Senior Fellow Algernon Austin and Jared Bernstein discuss how the "bad culture" arguments about African-Americans are misguided at best and destructive at worst. By creating an erroneous causal link between "bad culture" and black poverty, the "Cosby consensus" prevents the country from recognizing success and building on it to create the economic opportunities that are missing for too many African-Americans.
New York, NY — Economic Opportunity and a healthy democracy should be central focuses of America's political debate, according to a new policy briefing book published today by Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action, a national, non-partisan public policy, research and advocacy organization.
WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Supreme Court today announced its decision in Randall v. Sorrell, a case addressing the constitutionality of Vermont's comprehensive campaign finance law, passed in 1997.
Stuart Comstock-Gay, Executive Director of the National Voting Rights Institute, which defended the law alongside the state of Vermont, had this statement on the decision.
Boston, MA — The National Voting Rights Institute (NVRI) and the State PIRGs Democracy Program released a study today that found there is no support for the notion that campaign contribution limits hurt challengers. In fact, according to the study, contribution limits can work to reduce the financial bias that traditionally works in favor of incumbents.
New York, NY — Today, Demos, a national, non-partisan public policy organization that studies economic security issues in the United States, announced the launch of the new Around the Kitchen Table online. Published at www.aroundthekitchentable.org, this monthly news journal offers commentary, analysis and fresh perspectives on how national economic trends in debt, assets, education and income play out around the kitchen tables of individuals and families in America.
Robert Frank, an economist at Cornell University, for instance, found that in counties with the widest income gaps, rates of personal bankruptcy and divorce rates were higher than average.
New York, NY — Today marks the release of a groundbreaking new book; STRAPPED: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead (Doubleday; On-Sale January 17, 2006), written by Tamara Draut, Economic Opportunity Director at Demos.
Draut argues that "with the possible exception of having a larger array of entertainment and other goods to purchase, members of Generation X appear to be worse off by every measure" than prior generations.
Boston, MA — A Poll commissioned by the National Voting Rights Institute (NVRI) revealed overwhelming support for election campaign spending limits as a way of improving the fairness, honesty and integrity of elections.
According to the advocacy group Demos, the average balance among lower- and middle-income households is $8,650.
"World News Tonight's" special series "Credit Crunch" aims to help you get on the road to becoming debt free.
A fraudulent appraisal "can lead homeowners to borrow more money than their homes are worth, putting themselves at risk of being 'upside down' in a home -- e.g. not being able to sell for a high enough price to pay off their mortgage," according to a briefing paper on appraisal fraud put out by Demos, a New York-based think tank.
Americans owe $800 billion in credit card debt, more than triple the amount from 1989, and a 31 percent increase from five years ago, according to a recent report, "The Plastic Safety Net," by the Center for Responsible Lending, and Demos, a research group based in New York.
The study found that a third of low- and middle-income American households used credit cards for basic expenses - rent, groceries and utilities - in any 4 of the last 12 months.
Those with the worst credit card debt were people ages 50 to 64, who owed $9,124
A major survey released by the think tank Demos provides some important new insights on how average American families are using credit cards.
The implication is hard to escape: many middle- and low-income American families are using consumer credit as a way to weather fluctuations in their finances.
That all portends "payment shock" for those with adjustable-rate mortgages whose loans are due soon to adjust, said Javier Silva, senior research and policy associate with the public policy research group Demos in New York City. "Lots of ARM customers are experiencing payment shock already, and we're only see the first wave of adjustments upward," Silva said. "People didn't understand how much their interest rate could rise, or were unprepared for it. I'm not surprised that we're seeing rising foreclosures.
According to Javier Silva, a senior research and policy associate with Demos, a New York think tank and public policy organization, homeowners' equity fell from an average of 68.3 percent to 55 percent between 1973 and 2004. Americans now own a smaller stake in their homes than they used to. In the 1950s, they owned nearly 80 percent.
If real estate appreciation slows or declines, homeowners without equity that is firmly established may find themselves owing more than their houses are worth.
According to a Demos study, Americans from 2001 to 2003 cashed out $333 billion in equity from their homes. Many did so to pay off credit card debt and finance ongoing living expenses -- both good and noble financial causes.
The study concluded that Americans own less of their homes today than they did in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Professor Robert Frank of Cornell University, the author of Luxury Fever, compares conspicuous consumption in an economy like ours to the military arms race, and we already know that's destined to end in mutually assured destruction.
The key to countering this headlong rush towards ever-more expensive disappointment is to switch from conspicuous to inconspicuous consumption.
"The Plastic Safety Net" study found that middle- and low-income households were racking up credit card balances just to cover everyday expenses. One-third of the 1,000 survey respondents said that basic living expenses contributed to their current debt level.
Last week, New York-based consumer action group Demos and the Center for Responsible Lending released findings from a new report, "The Plastic Safety Net: The Reality of Household Debt in America." The survey results found that 7 out of 10 low- and middle-income families are using their credit cards as a safety net, relying on credit to pay for car repairs, basic living expenses, medical expenses or house repairs.
Households that reported a recent job loss or unemployment, and those without health insurance, were almost twice as likely to use credit cards fo