Media

Credit: Flickr/teresia

Sometimes I wonder if we should require our politicians to prove they are capable of doing basic math before they can engage in policymaking.

New York, NY -- Miles Rapoport, President of Demos, and former Connecticut Secretary of the State, commended current Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill for championing Same Day Registration and other improvements in voting and elections.

Two weeks ago I looked into the uptick in consumer debt and concluded the trend was neither wholly good nor bad:

Even if we're on the cusp of an economic upswing (which is the opinion of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) it doesn't make sense to start celebrating until we have a better idea of how the debt burden is allocated.

Eliza Carney has an interesting piece in Roll Call observing that in light of Congressional inaction, several federal agencies have now moved to center stage in the fight over unrestricted campaign money.

When it comes to retirement savings, the last thing you want is too much risk -- yet Governor Cuomo's proposed reforms to New York state employee retirement plans will likely encourage more workers to place their savings in unpredictable and unreliable 401(k)'s.

Moderate Republicans from the Northeast used to be a common species in the U.S. Congress. Remember John Chafee, Jim Jeffords, Chris Shays, and Alfonse D'Amato? Or, for that matter, George H.W. Bush?

That sure seems like ancient history. For years now, such Republicans have been on the endangered species list and, with Olympia Snowe's departure from the U.S. Senate, will move one step closer to outright extinction. Snow has been ranked the most liberal Republican in the Senate.

Let’s set the record straight: the high gas prices we have right now will not go down just because the Keystone XL pipeline is approved. The solution to high gas prices is straightforward: stop trying to go to war with Iran, stop letting Wall Street get away with making massive profits off speculations, and start making real investments in renewable energy.

In the era of Occupy Wall Street and vast income inequality Bloomberg reporter Max Abelson is performing a public service. With a therapist's knack he's getting all sorts of bankers to spill their guts on the frustrations that come with making a ton of money. It's surprising that these conversations are all on the record until you realize these people truly are living in a different universe.