Tamara Draut
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Tamara Draut is the author of Strapped: why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead (Doubleday, 2006) and is the Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Dēmos, a public policy center based in New York City. At Dēmos, Tamara oversees Dēmos’ research, policy and advocacy work on issues related to economic security and mobility. Tamara’s research focuses on the growing debt burdens facing low- and middle-income households, and more broadly, the challenges confronting households trying to work or educate their way into the middle class. She has conducted groundbreaking research on household debt, serving as the principal investigator of a national survey of indebted households. Tamara is co-author of the recent Dēmos reports, "The Plastic Safety Net: The Reality Behind Debt in America", "Millions to the Middle: Three Strategies to Grow the Middle Class," "Retiring in the Red: The Growth of Debt Among Older Americans," and "Borrowing to Make Ends Meet: The Growth of Credit Card Debt in the 90s," among others.
Tamara's research has been covered extensively by dozens of newspapers and magazines including the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Her writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe and The Boston Review. She is a frequent television commentator and has appeared on the Today Show, ABC World News Tonight, CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight and Fox News. Tamara holds an M.P.A. from Columbia University and a B.S.J. from Ohio University.