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Most American workers have had the legal right to join unions for 76 years. So you might not think letting people know about that right would be controversial, especially when the information is conveyed by yet another poster in the employee break room or office, next to the one that says you can’t make 14-year-olds work in coal mines and that the federal minimum wage is $7.25.
That the world's first government to back a plan that "regulates the creation and trade of carbon credits from farming and forestry" should be Australia's is no surprise.
Amy Traub, a senior policy analyst at watchdog group Demos, says that credit-based insurance scores hurt lower-income people more because they are more likely to have lower scores. She noted a study that showed while those with lower scores made more claims because they couldn't swallow the costs, the cost of those claims were not necessarily greater.
Reckless speculation on Wall Street -- which helped cause the financial crisis and Great Recession -- is a big reason why budget deficits have spiralled skyward since 2008, so it's only fair that Wall Street do its share to reduce these deficits.
In the past 15 years the ramifications of poor credit have grown, as credit score "mission creep" has set in, said Amy Traub, a senior policy analyst with the New York-based think tank Demos and author of the recently released report "Discrediting America." Credit scores determine not just the interest rates paid on material goods, such as a cell phone or car, but also the pricing of utilities and insurance. Approximately 60 percent of employers use credit reports to screen job applicants.
The anniversary of welfare reform is a fitting occasion to consider how opinion can trump fact and bias policy. The problem with “ending welfare as we knew it” was that it did not end or meaningfully reduce poverty, nor did it secure a decent standard of living for struggling Americans. The poor are still poor, and now they have neither a hand-up nor a hand-out. Jake Blumgart reports that, since 1996, states have been clearing the welfare rolls but leaving poor families with few alternatives:
The public is overwhelmed by budget deficits, shrinking public supports, and the inability of its government to compromise. In this climate, so-called minority issues seem like a distraction. But black and Latino men between the ages of 16 and 24 are profoundly more likely to be poor than whites, more likely to be unemployed or the victims of violent crime, and less likely to graduate from high school.
The public is overwhelmed by budget deficits, shrinking public supports, and the inability of its government to compromise. In this climate, so-called minority issues seem like a distraction. But black and Latino men between the ages of 16 and 24 are profoundly more likely to be poor than whites, more likely to be unemployed or the victims of violent crime, and less likely to graduate from high school.
A communications consultant I know tells me that two of her clients decided this week to take a break from her services. Why? Because both have suffered losses in the stock market and are suddenly worried about money.