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truthout.org — It's amazing how downright ebullient President Bill Clinton was at that signing ceremony on November 12, 1999 for the law that repealed the Glass-Steagall financial regulations. Those restricting, anti-competitive Depression era laws were finally behind us. Awesome. Fast-forward to now and most of us know how devastatingly expensive that signature was for the American public.

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openleft.com — Here is my blunt answer: 45,000 Americans die every year from lack of health insurance. The Senate bill reduces the number of people uninsured in this country by roughly two-thirds, thus potentially saving 30,000 lives a year. The House bill will reduce the number of uninsured by roughly 75%, thus potentially saving 36,000 lives a year. By no means does this solve the health care problems we face in America, but this is still a real achievement.

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tomdispatch.com — It's common knowledge that a president — but above all a Democratic president — who tried to de-escalate a war like the one now expanding in Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, and withdraw American troops, would be so much domestic political dead meat. This everyday bit of ingrained Washington wisdom is, in fact, based on not a shred of evidence in the historical record. We do, however, know something about what could happen to a president who escalated a counterinsurgency war.

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nytimes.com — Here’s the real tragedy of the botched bailout: Government officials, perhaps influenced by spending too much time with bankers, forgot that if you want to govern effectively you have retain the trust of the people. And by treating the financial industry — which got us into this mess in the first place — with kid gloves, they have squandered that trust.

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robertreich.blogspot.com — Our private, for-profit health insurance system, designed to fatten the profits of private health insurers and Big Pharma, is about to be turned over to ... our private, for-profit health care system. Except that now private health insurers and Big Pharma will be getting some 30 million additional customers, paid for by the rest of us.

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thenation.com — Washington is experiencing a rare and disorienting moment. Big ideas for financial reform that have languished for years are suddenly gaining momentum. Instead of taxing folks to clean up after reckless Wall Street bankers, why not tax Wall Street? Instead of tolerating behemoths regarded as "too big to fail," why not break them up before they do more damage to the country? The fact that these and other unsanctioned propositions are in play and even proposed by respectable figures indicates how deeply the established order has been rattled by the financial crisis. It also demonstrates that members of Congress who bailed out the bankers with public money are quite terrified of voter retribution in the next election.

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truthdig.com — In the parlance of our times, the term idiocracy means a nation run by idiots — and the term idiot is defined by the dictionary as “an utterly foolish or senseless person” who exhibits “a mental age of less than three years old.” If there remained any flicker of hope that we aren’t turning into a full-on slobbering idiocracy, that hope was snuffed out last week by two of the Washington intelligentsia’s most respected voices.

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washingtonpost.com — The nation stands on the verge of achieving fundamental health-care reform. For the first time in history, the House of Representatives has enacted comprehensive health-reform legislation, and the Senate has begun its own debate. These bills will provide a bedrock sense of security and stability for Americans who have health insurance, and quality, affordable options for Americans without it.

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huffingtonpost.com — While financial markets believe the great recession is over, millions of Americans continue to struggle. Unemployment is 10.2 percent and the more inclusive measure, underemployment, is at 17.5 percent. America's jobs crisis is both a short-term and long-term problem. Therefore, the Obama Administration faces both a tactical problem and a strategic challenge. Citizens need to have jobs as soon as possible but a sustainable recovery requires restructuring of the economy.

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guardian.co.uk — Ahead of the Senate's first major test vote on health care reform, the Democrats who refuse to show their cards face a political paradox.

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prospect.org — Forget making everyone healthy and saving the polar bears. If Democrats can't solve the jobs problem, next year's elections will be an uphill battle.

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