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Dave Johnson once again joins Rick Smith on the Rick Smith Show, this time to discuss the White House Deficit Commission’s recommendation to cut Social Security benefits to pay for tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy and for huge increases in military spending.

In this discussion, Johnson points out the irony of Social Security being placed on the chopping block to reduce the deficit, even though it is not Social Security itself that contributes to the national debt, it's the need to pay back what was previously borrowed from the Social Security trust fund. Johnson also attacks the myth that big business actually creates jobs; in reality, he argues, more jobs means less profit for companies and therefore we should not be so quick to lavish businesses with large tax cuts as a jobs-producing strategy. Putting people back to work, Johnson also emphasized, is good for the economy because people can pay their taxes and afford to shop and spend money.

Also on this program:

• Johnson explains why allowing the wealthy to have more sway in government is bad for democracy and has resulted in a "one dollar, one vote" political system.
• The results of the latest G-20 summit meeting is discussed, along with the problem of trade agreements that fail to protect labor rights while allowing corporations to ship jobs overseas to evade democratic labor gains.
• The two discuss the possibility of working with people who align themselves with the Tea Party on trade issues, since the Tea Party movement understands that NAFTA worked against the best interests of average Americans.

On The Rick Smith Show November 5, we discuss the significance of the Democracy Corps/Campaign for America's Future poll that shows that conservatives did not receive a vote of confidence for their agenda from the voters on Election Day. Citing the poll results, Smith says, "Now we start the resistance. Now we stand up, we organize, we fight back. The right is telling us that they've got this great mandate... The reality is not what they think is."

This interview is one of the "OurFuture Friday" segments heard weekly on The Rick Smith Show.

Campaign for America’s Future’s Bill Scher is interviewed by host Rick Smith of The Rick Smith Show, just days before the 2010 midterm elections.

In this interview the two discuss the surprisingly high number of Republican candidates who flatly endorse repealing the many beneficial social welfare programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and unemployment insurance benefits. Scher unpacks such contradictions as conservative fringe candidates who run campaigns accusing Democrats of cutting Medicare while pleading against “government takeover of health care.”

Scher and Scott also talk about how conservatives reject facts on a number of issues but try to win campaigns by pushing American’s anger buttons; an example is the myth that the Reagan and Bush tax cuts for the rich increased government revenues even though there is little proof.

Also, Scher and Smith explain the need for progressive and young Americans to vote in the elections. Even though some argue that Democrats have compromised too much the past two years, no one can discredit their efforts in enacting reform, they conclude. Scher said that people may not be entirely satisfied with the outcomes of the last two years, but they will be hard pressed to find a Democrat who did not take the issues seriously, which is more than what can be said for the Republican bloc that obstructed reform.

Campaign for America’s Future’s Dave Johnson is interviewed by host Rick Smith of The Rick Smith Show, in Wheeling, W. Va., one of stops on the "Keep It Made In America Tour" by the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

In this interview the two discuss the causes of U.S. manufacturing’s decline in the last few decades. Dave notes that the crowds gathering at the town hall meetings all recognize the importance of American manufacturing and want to see its revival. He explains that the struggles experienced by Flint, Mich., one of the first stops on the tour, in the 1980s are no longer isolated to Flint, as an estimated 40,000 factories have closed during the Bush administration. Dave and Rick discussed how deregulation, outsourcing and the devaluation of Chinese currency have allowed the American manufacturing industry to decline, leading America into the worst recession since the 1930s.

With two weeks to go until the elections, a new 60-second Get Out the Vote radio ad attacks the GOP strategy and reminds voters of the horrors of eight years under Republican rule. In an election where base turnout will be key, the ad, by the Campaign for America’s Future, warns that voting Republican in November will only bring our country back.

The ad highlights the extensive damage Republicans made when they ran the country, and reminds voters it’s going to take the Democratic Party more than two years to fix the mess Republicans created in eight. The ad also highlights the Republicans plan to trash the future of popular programs like Social Security and Medicare if they were to regain control in November.

The ad, released October 18, was scheduled to air in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Milwaukee and Madison, Wis.; and Philadelphia, Allegheny and Erie, Pa.

“Voters have no reason to believe that the GOP's intentions have changed in the last two years. If we give them power again, they'll still side with corporate interests, ship American jobs overseas, and push to dismantle programs that working Americans depend on, like Social Security and Medicare,” said Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future. “If American's don’t vote Democratic this November, we're handing power back to the very same people who got us into this mess in the first place.”

Ad script:

Think about what Republicans did when they ran our country.
They brought us to the brink of financial disaster.
Republican policies resulted in millions of lost jobs.
They allowed Wall Street and the banks to get out of control.
They let credit card companies charge us abusive interest rates and hidden late fees.
They protected health insurance companies as our premiums went up and our coverage went down.
They squandered a budget surplus and left us with a deficit.
Now Republicans are getting ready to trash Social Security and Medicare,
As if eight years of damage weren’t enough, they want to trash our future.
The huge mess they created over eight years can’t be fixed in two.
Protect our American values. Don’t let Republicans take us back.
Don’t forget what they did to us.
Vote on November 2 or by absentee.
America’s future depends on it.
Paid for by the Campaign for America’s Future.

Authors and key endorsers of a statement warning political leaders of “a grave danger” that the still-fragile economic recovery will be undercut by conservative "austerity economics" give their views at a news conference call hosted by the Institute for America's Future.

Participating in the conference call were Robert Borosage, Co-Director, Institute for America’s Future; Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research and author, "Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy"; Teresa Ghilarducci, Schwartz Chair of Economic Policy, New School for Social Research and author, "When I'm 64, the Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them"; Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect and Dēmos, and author, "A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama's Promise, Wall Street's Power, and the Struggle to Control our Economic Future"; and Robert Reich, Professor, University of California Berkeley and author, "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future."

The statement and related content can be viewed at dontkilljobs.org.

I debate the conservative push to continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy with the left-right radio duo of Patrick O'Heffernan and Chuck Morse on their radio program, "The Fairness Doctrine." We challenge the assertion that continuing the Bush tax cuts would lead to job creation in the United States and discuss the more targeted progressive alternative. The program aired September 2, 2010.