Amy Traub
If you’re struggling with the tough economy, out of a job or losing your home, pick your chin up. Senator John McCain intends “to stand on your side and fight for your future.”
We just learned that the economy lost another 84,000 jobs in August, leaving 9.4 million Americans out of work. Those of us lucky to hold onto a job are stretching paychecks to keep up with rising prices. Four in ten working age Americans either lack health insurance or have coverage that doesn’t provide adequate care. A record 1.2 million homes entered foreclosure in the second quarter of 2008. Senator McCain insists he understands these tough times. So I was eager to hear his plan.
As printed on the RNC website, the Senator’s convention speech contains 3,976 words. But the essence of his economic plan can be summed up in just two: “tax cuts.”
It has the virtue of simplicity. But the truth is, taxes are not a primary concern of the vast majority of Americans who see themselves as middle class. According to DMI’s recent poll, just 1% of Americans see taxes as the most important issue facing the country. Just 4% list it in the top 2. Among the party faithful, concern about taxes is equally low. Only 4% of self-identified middle-class Republicans list taxes as one of the country’s top 2 issues. Maybe McCain doesn’t relate to the folks who “work three jobs to help pay the bills” quite as well as he claims.
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Posted at 1:04 PM, Sep 06, 2008 in Election 2008
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Penny Abeywardena
Dear DMIBlog readers:
I have a very special request of you today. Now you know I don’t ask for money every day (at least not from you!). But today I’m asking.
Today, I need your help supporting a new kind of voter. You know her.
She is curious and on Google:
Searching for information about the issues that are impacting her quality of life…
Searching to find out what exactly the people representing her are doing in Washington…
Searching for real information about policy, and not just politics…
It’s these curious voters who are clicking on DMI Google Ads by the millions.
It’s these curious voters that have made our Google Adword campaign so popular that we max out our Google budget by noon almost every day!
Today we launched our first-ever Google Adword campaign to raise $10,000 between now and November 4 to make sure that every time someone Googles ‘middle class squeeze’ or ‘CEO pay’ a DMI ad pops up leading them to our hard-hitting analysis on TheMiddleClass.org. Or when they Google their Member of Congress, a DMI ad pops up leading them to how he or she voted to strengthen and expand the middle class.
Please make a gift now. For every $25 you contribute, 50 people who google “employee free choice act” will get directed to DMI’s analysis on how unions helped build the American middle class… instead of some anti-union stuff!
Thank you for supporting DMI as we aim to transcend all the political noise by providing millions of curious voters with descriptions and analysis of the actual policies affecting their daily life.
Posted at 1:41 PM, Sep 05, 2008 in Drum Major Institute
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Mark Winston Griffith
As someone who worked as a community organizer over a period of years, I was taken aback to hear the disparagement of community organizing at the Republican convention on Wednesday night. First, Rudy Giuliani mockingly concluded that Barack Obama’s community organizing experience was the “first problem on the resume”. Then vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin compared herself to Barack Obama by smirking that “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.”
Let’s extend Guiliani and Palin the benefit of the doubt, and assume that the target of their ridicule was really their Democratic party opponent, not the community organizing profession. And let’s assume the intended audience members were the party faithful who have grown weary of Obama’s lionization in the press. But at a time when both parties have trumpeted “reform” and “change”, stressed public service, and are claiming to represent everyday folk, Guiliani and Palin instead risked leaving the impression among television viewers that they were appealing to a smug gathering of people intent on defending their entrenched power. It didn’t help that 93% of the RNC delegation were white and 68% were men.
Of course, delegates at both political parties represent, to a large extent, the nation’s political elite. Furthermore, conventions are little more than political theater. But what about how this plays to many of the independent voters that both parties are so desperately competing for? In their wholesale dismissal of Barack Obama’s community organizing experience, Wednesday’s convention speakers and attendies unwittingly left the impression that they had little regard for the legitimacy of ordinary people coming together to improve their neighborhood, school, workplace or living conditions.
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Posted at 8:00 AM, Sep 05, 2008 in Politics
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Andrea Batista Schlesinger
In some rooms, we have a conversation about “family values” in the abstract. In other rooms, we talk about the intricacies of public policy, with statistics and reasoned approaches. How can we bridge the gap? With paid family leave—a policy commitment that embodies real family values.
It’s about more than the graphs and charts that explain why paid family leave is necessary, how it would benefit American workers, how its absence harms our families needlessly, and how it is even beneficial for the bottom line of our economy.
