by Bill Scher | Feb 9, 2015 | Blog, Health, Populist Majority
Over at Real Clear Politics, I responded to the John Judis essay in National Journal, in which he argues that there is an "Emerging Republican Advantage" that could give the GOP total control of Washington in 2016. While some have argued that demographic changes will...
by Dean Baker | Feb 9, 2015 | Blog, Economy
For years people have been running around Washington yelling that the United States was at risk of becoming Greece. There may actually be a basis for such concerns, but not for the reason usually given. The standard story of the United States becoming Greece is that...
by Bernie Horn | Feb 9, 2015 | Blog, Progressive Vision
Last week’s column explained the science behind political stubbornness. Essentially, our brains are hard-wired to engage in “confirmation bias.” Further, our opponents get a blast of dopamine and feel pleasure after they rebut our arguments—even when that rebuttal is...
by Bill Scher | Feb 9, 2015 | Uncategorized
Hillary Readies Platform Hillary Clinton toiling over an economic platform and message. NYT: "...she is expected to embrace several principles. They include standard Democratic initiatives like raising the minimum wage, investing in infrastructure, closing corporate...
by Richard Eskow | Feb 9, 2015 | Blog, Economy
We have become a profoundly unequal society. That reality is explored in new detail in a recent study from the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). Even more importantly, the INET study shows that it will take a dramatic shift in policy to restore the...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 6, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
This week, conservatives’ anti-science agenda blew up in their faces, Republican Aaron Schock landed in hot water for his interior design choices, and Bobby Jindal got an enlightening makeover. No Vaccine For Stupid It started innocently enough. Asked about a recent...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 6, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America, Trade
Alongside Friday's good employment data, there is a brouhaha on the Internets over claims that the government's employment numbers are a "big lie." Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of the Gallup polling company penned "The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment," claiming that "the...
by Diane Archer | Feb 6, 2015 | Retirement Security
While President Obama’s proposed Medicare policies leave a lot to be desired, he gets it right on Social Security. The president proposes to move tax revenue from the Social Security retirement fund to the Social Security disability fund, which would otherwise not be...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 6, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
The largely positive January jobs report – 257,000 new jobs created, and only a slight uptick in the unemployment to 5.7 percent due to more people coming into the job market – raises a key question: Can this fragile growth be protected from a Republican Congress that...
by Bill Scher | Feb 6, 2015 | Uncategorized
Trade Deficit Raises Questions About Strategy Trade deficit could lead to downward revision of fourth quarter GDP. Reuters: "The government reported last week that G.D.P. expanded at a 2.6 percent annual rate, with trade estimated to have subtracted 1.02 percentage...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 6, 2015 | Blog, Trade
In December the trade deficit in goods and services made its largest percentage jump in more than five years and the 2014 yearly total is its highest since 2012 – which begs the question: Why is the Obama administration doubling down on the failed trade policies of...
by Miya Pontes | Feb 5, 2015 | Progressive Vision
This Valentine’s Day – Saturday, February 14 – join the Forward Together Moral Movement's Mass Moral March on Raleigh in North Carolina. The march is a protest against extremist right-wing policies that are having detrimental effects on the people of North Carolina,...
by Jeff Bryant | Feb 5, 2015 | Blog, Education
[From the Education Opportunity Network. Subscribe here.] Don't get too excited yet, but there are signs we may have finally turned a corner for the better in the war for public school financing. Recently, government officials and politicians – from the Beltway to the...
by Bernie Sanders | Feb 5, 2015 | Economy, Progressive Vision
The good news is the country has made substantial economic progress in the last six years since President Bush left office. Instead of losing 800,000 jobs a month as we were during the final months of the Bush administration, we are now creating some 250,000 jobs a...
by Bill Scher | Feb 5, 2015 | Blog
"I love my brother. I think he’s been a great president," Jeb Bush said yesterday. Such sentiment should not pose political problems for the former Florida governor. That's simple familial courtesy. Most voters would cut Jeb plenty of slack. But voters will still want...
by Bill Scher | Feb 5, 2015 | Uncategorized
Capital & Main Takes On Inequality California news site Capital & Main launches month-long series on "how economic inequality is transforming California, and what can be done to rebuild our vanishing middle class." Greece v. Europe Europe squeezes Greece. NYT:...
by Richard Eskow | Feb 5, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Greek Crisis
Every day brings more headlines in the European debt drama: "Greece elects anti-austerity government." "Greek Finance Minister says he won't negotiate with the 'Troika.'” "Anti-austerity movements gain ground across Europe." What's behind these stories? What does the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 4, 2015 | Economy
As former Department of Labor Secretary Robert Reich says in the above video, there's a lot to like about California, including the fact that it is electorally a solidly blue state with many good progressive elected officials. But what's bad about California is that...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 4, 2015 | Blog
The core conservative "freedom" argument that government is illegitimate and we should all rely on our own "personal responsibility" came up against reality in the last few days. Conservative ideology, as it always does when confronted with reality, lost. There has...
by Diane Archer | Feb 4, 2015 | Health, Retirement Security
President Obama just released his 2016 proposed budget, which contains many commendable proposals but does a great disservice to older adults with Medicare. It mistakenly buys into the philosophy that it’s OK to tax older Americans (make them pay more) and keep them...
