Debt-Trap Debbie needs to stop shilling for predatory payday lenders who siphon $8 billion in fees and interest each year from those who can least afford it. That was the message delivered this week to Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s doorstep at the Democratic National Committee, which she chairs, by a hundred grassroots leaders fromContinue reading “Debt-Trap Debbie Swimming With the Loan Sharks”
Category Archives: Julie Chinitz
CHIP’s Two-Year Reprieve
This week, Congress passed legislation funding the Children’s Health Insurance Program for an additional two years. The bill passed with strong majorities and bipartisan support. There’s the good news in that legislative development: the bill included none of the attacks on CHIP – including provisions specifically targeting immigrant children – that had surfaced in previousContinue reading “CHIP’s Two-Year Reprieve”
The Road to Prosperity
Giving Idaho Immigrants the Chance to Apply for a Driver’s License Cultivates a Future of Shared Opportunity and Success to the Benefit of All Idahoans Read: The Road to Prosperity This report was produced by Julie Chinitz, Ben Henry, Fernando Mejia and Sheley Secrest of the Alliance for a Just Society, and Krista Bustamante, AnaContinue reading “The Road to Prosperity”
Surprise: Aetna Funneled Millions to Chamber of Commerce
It looks like insurance giant Aetna made more than $4M in political donations to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year (and another $3M to conservative advocacy group American Action Network). This news emerged in an accidental — and later amended — disclosure. Aetna says it handed over the dollars for educational purposes and notContinue reading “Surprise: Aetna Funneled Millions to Chamber of Commerce”
Is this what “secret ballot” means?
In the United States, the secret ballot is a long-standing tradition. But that refers to our choices as voters remaining secret – not to the idea that we don’t know who we’re voting for. But now we’re living in the world of Citizens United, in which outside groups can pool rich people’s millions with corporations’Continue reading “Is this what “secret ballot” means?”
We Don’t Have to be United States, Inc.
Photo by ToGa Wanderings A couple of days ago, the New York Times reported that the super PACs backing President Obama had fallen far behind on fundraising, and it’s not clear they’re going to catch up with their Republican counterparts. According to the Times, “Mr. Obama’s backers on Wall Street are leery of theirContinue reading “We Don’t Have to be United States, Inc.”
Foreclosure Trustees — Friend of the Big Banks in Statehouses?
In the foreclosure saga that continues to rip communities apart, there are two obvious players: banks and homeowners. But the situation is a little more complicated than just banks versus families trying to hang onto their homes.
99% Red Balloons for Economic Equity
While Fortune 500 corporations duck out of state taxes, legislators continue to put public services on the chopping block, but still the 1% isn’t being told that they need to do their part when it comes to balancing state budgets. Last week, the Washington Community Action Network fought back at a special session of theContinue reading “99% Red Balloons for Economic Equity”
No Deal Is Better than a Bad Deal
Yesterday morning in Washington D.C., the Alliance for a Just Society helped crash a swanky fundraising event where Senator John Kyl was trawling for cash from corporate bigwigs. Kyl sits on the congressional joint committee tasked with reducing the federal deficit. While Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security hang in the balance, corporations and the oneContinue reading “No Deal Is Better than a Bad Deal”
Message to Banks: Pay US Back
The Alliance’s LeeAnn Hall and National People’s Action George Goehl on the nationwide protests in Truthout.