Robert Hiltonsmith

Robert Hiltonsmith

Robert Hiltonsmith is a policy analyst at Demos.

Recent Articles

Making State and Local Taxes Fair Game

Fixing highly regressive tax systems is one of the essential steps in making our country's tax code more fair.

(Flickr / kenteegardin)

This piece is the second in a six-part series on taxation, and a joint project by The American Prospect and its publishing partner, Demos.

Washington, We Have a Revenue Problem

Why taxes have to go up—by a lot

(Flickr/401K)

This piece is the first in a six-part series on taxation and a joint project by The American Prospect and its publishing partner, Demos.

Generation Y Bother

Young adults entering the workforce today think they'll be worse off than their parents—they're not wrong.

(AP Photo/John Minchillo)

The recession officially ended nearly two and a half years ago, in June 2009, but for the generation of young adults who’ve been trying to take their first steps into adulthood, its effects could shape the future for decades to come.

Pinching Pensions

Why is the right attacking public employee retirement benefits?

Dave Simpson began working for the state of Oregon right out of college. He knew that he'd make less than his friends who took jobs in the private sector, but for Dave, public service and a secure pension more than outweighed the lower pay. He spent his entire career with the state, working a variety of jobs, tackling everything from state parks to computer networks. Dave's story mirrors those of the vast majority of public employees: Serve your state, and earn a comfortable, but not lavish, retirement--according to the National Institute on Retirement Security, public-employee pensions average a modest $20,867 per year.

Debt-Ceiling Déjà Vu

A showdown on the debt-ceiling vote isn't common, but it's happened before.

Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin during the debt-ceiling limit fight in 1996. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)

With the debt-ceiling vote date, May 16, rapidly approaching, Republicans are gearing up for the fight.

"I hope the Democrats are not going to play 'debt-ceiling politics" ... wait, Democrats playing debt-ceiling politics? This statement isn't from the showdown shaping up in Washington today. It actually comes from Republican Sen. Howard Baker Jr., then-majority leader, in early February 1981, in the midst of what would turn out to be the first major fight of President Ronald Reagan's young presidency: raising the debt ceiling, on which the administration exhorted "swift congressional action."

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