The state of the American economy looms over the public creating long-term pessimism about the state of the country, making the economy, wages and jobs the biggest factor in people’s vote in the last national election and the next. People are very aware of improvements in the macro economy and […] Read more »
Who Needs a Smoke-Filled Room?
Tax-exempt “social welfare” organizations, the new political weapons of choice, are widening the gap between the rich people who control campaign financing and the economically anxious voters targeted by their ads. … At the current rate of growth, the Center for Responsive Politics projects that spending in the current election […] Read more »
Tipping point for campaign finance
… While the rich have always had a good deal of political power, the continuing effort to gut our campaign finance laws threatens to degrade our democracy beyond recognition. Money properly talks in markets, but when it is given free rein in politics, it threatens the core principle of one […] Read more »
Are the Rich Coldhearted?
I feel your pain. These words are famously associated with Bill Clinton, who as a politician seemed to ooze empathy. A skeptic might wonder, though, whether he truly was personally distressed by the suffering of average Americans. Can people in high positions of power — presidents, bosses, celebrities, even dominant […] Read more »
Reason-Rupe Poll: Millennials Think Government Is Inefficient, Abuses Its Power, and Supports Cronyism
A Reason-Rupe survey of 2,000 Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 finds 66 percent of millennials believe government is inefficient and wasteful — a substantial increase since 2009, when just 42 percent of millennials said government was inefficient and wasteful. … The Reason-Rupe report finds this skepticism of […] Read more »
Democrats Seek Issue to Buoy Turnout in Midterms
With Tuesday’s primaries reinforcing the strength of the Republican establishment, House Democrats are reassessing their electoral strategy based on a major internal research project that shows their candidates stand a better chance when they portray Republicans as unsympathetic to the economic situation of working Americans while protecting the wealthy. The […] Read more »