When Bartels compared the policy preferences of the rich and poor to actual policy results (with controls) his results were disturbing. He finds that low-income preferences had virtually no effect on policy outcomes.
But even if young white women are aware of how affirmative action could likely benefit them -- and how likely it is that they, in fact, have already benefitted from it -- it’s possible these millennials view efforts to remedy the effects of racism as unnecessary, just as they view efforts to remedy the effects of sexism.
The human tragedy of Flint, Michigan is agonizing. Thousands of children have been subjected to lead and other chemical poisoning, not to mention adults, just to save a few dollars in a process driven by raw politics and underlying racism.
Amy Traub, senior policy analyst at Demos, a New York-based nonpartisan public policy research organization, told Bloomberg BNA Jan. 20: ‘‘It’s really striking the way the growing protests we’ve seen by Wal-Mart workers, and increasing public pressure, has really pushed the world’s largest employer to raise wages and improve [work] schedules. It’s a huge victory for Wal-Mart workers [and] will ultimately benefit the company itself as employees have increased buying power.’’
The explosion of “dark money” spent in the political system in the United States threatens racial equity in the United States making it harder for Blacks and other minorities to gain a foothold in the middle class and fully participate in the democracy, according to a recent report by Demos, a public policy group.
The Federal Reserve just released the minutes of its December meeting at which the Fed Funds rate was increased, for the first time in years, by 0.25 percentage points. The vote was unanimous, but the minutes show a great deal of concern that lower unemployment rates have not moved inflation from near zero levels.
The fourth quarter of the Obama presidency has been relatively active when it comes to higher education. Last year alone, the Administration announced a proposal to make two years of community college tuition-free, finalized and released a treasure trove of data on earnings and loan repayment data by college as a substitute for its once-vaunted plans for a College Ratings system, came out with a Student Aid Bill of Rights, and issued regulations intended to streamline the confusing set of student loan repayment options.
Friedrichs v. CTA, is ostensibly about one teacher’s right to not join her teachers union, but that choice is already available to any worker everywhere in America. This case is really just another attack on workers’ ability to join together and make their voices heard.
Sec. Hillary Clinton correctly noted the importance of the next president’s power to appoint Supreme Court justices. On no issue is this more true than on money in politics.
Bernie Sanders rang in the New Year with a rally in downtown Manhattan renewing his call to break up the big banks and jail executives who break laws. He also distilled the damage done by a predatory unconstrained economy into a single theme: for a long time, the rich have been getting richer as everyone else is mired in wage and wealth stagnation or worse.
Heather McGhee, the president of the leftist think tank Demos, kicked off the proceedings. “You ain’t seen nothing yet from the Working Families Party,” she said. “We’re electing leaders, we’re winning on issues, and most importantly, we’re changing what’s politically possible.”
Robert Hiltonsmith, a researcher at the think tank Demos, has estimated that the average household loses $155,000 in potential gains as a result of unnecessary fees.
When diversity activists began campaigning a few years ago for tech companies to disclose their employee demographics, the truth was revealed. What resulted was a lot of handwringing over the state of diversity in tech and some commitment from companies, including Twitter to do better. Sadly, few companies have moved the needle. But for Twitter, that failure could be its undoing. Worse, for would-be tech workers, if a company with Twitter’s user profile can’t get diversity right, there’s little hope for the sector overall.
In the waning days of 2015, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced bold plans to extend paid parental leave to 20,000 municipal employees. The initiative will certainly aid city workers and their families, who will now have time to bond with a new child without giving up a paycheck.
“We’ve already had a lot of states use student debt relief as a carrot to entering certain professions,” said Mark Huelsman, a senior policy analyst at Demos, a left-leaning think tank. “Now that most professions have student debtors in them you’re going to see broad-based relief plans,” like New York’s, he said.
New York’s is it’s linked specifically to income, so anyone making a relatively low salary — whether it’s an artist working out of a loft space in Bushwick or a nonprofit researcher toiling away in midtown — qualifies.