Archive
Progressive Breakfast - 5/15/2009
House Begins To Shape Public Plan Option Bloomberg reports on a draft House health care plan: U.S. House Democrats are weighing ... a mandate that employers provide coverage to all full- time workers or pay a percentage of their payroll to the Treasury. Also being...
An Icy Oasis from the Great Meltdown
Amid our world’s economic wreckage, today's New York Times marveled, at least one developed nation seems to be doing just fine. That nation — little Norway — actually grew economically last year. Norwegians today haven’t just sidestepped the...
Change Policy, Change Behavior
As a parent, I'm familiar with the powerful effect that even the threat of a "change in policy" can have on behavior. It can bring troublesome, annoying, or even hazardous behavior to an abrupt end. That change in behavior suggests two things: that behavior could have...
More Evidence For Reining In Credit-Card Companies
The Senate is expected to vote either later today or Friday on a credit-card reform bill. As debate continues on that bill—and as President Obama ratchets up the pressure with a town hall meeting on the subject—a recent report by the Center for Responsible Lending...
Progressive Breakfast - 5/14/2009
Climate Compromises Keep Coming "Rep. Henry Waxman says he thinks he has enough support among fellow Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to pass his climate bill next week. But at least two of those Democrats said Wednesday they can’t support the bill...
Progressive Breakfast - 5/13/2009
Climate Compromises Announced in House AP has the rundown on the climate compromises: Initially, the bill called for electricity producers to generate 25% of their power from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2025. That target has been lowered to 15% by 2020,...
GM to American Workers: Pay for Your Own Execution
The proposition General Motors has presented to the United Auto Workers and American taxpayers in its latest restructuring plan is simple: You must pay for your own execution. GM, which already took $15.4 billion in bailout money, wants another $11.6 billion and is...
What's Good for General Motors Is... Never Mind
Is the Obama administration saving General Motors or is it saving auto industry jobs in the U.S.? Is it saving GM as an American brand or GM as an American manufacturer? These aren't academic questions. General Motors, which has been buttressed by $15.2 billion in...
Progressive Breakfast - 5/12/2009
Health Care Mojo Bloomberg reports the Senate is moving on health care: "The Senate Finance Committee spelled out alternatives for overhauling the U.S. health-care system, including a mandate that all Americans get health coverage and creation of a government-run...
Progressive Breakfast: Insurers Play Ball With White House
Insurers Play Ball With White House NYT on major health care announcement today: "Doctors, hospitals, drug makers and insurance companies will join President Obama on Monday in announcing their commitment to a sharp reduction in the growth of national health spending,...
