Video: What Is The U.S. Trade Deficit?
Between 2001 and 2013 the massive growth of our country’s trade deficit with China has cost us 3.2 million U.S. jobs.
Wall Street Had a Merry Christmas. The New Year’s Still Up For Grabs.
The Volcker Rule. The Citigroup Amendment. If you're looking for an easy political ride, 2015 isn't likely to be your year. But if you're looking for challenge and purpose, you'll find more than enough to engage you.
Wingnut Year In Review: We Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
It’s time to say goodbye to 2014, and wrap-up the first year of “Wingnut Week In Review.” But first, let’s trudge down memory lane and recall the best of the worse in wingnuttia this year.
Get Ready Now For Fast Track Fight
As soon as the new Congress is sworn in next year the fight will begin over Fast Track. Start preparing now.
Healthcare.gov Proves Liberal Government Works
It's not as much fun to write about as a broken website, but Healthcare.gov is humming along this year. And the decades-long rise of the cost of health insurance premiums appears to have been arrested.
Bargaining Power to the People
To more permanently tip the scales closer toward equality for workers, President Obama should support workers’ right to form unions and collectively bargain for a fair share of the profits derived from the sweat of their brows.
Holiday Bright Spots For Progressives
There are end-of-year holiday season bright spots for progressives as we head into the coming year’s fights. In the cities and states progressives are fighting and winning.
Joseph Stiglitz on Why the Rich are Getting Richer
The Nobel Prize-winning economist says that through corporate consolidation and even gentrification, the elite are siphoning up all the world's wealth for themselves.
Conservative Media And Cop Killers Of A Different Color
On June 8, 2014, white, anti-government, tea party supporters shot and killed two Las Vegas police officers. Conservative media was conspicuously silent.
What’s Behind Those New Budget Office Numbers On Family Incomes?
The Congressional Budget Office recently released an analysis that showed a brighter picture for middle-income families than other work highlighting stagnation. But it is worth looking at these numbers more closely.
Growth or Fairness: The Phony Debate
After the 2014 debacle, Democrats are looking for answers. But the phony debate pitting growth and jobs against fairness distracts from what is needed, while repackaging the failed ideas of the past.
Wingnut Week In Review: Santa Cruz Comes To Town
Santa Cruz came to town this week with an early holiday gift for President Obama and the Democrats, and wingnuts predictably lost it when the president effectively called an end to the “cold war.”
Enougher is Enougher: ANOTHER Citi Nominee
Brilliant people with expertise and a willingness to serve the public is a good thing. It is something we want people to do. But the number of Citigroup and other Wall Street people in high positions of our government matters right now.
Education’s Newsmaker Of The Year: Charter School Scandals
In 2014, charter schools became known primarily for their ability to concoct innovative new scams. From local stories to national news, charter school scandals of 2014 forever altered the narrative about these schools
The New Center Democrats: There’s No There There
Can old New Democrats find their voice in this populist moment? Hillary wants to know. William Galston, veteran scribe of the New Dems, applauds Sen. Chuck Schumer for showing the way. Only one problem: there's no there there.
Hillary’s Choice: “Anti-Gridlock” or “Anti-Wall Street”?
A candidate who “supports Wall Street within reason,” offering only tactical promises about "ending gridlock" while most Americans fret about the economy, is in danger of losing.
What The Death Of Single Payer In Vermont Says About Health Reform
This proves what some progressive leaders have been saying all along about Obamacare: It should never be viewed as anything other than a first step – one hobbled by political compromises and moneyed interests.
The Coin of the Realm: How Inside Traders Are Rigging America
Insider trading has also become commonplace in corporate suites, which is one reason CEO pay has skyrocketed. If Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission wanted to reverse this, they could. But they won’t.
Elizabeth Warren Says Fix The TPP Trade Deal
"Americans are deeply suspicious of trade deals negotiated in secret, with chief executives invited into the room while the workers whose jobs are on the line are locked outside."
Taking Money From Obamacare Won’t Cure What’s Wrong With Kansas
Conservative economic policy turned Kansas into a “smoking ruin.” Taking $55 million from Obamacare is like putting a Band-Aid on a severed artery. It won’t cure the conservative failure that ails Kansas.
Is Jeb Bush Too Conservative To Win?
