Media

Yesterday, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn delivered the State of the City address, focusing mainly on what we’d expect from a mayoral candidate: unemployment and local development. Both are big problems in need of big solutions, and Quinn delivered accordingly, proposing a CUNY budget boost, an integrated education network for city children, and a $10 million small business loan fund.

The mortgage servicing deal reached today between a coalition of state attorneys general and five major Wall Street banks is an important stepping stone in the effort to secure justice for homeowners victimized by the fraud and abuse behind the foreclosure crisis.

New York, NY--Demos views the mortgage servicing deal reached today between a coalition of state Attorneys General and 5 major Wall Street banks as an important stepping stone in the effort to secure justice for homeowners victimized by the foreclosure crisis.

The U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision unleashed the specter of unlimited corporate political donations in U.S. elections. So far, however, it's mostly rich individuals doing the donating.

A new report from two public-interest groups confirms fears "that the cash for big-ticket campaign spending like TV advertising is increasingly controlled by an elite class of super-rich patrons not afraid to plunk down a million bucks or more for favored candidates and causes."

Last I checked, the whole point of a reduced payroll tax was to stimulate growth by keeping more money in the economy as opposed to channeling it into the coffers of the U.S. Treasury.

Americans don't need more reasons to distrust Congress these days, with polls showing record levels of public disapproval of the legislative  branch. Yet the reasons keep coming -- like the fact, as I wrote yesterday, that so many lawmakers and congressional staffers morph into highly paid lobbbyists the moment they leave Capitol Hill.

An excellent series here on PolicyShop details how corporate money corrupts our political system and erodes democracy, particularly in the wake of the Citizens United ruling.

Last month WNYC public radio launched a funny silly little tool to mock the new dangerous phenomena that are Super PACs. The "Generate Your Own Super PAC Name!" tool shoots out mocking but all-too-true faux SuperPAC names (for me it chose "Augment Personal Responsibility").