Archive
The Republican Chance To Govern Like Grown-Ups
The January deal on Senate rules forged by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell has actually held. It just wasn't very ambitious in its scope. The deal was designed to cut down on dilatory tactics so they could, in the words of one senator, "get back...
Mitch McConnell Put On Notice: Stop Blocking Labor Board Nominations
House Democrats joined with victims of unfair labor practices today to deliver a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, signed by 201 Democratic House members, asking him to stop the obstruction in the Senate and to allow votes on President Obama’s National...
Will Portugal Be Austerity's Next "Catastrophic Success"
I’ve written a few times about how austerity has done a number on Portugal. It’s increased inequality, shrunk the economy, increased the country’s death rate, driven unemployment to record highs, led to a mass exodus of educated-but-unemployed young Portuguese (much...
Progressive Breakfast: Join The Student Loan Rate
Student Loan Vote Soon Student loan vote expected tomorrow, but no deal in sight. Roll Call: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., filed cloture Monday on a Democrat-sponsored one-year extension of the expired fixed rate of 3.4 percent for subsidized Stafford...
Why Republicans Want to Tax Students and Not Polluters
A basic economic principle is government ought to tax what we want to discourage, and not tax what we want to encourage.
For example, if we want less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we should tax carbon polluters. On the other hand, if we want more students from lower-income families to be able to afford college, we shouldn’t put a tax on student loans.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, congressional Republicans are intent on doing exactly the opposite.
Stop in the Name of Love – of Country
The conduct of the New York State Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in rehabilitating the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge can only be described as anti-American. The MTA plans to send $235.7 million of Americans’ hard-earned toll dollars to China for foreign steel and...
Tell These Senators To Join The Student Loan Rate Rollback
Now that the deadline has passed to prevent student loan rates from doubling to almost 7 percent, some members of Congress are scrambling to fix the problem before students sign new loans for the fall. Today. we’re asking you to participate in a click-to-call campaign...
Where the Hell Is the Outrage?
From the first breath of life to the last, our lives are being stolen out from under us. From infant care and early education to Social Security and Medicare, the dominant economic ideology is demanding more lifelong sacrifices from the vulnerable to appease the gods...
Middle-Class Struggle Is 'A Matter of Light And Gas' In A PBS Documentary
While the focus on deficit reduction and austerity continues to permeate the economic dialogue, two families in Wisconsin have dealt with the everyday pains of the jobless and underpaid American middle class. Bill Moyers has charted their journey for a decade on his...
Conservative Obstruction Crippling Two Key Watchdogs
Though the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened shop almost three years ago, it has yet to be fully functional because of the financial industry lobby and its allies in Congress. Today, Sen. Elizabeth Warren along with Americans for Financial Reform held a...
