Blog: Policy Shop

As we’ve written, New York is considering allowing fracking in limited areas of the state, despite the environmental and economic damage that comes with the practice. In the latest development, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Commissioner Joseph Martens dismissed calls for an independent analysis of the health impacts of fracking, employing some fracked up […]

Conservatives are trumpeting a new video in which a younger Obama embraces the dreaded socialist sin of redistribution. His earlier words will no doubt hurt Obama among some segment of the electorate — even though most voters in both parties, whether they realize it or not, actually favor a host of redistributive policies. Polls have […]

Congressman John Sarbanes was frustrated with the state of political fundraising in the wake of Citizens United, and looking for another way. He’d heard about systems that increase the value of small contributions by matching them with public dollars-turning a $25 contribution into $150 or $175, for example. This way, candidates could run a viable […]

As a New Yorker, the idea of surviving in Manhattan on less than $10,000 a year is pretty much unfathomable. But that’s the harsh reality that the poorest fifth of Manhattanites face, according to new data from the New York Times. The wealth gap in this infamous borough is now so large that it rivals […]

Presidential elections are seldom pretty to watch, but earlier this year there was wide agreement that Americans were in for a serious contest of ideas — with a historic debate over goverment’s role front and center. That seemed all the more likely when Mitt Romney chose super wonk Paul Ryan as his running mate. Now, […]