If you want to make crime pay—and get a lighter penalty if you’re caught—you’re better off cheating your employees out of their fair wages than trying to nick the latest video game console or pair of designer shoes off the shelves of your local retailer. That’s the conclusion of my new Demos research brief, The Steal. And no, it’s not a how-to for aspiring criminals.
Today progressive Democrats released a framework for job creation and infrastructure investment that will prepare the United States to thrive in the 21st century.
Tuesday, May 23 (NEW YORK, NY) – Tamara Draut, Vice President of Research and Policy at Demos, a New York-based public policy organization and think tank, issued this statement following the unveiling of President Trump’s full budget to Congress:
“The deeply alarming budget released by the Trump administration today would wreak havoc on working- and middle-class people, including many of the very people who sent him to the White House, by cutting services and programs that support our most vulnerable communities.
Despite important advances with ballot initiatives and the rise of the powerful Fight for $15 movement, there is still progress to be made on raising the minimum wage.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus has released its People’s Budget, which it aptly subtitles a “roadmap to resistance.” The CPC budget is proactive, pro-public, and progressive. In decided contrast to the dystopian vision of the Trump budget, the CPC budget presents a bold vision rooted in the fundamental value that our nation is a shared project of all its people – the demos – for the benefit of the entire demos.
April 26, 2017 (New York, NY) – In response to Donald Trump’s proposed tax plan, Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy & Research at Demos, a NY based public policy think tank, issued the following statement:
“This tax proposal shows once again that Donald Trump is no populist, but rather is hewing to traditional conservative and Republican philosophies, including doubling down on the failed experiment of trickle-down economics.
With so many eventual graduates starting at community colleges, we should take a hard look at institutional aid policies, which reward incoming freshmen much more than transfer students.
Doing “everything right” — making all the optimal life choices to build wealth and get ahead, despite obstacles — is still not enough for black and Latino households to accumulate as much wealth as their white counterparts.
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Senior Fellow Wallace C. Turbeville, a beloved member of the Demos family since 2012. Wallace “Wally” Turbeville was among our country’s most respected and influential thought leaders and advocates for systemic financial reform as a core fight in the struggle for economic and racial justice.
On Labor Day, let’s all take a moment to thank our bosses for the rights and benefits they have so generously granted us.
Oh wait, that’s right. Decent wages and working conditions were never gifts. Workers organized, fought, and in many cases died for each and every improvement in our working lives. And workers are fighting today—to protect the rights we’ve won, and to advance new and needed labor laws.
Because blue-collar worker income in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark is so high, Americans are often surprised to learn that none of the Nordic social democracies have minimum wage laws. The truth is that they don’t need them, thanks to the immense (albeit gradually waning) power of Scandinavian labor unions. Organized labor in that region of Europe has used its power to set a de facto wage floor, rendering parliamentary action superfluous.