Here's a radical idea: Capitalism needn't feature nonstop conflict between workers and owners, and can actually work better if these two sides cooperate. Things can work better still if government and nonprofits are partners, too. That's the basic idea behind corporatism, and decades ago, it had pretty wide traction among America CEOs and elites generally.
For hundreds of thousands of low-paid employees of federal contractors, the executive order President Obama announced in his State of the Union address will make a important difference in their incomes and lives.
After years of freelancing, a journalist friend of mine recently landed a great reporting job that comes with a nice salary and benefits. Another friend's book broke out in a big way, such that she can now command five-figure speaking fees. Still another friend, an academic, has turned into a star dean at a major university -- with various perks.
NEW YORK—Today, Demos released the following statement applauding Attorney General Eric Holder’s support for restoring the voting rights of people with past felony convictions. Holder spoke at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., saying “It is time to fundamentally reconsider laws that permanently disenfranchise people who are no longer under federal or state supervision.”
Demos’ Vice President of Legal Strategies, Brenda Wright, said this of the news:
When Louisiana lawmakers convened in 1898 to update the state constitution, one of the major complaints among them was that the recently ratified 15th Amendment prevented them from disenfranchising black people as they desired. The president of that convention, E.B. Kruttschnitt, proclaimed that a white majority would eventually overcome the 15th amendment’s voting rights mandate. Said Kruttschnitt:
The smart money is betting that tax reform won't happen this year, or anytime soon. Not with an election just 10 months away, and an even bigger one following close on its heels.
That's too bad, because tax reform is one of the few issues where you could actually imagine a really interesting and useful bipartisan debate. What's more, there would be plenty of upsides to such a debate for progressives.
Twitter's stock fell sharply this week as evidence mounted that growth of new users was hitting a plateau and earnings were likely to stagnate as a result. Next up will be a scramble to pump up Twitter's earnings over the next few quarters, with the company already vowing to make the site easier for new users to navigate. If that doesn't work, expect other steps -- like layoffs and new aggressive efforts to monetize Twitter through more sponsored tweets or whatnot.
What's the biggest change afoot in education today: The rise of online courses? The charter school movement? The Common Core? Or how about this one: The fall of the anachronistic, industrial-era idea that only a K-12 education should be freely provided by government.
The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) includes 26 indicators to give a broader picture of the sustainability of growth. It is a better measure than GDP.
You've probably heard it said a gazillion times that nearly all Americans think of themselves as middle class, even if they are dirt poor or filthy rich. This everyman mindset is supposedly a big reason that class consciousness has always been so low in the United States.
WASHINGTON DC — Today, Demos applauded Leader Pelosi and Representative Sarbanes for co-sponsoring H.R. 20, The Government by the People Act, new legislation aimed at raising the voices of all Americans in the political process and allowing congressional candidates to run competitive campaigns by relying on small dollar contributions.
“Everyone should have an equal say in our democracy through the principle of one person, one vote—not one dollar, one vote,” said Heather McGhee, incoming President of Demos.
Does extreme inequality make us anxious and depressed? Does it make us narcissistic and egotistical? Yes, yes, yes, and yes.
Or at least that's the suggestion of a bunch of new research studies that look at how people cope psychologically with high levels of economic and social stratification. That research is summarized in a fascinating piece on the New York Times website entitled "How Inequality Hollows Out the Soul."
In response to a declining voter turnout rate, California recently implemented big reforms to help boost the turnout rate: online registration, same day registration (SDR), and relaxing the vote by mail deadline. A recent report by the Public Policy Institute of California analyzed the impact of the changes and claims that while online registration and the relaxed vote by mail deadline were worthwhile reforms, SDR might not be.
Pennsylvania has been trying for almost two years now to download a voter ID law Republican legislators passed into something workable on the ground. They’ve failed at every turn because grassroots organizers have consistently exposed the burdens the law imposes on voters, which courts have taken seriously, and because the state has yet to find a way to administer the law without disenfranchisement being a certified outcome.
Details are sketchy about the new retirement plan that President Obama proposed in the State of the Union Address last night, so it's too early to offer any verdict. What causes concern, though, is that the Obama administration has previously floated retirement schemes that would double down on America's failed experiment with individual private accounts that are the cornerstone of the 401(k).
Republicans didn't just respond to the State of the Union, they responded four times. The problem is that a lot of their talking points don't stack up with reality.
1) Taxes Are Too High on The Rich
In fact, taxes have become less progressive since 1960: