by Tim Wilkins | Sep 20, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Chris Simmons College For All Means Dignity For All My name is Chris Simmons, and I want to tell you why we need – I need – Free College For All now. I grew up in Newton, Iowa, a small city east of Des Moines. For a hundred years, Newton was the...
by Chris Simmons | Sep 20, 2019 | Blog, Economy, Education, Election, Featured
My name is Chris Simmons, and I want to tell you why we need - I need - Free College For All now. I grew up in Newton, Iowa, a small city east of Des Moines. For a hundred years, Newton was the “washing machine capital of the world.” It was home to the Maytag...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 19, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Ai-jen Poo Ask 2020 Candidates To Support Universal Family Care This Saturday at the People’s Presidential Forum, hosted by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund and People's Action, I’ll be joining Lou Ann Burkle — a Des Moines wife who...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 18, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Linda Armitage What A Homes Guarantee Means To Me I lost everything during the financial crisis. The government decided that the perpetrators of the crisis were “too big to fail” and bailed them out with our money. I was not bailed out. Today, a decade...
by Linda Armitage | Sep 18, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Housing
Photo credit: Caelie_Frampton/flickr/cc I lost everything during the financial crisis. The government decided that the perpetrators of the crisis were “too big to fail” and bailed them out with our money. I was not bailed out. Today, a decade after the crisis, I’m...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 17, 2019 | Blog, Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Barb Kalbach Medicare For All Is A Matter Of Life Or Death For Rural America Rural hospitals are often the economic heart of a community. Worse, when minutes mean the difference between life and death, every hospital that closes leaves patients in...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 16, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE The Iowa People’s Presidential Forum Will Be A No-Stump Zone It’s time. After months of preparation, the Iowa People’s Presidential Forum will be this Saturday, September, 21, at noon in Des Moines. At Iowa CCI Action, we’re ready – buses from all...
by Hugh Espey | Sep 16, 2019 | Blog, Election, Featured
It’s time. After months of preparation, the Iowa People’s Presidential Forum will be this Saturday, September, 21, at noon in Des Moines. At Iowa CCI Action, we’re ready - our buses from all across the state are booked, and our questions are prepped. Bernie Sanders,...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 13, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Sam Pizzigati Wealth That Concentrates Kills The weight of the wealth that sits at the top of America’s economic order isn’t just squeezing dollars out of the wallets of average Americans. That concentrated wealth is shearing years off of American...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 12, 2019 | Economy, Featured, Future of Work, Health, Inequality
The weight of the wealth that sits at the top of America’s economic order isn’t just squeezing dollars out of the wallets of average Americans. That concentrated wealth is shearing years off of American lives. The latest evidence for that squeeze on American wallets...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 12, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Miles Mogulescu Can Debate Moderators Stop Parroting GOP Talking Points? At the first two Democratic debates, the moderators from NBC/MSNBC and CNN based their questions about health care on Republican and corporate talking points. They acted as if the...
by Miles Mogulescu | Sep 12, 2019 | Blog, Election, Featured
At the first two Democratic debates, the moderators from NBC/MSNBC and CNN based their questions about health care on Republican and corporate talking points. They acted as if the issue most people care about is the future of private insurance companies, rather than...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 11, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Paul M. Barrett Disinformation In The 2020 Election In 2016, Russian operatives used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to sow division among American voters and boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. What the Russians used to accomplish this is called...
by Paul M. Barrett | Sep 11, 2019 | Blog, Election, Featured
Photo credit: igorstevanovic/Shutterstock.com In 2016, Russian operatives used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to sow division among American voters and boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. What the Russians used to accomplish this is called “disinformation,”...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 10, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Jill Richardson Get Ready For Unnatural Disasters Donald Trump discusses immigration as if the benefits of residence in the U.S. are a pie. When immigrants get more, the people who were already here get less. Trump is now turning his viewpoint into a...
by Jill Richardson | Sep 10, 2019 | Blog, Climate, Environment, Featured, Immigration
Photo credit: U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Adam Stanton Donald Trump discusses immigration as if the benefits of residence in the U.S. are a pie. When immigrants get more, the people who were already here get less. In general, that’s not true. When...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 9, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Tom Conway Google’s Chance To Do Good For Gig Workers Google is famous for workplaces called “campuses” where employees get enormous paychecks and enjoy all the perks of fancy private college campuses, including pingpong tables and other entertainment....
by Tom Conway | Sep 9, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Future of Work, Inequality
Google is famous for workplaces called “campuses” where employees get enormous paychecks and enjoy all the perks of fancy private college campuses, including pingpong tables and other entertainment. But other workers who produce for Google across the country are not...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 6, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Chuck Collins Tax The Rich Before The Rest Presidential candidates should take a pledge: The middle class should not pay one dollar more in new taxes until the super-rich pay their fair share. Already candidates are outlining ambitious programs to...
by Chuck Collins | Sep 6, 2019 | Blog, Economy, Featured, Inequality
Presidential candidates should take a pledge: The middle class should not pay one dollar more in new taxes until the super-rich pay their fair share. Already candidates are outlining ambitious programs to improve health care, combat climate change, and address the...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 5, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Tom Lewandowski Don’t Subsidize Companies That Silence Workers Will America finally grant its workers First Amendment rights? The Constitution guarantees “freedom of speech,” the right to “peaceably assemble,” and the right to petition for “a redress...