It’s about our personal stories and what ties us together.
The Drum Major Institute wants to know your story. Here’s why.
On September 15, we’ll host the next installment of our Marketplace of Ideas series highlighting policies that are practical, effective, and, most importantly, progressive. Governor Jon Corzine is our special guest. He will talk about the historical significance of New Jersey being the third state in the union to guarantee its workers paid family leave.
After Governor Corzine’s presentation, I’ll facilitate a discussion with him and a fantastic panel including New York State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith, New York Women’s Foundation President Ana Oliveira, and Working Families Party head Dan Cantor.
Do you have a personal story or a question to share with our panel about paid family leave?
Posted at 3:33 PM, Sep 04, 2008 in Drum Major Institute | Economy | Middle-class squeeze | Progressive Agenda
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Andrea Batista Schlesinger
“Most Americans don’t want more government — they want a lot less.”
Gov. Huckabee is a good speaker. But he doesn’t know what Americans want. He only knows what will make RNC delegates clap.
Here’s what Americans want:
75% of middle-class Americans want a national health insurance plan available to all Americans
71% of middle-class Americans want to require employers to provide paid and family leave
68% of middle-class Americans want to allow employees to be represented by a union when a majority of co-workers sign cards requesting representation
68% want to tax the income by hedge fund managers at the same rate of others
78% want to expand SCHIP to cover more children from low- and middle-income families
It’s up to those we elect to turn those ideas into reality. That’s not about more government or less, but about what it actually does. But there’s little talk of that tonight.
Posted at 9:35 PM, Sep 03, 2008 in Middle-class squeeze
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Mark Winston Griffith
When I hear the pessimism expressed these days regarding the credit crunch in the mortgage market, I remember the guiding principle of the community-owned lending institution I ran during the mid nineties: “The last thing some people need is a loan.”
I don’t mean to sound callous. On the contrary, I want to recognize the distinct silver lining that shines across the otherwise catastrophic subprime mortgage crisis. Over the last few years, millions of families received loans that robbed them of their wealth. Today, however, fewer abusively priced and badly underwritten loans are being made. Similarly, the misguided messaging juggernaut that accompanied this lending - that homeownership is available to anyone for the right price - has been slowed considerably. And, if we play our cards right, lenders can learn a valuable lesson about how to make responsible and profitable mortgages to working class people.
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Posted at 8:00 AM, Sep 03, 2008 in Economic Opportunity
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Cristina Jimenez
While the largest workplace immigration raid in the nation’s history was happening in Laurel, Mississippi, 1,369 miles away, the Democratic National Convention was celebrating its opening day in Denver, Colorado.
Throughout the Convention, democrats were generally reserved about immigration. And of course, there was no word about Mississippi’s raid. But this tactic of inhumane immigration enforcement was part of Michelle Obama’s speech addressing the DNC Hispanic caucus. Michelle Obama said:
Hispanics should not have to live in fear of raids by immigration agents.
Mrs. Obama is absolutely right; the Latino community shouldn’t live in fear of deportations and raids. But what is her husband going to do about it? It’s still unclear.
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Posted at 7:00 AM, Sep 02, 2008 in Immigration
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Hana Greenberg
Barack Obama’s acceptance speech was aptly entitled “The American Promise” because he sure made a lot of promises on Thursday night. The specific promises and policies differed but the premise was the same—as President he will work for the average American. Certainly, populism was the name of the game for the entire Democratic National Convention. Almost every speaker stressed their working class roots, trying to relate to the public watching all over the country. In addition, emphasis was continually added to Senator McCain’s inability to relate to average Americans—many seemed to get particular enjoyment out of his failure to account for all his homes. The Presidential nominee himself best articulated the criticism of John McCain which ran throughout the week; “It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it.”
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Posted at 1:33 PM, Aug 30, 2008 in Election 2008
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Mark Winston Griffith
[Goldstein photo by Joe Fornabaio,
courtesy of New York Observer]
By Mark Winston Griffith
Background
At first glance, the organized opposition to Atlantic Yards - the mega project that was proposed for the Prospect Heights community in Brooklyn by prominent New York developer Bruce Ratner of Forest City Ratner- might appear to be a text book example of community organizers fighting the threat of gentrification.
