Archive
Progressive Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE: 10 Ways to Rebuild the Middle Class
OurFuture.org's Terrance Heath: "The middle class is the great engine of the American economy, but today that engine is sputtering.
I Smell John Bolton
To those still wondering if Romney might be a kinder, gentler foreign policy president, think again:
Yesterday we noted that Mitt Romney, down in the polls after the convention, was throwing the kitchen sink at President Obama. Little did we know the kitchen sink would include -- on the anniversary of 9/11 -- one of the most over-the-top and (it turns out) incorrect attacks of the general-election campaign . Last night after 10:00 pm ET, Romney released a statement on the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Egypt and Libya. After saying he was “outraged” by these attacks and the death of an American consulate worker, Romney said, “It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”
Yet after learning every piece of new information about those attacks, the Romney statement looks worse and worse -- and simply off-key. First, Romney was referring to a statement that the U.S. embassy in Egypt issued condemning the “efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.” But that embassy statement, which the White House has distanced itself from, was in reference to an anti-Islam movie and anti-Islam pastor Terry Jones, and it came out BEFORE the embassy attacks began. Then this morning, we learned that the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and others died in one of the attacks.
He doubled down this morning, anyway:
Sequester Madness Is Bad Policy, Bad Politics
Originally posted at Capital Gains and Games.
I want to say this as directly as possible: The sequester - the Jan. 2 across-the-board spending cut that was triggered when the anything-but-super committee failed to agree on a deficit reduction plan last November - needs to be canceled.
In case there's any doubt about what I mean, note that I said "canceled" rather than postponed, delayed, kicked down the road, modified, revised or anything else short of completely stopping the sequester from happening. And I mean both the military and domestic spending cuts, not just one or the other.
The sequester needs to be canceled because it's the wrong fiscal policy at the absolutely wrong time that, as the Congressional Budget Office has said (and no one has seriously disputed), will hurt the economy at a point in the recovery when the other components of gross domestic policy won't be able to absorb the blow.
Other than that, it's a great idea.
When It Comes to the DoJ and Wall Street, Don't Call It "Justice"
If a recent report is true, the Justice Department will need a new name – and some of us will have to step up and admit we were wrong.
Progressive Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE: When It Comes to the DoJ and Wall Street, Don't Call It "Justice"
Progressive Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE: When It Comes to the DoJ and Wall Street, Don't Call It "Justice"
Exposed: A 'Lost Decade' For The Middle Class Caused By Conservative Policies
The latest edition of the Economic Policy Institute's "State of Working America" report, out today, documents in sharp detail what has been for the middle-class economy a "lost decade" in which working people have fallen behind.
We Need Democrats To Act Like Democrats On Education
[My guest writer today is Cynthia Liu, PhD. Cynthia launched member-supported K12NewsNetwork.com to amplify grassroots education news and provide a national platform for people to use sophisticated online organizing tools to better improve and strengthen public schools. It's "MoveOn" for school communities.
Positive Bipartisan Surprise: House Vote On 'Make It In America' Strategy
At least one moderately good thing is coming out of the ideological sewer that is the House of Representatives these days: legislation that will require the executive branch to develop "a strategy to promote growth, sustainability, and competitiveness in the Nation's manufacturing sector."
Deficit Rorschach Test: The Presidents, the Editors, and the Truth
Both political parties have "an aversion to telling the truth," says The Washington Post. The truth?
