by Jeff Bryant | Jan 21, 2015 | Blog
"We know we need to do something about students who are not achieving in our schools." That anxious appeal – along with its many variations – has become the refrain now firmly embedded in speeches and opinion columns about American public education. Yes! Do something....
by Dean Baker | Jan 20, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Financial Reform
The House Democratic Party leadership made a remarkable step forward last week in putting out a proposal for a financial transactions tax (FTT). The proposal is part of a larger package which includes a substantial tax credit for workers, and also a limit on the tax...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jan 20, 2015 | Blog, Economy
The Commission on Inclusive Prosperity, a project of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for American Progress, has just released what journalists like to call a “blue-ribbon panel report.” This commission certainly rates — by any standard — as “blue-ribbon.” The...
by Leo Gerard | Jan 20, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Instead of the plodding turtle he's normally satirized as, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is all cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof about Trade Promotion Authority, better known as Fast Track. He said as Congress convened this month that he wants to fast track Fast Track....
by Bill Scher | Jan 20, 2015 | Uncategorized
Obama To Frame Debate At SOTU, 9 PM ET Obama to leverage growing economy and make the case for public investments in tonight's SOTU. NYT: "[Obama will] effectively declare victory over the economic hard times ... and advocate using the nation’s healthier finances to...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 20, 2015 | Blog, Progressive Vision
The annual State of the Union address that President Obama will deliver tonight before the Republican-controlled Congress serves many functions. It provides the president with a chance to boast upon progress made, and to highlight next steps. It frames, particularly...
by Bernie Horn | Jan 20, 2015 | Blog, Progressive Vision
Due to the ghastly 2014 elections, more state legislators are Republican and the GOP controls more state legislative bodies than at any time since the 1920s. Republicans now control the governorship and both houses of the legislature in 23 states: Alabama, Arizona,...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 19, 2015 | Blog, Progressive Vision
(Previously published, with some revisions) Here it comes again. This holiday weekend we'll see a lot of media coverage of Martin Luther King, Jr. But we'll hear very little about who he really was - a brave and visionary leader whose vision is as relevant today as...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 16, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
A White House announcement today made it clear that progressives will be on their own in the battle to boost public investment in our public assets. The White House today announced the creation of an infrastructure bonds program designed to attract private financing...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 16, 2015 | Conservatism
From Benghazi and Beyoncé, to the terrorist attack in Paris, this week was a smorgasbord of wingnuttery. The world is still reeling from the terrorist attack on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which ten journalists and two police officers...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 16, 2015 | Blog
We all know how NAFTA turned out for us (for most of us, anyway). We all know how opening up trade with China turned out. It's right in front of our faces. Who hasn't seen the boarded-up downtowns of closed-down "factory towns?" Who hasn't felt the fear of...
by Jeff Bryant | Jan 16, 2015 | Blog, Education
Here's how ridiculous the nation's obsession with standardized testing has gotten: Last week Education Week reporter Catherine Gewertz came across a news item about a school in Florida that "forbid the flushing of toilets during testing … to cut down on the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 16, 2015 | Progressive Vision
This weekend, National People's Action is highlighting an effort to "reclaim" the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial holiday from "efforts to soften, sanitize, and commercialize" his legacy. "We resist efforts to reduce a long history marred with the blood of...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 16, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
It's tough to be disabled in America. It's tough anywhere, of course. But, as Rebecca Vallas notes: "According to the OECD, the U.S. disability benefit system is the most restrictive and least generous of all member countries, except for Korea." And nowhere else in...
by Bill Scher | Jan 16, 2015 | Uncategorized
Republicans Struggle With Political Reality On Immigration Senate Republicans explain to House Republicans they can't stop Obama's immigration executive actions. The Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ... told House Republicans not to expect miracles, since...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 16, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) is the new chair of the House Budget Committee. Just who is Rep. Tom Price? What will his conservative economic ideology cost us? Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was arguably the most famous, and perhaps most-photographed, House Budget Committee chair...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 15, 2015 | Health
A new study has put a price tag on how much more the United States pays in health care costs because it has chosen not to adopt a single-payer system: $375 billion. That figure, in a report published this week in the online journal BMC Health Services Research,...
by Emily Schwartz Greco | Jan 15, 2015 | Blog, Climate
When Maria van der Hoeven summed up the 20-year outlook for global energy investment in London last year, she identified a couple of daunting challenges. The amount of money required by 2035 is a staggering $48 trillion, the International Energy Agency chief and...
by Bill Scher | Jan 15, 2015 | Uncategorized
Republicans Put Wall Street First House passes bill to throttle Dodd-Frank, but short of veto-proof majority. NYT: "...29 Democrats shrugg[ed] off President Obama’s veto threat to join united House Republicans ... with Senator Warren leading the charge, it may not be...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 15, 2015 | Blog, Progressive Vision
Legislators in the new Congress haven’t even cut the curtains for their offices, but it is already clear that the right has no clue and the “center” offers no hope. Republican Mitch McConnell, newly installed as Senate majority leader, announced that his goal is not...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 15, 2015 | Blog, Trade
President Obama is likely to use the State of the Union to push for passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the rigged "fast track" trade promotion authority. Here are some facts to counter the expected public relations campaign. Of Course "Trade" Is Good...
