Media

Today, six in ten employers say that they check the credit histories of some or all prospective employees before making final hiring decisions. This traps many jobseekers in a devastating catch-22.

Debt ceiling negotiators fiddle while Rome burns.

The federal deficit must be brought under control, to be sure. But that’s a long-run problem. Our immediate and far more important concern is the massive unemployment that persists in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Here's what I don't get about House Majority Leader Eric Cantor quitting the budget talks because he opposes any tax increases: Nearly every conservative budget plan out there -- including the Ryan plan -- embraces a fiscal scenario in which taxes consume a greater share of GDP than they do today. Everyone on the right knows taxes will have to increase somewhat, so why doesn't Cantor just accept the inevitable -- especially with the stakes so high?

Consider the details.

States work to curb the financial background checks that can keep the unemployed out of work.

After two years of working in a temporary job as customer-service representative, Debra Banks was offered the job permanently. She was sent a hire letter, set a start date, and confirmed her new salary. But there was a hitch: To get the job, Banks had to undergo a credit check.

New York, NY – Today, as Congressional battles threaten the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the national policy center Demos published a new report that shows how failures of the credit reporting system — and the increasing use of the system's credit reports and scores for non-lending purposes — are having outsized and damaging effects on Americans' economic health.

Download the report "Discrediting America"

David Shuster will be guest host when Keith Olbermann is unable to be in-studio, says a release.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

June 16, 2011

CONTACT:

Anna Pycior, [email protected], (914) 330-1103

Demos Statement on Maine Election Day Registration Repeal

Steven Carbó, Senior Program Director in the Democracy Program at the non-partisan policy organization Demos issued the following statement today in response to Maine repeal of Election Day Registration:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

June 16, 2011

CONTACT:

Lauren Strayer, [email protected], (212) 389-1413

Judy Putnam, [email protected], (517) 487-5436