New York, NY —A growing number of young students are turning to more affordable community colleges for their higher education, but only an alarming two out of five finish a degree within six years of enrollment, according to a new report published today.
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Kirk will become the 60th Democratic vote in the Senate and the first new Massachusetts senator in a quarter-century on Friday, unless a state court intervenes.
State Republicans are fighting the appointment, but Republicans in Washington indicated they would not intervene.
Gov. Deval Patrick (D) on Thursday named Kirk the temporary replacement for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D), who died last month.
Brenda Wright, Director of Democracy Program at Demos, has posted some insights at the American Constitution Society's blog on the big campaign finance case, Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, to be argued before the Supreme Court tomorrow. Here's her take...
Arguments Heard Today Suggest Precedents Limiting Corporate Political Influence Under Threat
Washington, DC — Today's argument in Citizens United v. FEC suggests that the Roberts Court is poised to sweep aside century-old restraints on corporate domination of the political marketplace — unless the wisdom of the Court's newest member proves persuasive when the decision is ultimately written.
Americans have put themselves on a budget. In the first quarter of 2009, the personal savings rate hit to 5.2 percent. And in a recent National Foundation for Credit Counseling survey, 57 percent of Americans said they're spending less than a year ago.
That moderation could outlast the recession, a good thing to most economists and consumer experts.
As the recession picked up steam, credit cards have become a lifeline for some to pay for groceries, utilities, even mortgage or rent payments. More than one-third of low- and middle-income households used credit cards to cover basic living expenses in five of the past 12 months, according to a survey released last month by Demos, a public policy research group.
And in more credit card news, national research and policy firm Demos found that the average credit card debt of low- to middle-income indebted households was $9,827. Credit card debt has quadrupled since 1989, the firm found in its second national survey of households whose incomes fell between 50 and 120 percent of the local median income.
Findings Show Skyrocketing Costs, Dwindling Savings, Stagnant Wages and Medical Debt Major Factors
New York, NY — As the recession continues to squeeze financially vulnerable American households, they are turning to credit cards to make ends meet, according to "The Plastic Safety Net: How Households are Coping in a Fragile Economy," a new report published today by Demos, a national research and policy center.
Debt among older U.S. credit card holders has skyrocketed since 2005, as senior citizens increased borrowing to pay for necessities, a new study shows.
Since 2005, revolving debt among low- and middle-income senior citizens -- age 65 or older -- grew 26 percent. In the same period, credit card balances for all age groups rose 3 percent, the public policy group Demos said Tuesday.
Cash-strapped older Americans are racking up credit card debt faster than other consumers amid dwindling retirement portfolios and rising medical costs, a study shows.
The study, which will be released Tuesday by Demos, a liberal public policy group, shows that low- and middle-income consumers 65 and older carried $10,235 in average card debt last year, up 26% from 2005. Card debt for all borrowers surveyed rose 3% during that time, to $9,827.
People age 65 and up carried an average of $10,235 credit card debt in 2008, according to a study released Tuesday by Demos, a public policy research group. That's an increase of 26% since the organization's last survey of low- and middle-income borrowers in 2005. The average debt for all borrowers in the survey rose just 3%, to $9,827, during that same time period.
Washington, DC — As the United States Congress considers the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009, which aims to establish national regulatory reforms for American ground transportation, a newly published study details the widespread failures of port trucking deregulation. Port Trucking Down the Low Road: A Sad Story of Deregulation, published by Demos, a national public policy research center
Brenda Wright, director of the Democracy Program at the nonprofit group Demos, one of the groups behind the lawsuits, said 2.6 million people were registered through public assistance offices in 1995-1996, the first two years the law was in effect. But she said registration has dropped precipitously throughout the nation since then, as much as 90% or more in some states.
Voting rights groups sue NM officials for failing to comply with the National Voter Registration Act
SANTA FE, NM — Citing clear evidence that New Mexico public assistance agencies and moter vehicle offices have violated their federally mandated responsibility to offer tens of thousands of New Mexicans each year the opportunity to register to vote, a coalition of voting rights groups filed suit today against officials in New Mexico for violations of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
Lawsuit filed today to force state social service agencies and election officials to comply with the National Voter Registration
INDIANAPOLIS, IN —Citing clear evidence that Indiana public assistance agencies have violated their federally mandated responsibility to offer tens of thousands of clients the opportunity to register to vote each year, a coalition of voting rights groups filed suit today against officials in Indiana for violations of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
Lew Daly, senior fellow at Demos, a New York City-based public policy organization and author of God's Economy: Faith-Based Initiatives and the Caring State, praised the text as "a turning point for the church and particularly for the American church, because our nation and our society is both the epicenter of wealth and the epicenter of inequality.