by Tom Lewandowski | Sep 5, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Future of Work, Protest
Photo credit: Fibonacci Blue / flickr / cc Will America finally grant its workers First Amendment rights? The Constitution guarantees “freedom of speech,” the right to “peaceably assemble,” and the right to petition for “a redress of grievances.” Yet these civil...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 4, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Tom Lewandowski Don’t Subsidize Companies That Silence Workers Will America finally grant its workers First Amendment rights? The Constitution guarantees “freedom of speech,” the right to “peaceably assemble,” and the right to petition for “a redress...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 3, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Tom Conway In Praise Of Scabby The Rat Giant balloons apparently terrify Peter Robb, Donald Trump’s hand-picked general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Big balloons shaped like rats, cats, pigs and cockroaches so frighten Robb...
by Tom Conway | Sep 3, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Future of Work, Inequality, Protest
Giant balloons apparently terrify Peter Robb, who is Donald Trump’s hand-picked general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Big balloons shaped like rats, cats, pigs and cockroaches so frighten Robb that he has used his office to take extraordinary...
by Tim Wilkins | Aug 30, 2019 | Breakfast
MEDICARE FOR ALL Cherie Mortice Iowans Won’t Be Fooled: We Need #MedicareForAll Now Last week I took over the lobby of the Master Builders of Iowa in Des Moines with 30 other members of Iowa Citizens For Community Improvement Action, the largest progressive...
by Cherie Mortice | Aug 30, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Health, I Speak, Rural
Last week I took over the lobby of the Master Builders of Iowa in Des Moines with 30 other members of Iowa Citizens For Community Improvement Action, the largest progressive organization in our state, with members in all of our 99 counties. Why, you might ask, did...
by Tim Wilkins | Aug 29, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Jeff Bryant Flint’s Crisis Reveals National Failure On School ‘Leadership’ Flint, Michigan, became a national poster child for incompetence and corruption when a small group of autocratic officials put in charge by the state’s governor made the...
by Jeff Bryant | Aug 29, 2019 | Blog, Education, Featured
Flint, Michigan, became a national poster child for incompetence and corruption when a small group of autocratic officials put in charge by the state’s governor made the infamous decision to supply lead-tainted water to the public. But long before Flint’s water...
by Tim Wilkins | Aug 28, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Sameena Mustafa Real People Will Lead the Way to #MedicareForAll Seniors chanting “Get out of the way!” as they hold cardboard tombstones might not seem like a challenge to the largest physicians’ group in the United States. But in 78-year-old Reggie...
by Sameena Mustafa | Aug 28, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Health
Seniors chanting “Get out of the way!” as they hold cardboard tombstones might not seem like a challenge to the largest physicians’ group in the United States. But in 78-year-old Reggie Griffin, the American Medical Association met their match. “The time is up for us...
by Tim Wilkins | Aug 27, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Tom Conway Can Business Really Put People Before Profits? Last Monday, 181 corporate CEOs who belong to the Business Roundtable signed a pledge saying they think greed isn’t so good, after all. These CEOs declared that corporations must demonstrate...
by Tom Conway | Aug 27, 2019 | Blog, Democracy, Economy, Featured, Future of Work, Inequality
Jamie Dimon and friends. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons / Financial Times / cc Gordon Gekko found religion last week. Gekko, the lead in the 1987 movie “Wall Street” about capitalism gone corruptly amok, is most famous for his phrase: “greed is good.” Last Monday,...
by Tim Wilkins | Aug 26, 2019 | Blog
MORNING MESSAGE George Goehl Trump’s Reelection Strategy: Pit Us Against Each Other You would think after a white nationalist murdered 22 people and injured dozens more in El Paso, Donald Trump would lay off the hate, even just for a moment. Apparently he’s not...
by George Goehl | Aug 26, 2019 | Blog, Democracy, Election, Featured
You would think after a white nationalist murdered 22 people and injured dozens more in El Paso, Donald Trump would lay off the hate, even just for a moment. Apparently he’s not capable. Or not willing. Whether it’s immigration raids, cutbacks on legal immigration, or...
by Tim Wilkins | Aug 23, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Sam Pizzigati We Need What Canada Has: Economic Security South of the border, here in the United States, we Americans tend not to pay much attention to our northern neighbors. Entire election cycles can come and go without anyone running for national...
by Sam Pizzigati | Aug 23, 2019 | Blog, Economy, Featured, Inequality
South of the border, here in the United States, we Americans tend not to pay much attention to our northern neighbors. Entire election cycles can come and go without anyone running for national office saying anything significant about Canada. But that’s all changing....
by Tim Wilkins | Aug 22, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Connie Huynh It’s Time to Put #PeopleOverPharma From Connecticut to Washington, New York and West Virginia, People’s Action members rallied across the nation this Tuesday to demand Congress and Trump put #PeopleOverPharma profits. “They’re jacking up...
by Connie Huynh | Aug 22, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Health
From Connecticut to Washington, New York and West Virginia, People's Action members rallied across the nation this Tuesday to demand that Congress and Trump put #PeopleOverPharma profits. Twelve People’s Action member groups participated in the events, which were part...
by Tim Wilkins | Aug 21, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE State Rep. Mari Cordes (D-VT) Organizing From The Inside In Vermont, we’re a citizen legislature, so we are full of community members for whom being in the General Assembly is not their primary job. Some folks are retired; I’m a registered nurse. I was...
