by Jim Hightower | Mar 3, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Health
p>The GOP-led House of Representatives has already achieved a historic legislative record. A record in futility, that is. And absurdity. In February, for the 56th time, they focused the entire array of brain cells in their 245-member caucus on an effort that would...
by Bill Scher | Mar 3, 2015 | Uncategorized
End In Sight For Shutdown Standoff House GOP leader suggests "clean" bill to fund Homeland Security will pass soon. The Hill: "'I think a clean bill comes back from the Senate, probably arrives tomorrow, no later than the next day, and I think it’ll pass the House. I...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 3, 2015 | Blog, Retirement Security
Frank Underwood is known for deceiving people into acting against their own best interests. (We'll miss you, President Walker.) Now we learn that this trait may extend to the series that features him. The greatest betrayals on "House of Cards" can be found in the...
by Dean Baker | Mar 2, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Jobs and Growth
There is an enormous amount of political debate over various pieces of legislation that are supposed to be massive job killers. For example, Republicans lambasted President Obama’s increase in taxes on the wealthy back in 2013 as a job killer. They endlessly have...
by Bill Scher | Mar 2, 2015 | Blog
Republicans, have mercy on your presidential candidates. Just get this immigration debate over with so your presidential candidates don't have to flip-flop anymore. Gov. Scott Walker is the latest in a long line of Republican immigration flippers, though at least he...
by Bill Scher | Mar 2, 2015 | Uncategorized
House To Try Again To Fund Homeland Security Republicans may surrender this week on funding Homeland Security. Politico: "...the GOP-controlled Senate will take the first step with a vote Monday on whether to head into formal negotiations with the House on financing...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 2, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
The debate over fast-track trade authority – designed to grease the tracks for a vote on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) accords still in negotiation – ought to be the occasion for a fundamental review of our global economic strategy. We know that it is broken....
by Bernie Horn | Mar 1, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Economy
Last week, when the Federal Communications Commission voted for net neutrality and changed the way the Internet is policed, conservatives fell back on their favorite myth. The right-wing media raged that it’s “a blow to the free market system.…” But there’s no such...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 27, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
Papa Bear Roars Anyone with a YouTube account knows by now that Fox News Host Bill O’Reilly has a bit of a temper. [fve]http://youtu.be/2tJjNVVwRCY[/fve] When NBC news anchor Brian Williams falsely claimed that his helicopter was nearly shot down, as he covered the US...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 27, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Eight senators on Thursday let the country know there is going to be a fight over fast-track trade authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.),...
by Bill Scher | Feb 27, 2015 | Uncategorized
Obama v. Warren on Trade Obama pushes trade agenda in local TV interviews. W. Post: "Among the television stations Obama spoke with was KGW in Portland, Ore., the home state of Sen. Ron Wyden, whom the White House views as a key Democratic ally on trade ... Wyden and...
by Richard Long | Feb 26, 2015 | Retirement Security
[fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DNJbVRnANs&feature=youtu.be[/fve] Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) has called out his Senate Republican colleagues for “creating a phony crisis” with regard to Social Security while ignoring a real one – the income inequality that...
by Emily Schwartz Greco | Feb 26, 2015 | Blog, Climate
When 27 CSX tanker cars loaded with fracked North Dakota crude tumbled onto a West Virginia riverbank on President’s Day, the ensuing fireballs leveled a house and forced hundreds of people to flee amid a heavy snowstorm. Even though 19 of the derailed cars — each...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 26, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
[fve]http://youtu.be/cYg0pEr-3fU[/fve] All the talk about "trade" deals might seem complicated, with all the "TPP" and "TPA" and "FTA" and "TTIP" floating around. It doesn't have to be difficult, though. Watch Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, explain "fast...
by Bill Scher | Feb 26, 2015 | Uncategorized
Pressure On House GOP To Avert DHS Shutdown Senate could pass bill to fund Homeland Security today, House prospects unclear. W. Post: "...Boehner repeatedly declined to say Wednesday whether he would take up the Senate’s 'clean' bill ... Sen. Mark Kirk (Ill.), a...
by Robert Borosage | Feb 26, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Financial Reform
“Yellen Puts Fed on Path to Lift Rates,” reads the banner headline in the Wall Street Journal. The Federal Reserve's chair Janet Yellen is intimating that it might begin to lift interest rates in the middle of this year. If so, its decisions over the next year could...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 25, 2015 | Financial Reform
[fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBs6H1P7Wd0[/fve] A broad range of progressive organizations is throwing support behind the Obama administration's effort to rein in financial advisers who market retirement funds. Americans for Financial Reform sent a letter of...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 25, 2015 | Blog, Progressive Vision
Rahm Emanuel should be taking a victory lap now. Heading into yesterday's municipal elections, the Chicago mayor had everything an incumbent officeholder could wish for. He had money. Just as he parlayed his Washington connections into paying clients during two and a...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 25, 2015 | Blog, Financial Reform
In July 2010, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Section 953(b) of that law directs the SEC to require public companies to disclose the median annual total compensation of all employees, the total annual compensation...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 25, 2015 | Economy, Jobs and Growth
[fve]http://youtu.be/twVCSOpsSQ0[/fve] There is a far more important political question right now for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) than the continuing attempts to coax her into a presidential campaign and her dogged refusal to take the bait. She, along with Rep....
