by Dave Johnson | Apr 2, 2015 | Blog, Populism2015, Trade
Everyone gets that past "free" trade deals rigged the rules against working people. Now across the country a strong populist movement has gained momentum to stop more trade deals from making things worse. This is just one part of the populist movement that has grown...
by Bill Scher | Apr 2, 2015 | Blog, Climate
The United States made one of the first pledges to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Other countries will follow suit over the next few months, setting the stage for an international climate agreement in December, in which nations would pursue...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 2, 2015 | Blog, Education
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Elijah Cummings, who co-chair an initiative called the Middle Class Prosperity Project, are holding a forum today at the University of Massachusetts in Boston on Tackling the Student Debt Crisis (more info here). If the word “crisis”...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 2, 2015 | Blog
The U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday that the February goods and services trade deficit was "$35.4 billion in February, down $7.2 billion from $42.7 billion in January, revised." This enormous, humongous level of $35.5 billion drained from the economy in a single...
by Jim Hightower | Apr 1, 2015 | Current Issues, Democracy
Being a Congress critter isn’t the cushy job many people assume. After all, they must draft laws, organize hearings, write speeches, round up votes, and do all sorts of other things. Oh, wait… my mistake. Members have staff to do all that, including telling the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 1, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
As the Obama administration sends to Congress its proposal for a six-year surface transportation spending plan, a new progressive think tank report exposes the fatal flaw in how it intends to pay for the plan. The $478 billion administration plan depends in part on...
by Jeff Bryant | Apr 1, 2015 | Blog, Education
To the old saying about “death and taxes,” you can now add another: debt. In fact, in contemporary America, debt is likely becoming at least as all-encompassing as the other two. An increasingly powerful force behind the debt explosion is not what you might expect:...
by Bill Scher | Apr 1, 2015 | Uncategorized
Republican Anti-Gay Push Met With Corporate Backlash Walmart calls on Arkansas governor to veto anti-gay "religious freedom" bill. Fortune: "[Walmart's CEO] said that the legislation, 'threatens to undermine the spirit of inclusion present throughout the state of...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 1, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Progressive Vision
The powerful grassroots backlash against Indiana’s anti-gay “religious freedom” law is yielding results and inspiring hope. Right-wing supporters of the law were seemingly caught unawares by a grassroots response that’s put them on the defensive. On Monday, the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 31, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
Leaders of the "fight for $15" movement has set April 15 as the date for a nationwide strike to push for a living wage for all low-wage workers. This movement that started with fast-food workers in 2012 is now expanding to include a whole range of occupations, ranging...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 31, 2015 | Blog, Current Issues, Democracy, Financial Reform
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is supposed to "protect investors." But what happens when a company is dishing the company's cash out to politicians, political parties and political "charities"? Apparently, investors/shareholders don't get to find out...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 31, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Jobs and Growth, Trade
Sucker punched by massive, illegally subsidized imports, American steel producers laid off thousands of workers in bedrock communities from Ohio and Illinois to Texas and Alabama. That’s in just the past three months. The families of furloughed workers are struggling...
by Bill Scher | Mar 31, 2015 | Uncategorized
Fast-Food Worker Movement Aims High "[T]he fast-food movement’s next big wave of protests ... is now scheduled for April 15" reports NYT: "...the organizers hope[ to] turn the fast-food workers’ fight for a $15 hourly wage into a broad national movement of all...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 31, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Seattle's City Council voted unanimously (9-0) Monday to express its opposition to giving the president fast-track trade authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other upcoming trade agreements. Last week, the City Council in Bellingham, Washington also voted...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 31, 2015 | Blog, Democracy, Populist Majority
For presidential wannabes, the money primary has already begun, as aspirants troop from one gathering of the wealthy to another. Jeb – “my own man” – Bush hasn’t announced formally yet, but is expected to do well on the Republican side, tapping his family's deep well...
by Bill Scher | Mar 31, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
The Choice Before Republican Primary Voters was Laid Bare by Conservative Pundit Matt Lewis, as Reported by The new York Times: Mr. Bush proudly tells of having ended racial preferences at Florida’s universities, but in the next breath adds, as he said in February,...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 30, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Jobs and Growth
We all know America's infrastructure is crumbling. Meanwhile, millions of people still need jobs. But in one more of many stunning examples of failure to govern, the Republican budget proposals cut back infrastructure funding even more. Tax cuts have resulted in years...
by Bernie Horn | Mar 30, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
Last week, Indiana Governor Mike Pence (R) signed SB 101 into law, the so-called “Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” Apparently, Pence was surprised at the nationwide outcry against the law and he’s adopted a defensive crouch. "There has been a lot of...
by Bill Scher | Mar 30, 2015 | Uncategorized
Warren Expands Trade Fight Sen. Elizabeth Warren takes trade fight to the House. The Hill: "[She] met Tuesday with a group of House Democrats before administration officials were to meet with a larger of group of Democrats to discuss the investor-state dispute...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 30, 2015 | Blog, Financial Reform
For so-called “masters of the universe,” Wall Street executives sure seem touchy about criticism. It seems they don't like being painted as the bad guys. But if they don't like being criticized, why do so many of them keep behaving like B-movie villains? That's...
