Archive
Showdown with "Chermany"
Where will the jobs come from? President Obama wants to double America’s exports over five years to help generate good jobs. With Recovery Act spending coming to an end, states and localities laying off employees, banks still not making loans, and consumersl reeling...
"Deem and Pass" Is NOT "Without A Vote"
Several traditional media outlets are regurgitating the conservative spin that if the House uses the parliamentary procedure known as a "self-executing rule" or "deem and pass," it will be
Will Weak Reforms Bring On Another Crisis?
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., unveiled his latest financial reform proposal on Monday, and the stakes for the new legislation couldn’t be higher. After consumer groups raised a major ruckus, Dodd has dropped one of his most...
China's American Enablers
China argues that some American companies will suffer if China stops subsidizing manufacturing and adjusts their currency to market levels. They're right. The fight over Chinese violations of trade rules is also another story about Wall Street and big, monopolistic...
18 Former Fed Consumer Advisory Council Members Want an Independent CFPA
Eighteen former members of the Federal Reserve’s Consumer Advisory Council (CAC) strongly endorsed the idea of an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency in a letter released last week . Draft legislation released yesterday by Sen. Chris Dodd would instead...
Progressive Breakfast - 3/16/2010
GOPers Complain About Rules They Used ... Again Republicans criticize possible use of "self-executing rule" so can House deem underlying Senate bill law upon passage of changes in reconciliation ... but Republicans used to do the same thing. Swampland's Jay-Newton...
An Act of Dodd: Draft Bill Would Let Pols Duck the Question, "Are You For Consumers or Banks?"
Democracy requires vigorous public debate in an open forum, conducted by leaders willing to take a public stand and face the consequences. Today's proposal on banking reform from Sen. Dodd is the product of backroom negotiation and holds nobody accountable. It allows...
Fixing The Health Care Message Problem: What's In The Bill For You, This Year.
Many armchair pundits have taken whacks at the President and his communications team for having "lost control of the message behind his drive for health care." This critique is based on the faulty logic that the President can control everything. It ignores the...
Chinese Currency Showdown
China is holding down the value of its currency, which means goods made there cost less everywhere else. This undercuts American companies that make things, so they close factories here and buy from there. This costs us jobs, forces down our wages and savings rate,...
Glenn Beck: Conservatism's Snake Oil Salesman, Pt. 1
(Or "CPAC: Sideshow and Snake Oil, Pt. 2") The circus sideshow that was CPAC folded its tent and left Washington weeks ago. However, its apparent ringmaster and chief snake oil salesman still sweats, struts, and sobs across the "stage" of conservative media — that...