Much of the initial analysis of Jeb Bush's candidacy centers on the question if he is too moderate to win the Republican primary. The more important question is if Jeb is too conservative to win the general election.
Trade Deal Promises vs. Realities
The promised jobs and prosperity don't come through. Instead our trade agreements have cost us and have exacerbated inequality, which is a threat to our democracy.
Wingnut Week In Review: If Ebola Doesn’t Kill You, Wingnuttery Will
Republicans finally have something to run on: fear. This week, it’s fear of Ebola. Of course, right-wing fear-mongers always leave out how conservatism made the Ebola crisis worse.
President Obama’s Decisive Action On Cuba
We called on President Obama to take a series of actions to "move good things forward" in the face of a destructive right-wing agenda. Today he took one of the actions on that list.
Hope Is in the Cities and States
Over the next two years, Washington will be a horror show. But that doesn’t mean we can’t win progressive victories in 2015. We can dramatically change policy by focusing on cities and states.
How “Citibank Budget” Push Foreshadows “Fast Track” For Trade Deals
The next big fight in Congress will be about getting the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal passed. What lessons can we learn from the way the "Citibank" provisions in the budget deal were pushed through?
Economic Development For The 1 Percent: Tax Incentives Gone Wrong
State and local tax breaks are exploited by wealthy corporations, propping up businesses that generate massive wealth for CEOs and shareholders while keeping wages and benefits down for rank-and-file workers.
Economic Policy Myths of 2014: Dead and Enduring
With the holiday season upon us, the time for end of year lists is fast-approaching. To beat the rush, today I give my list of the top dead and enduring myths of 2014.
Bad Trade
Bad trade has battered the American dream. And more damage is threatened by pending trade deals and a so-called fast track process to approve them without in-depth deliberation.
The Bipartisan Cromnibus Saga: A Final Assessment
With the passage of the spending bill, the keepers of convention – like The Washington Post editorial page – want applause for bipartisan achievement. But if that "spirit might flourish," most Americans will pay the price.
Sanders Speaks: Bernie Wants to Break Up the Big Banks
anders' website announced on Saturday that the Vermont independent “will introduce legislation to break up Wall Street megabanks ... " He deserves praise for having done so.
What Does Wall Street’s Budget Bill Victory Say About Our Democracy?
No one in the House or Senate would admit to putting it in the bill. No one would say they supported the provision. Yet Wall Street still got their way. What does that say about who runs our government?
America’s 10 Greediest: The 2014 Edition
This year’s all-stars of avarice range in age from thirty-somethings to just shy of octogenarian status. They’re all doing their greedy best to keep our world a staggeringly unequal place.
We Lost the ‘CRomnibus’ Fight, But at Least Someone’s Fighting
"A few more such victories and we are undone," the Greek general Pyrrhus supposedly said. But we're looking at the opposite situation: A few more losses like this, and we might be getting somewhere.
Wingnut Week In Review: Through The Looking Glass
If this week is a preview of what we’re in for with the next Congress, get ready to step through the looking glass and into a world where executive actions are impeachable offenses, and Duck Dynasty is Broadway bound.
Wingnut Week In Review: A Tortured Response To The Torture Report
Only the worst kind of wingnut could conclude that America is “awesome” in spite of — or because of — “forced anal feeding and re-hydration” of detainees. But that’s what we heard this week.
Call Senators: Stop The Citibank Budget – No More Rigged Backroom Deals
People are fed up with backroom deals that rig the system against us. There is time to fight this giveaway to Wall Street. Call your senators today and tell them take the Citibank bailout out or block the budget.
How America Broke The Oil Addiction … Without a High Gas Tax
A fascinating graphic presentation from Bloomberg shows how America has nearly achieved energy independence and broken our addiction to oil. It's not because oil got too expensive.
The Ominous ‘Cromnibus,’ A Budget Bill That Should Have Died
With all of the bad stuff that is in the 2015 budget that the House struggled to pass late Thursday, there is also a major story to be told about what's not in the bill. In an ideal world, it would have been voted down.
China’s Currency Manipulation “Sucks Wages Out Of Our Economy”
Between 2001 and 2013 the massive growth of our country's trade deficit with China has cost us 3.2 million U.S. jobs, 2.4 million (three-fourths) of which were in manufacturing.
