The debate over inequality tends to focus on things like tax policy, unions, corporate greed, and globalization. Scholars are well aware that technology has been a major driver of inequality -- by allowing the owners of capital to make more money with lower labor costs -- but policy types don't tend to have much to say on this issue.
Eighty years ago, in the 1930s, the auto industry -- a centerpiece of America's industrial economy -- was not yet unionized. Yet within twenty years, the big carmakers and the United Auto Workers would be effectively sharing power in Detroit, and building cars had become a reliable path into the middle class for workers with only a high school diploma, or not even that.
The Dow may be at a record high, leaving many traders and CEOs elated, but as the New York Times reported Monday, the share of national income going to American workers is near an all time low.
One way to undermine movement on climate change is to create a false dichotomy that pits advocates against each other. Unfortunately, this is exactly what is happening now in the fracking battle.
Republican governor Bobby Jindal attracted attention earlier this year when he said that Republicans must stop being the "stupid party." But in that same speech Jindal said something equally important:
Employment credit checks illegitimately obstruct access to employment, keeping qualified workers out of jobs they need. It’s an argument Demos has been making for a few years, but the new studywe released this week provides additional data to back it up.
The debate over America’s federal budget is getting stale — and getting us nowhere, as the latest government shutdown depressingly reminds us. Political obsession over budget deficits has now morphed into legislative extortion.
At a small gathering in Los Angeles recently, Miles Rapoport, president of the 13-year-old progressive think tank Demos, expressed optimism about the future for progressive values and policies.
Miles's talk was inspiring, but I asked him to elaborate by answering questions from a skeptic's point of view. Following is Part 2 of our dialogue. (Here is Part 1.)
Don't use that post-surgery fog as an excuse to ignore medical bills, even if you're still contesting them with your doctor or health insurer. Otherwise, your credit score will need to heal, too.
Medical debt is the most common type of collection account, representing nearly half of all reported collections. Almost 1 in 6 credit reports contain a medical debt collection, according to the Federal Reserve. And about 2 in 5 Americans reported a lower credit rating last year due to unpaid medical bills.
