Subsidizing Bad Behavior
BP’s recent $4.5 billion legal settlement with the Justice Department for its misdeeds in the Gulf oil spill was historic for being the largest ever criminal settlement. But it was historic for another...
View ArticleElections Confidential
“Elections Confidential” describes how secret donors poured hundreds of millions into the 2012 election through “social welfare” non-profits that are really political vehicles and via shell...
View ArticleOutside Spending, Outsized Influence
The 2012 elections were by far the most expensive in history thanks primarily to the tidal wave of outside, special interest money triggered by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. The federal...
View ArticleBillion-Dollar Democracy
The first presidential election since Citizens United lived up to its hype, with unprecedented outside spending from new sources making headlines. Demos and NJPIRG Law & Policy Center analysis of...
View ArticleThe Hidden Cost of Offshore Tax Havens
Federal taxpayers are not the only victims of offshore tax havens. Tax havens deprive state governments of billions of dollars in badly needed revenues as well. Based how much income is federally...
View ArticleFollowing the Money 2013
This is the fourth annual report card ranking of state government online spending transparency.
View ArticlePicking Up the Tab 2013
Some U.S.-based multinational firms and individuals avoid paying U.S. taxes by using accounting tricks to shift profits made in America to offshore tax havens—countries with minimal or no taxes. They...
View ArticleA New Direction
The Driving Boom—a six decade-long period of steady increases in per-capita driving in the United States—is over. Americans drive fewer total miles today than we did eight years ago, and fewer per...
View ArticlePrescription For Danger
The fungal meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated steroid injections that killed 55 people to date and sickened more than 740 is one of the worst public health disasters the nation has seen in...
View ArticleIssue Brief: Student Loan Debt in New Jersey
Without a new plan from Congress, on July 1 the itnerest rate on subsidized Stafford loans will double, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.
View ArticleTop Twenty Pay-For-Delay Drugs
Too often, consumers are forced to shoulder a heavy financial burden, or even go without needed medicine, due to the high cost of brand-name drugs. Our research indicates that one significant cause is...
View ArticleApples to Twinkies 2013
At a time when America faces high obesity rates and tough federal budget choices, taxpayer dollars are funding the production of junk food ingredients. Since 1995, the government has spent $292.5...
View ArticleOffshore Shell Games
Many large U.S.-based multinational corporations avoid paying U.S. taxes by using accounting tricks to make profits made in America appear to be generated in offshore tax havens – countries with...
View ArticleThe Danger In Our Backyards
Every day, millions of people live and work in the shadow of high risk chemical plants that store and use poisonous materials with the potential to harm millions of workers and residents.
View ArticleMoving Off the Road
After sixty years of almost constant increases in the annual number of miles Americans drive, since 2004 Americans have decreased their driving per-capita for eight years in a row. Driving miles per...
View ArticleA New Way To Go
America is in the midst of a technological revolution … and a big shift in our transportation habits. Over the last 15 years, the Internet and mobile communications technologies have transformed the...
View ArticleMcCutcheon Money
This term, the Supreme Court is considering a challenge to aggregate contribution limits in a case called McCutcheon v. FEC. The current limit on what one person may contribute to all federal...
View ArticleTrouble in Toyland
The 2013 Trouble in Toyland report is the 28th annual NJPIRG survey of toy safety. In this report, NJPIRG provides safety guidelines for consumers when purchasing toys for small children and provides...
View ArticleTransportation in Transition
Our first-of-its-kind report shows that Americans’ transportation habits have changed. The average American drives 7.6 percent fewer miles today than when per-capita driving peaked in 2004. A review of...
View ArticleCredit Cards, Consumer Complaints
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was established in 2010 in the wake of the worst financial crisis in decades. Its mission is to identify dangerous and unfair financial practices, to...
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