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Posted at 8:00 AM, Aug 29, 2008 in Corporate Accountability
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Maureen Lane
Tuesday’s Census release on 2007 data about New York’s poverty rate was reported as good news. After all, poverty has declined slightly in New York City and State. But this success is dwarfed by a larger policy failure: more than 1.5 million New Yorkers still struggle to get by below the official poverty line. One important reason is the inconsistency of our policy impacts. Last week a student walked into Welfare Rights Initiative (WRI) at Hunter College. She had just turned 18 years old at the end of July, graduated from high school and enrolled at Hunter. A dream realized for any family, unless the family is receiving public assistance. The student and her two younger siblings are receiving public assistance due to their mother’s disability. Our student was called to attend an HRA (Human Resources Administration) center appointment and told she must do 35 hours of workfare or her family’s budget will be cut.
Just as students citywide begin to head back to school, our student’s story underscores chronic gaps in the city’s support of access to education as a route out of poverty. Two students who had the exact same circumstances over the last 5 years met this year’s student. All three told us similar things, “I got to meet the 35 hours work or my family will lose their benefits.” So, in addition to being given inaccurate information, all the students felt this enormous responsibility for their families—more than a young person should have to bear. The current student was lucky she found WRI but many thousands of others, including the two students now at WRI, dropped out of college to take care of their families. What kind of policy sense does that make?
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Posted at 9:30 AM, Aug 28, 2008 in Economic Opportunity | Education | Welfare
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Mark Winston Griffith
September 1, 2008. Mark it. That’s the day New York State’s monumental new anti-predatory lending law goes into effect.
It’s also the day Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say that they will stop purchasing subprime loans in New York.
Yep, you heard it right, the two GSEs that have been consistently made headlines over the past few months because of accounting scandals, their role in the subprime meltdown, and federal plans to rescue the GSEs using tax payer dollars, are actually turning around and sticking it to the public in New York because the State’s lending standards are too high.
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Posted at 8:40 AM, Aug 27, 2008 in Financial Justice
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Hana Greenberg
Despite being young and politically active, I was not particularly excited about the Presidential election thus far. Largely because it seemed that neither political party was talking about the issues that mattered most to me or policies that would have the largest impact on middle- and aspiring middle-class Americans. Issues such as equal pay for equal work, guaranteeing that all who work will not live in poverty, and assuring access to high quality education (from prekindergarten to high school and beyond) took a back seat for the Democrats to discussion of minute differences between the candidates on the war. For the Republicans, the issues seemed ignored altogether. But yesterday, my skepticism was wiped away.
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Posted at 1:09 PM, Aug 26, 2008 in Election 2008
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Amy Traub
Today’s new Census data on poverty, income and health coverage brings us some good news. Unfortunately, it’s a year old.
Each August, the Census releases the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, providing national statistics about the prior year. Today we learn that in 2007, the economic expansion that began six years before was finally beginning to reach the American middle-class.
Real median earnings of both men and women who worked full-time, year-round rose between 2006 and 2007! Real median household income was back to where it was in 1999!! At last, ordinary Americans recovered the ground lost in the last recession!!!
Well, not entirely.
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Posted at 12:35 PM, Aug 26, 2008 in Economy | Health Care | Middle-class squeeze
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Harry Moroz
As the Democratic National Convention kicks off in Denver, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Senator Obama will re-launch his urban agenda today. The revamped agenda is in fact the third iteration of Obama’s plan for cities. The first (to its discredit) primarily addressed urban poverty, while the second – a much more robust document – drew on research of the Brookings Institution, which emphasizes that cities are the nation’s “economic engines” and advocates a regional, metropolitan area approach to economic development. The approach identifies failures of federal urban policy and proposes that cities – with their enormous economic output, their higher population density, and their cultural and intellectual production – ultimately offer answers to the nation’s economic woes and environmental concerns. Obama articulated this approach in speeches to the U.S. Conference of Mayors and to the National Urban League earlier this summer.
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Posted at 2:24 PM, Aug 25, 2008 in Cities | Election 2008 | Infrastructure | MayorTV | Urban Affairs
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Andrea Batista Schlesinger
Enough with the talk about filling in the foreign affairs gap. This just accepts that we are going to live out yet ANOTHER campaign the way the right wants us to — on their turf. The most pressing issues to America’s middle class are economic, economic, and ECONOMIC, so let’s learn a little bit more about where Senator Joseph Biden stood when it came to voting for legislation that matter to the pocketbooks of middle-class Americans.
http://themiddleclass.org/legislator/joseph-biden-412
Posted at 9:36 AM, Aug 23, 2008 in Election 2008
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