a terribly good job of explaining why.

Celebrating Pennsylvania’s recent passage of a restrictive piece of voter ID legislation, Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R) stated, “Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done." This statement, shocking only for its honesty, reveals what many voting rights organizations have been saying for years: Changing the rules relating to voting is a kind of power grab, a partisan effort to change outcomes.

Construction workers remain the hardest hit of all American workers, according to today's job numbers. This sector has a staggering unemployment rate of 12.8 percent, the highest of any corner of the U.S. economy. That rate is mercifully down from 15.6 percent at this time last year, but remains brutally high -- and, inevitably, the data doesn't take into account those who fly beneath the radar, such as undocumented immigrants.

Philadelphia, PA – Today, the Black Political Empowerment Project (B-PEP) and ACTION United filed suit against Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele, Secretary of Public Welfare, Gary D. Alexander and Secretary of Health, Dr. Eli N. Avila in the U.S.