by Bill Scher | Feb 4, 2015 | Uncategorized
Both Parties Struggle With Populism 529 reform backlash ominous sign for populist Dems, argues NYT's Thomas Edsall: "If such a simple and straightforward proposal as the shift of government dollars from affluent families to far less advantaged families scraping to pay...
by Richard Eskow | Feb 4, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Progressive Vision
Has the American left lost sight of the big picture? While liberals have been fighting line-item battles against the Republican right, government itself has been changing – and slowly disappearing. Are we winning some battles (not so many, come to think of it) but...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 3, 2015 | Conservatism, Health
America is in the middle of a measles outbreak, thanks to the growing number of parents who are not willing to have their children vaccinated. News of the outbreak reached London, where reporters asked New Jersey governor and 2016 presidential hopeful Chris Christie...
by Jacob Swenson-Lengyel | Feb 3, 2015 | Blog, Progressive Vision, Rick Perlstein
[fve]http://youtu.be/EbZgQmP0VZ0[/fve] Reclaim Chicago video Since the midterm elections, the media has been buzzing about the growing schism between Wall Street Democrats and the populist wing of the party. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s recent victories give evidence for...
by Leo Gerard | Feb 3, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Economy
The people of Greece rebelled last week against the perverse notion that they should continue to endure biting austerity in a vain attempt to cure a condition that they are not solely responsible for creating. Sounds familiar, right? It’s like American workers forced...
by Bill Scher | Feb 3, 2015 | Blog
A favorite maxim of Vice-President Joe Biden's is: "Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value." President Obama proposed a budget that is a reflection of his values today. This puts considerable pressure on Republicans. They...
by Bill Scher | Feb 3, 2015 | Uncategorized
Budget Battle Is On Obama's budget seeks to divide Republicans. Bloomberg: "Obama proposes busting defense spending caps with $38 billion in new money, matched with a similar amount in new domestic funding. That could pit Republican defense hawks like Senator John...
by Sam Pizzigati | Feb 3, 2015 | Blog, Economy
Sometimes facts can fly. All around the world. Over the last year or so, no one has been flying facts more effectively than the folks at Oxfam, the activist global charity. A year ago, an Oxfam report revealed that the world’s 85 richest billionaires had as much...
by Richard Eskow | Feb 3, 2015 | Blog, Economy
Washington's upcoming budget battle could become the next front in the war against austerity. That's the bank-friendly economic ideology whose forces now span the globe: Europe has the Germans, and we have the Republicans. But who in this country will take the role of...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 2, 2015 | Retirement Security
President Obama's 2016 budget proposal includes language that directly confronts a Republican House maneuver to force a debate on potential Social Security benefit cuts. It also includes a promise that the administration will "oppose any measures that privatize or...
by Michael Winship | Feb 2, 2015 | Blog, Economy
My friend Craig Zobel just premiered his new movie at the Sundance Film Festival. Z for Zachariah is based on a young adult novel from the seventies about a post-apocalyptic world and a woman who lives on a farm in a remote valley. A geographic anomaly, the valley has...
by Bernie Horn | Feb 2, 2015 | Blog
Why won’t people listen? They’re so irrational! You make a sensible, even irrefutable political argument and they’re still not persuaded. Cognitive science tells us that persuasion is hard. When deciding whether to agree with you, people rely on emotion and ingrained...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 2, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Economy, Financial Reform, Progressive Vision
President Obama has submitted a budget proposal that (finally) signals a break from cuts and austerity. It largely pushes in the right direction. Republicans will oppose it — even the parts they agree with. Signals Dividing Line Between Cutbacks And Public Investment...
by Bill Scher | Feb 2, 2015 | Uncategorized
Obama Seeks Corporate Tax-Infrastructure Deal Obama budget proposes multinational tax break tied to funding infrastructure. Bloomberg: "President Barack Obama will propose that U.S.-based companies pay a minimum 19 percent tax on their future foreign earnings ......
by Robert Borosage | Feb 2, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Tax Reform
President Obama rolls out his budget today, triggering the next salvos in the debate about America’s future. The president’s budget calls for ending the destructive caps on federal spending known as the “sequester.” It would make vital investments in infrastructure,...
by Bill Scher | Jan 30, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
Last week, three Republican senators expected to run for president, Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, sat for an extended roundtable discussion with ABC's Jonathan Karl. While it was hosted by the Koch brothers organization Freedom...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 30, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
This week, we saw the beginning of the end of conservatives’ love affair with Sarah Palin (maybe), and almost said farewell (but probably not goodbye) to a regular on “Wingnut Week In Review.” From Rogue to Reject It took them long enough. After her incoherent,...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 30, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, Tax Reform
Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) have teamed up and introduced a bill to let multinational corporations hiding profits in tax shelters off from paying most of the taxes they owe on those profits. In other words, they are offering companies a...
by Meghan Byrd | Jan 30, 2015 | Education
The Super Bowl, the Big Game, whatever you call it, the biggest event in American sports will take place this Sunday evening at the University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the famous… wait, what’s that? The University of Phoenix doesn’t have athletic teams, you say?...
by Bill Scher | Jan 30, 2015 | Uncategorized
Obama Rallies Dems To Fight Cuts... Obama calls for end to "mindless austerity." AP: "...President Barack Obama called for a surge in government spending Thursday, and asked Congress to throw out the sweeping budget cuts both parties agreed to four years ago when...
