You don't have to have an MBA from Harvard or Wharton to know that the economy is hurting and has been for a while. The terrible effects of the Great Recession, unemployment, benefit cuts, home foreclosures, and more, have been widespread.
The constitutional challenge to the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) draws much of its rhetorical force not from the Commerce Clause, but from the perception that the insurance mandate infringes on individuals’ private liberties.
How long do working mothers stay home after having their first child? If you guessed the answer might be 12 weeks (not an unreasonable assumption, since that’s the amount of time allotted by our national family leave law), you’d be sadly mistaken. According to recently released census numbers, a majority of mothers who worked during pregnancy go back before that, some way before. More than a quarter are at work within two months of giving birth and one in 10—more than half a million women each year—go back to their jobs in four weeks or less.
On Tuesday, December 13th, the Congressional Progressive Caucus unveiled the RESTORE the American Dream for the 99% Act. The bill, if passed, would create more than 5 million jobs and save more than $2 trillion. This is a comprehensive plan to put America back to work by reversing the failed policies of the past, which the “Super Committee” could not achieve.
Despite what critics say, the DoE’s guaranteed loan program is a successful program and government investment to further develop clean energy is the right thing to do.
Youth leaders and policy experts cited rising costs in education, health care, child care, and housing as key issues for winning the young vote in 2012.
Young Invincibles and Demos partnered to complete The State Of Young America report, the first comprehensive look at the economic challenges facing young adults since the Great Recession. In addition, we conducted a groundbreaking poll with Lake Research Partners and Bellwether Research & Consulting of 872 young adults (18-34).
Young Invincibles and Demos partnered to complete The State Of Young America report, the first comprehensive look at the economic challenges facing young adults since the Great Recession. In addition, we conducted a groundbreaking poll with Lake Research Partners and Bellweather Research & Consulting of 872 young adults (18-34).
Instead of addressing real problems with Michigan’s election system, these bills address phantom problems that will only serve to create further confusion and needlessly erect barriers to the ballot box. We urge this committee to reject these bills and work on bi-partisan reforms that will ensure all Michigan voters have true access to our most fundamental right, the right to vote.
Proof that when laws to protect peoples’ democratic rights are put into practice, they can have a major impact on bringing more voices into the political process.
The existence of the U.S. middle class is in peril. Young people between the ages of 18 and 34 are living in a more fragile economic environment than 30 years ago. If something isn't done to help them lead more economically stable lives, they'll never make it into the middle class.
That's the conclusion of a new report "The State of Young America" from Demos, a combination think-tank and advocacy organization based in New York.
The assault on the right to vote witnessed in 2011 is historic in terms of its geographic scope and intensity. Legislation enacted in states across the country to require government-issued photo identification and/or prove citizenship to register to vote, make voter registration more difficult, and curtail early voting is nothing short of blatant vote suppression, the likes of which has not been seen in generations.
Occupy Wall Street has, in the words of John Paul Rollert, “come to embody a common sense that something is wrong with American capitalism.” The problem Rollert points to is not with capitalism itself, but with a particular American version that has ceased to work for broad cross-sections of its population. Given America’s Depression-level income inequality and near-record levels of public and private indebtedness, it is extremely tempting to focus on bad outcomes as the problem.
Thank you, Chairperson Alexander and members of the Committee for providing the opportunity to present testimony this morning. I am a Senior Policy Analyst in the Economic Opportunity Program at Dēmos, a national, non-profit, non-partisan policy research and advocacy organization, established in 2000, with offices in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas. The Dēmos Economic Opportunity Program works to achieve a more equitable economy with opportunity for all.
Poverty in America is a national emergency. Last Wednesday the Department of Agriculture announced that 45 million Americans were participating in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. That’s 15 million more American adults than the 30 million who are currently estimated to be below the official poverty line. And today the Census Bureau is reporting that roughly 49 million Americans are impoverished—2.4 million more than the official estimate released in September.
By virtually every measure, the fortunes of America’s young people are falling under a deluge of debt, shrinking opportunity, rising costs of living and lack of access to health care. Writing with members of the Young Invincibles think tank, the authors write:
Demos just released new comprehensive polling about the opinion of young adults. Politically the most interesting data point that stuck out for me is their finding that an overwhelmingly 68 percent of young people say it is harder for them to make ends meet now than it was four years ago. From the poll results: