The Center for American Progress Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. We are the sister organization of the Center for American Progress, a 501(c)(3) progressive think tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action. American Progress is headed by John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. CAP Action’s mission is to take progressive policy ideas and transform it into action through communications, social advocacy, and legislative action.
This is the first in a weekly series authored by CAP Action intern Casual Wednesday. Many thanks to our director of community, Meteor Blades, for allowing us to establish this user name.
Here’s a sampling of what we have published recently.
Too Many to Ignore: The Latino Vote in 2010 and Beyond
Battling Poverty in the Golden State: Recommendations for the California Statewide Poverty Commission
Latest GDP Figures Show Business Investment Powering Economic Growth
The Growing Latino Vote
Think Progress reports GOP stances on Department of Education (cut), birthright citizenship (eliminate) and Social Security (privatize)
Battling Poverty in California
Trouble in the Suburbs: Poverty Rises in Areas Outside Cities
White House Meeting on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Fails to Inspire LGBTQ Bloggers
The science behind increasing Antarctic sea ice
Correcting Myths About Federal Pay: Conservatives Compare Apples to Oranges
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The U.S. economy is finally rebounding from the Great Recession, due in no small part to federal government policies and increased private investment. CAP’s analysis indicates that the country has a strong foundation for a full recovery, but there is still plenty of work to be done.
Latest GDP Figures Show Business Investment Powering Economic Growth
By Christian E. Weller
Today’s (Oct. 29) release of the latest economic growth figures show that our economy is demonstrably on the mend, but the strength of the recovery remains to be seen. Gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2 percent between July and September this year, powered by business investment and consumption, the largest driving force behind continued economic expansion and strong enough to overcome less spending on real estate by households. Third quarter GDP growth accelerated slightly from the 1.7 percent increase in the second quarter of 2010.
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With all of the talk about immigration issues and the role of Latino voters in the 2010 midterms, CAP Action studied the potential turnout. They found that the Latino vote could swing governor and Senate races in eight states as well as House races in 17 districts. Moreover, neither party can afford to overlook the importance of Latino voters.
Too Many to Ignore: The Latino Vote in 2010 and Beyond
By Angela Maria Kelley, and Gebe Martinez
Two years after playing a decisive role in the election of President Barack Obama, Latino voters are poised to play a critical role in the November 2010 contests and in years to come as their population and voting numbers increase.
The key question for Latinos, as with all voters, is whether the general malaise with government will deflate turnout at the polls, or whether frustration with a stalemated Congress will actually fuel election participation to let their voices be heard.
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Think Progress has been tracking Republican attitudes on some key issues. These three headlines speak for themselves, really.
111 GOPers in Congress want to Eliminate Department of Education
130 GOPers in Congress want no birthright citizenship
104 GOPers in Congress want to Privatize Social Security
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California may rank as the world’s eight largest economy, but the state is still grappling with poverty and the Great Recession. CAP Action’s Half in Ten Project worked with the Center for Law and Social Policy to develop strategies to help the Golden State reign in its poverty problem.
Battling Poverty in the Golden State: Recommendations for the California Statewide Poverty Commission
By Melissa Boteach, and Jodie Levin-Epstein
State poverty commissions and targets are an important way for states to leverage resources and develop a coordinated plan to respond to growing economic distress. Even in times of fiscal crisis California should consider strategies such as:
• Improving outreach for federally funded benefits such as SNAP and the EITC, both to help families weather the storm and to stimulate local economies
• Implementing low- and no-cost reforms to protect the income of low-wage workers such as reining in payday lending and wage theft
• Partnering with the business community to connect low-income families to jobs and job training and to enhance workplace flexibility for low-wage workers
• Building the case for proven policy solutions by partnering with foundations to commission research that would show recommended policy reforms’ impact on the poverty rate
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Speaking of poverty, CAP looked at the growing problem of suburban poverty. This is an especially troubling trend since social services for people tend to be spread much thinner in the suburbs than in urban areas.
Trouble in the Suburbs: Poverty Rises in Areas Outside Cities
By Alexandra Cawthorne
The suburbs were once considered by many to be a retreat from poor economic and social conditions in cities. Now, however, they’re home to nearly one-third of our nation’s poor—and rising. The last decade set in motion this shift in the map of poverty, but the recession exacerbated key economic trends that rapidly increased the growth rate of suburban poverty to more than double that of central cities.
Federal and state governments should take note: This emerging trend calls for a corresponding shift in poverty policies that includes a more regional, all-encompassing approach.
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CAP’s Campus Progress reported on a closed-door meeting Tuesday between bloggers and White House officials, including the President, on the repeal of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell. The bloggers seemed less than impressed with the Administration’s work on the effort to repeal DADT.
White House Meeting on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Fails to Inspire LGBTQ Bloggers
By Matt Comer
Yesterday (Oct 26), White House officials held a closed-door, off-the-record meeting with several advocates, bloggers, and organizations pushing for the repeal of "don’t ask, don’t tell" (DADT), the 1993 law that prohibits open military service by gays and lesbians. Originally planned to take place with nearly 11 repeal advocates, senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, and Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina, President Barack Obama also unexpectedly dropped into the meeting, according to sources.
But despite the administration’s efforts to soothe the LGBT community's concerns over DADT's repeal (or lack thereof), some LGBTQ bloggers continue to feel disillusioned.
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CAP Action’s Climate Progress tackled an important climate change issue as they explained why Global Warming is actually increasing the ice cover in Antarctica. This is one of the Global Warming deniers’ newest arguments and progressives should know how to counter it.
The science behind increasing Antarctic sea ice
Progressives should know the most commonly used arguments by the disinformers and doubters — and how to rebut them.
Most of the time your best response is to give the pithiest response possible, and then refer people to a specific website that has a more detailed scientific explanation with links to the original science. That’s because usually those you are talking to are rarely in a position to adjudicate scientific arguments. Indeed, they would probably tune out.
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We hear a lot of talk about those overpaid government workers. Unfortunately for the Conservative argument, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management found that in comparable jobs, federal government employees actually earn 22 percent less than their private sector counterparts. CAP broke down the findings.
Correcting Myths About Federal Pay: Conservatives Compare Apples to Oranges
By Lauren Smith
Yes, it’s true—according to unadjusted numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis—that the average government salary was $123,049 in 2009, and that the private sector worker’s average was $61,051, as USA Today reported in August. That does not mean federal workers are paid more than their private sector counterparts. The newspaper made the elementary mistake of comparing apples to oranges. It didn’t compare similar job types, educational level, time on the job, or geographic location.
So in the newspaper’s analysis, the salary of a McDonald's cook and that of a federal prosecutor are given equal weight in the average. USA Today did acknowledge this weakness in its August article, but attributes criticism of its approach to "public employee unions," as if it were a political point rather than a factual one.
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