Media

The bottom half of American households now controls less than 5 percent of our total net worth. Our republican founders could not have imagined a distribution of wealth so concentrated, nor a democracy so threatened by the rule of property.

After being on the outside for years, consumer lobbyists have gained power. Credit card rules were just the start of what they hope to do with it.

One area of regulatory reform that consumer advocates are particularly keen on is a new panel that would regulate mortgages and credit cards. The White House supports the idea of creating a so-called Financial Safety Products Commission, say consumer advocates and legislative aides.

Bob Herbert, op-ed columnist for The New York Times, received an honorary degree and spoke at Lawrence Universitys 2009 commencement.

Bob Herbert, op-ed columnist for The New York Times, received an honorary degree and spoke at Lawrence University's 2009 commencement. Here are his remarks.

It's a great privilege to be here and to be part of this wonderful day with you smiling, gorgeous, beautiful and brilliant graduates.

But the direction of all my work, at bottom, is toward a new family economy, something I believe we can achieve only by fundamentally reformulating American politics around ideas of community wealth and family economic protection. This is a politics that leverages families and communities against market compulsion using the resources and regulatory power of a conservative or "subsidiary" welfare state-one that supports and protects traditional social structures but does not usurp their functions or alter their God-given purposes.

Yet these reforms still leave the burden of registration on the voter. The holy grail of registration reform remains universal registration. As the Election Protection coalition states in its report on the 2008 election, this would mean a registration system that was automatic, permanent (providing voters an opportunity to update their registration when they changed their name or address, for example), and allows for voters to correct any mistakes on election day.

Millions of Families Experienced Economic Decline Since 2000; Households of Color Hardest Hit

Caleb Gibson, federal affairs coordinator for Demos, a New York-based advocacy group on economic issues, is following the credit bill of rights’ progress and lobbying to include as many consumer protections in it as possible. Here’s his quick analysis of what is in the legislation that’s likely to stay and where the Senate and House will have to compromise to meet President Barack Obama’s Memorial Day deadline.

Today, children of wealthy parents are the ones who disproportionately attend college. Meanwhile, student financial assistance at the federal, state and university level has shifted away from a needs-based approach, leaving low-income and moderate-income students sitting at home.