by Dean Baker | Jan 14, 2015 | Conservatism, Economy
The U.S. House of Representatives recently adopted a new rule that requires lawmakers to take long-term macroeconomic effects into consideration when deciding how to vote on tax and spending bills. In theory, this could show that tax cuts, particularly for...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 14, 2015 | Conservatism
You may have seen media reports today like this one from The New York Times based on the latest annual report from the Internal Revenue Service's Taxpayer Advocate Service. "Services to taxpayers are likely to drop to their worst levels since 2001," the Times wrote,...
by Bill Scher | Jan 14, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
The well-heeled Republican establishment types would like to put the tea party in its place. They may need tea party votes, but they don't want the far right to dictate party strategy or otherwise represent the party nationally. They want to win and get their...
by Bill Scher | Jan 14, 2015 | Uncategorized
"Why Wages Won't Rise" Robert Reich explores "Why Wages Won't Rise": "... there's reason to believe the link between falling unemployment and rising wages has been severed ... it's easier than ever for American employers to get the workers they need at low cost by...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 14, 2015 | Blog, Retirement Security
President Obama will deliver his State of the Union speech next Tuesday amid a new flurry of Republican attacks on Social Security. Will he stand firm and defend the popular program, or step aside and let the attacks continue? Changing The Rules No wonder Republicans...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 13, 2015 | Blog, Tax Reform
A day after Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) put forward a proposal that melds progressive tax reform ideas with a plan for a broad middle-class tax cut, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse on Tuesday released a "tax fairness plan" that would ensure that people with...
by Charles McMillion | Jan 13, 2015 | Economy
My basement is full of 30-plus-year-old reports with titles like “America at the Crossroads!” “America’s Two Minute Warning!” “America’s Competitive Crisis!” These reports and hundreds more were written at the national, state and city levels by America’s top business,...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 13, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) is trying to get people talking about the trade deficit and the harm it is doing our wages, our jobs and our potential for mutual prosperity. He's right to do this. Last week Grayson spoke at a press conference with several other House...
by Dean Baker | Jan 13, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Jobs and Growth
It’s rare that a week goes by in Washington without some major conference on inequality. This usually involves some prominent people, who get six or even seven figure paychecks, speculating on why inequality has grown and what we can do about it. These exercises...
by Leo Gerard | Jan 13, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Jobs and Growth, Minimum Wage
The jobs report Friday set off cheering: a quarter million positions added in December; unemployment declining to 5.6 percent. This good news arrived amid a booming stock market and a third-quarter GDP report showing the strongest growth in 11 years. It’s all...
by Bill Scher | Jan 13, 2015 | Uncategorized
Warren Defeats Weiss Sen. Warren wins as Antonio Weiss abandons Treasury nomination. HuffPost: "Weiss, who had initially been nominated as undersecretary for domestic finance, has instead accepted a job as a counselor to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, a post that...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 13, 2015 | Blog
[fve]https://www.youtu.be/1NjTxwyMiGw[/fve] Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, unveiled a major tax proposal on Monday at the Center for American Progress that was billed as "An Action Plan to Grow the Paychecks of All,...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 12, 2015 | Education
Rev. William Barber, the president of the NAACP's North Carolina chapter and the leader of the state's "Moral Mondays" movement joined education advocates in New York State today in a protest against inequitable education funding. The protest coincided with a report...
by Harvey J Kaye | Jan 12, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Progressive Vision
The Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys Sunday. As a dear friend of mine remarked in an email: "It's always nice when a collectively-owned team beats one owned by a greedy mega-capitalist, who's beloved by Chris Christie." So in that spirit, and given my...
by Bernie Horn | Jan 12, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
Democrats suffered a shellacking in the 2014 election. One small but significant silver lining is that identifying who’s in charge of the legislative branch will be very easy for the next two years. Make no mistake: We have a Republican Congress. Last year, many...
by Bill Scher | Jan 12, 2015 | Uncategorized
Populism Roils Both Parties Both parties, strategizing for 2016, recognize populist wave. W. Post: "Presidential hopefuls in both parties agree on at least one thing: Economic mobility, and the feeling of many Americans that they are being shut out from the nation’s...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 12, 2015 | Blog, Populist Majority, The New Populism
“Americans don't want angry, defensive figures running for president,” Democratic operative Will Marshall told McClatchy's David Lightman this week. But who, precisely, is angry and defensive? As the pushback to Wall Street's influence on government grows stronger, it...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 9, 2015 | Conservatism, This Is The GOP
This week, the world joined with the people of France in mourning and solidarity, following a deadly terrorist attack on the Paris offices of a satirical newspaper. Wingnuts wasted no time scoring political points. On Wednesday, men wearing hoods and wielding AK–47s...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 9, 2015 | Education
Even today, it can still be stunning sometimes how unadorned conservatives can be in their contempt for ordinary people and their struggles. Take Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, who complains that President Obama's proposal for free community college is "merely a construct...
