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“There are political advantages to saying we’re not going to provide aid to students who aren’t putting in the effort for their education,” said Mark Huelsman, a policy analyst at Demos, a think tank that has been promoting debt-free college.
A couple of months ago, Black Lives Matter activists broke a long-standing tradition governing interactions between politicians and communities of color. Traditionally, few organizations advocating on behalf of Black and Brown folks have had female leaders. Usually, charismatic male leaders negotiated on behalf of these communities in closed door, formal settings. While these meetings helped win many legislative victories, they also sparked problems.
Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that just 158 families have provided nearly half of the early money in the 2016 Presidential election. These wealthy donors, who are “overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters” are able to spend unlimited amounts on elections because of a slew of misguided decisions by our Supreme Court.
Yesterday, Sec. Hillary Clinton announced a financial reform plan to, among other things, introduce a tax on a tactic used by high-frequency trading firms and strengthen the Volcker Rule. Demos President Heather McGhee released the following statement:
We have an exciting update about what has happened since we reached our comprehensive settlement in Oklahoma to improve voter registration services for citizens across the state.
Robert Hiltonsmith, senior policy analyst at Demos, a progressive think tank, expects the positive trends to continue -- even if Tuesday’s survey suggests employers overall aren’t relenting on tough and irregular scheduling demands. “I think it’s a slow burn, but the pressure’s mounting,” he says.
Either way, the drawdown is a worry in the huge US retirement industry, which managed total assets of $24.8 trillion as of June 30. Massive withdrawals will crimp the lucrative fee income for administrators. And another concern is market performance, with fewer US buyers and sellers available to potentially prop up assets.
Americans who vote are different from those who don’t. Voters are older, richer, and whiter than nonvoters, in part because Americans lack a constitutional right to vote and the various restrictions on voting tend to disproportionately impact the less privileged. In 2014, turnout among those ages 18 to 24 with family incomes below $30,000 was 13 percent. Turnout among those older than 65 and making more than $150,000 was 73 percent.