The major credit rating agencies, Moody’s, Standard & Poors, and Fitch, bear a heavy burden of responsibility for the financial meltdown. It was their seal of approval that enabled Wall Street to develop a multi-trillion-dollar market for bonds resting on a foundation of tricky loans and bubbly housing prices. Institutional investors around the world were seduced into buying these high-risk securities by credit ratings that made them out to be as safe as the most conventional corporate and municipal bonds.
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.
Public Works began this far-reaching effort with groundbreaking analysis and thorough, multifaceted research that examined Americans' attitudes toward the public sector. This research, which was originally conducted in 2004–2005 by the FrameWorks Institute and re–tested in 2008–2009 by the Topos Partnership, was designed to uncover the dominant frames or stereotypes to which Americans default when they think about government and how those frames affect public choices.
Washington — SenatorAl Franken (D-MN) has introduced a financial-reform amendment that finally addresses the root problem of the credit rating agencies—their built-in conflict of interest. The "Restore Integrity to Credit Ratings" amendment, co-sponsored by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Bill Nelson (D-FL), substantially embraces a remedy set forth in a recent Demos policy paper on this subject.
Cleveland — Ohio's young adults will continue to face a tough economy--one ravaged not only by recession but also by 30 years of declining opportunity and security for all but the most highly educated and affluent, according to a new report by Policy Matters Ohio and the national policy center Demos.
Today's young adults are coming of age in a tough economy, on the heels of 30 years of declining economic opportunity and security for all but the most affluent and most highly educated. These changes are quite evident in Ohio, where the once-mighty manufacturing sector that provided better-than-average jobs in the 1960s and 1970s has eroded, hitting young adults particularly hard.
Demos, headquartered in New York City, grew out of a series of meetings of scholars, activists, journalists and elected officials who were concerned about the ever-increasing influence of the right on public policy. "The thinking was that there should be more moderate, liberal and left-of-center voices," said Miles Rapoport, the group's president. The group was formed in 2000, a year that would later see the disputed election that gave the presidency to Mr. Bush.
One person, one vote? Not in Connecticut. Not in most places.
When the bill had its first hearing at the Capitol last week, only one person testified. Brenda Wright, who works for Demos, a research and policy organization, told the judiciary committee that "crediting incarcerated people to the wrong location has the unfortunate and undemocratic result of creating a system of ‘representation without population.'"
The Great Recession of 2008 and its after-effects still are radically impacting the lives of millions. While men initially bore the heavier burden, women are now increasingly falling victim to unemployment, fore- closure, and eviction. Low-income women have been hit particularly hard. Women’s History Month provides an apt occasion to consider both what low-income women have at stake in current debates over the economic policies that shape our lives, and how they can gain a greater voice in those debates.
The antiregulatory mania of the past three decades and the stagnant wages of most American workers during that period have left families at the mercy of an increasingly predatory financial sector. As a briefing paper by the progressive think tank Demos noted:
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.
Taxes support the government services that undergird the quality of life Americans enjoy. As communicators, we must promote this unique and foundational role that taxes play. We can do this by explicitly communicating the relationship between the purpose of taxes and the well-being Americans appreciate. We need to help people see taxes as a means to an end, a necessary part of how we achieve shared goals. This document helps achieve this by providing sample language and a checklist for communicating about taxes.
The No Representation Without Population Act would correct within the state of Maryland a long-standing flaw in the decennial Census that counts incarcerated people as residents of the wrong location.
This fact sheet includes a brief overview of why paying for college has become so difficult. Suggestions for how college students can lower their own college costs and information on public policies that can make attending college more affordable are included.
TOP FACTS:
