Daily Digest – January 15: Free Community College Is “A Better Way” For Financial Aid

The Daily Report (AM950 Radio)

Roosevelt Institute Fellow Mike Konczal discusses his recent article about the benefits of the president’s free community college plan. Mike’s segment begins at 28:00.

How Congress is Crippling Our Tax Collection System, in Charts (WaPo)

Catherine Rampell breaks down a report explaining how cuts to the IRS budget are impacting its ability to actually collect the taxes that are owed, with fewer staff to investigate tax evasion.

Republicans Use ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’ Strategy to Deregulate Wall Street (The Guardian)

Republicans in the House have passed their first bill to weaken Dodd-Frank, and David Dayen says there are more to come as the GOP attaches deregulation to all kinds of unrelated must-pass bills.

Obama Stands At Crossroads On Financial Reform (ProPublica)

Jesse Eisinger says that with Republicans in control of Congress, it’s time for the Obama administration to go big to protect the modest reforms created by Dodd-Frank.

As Profits Fall, JPMorgan Rejects Calls To Break Up The Megabank (Buzzfeed)

Matthew Zeitlin reports on recent suggestions that JPMorgan could be more profitable if it were split up. CEO Jamie Dimon instead blames regulators for drops in profits.

We Don’t Just Need ‘More Jobs’—We Need Higher Wages (In These Times)

Leo Gerard, President of United Steelworkers, says that the new jobs showing up on the jobs report aren’t enough without higher wages for workers whose wages have been nearly stagnant for 35 years.

New on Next New Deal

Is Inequality Killing U.S. Mothers?

Roosevelt Institute Fellow Andrea Flynn ties the United States’ embarrassingly high maternal mortality rates to economic inequality’s broader impact on health and mortality.