New York – Today’s narrow 5-4 decision in McComish v. Bennett continues the Roberts Court’s retreat on fairness in elections, striking down trigger provisions that allowed publicly financed candidates in Arizona to receive additional funds for their campaigns when their spending was outstripped by their privately financed opponents.
Why a return to a debt-free system of public universities and colleges would help revive the promise of affordable higher education regardless of one’s family income.
Why a Massachusetts Partnership Bank will generate new revenue for Massachusetts, save local governments money, and make our small businesses, farms and consumers less vulnerable to cutbacks in lending in our state.
A Washington Investment Trust will generate new revenue for Washington, save local governments money, and make our businesses less dependent on the Wall Street banks that have cut back on lending to small businesses and consumers in our state.
A Maryland Partnership Bank will generate new revenue for Maryland, save local governments money, and make our businesses less dependent on the Wall Street banks.
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.
New York, NY — The Inequality Matters conference kicks off on Thursday, June 3rd at New York University (NYU), with keynotes by Bill Moyers and Barbara Ehrenreich.
The conference will raise an alarm about the explosive growth in economic inequality in the U.S., examine its causes, and create a forum to press for solutions to this national crisis.
Key facts:
° The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released new figures showing that the income gap in the US is now the widest in 75 years.
NEW YORK — Over the last decade, high interest rate debt among America's seniors has skyrocketed, making them the fastest growing age group headed into bankruptcy court, according to a new report, "Retiring in the Red: The Growth of Debt Among Older Americans," released today from Demos, a non-partisan, public policy group based in New York City.
New York, NY — Americans faced a massive rise in credit card debt during the 1990s, according to a new study released today by Demos. "Borrowing to Make Ends Meet" found that while low-income and elderly Americans have been hit hardest by the debt boom, Americans of all stripes are suffering under the burden of high-interest credit card debt.
Boston, MA - Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit -- covering Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island -- issued a decision upholding Maine's campaign finance disclosure provisions, which had been challenged by the anti-gay marriage National Organization for Marriage. In response, Lisa Danetz, Demos Senior Counsel, issued the following statement:
At a telephone news conference this Wednesday, three national policy organizations will release the results of a new nationwide, bi-partisan survey of young adults ages 18-34 about higher education’s importance and affordability, student debt, and Congressional proposals to cut Pell Grants or charge interest on federal student loans while borrowers are still in school.
NEW YORK- While they believe that higher education is more important today than it was for their parents’ generation, most U.S. adults age 18 to 34 also view college as harder to afford than just five years ago.
A commission appointed by the Massachusetts legislature is considering the creating a state Partnership Bank to boost the local economy by increasing community development lending.
We can’t afford to let Wall Street keep taking us for a ride: Americans need a strong Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to bring fairness and accountability to the financial sector.
The Corporate Reform Coalition – made up of institutional investors managing a combined total of $800 billion in assets, as well as public officials, legal scholars, good government groups and CEOs – will hold a telephone press conference to discuss a petition calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to issue rules on corporate political spending.
NEW YORK – On the eve of the release of new GDP numbers, Demos is publishing a new report challenging the dominance of GDP in the nation’s economic and policy debates. Beyond GDP: New Measures for A New Economy illuminates the limits of a measurement that shows economic growth, as the 2011 numbers will likely indicate, against the backdrop of an ongoing national economic crisis.
D.C. – This Wednesday, February 8th, Demos and U.S. PIRG are holding a press call to release a new and comprehensive analysis of Federal Election Commission data on Super PACs, from their advent in 2010 through the end of 2011. This new report, “Auctioning Democracy: The Rise of Super PACs and the 2012 Election,” details FEC data findings, lays out actionable recommendations for all levels of government, and provides vivid new infographics (for use with attribution) that illustrate the damage dealt by Super PACs.