Media
People
Whether shining his eye on the rightwing media in Outfoxed, on corporate greed in Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, or on corrupt politicians in The Big Buy: Tom DeLay's Stolen Congress, Robert Greenwald uses the art of film to tell stories about way our society is being taken over by corporate greed.
The Latest
Growing-Economy
State Session Roundups: CO, IA, CT, and MS
Today, we take a look at progress and setbacks in the recently concluded legislative sessions of Colorado, Iowa, Connecticut, and Mississippi. Highlights include action in the areas of health care, education, clean energy, and immigration policy as well as our weekly research roundup.
Valuing-Families
Eliminating Health Disparities, Achieving Equity
In 2000, the World Health Organization ranked the US health care system 37th in the world despite spending more than any other country. In 2007, according to the US Census Bureau, the US ranked 42nd in life expectancy. If you are a person of color, a low-wage worker, non-English speaking, or live in a low-income community, the picture is much worse. For instance, the life expectancy for African-Americans is 73.3 years, five years shorter than it is for whites. For African-American men, it is 69.8 years, just above averages in Iran and Syria, but below Nicaragua and Morocco.
The groundbreaking, yet disturbing, 2002 report by the Institute of Medicine, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, showed what numerous other studies have found, that non-Hispanic whites in the US have easier and more access to health insurance and quality health care services than people of color, including African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian-Americans. In the US, whether you can get quality health care when you need it is too often determined by your personal characteristics, your income and where you live. This creates health disparities where non-whites and non-English speaking individuals receive sub-par care and live shorter lives as a result.
Growing-Economy
Session Roundup: HI, VT, NE, FL
Today, we take a look at advances and setbacks in the recently concluded legislative sessions in Hawaii, Vermont, Nebraska, and Florida. Highlights include landmark election reform legislation, solid progress on environmental policy, and more setbacks for anti-immigrant proposals.
We also highlight the continued progress of a precedent-setting health insurance pooling bill in Connecticut and take a look at the most recent research from national policy groups.
Growing-Economy
Averting Layoffs and Revitalizing the Manufacturing Economy: Lessons from the Great Lakes States
As the country enters into a recession and suffers increasing job losses, the Great Lakes Region is facing a particularly acute crisis. Literally millions of decent-paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared from the region in recent years. How regional political leaders are responding to that crisis provides lessons for state policymakers across the country.
On April 17th, government officials, labor leaders, and policy organization staff came together in Cleveland for the Great Lakes Regional Economic Revitalization Summit to share insights on what their states are doing to avert layoffs and revitalize their economies.
Increasing-Democracy
Supreme Court Upholds Indiana Photo ID Law, Undermines Voting Rights
In a blow to voting rights, Indiana's strict voter ID law, which requires government-issued photo identification every time a person votes, has been upheld by the United States Supreme Court. This deeply disappointing decision will undoubtedly give new momentum to efforts to expand voter ID laws in many states (Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and possibly Illinois appear likely to pass new voter ID laws in the immediate future). However, progressive legislators and advocates can take the offense in broadening the debate over the real sources of fraud and intimidation in our elections.
Strengthening-Communities
Climate Justice: Promoting Equity in Dealing with Climate Change
Too often, the impact that policies and measures have on low-income and marginalized communities is considered only as an after thought, if at all. Climate change policies are no exception.
While everyone will be impacted by the effect of climate change, the impacts will be distributed unequally. For example, temperatures are expected to increase across the country resulting in higher cooling costs, which more greatly affects poorer households. But the impacts go beyond just increased cooling costs. Higher temperatures will have a greater effect on those with poorer health and lack of access to hospitals and health care. People of color and low-income communities face more health care disparities, including less routine care and unequal access to quality care. As a result, these communities will doubly suffer from the effects of climate change.
While there is no doubt that aggressive, comprehensive action must be taken, the impact these policies have on lower-income communities and communities of color must be considered from the beginning, especially in a time of recession when family budgets are most strained. This Dispatch lays out the issues facing climate change policies and how states can implement smart, equitable changes.
