Polling showed that 70 percent of respondents believed SDR to be necessary to protect voter participation in Montana, with 66 percent also believing that SDR protects Montana’s democracy overall.
On November 10, 2014, the Brennan Center for Justice released a new report, Outside Spending and Dark Money in Toss-Up Senate Races: Post-election Update, which describes the rise in spending by outside groups—many of which do not publicly disclose all of their funds’ sources—in eleven competitive races. Highlights of the report include:
Because of the most obstructionist congress in history, President Obama has often been forced to turn to executive action to create any meaningful policy change.
In the wake of increasing voter identification requirements in Texas, analyzing voter turnout is becoming critically relevant to fully comprehend political outcomes.
Branko Milanovic is a World Bank economist and development specialist. He's currently a visiting presidential professor at CUNY's Graduate Center and a senior scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study Center. His book, The Haves and the Have-Nots: A Brief and Idiosyncratic History of Global Inequality, examines—as the title suggests—income inequality. Milanovic and Demos Research Assistant Sean McElwee recently discussed Milanovic's research and the major shifts within the inequality research field.
English writer Daniel Defoe famously said that only two things in this life are certain: death and taxes. After a dismally low turnout in the 2014 midterm elections, folks are considering adding voting to that list, but should we? And—for proponents of compulsory voting—what’s the fairest, most commonsense way to go about mandating the vote?
While Corinthian and its campuses may downsize or disappear completely, we should be concerned the students who attended its campuses and are currently in no man’s land.
If the Federal Reserve were democratic, there’s no chance it would raise interest rates.
The Fed is nearing a decision on when to raise rates for the first time since 2008. But raising them now would be a disaster: the Fed would quash economic growth and keep wages and employment from rising.
The Daily Show last night had a great segment highlighting Detroit's ongoing water crisis. They point out that out of the $145 million dollars in delinquent water bills, nearly half is owed by commercial and municipal accounts, including the Joe Louis Arena, a local golf course, and an ice skating rink. People in Detroit pay much higher rates than the rest of the country, and continue to suffer from severe economic hardship, with 47% of mortgages still underwater at the end of 2013.
A new report from the World Business Council for Sustainable Business details the importance of environmental accounting. As the report highlights that while every business depends on ecosystems, these resources are being rapidly depleted. The impact that resources depletion has on businesses is multi-layered:
Accurately described as "One of the Worst Ideas from Congress in Decades," plans to advance the Independent Regulatory Analysis Act were this week delayed until November by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
It’s time we change how we think about poverty. The newly released Census report on poverty received a lot of attention from the chattering class. But was it really deserved?
There are many ways in which the rate understates poverty. The poverty line, individuals making $11,484 a year, has been used since 1964. A CBS report explores its inadequacy:
As we celebrate Occupy Wall Street’s first birthday, the movement's pivoted from financial regulation to focus on crushing consumer debt. While reforming debt is crucial (particularly student debt), finance remains an imminent threat to the American economy. We shouldn't forget it.
No idea is more central to conservative economic thinking than the belief that cutting taxes leads to higher economic growth. One can certainly understand the appeal of this belief: It would be great if government could collect the same amount of revenue, but with much lower tax rates, because those rates fostered strong growth.
Sick of investment advice from hacks like Warren Buffet and Donald Trump? Ask a congress member.Roll Call published their latest list of the “50 Richest Members of the 112th Congress” last week. Texan House Representative Mike McCaul took first place, reporting a minimum net worth of $305.46 million for 2011.
The weather may be cooling, but the summer of money laundering is far from over. There hasn’t really been an uptick in banks looking the other way on dirty money (they have for years), it’s that regulators are finally stepping up.
