Reflecting on the current anti-government sentiment, Patrick Bresette—Associate Program Director of Public Works: The Dēmos Center for the Public Sector— calls for a need to rebuild trust in government by rebuilding trust in each other: finding shared goals, identifying common purposes and promoting the belief that problems can be addressed together.
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.
On March 29th, 2011 Public Works hosted a webinar on ways to take advantage of tax season as an opportunity to communicate a different story about the role of taxes in our country. While it focuses on Tax Freedom Day, it includes universal examples for any situation. This guide provides strategies for creating a better conversation about taxes. It examines the most common anti-tax narratives, offer lessons on how to respond to hypothetical questions, and include tips on avoiding common communication pitfalls.
In November, after the elections, it wasn't so clear how the tenor of our public debate would be shifted. Four months later, at least for the short term, the answer is staring us in the face. An agenda is being presented, in the budget amendments in the House of Representatives, in the conservative echo chambers and media outlets, in Madison, Wisconsin and in states around the country. The contours of this agenda are very clear, and they threaten to steal our country's soul from the inside out.
We have analyzed the likely impact on voter turnout should Hawaii adopt Election Day Registration (EDR). Under the system proposed in Hawaii, eligible voters who miss the current 30-day deadline for registering by mail may be able to register to vote on Election Day. The availability of Election Day Registration procedures should give voters who have not previously registered the opportunity to vote.
New York, NY — As new unemployment figures show a still-staggering 9 percent of Americans out of work, a new report from the policy center Demos examines the degree that low income American families use credit to weather economic shocks, and draws out the impact of credit card debt on families' long-term financial stability.
For American corporations, the action is increasingly elsewhere. Their interests are not the same as those of workers, or the country as a whole. As Harold Meyerson put it in The American Prospect: “Our corporations don’t need us anymore. Half their revenues come from abroad. Their products, increasingly, come from abroad as well.”
NEW YORK, NY – The idea of regulation — of using the institutions of government to set and enforce rules for the world of business — has come under fierce attack. This week, House committees will hold four separate hearings based on the premise that our nation’s economy is chafing under the restraint of excessive regulation and overly powerful regulators.
Americans use credit cards millions of times every day. The convenience and utility of revolving credit has become a way of life for most families. However for some, it has also become a lifeline.
Missouri is considering a bill requiring all voters to present government issued photo identification at the polls. The fact that Missouri is introducing a restrictive voter identification bill is particularly unfortunate considering the legislature passed such a bill in 2006 and it was struck down as unconstitutional under the state's constitution by the Missouri Supreme Court.
New York, NY--Today, Miles Rapoport, President of the national policy center Demos, issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address:
"In last night’s speech, President Barack Obama underscored two great challenges of our times: ensuring that economic stability and growth in a global economy is shared among average Americans, not just large corporations, and modernizing and empowering our government to work on behalf of the people.
ATLANTA, GA — Citing clear evidence that low-income Georgia residents are being denied a legally-mandated opportunity to register to vote, attorneys sent a pre-litigation notice letter to Secretary of State Brian Kemp demanding that the Secretary immediately act to bring Georgia into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) or face litigation.
Strong voter participation and engagement are fundamental to a healthy democracy. Efforts to restrict access to voting fly in the face of this important goal. Alarmingly, despite another midterm election in which nationally only 41 percent of eligible persons voted, many states are now renewing efforts to restrict, rather than expand, the franchise.
In order to reverse the troubling low graduation rates at our nation’s community colleges, low-income students must stop being financially penalized for attending these institutions. As this brief outlines, low-income students who attend community college receive less state and institutional grant aid, on average, than their counterparts at four-year public universities. Community College Students and Grant Aid recommends that states equalize their need-based grant allocation and that community colleges prioritize need-based institutional aid.
There are a slew of 401k reform plans out there, ranging from modest proposals for automatic employee enrollment (but undercut by the employee's right to opt out) to replacement of the 401k by a new system run by the government or a nonprofit organization. (For a useful description of the various ideas, see a study by Robert Hiltonsmith for Demos, a liberal think tank that espouses total overhaul.)