by Jeff Bryant | Feb 25, 2015 | Blog, Education
For sure, there is a lot for Democrats to dislike about the current version of No Child Left Behind federal education legislation steaming toward approval in the House of Representatives. The bill, The Student Success Act (H.R. 5), was written completely by...
by Bill Scher | Feb 25, 2015 | Uncategorized
Republicans Turn On Each Other McConnell prepared to offer a "clean" bill to fund Homeland Security. The Hill: "McConnell said he would be willing to vote on the clean measure before considering a separate bill that would prohibit the administration from implementing...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 25, 2015 | Blog, Trade
NAFTA – the North American Free Trade Agreement – was sold with promises of jobs and prosperity on all sides of the border. What really happened was that an increased trade deficit sucked demand and jobs out of the U.S. economy; workers lost bargaining power,...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 24, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
Tipped workers in New York state have won a major victory, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state's Hospitality Wage Board announce that their minimum wage, which had been frozen at $5 an hour, will be increased to $7.50 an hour starting December 31. This order follows...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 24, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
Last week, former New York Mayor and failed GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani ruined a quiet dinner, where anti-tax Republicans were vetting Wisconsin governor and possible presidential candidate Scott Walker, when he became the latest Republican to question...
by Bill Scher | Feb 24, 2015 | Blog
According to Republicans, President Obama is failing to protect us from terrorism because he refuses to label terrorists organizations like ISIS as perpetrating "radical Islamic terrorism," preferring to say these terrorists are "perverting Islam." Sen. Ted Cruz...
by Leo Gerard | Feb 24, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
This 1943 image of a sleeping car porter employed by the Pullman Company was taken at Union Station in Chicago, Ill. by photographer Jack Delano. Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress. The billionaire Republican Governor of Illinois, Bruce Rauner, injected himself into...
by Bill Scher | Feb 24, 2015 | Uncategorized
Obama, Warren Team Up Against Wall Street "Obama picks a fight with Wall Street banks" over retirement planner rule. The Hill: "With Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) by his side, Obama announced Monday at AARP’s Washington headquarters that he is moving ahead with new...
by Richard Eskow | Feb 24, 2015 | Blog, Financial Reform
A lone bureaucrat has been fighting the financial industry for years, on an issue that stands at the intersection of two national challenges: investment regulation and retirement security. Along the way she's collected some new and interesting allies. Is that a sign...
by Diane Archer | Feb 23, 2015 | Health
Let’s face it: HMOs and PPOs are playing a game of bait and switch, keeping monthly premium increases down while raising their members’ out-of-pocket costs. The Avalere health consulting firm reports that specialty drug costs are no exception, with more than four out...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 23, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Jobs and Growth
This week a new wave of protests is expected in Madison, Wisconsin, in reaction to a sudden new set of anti-worker laws from Governor Walker and the state's Republican leadership. The state's union leadership is asking people to come to the capitol on Tuesday and...
by Robert Reich | Feb 23, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Jobs and Growth
GM is worth around $60 billion, and has over 200,000 employees. Its front-line workers earn from $19 to $28.50 an hour, with benefits. Uber is estimated to be worth some $40 billion, and has 850 employees. Uber also has over 163,000 drivers (as of December – the...
by Bernie Horn | Feb 23, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
In state legislatures, 2015 is the right wing’s best chance to enact the most extreme legislation. The right now controls more state legislatures than at any time since the 1920s. This opportunity is fleeting. Because of increased voter turnout in presidential years,...
by Richard Eskow | Feb 23, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Democracy
Last week the nation was treated to the sad and embarrassing spectacle of Jeb Bush, mollycoddled scion to an empire of failure, proclaiming that "I'm my own man." Here's a simple rule of thumb: Anyone who has to say he's his own man, or woman, isn't. The 62-year-old...
by Bill Scher | Feb 23, 2015 | Uncategorized
Republicans Governors Consider Taxes Some Republican governors pushing tax hikes to balance budgets. Bloomberg: "Governors in about 10 states, many led by Republicans, are proposing increases this year ... Several plans involve raising fuel taxes to pay for crumbling...
by Meghan Byrd | Feb 23, 2015 | Education
Many students graduating from universities face a mountain of student loans so large, escaping its shadow seems almost impossible. But a group of former students today is taking matters into their own hands. With the help of Rolling Jubilee, a campaign that purchases...
by Robert Borosage | Feb 23, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
The furor following Rudolph Giuliani’s ugly slur against President Obama has distracted from what poses a far greater threat to the country than the vile rantings of a washed-up big city pol. Republicans, joined by some Democrats, are fanning the flames of war,...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 23, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
While construction of other high-speed rail lines around the country has been blocked, California's line between San Francisco and Los Angeles is actually getting built. This single project is triggering a lot of potential American hiring. As it proceeds, we should...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 20, 2015 | Conservatism
American Jihad? The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has outraged the world with suicide bombings and videos depicting the brutal executions of its captives. This was after ISIS claimed that it would humiliate American soldiers and “raise the flag of Allah” over...
by Gary Cohn | Feb 20, 2015 | Economy
There are many gauges of the depth and breadth of economic inequality, and they often measure what middle-income working people have today against what they had prior to 1980 – that time when homes were affordable, along with doctor visits and college educations. Yet...
