Rates for basic landline telephone service would probably go up if a bill moving rapidly through the Legislature becomes law, according to a report to be released today by two interest groups.
The report, by the left-leaning New Jersey Policy Perspective and Demos, cites a 2009 survey by the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates that found rates rose in 17 of 20 states that deregulated the service. The increases ranged from 8 percent to 100 percent.
In Connecticut, the federal government has awarded renewals for the two nuclear reactors at Millstone to operate until 2035 and 2045.
In New York, the two plants at Indian Point — built in the mid 1970s, are up for renewal — but both Governor Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman campaigned on closing them.
When CenturyTel, a Louisiana-based phone service provider, merged with Embarq last year, the state Rate Counsel hammered out an agreement with CenturyTel that required the company to invest heavily in capital improvements over the four years following the deal.
Just a Prelude to the Real Fight, Robert Hiltonsmith writes at The American Prospect. What Republicans really want to cut is Social Security and Medicare, he writes.
As Michael Lipsky explained today, "One would think it hard to find a politician who opposes reducing preventable dangers to children. [Pompeo] has stepped up to this challenge."
There is an April 6th hearing on the Democrat’s appeal of the Indiana Recount decision that allowed White to proceed as Secretary of State. The next question, apart from the allegations in the indictment, is whether White was eligible to be on the ballot at all.
"I don't think that anyone can assume that the appraised value of their home is based on reality. Appraisal fraud is so common that homeowners need to assume the opposite," says research director David Callahan of Demos, a public policy center. Demos released a report about appraisal fraud in March, sparking intense discussion in the real estate press.
No one knows exactly how often appraisers tinker with reality. But reports suggest that they face enormous pressure to tweak their numbers.
We live in an age when credit card debt has skyrocketed among young adults. It has risen 104 percent from 1992 to 2004 among 18- to 24-year-olds according to "Generation Broke: The Growth of Debt Among Young Americans," a report from Demos, a nonpartisan, nonprofit New York City-based research organization.
"I don't think that anyone can assume that the appraised value of their home is based on reality," said research director David Callahan of Demos, a public-policy center in New York. "Appraisal fraud is so common that homeowners need to assume the opposite." Demos released a report about appraisal fraud in March, sparking intense discussion in the real-estate media.
No one knows exactly how often appraisers tinker with reality. But reports suggest they face enormous pressure to tweak their numbers.
Over the past decade, credit card debt among 18-24 year olds rose by 104 percent according to a report released by the nonprofit research organization Demos entitled "Generation Broke: The Growth of Debt Among Young Americans."
Although over a third of young adults own credit cards, young people receive little in the way of financial education.
Demos concludes that any meaningful attempt to explain the widening debt gap between Latino and African-American families and their white counterparts must take into account the larger social, cultural and economic forces driving credit card debt.
According to New York-based Demos, between 1998 and 2001, Latino households saw a 19% growth in credit card balances, African Americans stood at 10% and white households saw an 11% decrease.
The debate on voter ID is a clash between some people, many of them conservatives, who believe more restrictions are needed on voting and registration to rein in fraud, and others who think the process needs to be opened up to more voters, according to Miles Rapoport, who as secretary of state for Connecticut from 1995 to 1999 oversaw that state's election process.
Long lines, challenged ballots and two of the closest presidential elections in the country's history have touched off a landslide of propo
Appraisers, like auditors, are supposed to follow a strict standard of professional behavior, said David Callahan, senior fellow at the public policy organization Demos and author of a recent report about appraisal fraud. "What is actually happening is lenders and brokers are telling them what value they want," he said.
As Javier Silva, senior research associate at Demos, a research and advocacy group, explained: "Prices have gone up so high that a lot of people can't afford to get into the market - so lenders have responded with these products," he said, stressing the popular loan world euphemism.
According to Demos, a New York-based research group, young Americans have the second-highest rate of bankruptcy - topped only by 35- to 44-year-olds. Demos says financial troubles often start when students leave college with credit card debt and student loans that already are unwieldy. According to Nellie Mae, graduates are leaving college with $20,500 in student loans and almost $2,864 in credit card debt.
Whether you want your child to get a credit card or not, he or she will probably get one. About 76 percent of students have them.
Heather McGhee, economic-policy analyst with Demos said progressives value "shared prosperity."
Campus Progress, a project of billionaire George Soros's Center for American Progress (CAP), seeks to "empower a new generation of progressive leaders."
But a recent report by Demos, a think tank in New York, said the refinance boom has put many homeowners at financial risk because inflated appraisals that are used to refinance homes can leave homeowners with negative equity in their properties.
As falling interest rates transformed millions of U.S. homes into virtual ATM machines, critics say the real estate appraisal system has become rife with conflicts of interest as inflated appraisals justify ever-riskier loans.
The study revealed some startling results that suggest a college education has become unaffordable to many young adults. For example, more students are taking on debt to finance their college education because of a shift in federal student aid programs. In 1980, the most common form of college funding was federal grants, which amounted to 52 percent of the government's student aid system. Loans followed at 45 percent. But by 2000, loans had risen to 58 percent of the student aid pie while grants dropped to 41 percent.
For American corporations, the action is increasingly elsewhere. Their interests are not the same as those of workers, or the country as a whole. As Harold Meyerson put it in The American Prospect: “Our corporations don’t need us anymore. Half their revenues come from abroad. Their products, increasingly, come from abroad as well.”
According to a study released in April by Demos, a public policy group in New York City, people are borrowing more than their homes are worth, and as a result, the amount of home equity has fallen from 68 percent in the early 1970s to 55 percent last year. Florida's red-hot real estate market may have a serious downside. Fraud.