Politics. On Point.

Minimum wage workers in Maryland could soon start to see an increase in pay.  On Saturday the Maryland Senate voted to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. The hike is expected to be at its full increase by 2018.  An increase of .75 cent begins  Jan 1, 2015 - that is, if Congress approves.  If it does Maryland governor Mark O'Malley can sign legislation into law. "Lawmakers did the right thing giving so many Maryland families the raise they deserve", O'Malley said. Echoing Governor O'Mally, President Obama said in a statement today, "The Maryland Legislature did the right thing for its workers today by increasing the state minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. With states like Maryland, and other states setting the example, President Obama is hoping all states will eventually follow suit. "Maryland’s important action is a reminder that many states, cities and counties – as well as a majority of the American people – are way ahead of Was...

The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) signed an agreement today to strengthen coordination on fair lending enforcement and avoid duplication of their respective federal law enforcement efforts.  “The Department of Justice welcomes the new tools and resources the CFPB can bring to the fight against lending discrimination,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Cooperation between our two agencies promotes strong and effective civil rights enforcement, and today’s agreement will further our ongoing collaborative efforts.” “Discrimination undermines equal access to credit,” said Richard Cordray, Director of the CFPB. “Today’s agreement is a critical step to better protecting consumers from illegal and discriminatory lending practices. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Justice Department under this new framework.” The memorandum of understanding (MOU) can be found here . U...

Romney, who sings America the Beautiful during a campaign speech, also likes Sweden; at least he likes his money there.  Romney - the $200 million dollar man - is so rich he doesn't want the American people to know just how rich he really is and hides much of his undisclosed assets in offshore bank accounts in countries like Sweden. Why would someone have a Swiss bank account?  According to this site people most likely to have a Swiss bank account are those "who don't want other people to know about their money".  The site adds that "unless you're a criminal, it's highly unlikely anyone can ever find out about your account". Romney has yet to release his tax records of the last few years, and quite frankly says he has no plans to do so, lending more questions by Americans about what Romney is hiding. Research shows that Romney joins more than half of the world's wealthiest individuals who house more than $3...

Congress Acts To Extend Unemployment Benefits Today the House of Representatives moved to extend benefits for Americans looking for work, and the President urges the Republican leadership in the Senate to end their obstruction of this critical aid. The attempts by the majority of Republicans in the Senate to play politics with this issue have not only put the livelihoods of thousands of American families at risk, but also has cut off an important source of revenue during our very fragile economic recovery. Getting the American people back to work is the President’s top economic priority, and that’s why we must do more to not only pass aid for state and local governments and tax cuts for businesses, but also to spur private sector job growth. The President will keep pressing Congress to fight for common-sense jobs legislation during this critical time for our economic recovery.