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New York, NY — Homeowners have been tapping into their home equity to get the cash needed to pay down credit card debt incurred not for luxury expenses, but for basic needs. This strategy leaves them on precarious financial footing after two years of interest rate hikes and the largest drop in home

Senior Fellow Algernon Austin and Jared Bernstein discuss how the "bad culture" arguments about African-Americans are misguided at best and destructive at worst. By creating an erroneous causal link between "bad culture" and black poverty, the "Cosby consensus" prevents the country from recognizing

New York, NY — Economic Opportunity and a healthy democracy should be central focuses of America's political debate, according to a new policy briefing book published today by Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action, a national, non-partisan public policy, research and advocacy organization.

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Supreme Court today announced its decision in Randall v. Sorrell, a case addressing the constitutionality of Vermont's comprehensive campaign finance law, passed in 1997. Stuart Comstock-Gay, Executive Director of the National Voting Rights Institute, which defended the law

New York, NY — Today, Demos, a national, non-partisan public policy organization that studies economic security issues in the United States, announced the launch of the new Around the Kitchen Table online. Published at www.aroundthekitchentable.org, this monthly news journal offers commentary

Robert Frank, an economist at Cornell University, for instance, found that in counties with the widest income gaps, rates of personal bankruptcy and divorce rates were higher than average.

New York, NY — Today marks the release of a groundbreaking new book; STRAPPED: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead (Doubleday; On-Sale January 17, 2006), written by Tamara Draut, Economic Opportunity Director at Demos.

Draut argues that "with the possible exception of having a larger array of entertainment and other goods to purchase, members of Generation X appear to be worse off by every measure" than prior generations.

According to the advocacy group Demos, the average balance among lower- and middle-income households is $8,650. "World News Tonight's" special series "Credit Crunch" aims to help you get on the road to becoming debt free.

A fraudulent appraisal "can lead homeowners to borrow more money than their homes are worth, putting themselves at risk of being 'upside down' in a home -- e.g. not being able to sell for a high enough price to pay off their mortgage," according to a briefing paper on appraisal fraud put out by