by Richard Long | Mar 27, 2015 | Retirement Security
Imagine your career winding down and being presented with these two offers: $1,500 a month for the rest of your life, or a $350,000 lump sum that you can use however you see fit. Which would you choose? How would you make sure you lived comfortably for the rest of...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 27, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
Let’s be clear. Sen. Ted Cruz is not going to be president. Nor is he going to be the Republican nominee. But his wingnut tendencies will make 2016 a headache for Republicans, and more entertaining for the rest of us. Sen. Ted Cruz (R, Texas) announced his candidacy...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 27, 2015 | Conservatism, Economy
We're about to enter what is on many Christian calendars Holy Week. We need to, because it certainly has been an unholy week here in Washington. Both the House and Senate have now passed budget resolutions that offer comfort and protection to the wealthy and powerful...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 27, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, Trade
The American steel industry is getting hammered, and not in a good way (as in good old American-made Kentucky Bourbon). Steel companies are laying off, and closing plants due to low-cost foreign imports. The Story Steel companies are getting hammered by low-priced...
by Bill Scher | Mar 27, 2015 | Uncategorized
Senate Approves Radical Right-Wing Budget Senate passes budget overnight. NYT: "The 52-46 vote came at 3:28 a.m. ... Now, Senate and House negotiators hope to take similar tax-and-spending plans and negotiate the first common congressional budget in a decade. Then...
by Sam Pizzigati | Mar 27, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Health
Peasants with pitchforks don’t normally wear lab coats and hold medical degrees. Hagop Kantarjian does. Kantarjian currently chairs the leukemia department at the prestigious M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of America’s top oncology facilities. But the...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 27, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
A key section of the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement has been leaked to the public. The New York Times has a major story on the contents of the leaked chapter and it's as bad as many of us feared. Now we know why the corporations and the Obama...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 26, 2015 | Conservatism
The series of votes that will shape the Senate's version of the fiscal 2016 federal budget won't be over until Friday morning, but we already know how this drama ends, with Republicans keeping true to being the "party of 'no'" when it comes to actions that would help...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 26, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Jobs and Growth
Yesterday House Republicans passed a budget with no new funding for job creation. Today a new report on black unemployment shows the urgent need for investment in job creation. In a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, “Projected Decline in Unemployment in...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 26, 2015 | Blog, Education
It's been nearly two years since the Education Opportunity Network, with the Opportunity to Learn campaign and the Campaign for America's Future, published the Education Declaration to Rebuild America. As The Washington Post reported at the time, "The document offers...
by Bill Scher | Mar 26, 2015 | Uncategorized
TPP Draft Leaks Classified TPP draft released by WIkileaks to NYT: "[The draft accord] would allow foreign corporations to sue the United States government for actions that undermine their investment 'expectations' and hurt their business ... Backers ... say that it...
by Miya Pontes | Mar 25, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
Walk into a McDonald’s in San Francisco, New York, or any small town, and you will see very similar layouts, uniforms, and menus. You know what to expect from any individual restaurant because McDonald’s exerts considerable control over each franchisee. However,...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 25, 2015 | Economy, People's Budget, Progressive Vision
The Progressive Caucus People's Budget, as expected, went down to defeat on the House floor today, but not before it picked up 96 Democratic votes, a majority of Democrats. The budget got 330 nays, including 86 from Democrats. The People's Budget did get fewer votes...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 25, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick will head an advisory board for the Astroturf group called the Progressive Coalition for American Jobs. This group was formed to push for passage of fast track trade authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Also...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 25, 2015 | Blog, Education
Be afraid, be very afraid, any time you see a reporter in the business media turn his or her attention to education and public schools. What will likely follow is a string of truisms used to prop up a specious argument, steeped in biased notions that were themselves...
by Bill Scher | Mar 25, 2015 | Blog
Sen. Mitch McConnell has led the Senate for three months. He has yet to pass any legislation that would show the public how the Republican Party would implement solutions like raising wages, making education affordable or, say, reducing carbon pollution. Partly that...
by Bill Scher | Mar 25, 2015 | Uncategorized
House Votes Budget Today House GOP leadership expects to pass budget today. The Hill: "GOP leaders believe the House will eventually back the amended version of the Price budget, which would increase a Pentagon war fund to $96 billion and require no offsets ... Under...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 25, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Economy, Education, Jobs and Growth
Republicans in Congress today will vote on budget proposals that are essentially meaningless, except that they lay out how the GOP would like to structure federal policy and priorities. The White House has its own fact sheet about the House Republican budget. The...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 25, 2015 | People's Budget, Progressive Vision
[fve]http://youtu.be/6JmsLUC7zos[/fve]Rep. Raùl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is presented Tuesday with the names of more than 150,000 people who signed up to be co-sponsors of the People's Budget. Politics isn't always the art...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 24, 2015 | Blog, People's Budget, Progressive Vision
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdCWSHtQ5CM] In a recent televised conversation, Thom Hartmann and I discussed the Congressional Progressive Caucus' proposed federal budget. The "People's Budget" would create 8.8 million new jobs, rebuild our crumbling...
