David Sirota

This is huge news for the Make Him Do It Dynamic:

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. trade accord with Panama, which is opposed by labor unions, won’t be submitted to Congress for approval until President Barack Obama offers a new “framework” for trade, an administration official said.

Chris Hayes, the New York Times and Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin (among others) long ago raised serious concerns about President Obama naming 18-year Goldman Sachs veteran and deregulatory zealot Gary Gensler to head the Commodities Futures Trading Commission - the commission tasked with regulating derivatives trading.

Bloomberg News this morning reports that U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk gave a speech yesterday to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "saying he hopes Congress will approve stalled trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea within the next year." The good news is that Kirk also noted that Bush-written trade policies are "really a tough sell in this environment."

After high-profile arrests on Capitol Hill, there's a very simple question on health care that hasn't been answered: Why are top Democrats afraid to even discuss the concept of a single-payer health care system? This is the question I explore in my latest newspaper column.

Roll Call has an update in the increasingly intense war of words between rank-and-file Democrats in Congress who ran and won promising fair trade reform, and White House officials who may force Congress to vote on the Bush-negotiated, NAFTA-style Panama Free Trade Agreement:

Dean Baker has expertly provided the economic case for ending taxpayer-funded bailouts for Wall Street. But, as we all know, just because something makes sound economic sense does not mean Congress or the White House will change course.

Let's say you have a diversified industry of small, medium and large sized firms. Let's say you then gut anti-trust enforcement, eviscerate regulation, and massively increase subsidization to create textbook oligopoly. And then, finally, let's say the few mega-conglomerates that dominate the oligopoly make big mistakes and dangerous decisions. What are you going to get?

This is huge news for the Make Him Do It Dynamic:

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. trade accord with Panama, which is opposed by labor unions, won’t be submitted to Congress for approval until President Barack Obama offers a new “framework” for trade, an administration official said.

Chris Hayes, the New York Times and Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin (among others) long ago raised serious concerns about President Obama naming 18-year Goldman Sachs veteran and deregulatory zealot Gary Gensler to head the Commodities Futures Trading Commission - the commission tasked with regulating derivatives trading.

Bloomberg News this morning reports that U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk gave a speech yesterday to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "saying he hopes Congress will approve stalled trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea within the next year." The good news is that Kirk also noted that Bush-written trade policies are "really a tough sell in this environment."

After high-profile arrests on Capitol Hill, there's a very simple question on health care that hasn't been answered: Why are top Democrats afraid to even discuss the concept of a single-payer health care system? This is the question I explore in my latest newspaper column.

Roll Call has an update in the increasingly intense war of words between rank-and-file Democrats in Congress who ran and won promising fair trade reform, and White House officials who may force Congress to vote on the Bush-negotiated, NAFTA-style Panama Free Trade Agreement:

Dean Baker has expertly provided the economic case for ending taxpayer-funded bailouts for Wall Street. But, as we all know, just because something makes sound economic sense does not mean Congress or the White House will change course.

Let's say you have a diversified industry of small, medium and large sized firms. Let's say you then gut anti-trust enforcement, eviscerate regulation, and massively increase subsidization to create textbook oligopoly. And then, finally, let's say the few mega-conglomerates that dominate the oligopoly make big mistakes and dangerous decisions. What are you going to get?