We are changing the conversation around our democracy and economy by telling influential new stories about our country and its people. Get our latest media updates here.
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, plenty of Americans have seen their credit scores tank. But can that really affect your ability to get a job? Yes, because employers increasingly are relying on workers' credit histories in screening applications.
Recently, a lot of attention was given to the prediction that the U.S. would become energy independent by 2035. Shale oil and gas driliing is the main reason U.S. energy production has increased and shale gas now accounts for 40 percent of all gas production.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday that next term it will hear McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, a challenge to limits on the amount of money that a single person may contribute to all federal candidates and parties over a two-year election cycle, known as aggregate contribution limits.
Any political movement that is going to succeed in America needs to be able to credibly promise that it can raise living standards for ordinary Americans. For the past forty years, this imperative didn't dog the right as much as it might have because non-material "wedge issues" proved so potent. As long as the culture war was going at full tilt, the right could keep separating working class voters from their more natural allies in the Democratic Party.
Also, parts of the conservative economic message -- especially about lower taxes -- sounded good to many people.
A new study looking at changes in wages and salaries, capital income, and in taxes found that capital gains and dividends made the largest contribution to income inequality. As the study states:
In a surprising move from one of the Affordable Care Act's staunchest opponents, Florida Governor Rick Scott has endorsed the Medicaid expansion component of the healthcare law-- at least for the next three years.
Despite millennials' lingering reputation as financial delinquents, it turns out not everyone drowning in credit card debt has a newly-printed college diploma and a stack of student loan bills.