As Congress Takes Up Sweeping Financial Reform, Report Urges Fundamental Change of Ratings Agency Model
Washington, DC — With the House of Representatives and a key Senate committee poised to vote on sweeping financial industry reforms, a new report by Demos finds that the proposed remedies fail to fully address the problems that led the credit rating agencies to become key enablers of the housing bubble and Wall Street meltdown.
Washington, DC — Today, thousands of Americans are gathering on the streets of Chicago to march against financial service industry excess that has cost the American taxpayers trillions of dollars, destabilized the economy and undermined the stability of millions of US households.
In response to the public outcry against excesses in the financial services industries, dubbed "The Showdown in Chicago", the following statement was issued from Heather McGhee, director of the Washington DC, Office for the public policy and research center Demos:
“These are folks who are serving [and] preparing food for all of the rest of us. It's a recipe for contagion when...the people preparing your food cannot afford to stay home when they have a contagious disease.”
Washington, DC — As the United States Congress considers the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009, which aims to establish national regulatory reforms for American ground transportation, a newly published study details the widespread failures of port trucking deregulation. Port Trucking Down the Low Road: A Sad Story of Deregulation, published by Demos, a national public policy research center
"To say that people post-crisis, as they try to rebuild their lives, have to carry the impact of this is just another round of disadvantage and discrimination.”
Initiative Aims to Strengthen Social Insurance, Promote Broadly Shared Prosperity, Set the Record Straight on Federal Spending
New York — Demos and The Century Foundation today launched an initiative to strengthen social insurance programs and develop a roadmap for a fair and responsible federal budget. The project gets underway as the White House prepares for its February 23 "Fiscal Responsibility Summit."
3 out of 4 senior households lack the economic security needed to sustain them through their lives, according to new study
New York, NY — Older Americans have experienced huge, negative financial shifts that now make it more difficult to enter retirement with sustainable economic security, a new study finds. Seventy-eight percent of all senior households are financially vulnerable when it comes to their ability to meet essential expenses and cover projected costs over their lifetimes.
If we are to survive this crisis—and imagine a more equitable, dynamic economy to come, we must start with a recommitment to the value of universal, inclusive public infrastructure.
New York, NY — The 2008 presidential campaign ended with a sharp moral debate about "spreading the wealth" in the United States. With national concern about a barrage of bad economic news--from the financial meltdown on Wall Street to the near-bankruptcy of the American auto-industry — which, coupled with bailouts and controversial tax plans proposed by the new Administration, have moved the issue of wealth distribution to the forefront of public debate.
“They collect our data without our permission. They profit from our data. They fail to invest in processes to verify accuracy. And their models are not transparent. This puts Black and Brown consumers at a serious disadvantage.”
The Biden administration should implement its public credit registry proposal to shift power away from an oligopoly that exercises inordinate control over consumers’ financial prospects and towards a fairer system that better respects consumers and reduces racial inequality.
The For the People Act outlines a vision of what’s possible when our nation lives up to its promise of being a place where all people can lift their voices via their votes and their small dollar contributions.
"For the sake of millions — people watching their rents go up while their wages don’t, parents who need support in tackling the ever-rising cost of child care, and seniors who regularly must decide whether they can afford their bills or their pills — the Senate must pass this legislation.”
Angela joins Moms Rising CEO Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner to talk worker power and a new generation of unions, and why a multiracial democracy is essential for a thriving economy.