Archive
Raise the Roof to Raise the Floor
Today, Senator Tom Harkin and Representative George Miller offer a ray of light amid the austerity blight in Washington. They are announcing introduction of a bill – the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 – to raise the minimum wage gradually to $10.10 and index it so it...
When the Media Mocks Minorities, Bankers Win
Bloomberg Businessweek created quite a stir last week when it illustrated a cover story about the return of risky mortgages with artwork that was widely interpreted as racist because ... well, see for yourself. The cartoon drawing showed only people of color - people...
Brazilian and U.S. Inequality: The Shrinking Gap
Luxury fortresses. Armored cars. Helicopter commutes. The abominably unequal 'good life' may be closer than you think. Meanwhile, in South Africa . . . A dozen years ago, Brazil ranked as the world’s most unequal major nation. Brazil’s most affluent 10 percent were...
Our Current Economic Mess, Explained With Headlines
I was doing research, gathering headlines for a post. But the headlines told a story of their own. So here they are:
Why Are Politicians More Conservative Than They Need To Be?
Ultimately, a whole lot of this comes down to money: as the old saying goes, "it is very difficult to make a man understand something when his livelihood depends on not understanding it."
Why The Sequester Really Happened (Hint It Has Nothing To Do With The Deficit)
How did the sequester happen? How is it possible that what supposedly was the worst possible way to cut the deficit somehow became what actually happened?
Over the weekend Ezra Klein, in a much retweeted blog post that was the talk of large parts of the political blogosphere, said that the GOP was never going to make a deal to avoid the sequester if it included a tax increase. Nothing...not the prospect of reductions in military spending, not the projected reduction in GDP, not the estimated increase in unemployment, not the lost possibility of a bigger deal to reduce the deficit and not the overwhelming likelihood that Republicans would get blamed for all of this...made any difference.
The GOP's position seems to defy all economic and political commonsense until you realize how much GOP politics have changed in recent years.
Tax Dodging: The Real Theft
The Speaker of the House last week said that taxing people to pay for government is theft. Let's look at just where actual theft is occurring. Michael McAuliff and Sabrina Siddiqui covered the story at the Huffington Post, in John Boehner Compares Tax Proposals Of...
Progressive Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE: Sequester Cuts Confirm GOP Party Of Deadbeat Dads OurFuture.org's Jeff Bryant: "...some of the hardest hit by the budget cuts will be children. Prenatal children will feel the brunt of $353 million in cuts to nutrition, care, and education for their...
Progressive Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE: Sequester Cuts Confirm GOP Party Of Deadbeat Dads OurFuture.org's Jeff Bryant: "...some of the hardest hit by the budget cuts will be children. Prenatal children will feel the brunt of $353 million in cuts to nutrition, care, and education for their...
Sequester Cuts Confirm Republicans Are Party Of Deadbeat Dads
This post is republished from the Education Opportunity Network, a new online publication edited by Jeff Bryant. It's a popular analogy among fans of the political game to call Republicans the "Daddy Party" and assign "Mommy Party" to Democratic folk. The source of...
