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When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, cities generate up 60 percent of all emissions. This number rises to 80 percent when including the indirect emissions of city dwellers (although the per capita carbon footprint is often lower in cities than in rural areas due to denser living conditions and more availability of public transportation).

If Washington tackles corporate tax reform in the next year, as many expect, one thing is for sure: this debate will touch off a feeding frenzy for lobbyists, an avalanche of strategic campaign donations and, in the end, probably will yield only modest reform. Nor can we count on any increase in overall revenues, given that the GOP is dead set against revenue increases and Obama has already given up the fight by saying corporate tax reform should be revenue neutral.

Not so long ago debt "was a four-letter word when spoken in the same breath as "retirement." Before waltzing into their golden years, older Americans paid off their loans, then celebrated by burning the mortgage.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been quietly advancing a radical right-wing agenda at the state level for decades. Their efforts recently came under fire when it was discovered that they were behind the “Stand Your Ground” law implemented in Florida, which was used to justify the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Last week, the House Agriculture Committee voted to drastically cut spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by over $33 billion. It's an extreme, absurd, dangerous thing to do, cutting an already underfunded program that is, as Feeding America put it, "one of the nation's most critical, remaining safety net."

The most recent hunger statistics in the U.S. are startling: In 2010, 32.6 million adults and 16.2 million children lived in food insecure households. 

Colleges are one of a select number of institutions in America whose price is impervious to gravity.

If Congressman Denny Rehberg has his way, child labor rules will be relaxed in the name of the "family farm." He is the leading proponent of the Preserving America’s Family Farm Act, arguing that the "urban" Department of Labor is out to get "rural" America. 

Last summer, on her final day as the Chairman of the FDIC, Shelia Bair decried the short-termism that has overtaken both Wall Street and Washington, where “[o]ur financial markets remain too focused on quick profits, and our political process is driven by a two-year election cycle and its relentless demands for fundraising.” This short-termism has taken hold of the reins of our larger political system and increasingly characterizes policy initiatives at every level of government.