For decades, GDP has enjoyed supreme status as the predominant benchmark of our economic and social progress. In reality, GDP obscures or ignores essential aspects of Americans’ economic and social welfare, as well as important social and environmental dimensions of our national welfare and future well-being.
In recent years, citizens, the media and political experts have expressed growing concern over redistricting--the process of drawing new district lines to determine which residents will be grouped together when electing representatives. This concern has focused on the steady decline in competitiveness in congressional and legislative districts across the country and the recent efforts of several states to redraw legislative districts mid-decade to gain partisan advantage.
A new report by Demos and the Center for Governmental Studies that shows that current (February 2005) legislation and proposed initiatives on redistricting in California all fail to sufficiently address the needs of the public, and suggests clear guidelines for much fairer redistricting.
Plaintiffs had no other choice but to sue to ensure that, going forward, low-income Georgia citizens receive the voter registration opportunities to which they're entitled.
For four decades, the Supreme Court’s flawed approach to money in politics has gutted common-sense protections against the power of special interests and wealthy individuals. This defies our core democratic values.
This report was produced in collaboration with Brian Schaffner, Professor of Political Science at University of Massachusetts Amherst and Jesse Rhodes, Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Introduction
This report was produced in collaboration with Brian Schaffner, Professor of Political Science at University of Massachusetts Amherst and Jesse Rhodes, Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Introduction
Chicago’s 2015 mayoral race was one of the most expensive in the nation’s history, with big donors playing an outsized role in financing both candidates’ campaigns.
On the verge of the most expensive election in U.S. history—and six years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision—Americans are demanding a government that is truly by the people, where every voice is heard and every vote counts.
“For let it be agreed that a government is republican in proportion as every member composing it has an equal voice in the direction of its concerns…” Thomas Jefferson Letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816
The dominance of big money in our politics makes it far harder for people of color to exert political power and effectively advocate for their interests as both wealth and power are consolidated by a small, very white, share of the population.
Many Americans have reduced the equity in their home to pay off credit card debts and cover day-to-day expenses. More troubling still is evidence that many appraisers fraudulently inflate property values during the buying or refinancing of homes. This paper explores the implications of appraisal fraud.
In April 2005 Demos urged Congress to recognize the fragility of our debt driven consumer economy when considering the bankruptcy "reform" bill (S. 256/H.R. 685) that had been passed by the Senate and was under consideration in the House of Representatives. American families are not suffering from "irresponsible consumerism," as Senate sponsor Chuck Grassley claims, but from the effects of a stagnant economy and fraying social supports.
While real income gains were realized during the economic boom over the latter half of the 1990s, the average American's credit card debt rose faster than ever before. While balances grew faster for white families than for African-American and Hispanic families, all groups experienced a significant rise in debt between 1992 and 2001. African-American and Hispanic families were more likely, overall, to carry a credit card balance than whites.
The report is timed to the two-day federal trial that starts tomorrow morning that will redraw Kansas’ legislative districts. If the Court were to adopt the House’s proposed map, Kansas would end up with a dubious distinction: having the nation’s most extreme instance of prison-based gerrymandering in a state legislative district.
The Massachusetts lawsuit alleges that the Commonwealth failed to provide required voter registration services at public assistance offices, a violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
Just as postsecondary education has expanded opportunities for good jobs and entry into the middle class, college costs are rising beyond the reach of many Americans. State policy decisions are largely responsible for this major cost shift onto students and families. Public investment in higher education has decreased considerably over the past twenty years, and financial aid programs fail to reach all students with financial need. Students and their families must now pay—or borrow—much more than they or Texas can afford.
