Associate Director of the Democracy Program Ludovic Blain testifies before the Vermont Senate Government Operations Committee regarding Election Day Registration.
Experts debate if the housing market is an overinflated bubble, or a strong seller's market.
The forum was sponsored by Demos, a public advocacy group that among other issues concentrates on questions of economic opportunity.
Flaw-proof election machines. Easy-to-read ballots. Registration systems that catch double-voters or dead voters still on the rolls. For top state election officials meeting here, the pressure is on to make sure the election changes demanded after President Bush's disputed 2000 victory are in place by the Jan.
Senior Policy Associate Javier Silva examines the new financial insecurities created as more Americans refinance their homes.
That's the short version of a new and disturbing study by Silva called "House of Cards: Refinancing the American Dream." It shows how millions of U.S. households are falling into a vicious cycle of tapping their credit cards and then refinancing their mortgages to extract needed cash from the equity in their homes.
As tuition costs and enrollment rose through the 1990s, grant money did not keep pace, meaning students have been shouldering an ever-increasing share of their education costs. While before, most were able to finance their studies with grants and part-time work, loans are now inescapable for many.
"This generation is the first to shoulder the costs of their college primarily through interest-bearing loans rather than grants," Draut said.
Steve Carbo, director of the Democracy Program, said voters should be allowed to cast provisional votes even if they vote in the wrong precinct, a practice many states now forbid.
A combination of escalating student loan and credit-card debt, rising costs, slow wage growth and underemployment have accumulated debt "unmatched in modern history" undermining the economic security and financial health of young Americans aged 18-34, according to a new study.
The report, "Generation Broke: The Growth of Debt Among Younger Americans," was released by Demos, a nonpartisan, public policy group, based on the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances as well as dozens of other sources.
Florida Republicans in Jacksonville have been busy compiling and disseminating lists that many believe will be used to challenge minority voters today.
(A report, "Securing the Vote, a Report on Election Fraud," would suggest the Republicans' concerns are overstated. The paper, released by the nonprofit group Demos, shows that election fraud is at most a minor problem across the 50 states and does not affect election outcomes.)
Testimony presented by Tamara Draut, Director of Demos' Economic Opportunity Program, before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit regarding consumer issues in credit card lending.
Providing every citizen an equal opportunity to register to vote, equal access to the polls, and assurance that every ballot cast is counted is a complex and daunting task. Success requires a broad range of reforms, some structural and some administrative.
Ludovic Blain and Joseph Hayden of the NYC Right to Vote Campaign present testimony to the NYC Council Committee on Government Operations regarding the Pro-Voter Law.
Keynote address to the National Network of Grantmakers about public opinion of poverty and inequality, given by Tamara Draut, Director of Demos's Economic Opportunity program.