New York, NY – Demos, a national research and policy center, announced today that Michael Winship has become a new Senior Writing Fellow. Mr. Winship is President of the AFL-CIO-affiliated Writers Guild of America, East, a former senior writer of “Bill Moyers Journal” on PBS, and co-editor of the upcoming book "Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues" (New Press June 2011).
The fear of poverty and outliving one's resources is an increasingly common experience among today's senior citizens. For millions of American seniors this fear is justified. In only four years, the number of seniors at risk of outliving their resources increased by nearly 2 million households. Using the Senior Financial Stability Index, economic insecurity among senior households increased by one-third, rising from 27 percent to 36 percent from 2004 to 2008. This steady and dramatic increase occurred even before the full force of the Great Recession hit.
Research
Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University
Even before the full impact of the Great Recession hit, seniors were seeing their retirement security steadily and rapidly destroyed. The elimination of secure pensions for most Americans combined with rising costs of basic expenses has resulted in a dramatic rise in senior economic insecurity.
Almost half of single women over the age of 65 face the real crisis of outliving their financial resources. Most have very limited resources and are forced to make daily trade- offs between paying bills, forgoing home maintenance or medical needs. New research shows that economic insecurity among single senior women is on the rise. Between 2004 and 2008—even before the full impact of the Great Recession had been felt—economic insecurity among this population subgroup increased by one-third, from 35 percent to 47 percent.
These stories are a cross section of the experiences of young people entering adulthood in a time of uncertainty, as relayed to Young Invincibles by the young people themselves.
These stories reach through the data to reveal the real, human impact of recent economic trends. Their voices express both the challenges faced by this generation and their opportunities and constraints for facing these challenges head-on to build a solid foundation for their adult lives.
Doing an internship while in college has become a near prerequisite for obtaining a good job. Yet internships are often out of reach for low-income students because most of them are unpaid. This report outlines the limitations of the current college internship system, and proposes the creation of subsidies for low-income college students to pursue internships at non-profit organizations or government agencies.
Building on Living Longer on Less, the first report in a series examining the financial vulnerability of the elderly, this report examines the economic security of African-American and Latino senior households.
Election Day Registration (EDR) is a variety of Same Day Registration (SDR) that allows eligible voters to register and cast a ballot on Election Day. This “how-to guide” on EDR implementation and administration distills election officials’ first-hand insights into the effective implementation of EDR. We focused here on key issues such as poll worker recruiting and training, avoiding confusion and congestion at the polls, serving special populations, and preserving the integrity of elections.
Democracy works as intended when all citizens are able to participate and make their voices heard. While the United States has come a long way in expanding the franchise over the past 220 years, barriers to participation still exist and these barriers disproportionately affect low-income citizens. In 2008, the registration gap between low-income and high-income citizens was over 19 percentage points.
Washington DC – In an important hearing today on the future of America’s middle class, Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee made the case for greater public investment, fairer tax policy, and better job creation to stimulate economic growth and support working Americans. Demos, a national public policy research and advocacy center, supports the effort, as families continue to reel from the recession and high unemployment.
America needs an election process that is efficient, trustworthy, and welcoming. We need a renewed sense of citizenship and service, and a government that people can believe in.
Voter registrations in Virginia public assistance agencies declined by 87 percent between 1995-1996 and 2005-2006, despite increased enrollment in public benefit programs like food stamps. Field investigators in early 2008 confirmed that state offices were not offering voter registration, as required by the National Voter Registration Act. Working cooperatively with Demos and its state partners, Virginia has achieved a dramatic change of course. The first several data reports indicate an eightfold increase in voter registrations.
In July 2008, 49 advocates, scholars, and thinkers met in Washington, D.C. and came to agreement on the outlines of a broad agenda for democracy reform. In the weeks that followed, the participants broke into workgroups and developed the recommendations outlined in this document. Our ideas rest on a set of shared convictions about what democracy ought to mean. We envision an America that encourages the maximum levels of voter turnout, practices people-centered governance, and actively seeks and genuinely values everyone’s participation.
Report authors R. Michael Alvarez and Jonathan Nagler have analyzed the likely impact on voter turnout should New Mexico adopt Same Day Registration (SDR). Under the system proposed in New Mexico, eligible voters who miss the current 28-day deadline for registering by mail may be able to register to vote during the state's early voting period. The availability of Same Day Registration procedures should give voters who have not previously registered the opportunity to vote.
It has been nearly two decades since the credit card industry was deregulated with the promise of bringing greater competition and lower prices to consumers. Under the shield of deregulation, credit card companies have shifted the cost of credit to individuals least able to afford it. As this report shows, low-income individuals, African Americans, Latinos and single females bear the brunt of the cost of credit card deregulation through excessive fees and high interest rates.
Americans carry over $800 Billion in credit card debt. Using most recent data from the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances, Borrowing to Make Ends Meet exposes this and other disturbing trends in American families’ debts and financial assets. The report breaks down debt and asset data by age, race and income demographics, and shows how financial fragility makes the most vulnerable groups of Americans even more so.
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A Fallible 'Fail-Safe' provides a snapshot of provisional balloting problems experienced by voters across the nation in November 2006, as reported by Election Protection volunteers. While provisional ballots may comprise only a fraction of the national vote, as this report shows, they determined the outcome of various electoral races in 2006.
