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Happy Holidays - The World Didn't End and Doesn't Have To

The world didn't end! The Mayan calendar starts a new cycle and we can too. Take it easy; have a Happy Holiday. It's the holiday season and the end of a year. It is time to take a break, enjoy family and reflect on the year that just was and imagine that new year that...

Radical Plan B Failed Because It Was Not Extreme Enough

Just how radical and extreme are the Republicans today? Republicans didn't oppose Boehner's radical "Plan B" because it would devastate American families and small businesses and destroy government -- that was OK, in fact that wasn't even enough destruction for them....

A Budget Crystal Ball for 2013

Don’t expect Congress to tackle a tax overhaul anytime soon. For the third year in a row I am not writing a year-in-review column because, honestly, they’re boring and unnecessary. If you’ve been interested enough in the federal budget to read my column in 2012, you...

First Loyalties

When I was a young organizer for Iowa Citizen Action Network, we were doing a lot of work on utility rate hikes. I met an elderly woman, maybe late 70s, who was living on her Social Security check. As utility prices went through the roof, her cost of living increase...

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