by Terrance Heath | Dec 22, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism
On June 8, 2014, white, anti-government, tea party supporters shot and killed two Las Vegas police officers. Conservative media was conspicuously silent. On Saturday, Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot and killed NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos as they sat in their...
by Dean Baker | Dec 22, 2014 | Economy
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently updated its analysis of changes in before-tax and after-tax family income. In some ways the new analysis showed a brighter picture for middle-income families than other work highlighting stagnation. Focusing on the middle...
by Bill Scher | Dec 22, 2014 | Uncategorized
Obama, Warren Gain In Polls Obama approval nears 50%. The Hill: "President Obama’s job approval rating has inched up to 47 percent, according to a survey released Sunday by Gallup, the best showing for the president in more than seven months [and] the first time since...
by Robert Borosage | Dec 22, 2014 | Blog, Progressive Vision
After the debilitating defeats of 2014, Democrats face a harsh winter, wandering in a bleak wilderness, trying to find the way out. Redemption will come only if Democrats use this time to rethink their course, and develop new ideas, a clearer sense of their own...
by Terrance Heath | Dec 19, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Santa Cruz came to town this week, when Sen. Ted Cruz (R, Texas) inadvertently gave Senate Democrats an early holiday gift. Democrats taunted Cruz and Republicans cursed him for pulling a parliamentary shenanigan that let Democrats push through two dozen nominations...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 19, 2014 | Blog, Economy, Financial Reform
Another Citigroup alumni has been nominated to a key high-level position in the Obama administration. This time it's a lateral move: Marisa Lago, who has been serving in the Treasury Department as Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Development since...
by Jeff Bryant | Dec 19, 2014 | Blog, Education
Since it’s the time of the year when newspapers, websites, and television talk shows scan their archives to pick the person, place, or thing that sums up the year in entertainment, business, sports, or every other venue, why not do that for education, too? In 2014...
by Bill Scher | Dec 19, 2014 | Uncategorized
Progressive Caucus Chair Touts Warren '16 Rep. Keith Ellison encourages Warren run for president. The Hill: "'I would love to see Elizabeth Warren in this race,' Ellison said on a conference call with members of the liberal group Democracy for America (DFA). 'I think...
by Robert Borosage | Dec 19, 2014 | Blog, Populist Majority
The debate in the Democratic Party is being framed in much of the mainstream media as a struggle between a “pragmatic center” that wants to “get things done” and an angry populist wing – led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown and others – that...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 19, 2014 | Blog, Progressive Vision
We're told that Hillary Clinton is spurning something her advisers call the “anti-Wall Street” movement and will run instead on a platform of “working across the aisle” with Republicans. Her camp is suggesting, without much evidence and against the lessons of recent...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Dec 18, 2014 | Health
Not surprisingly, the right-wing hot-air blowers are giddy at the news this week that Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin has abandoned efforts to set up a state-run single-payer health plan in Vermont. "The risks and economic shocks of moving forward at this time are too...
by Robert Reich | Dec 18, 2014 | Blog, Financial Reform
A few years ago, hedge fund Level Global Investors made $54 million selling Dell Computer stock based on insider information from a Dell employee. When charged with illegal insider trading, Global Investors’ co-founder Anthony Chiasson claimed he didn’t know where the...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 18, 2014 | Blog, Trade
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is emerging as a champion in the fight over provisions the upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement that could undermine our (and other) country's ability to keep the giant multinational corporations under control....
by Terrance Heath | Dec 18, 2014 | Conservatism, Health
Conservative economic policy turned Kansas into a “smoking ruin.” Now, a cure for what’s the matter with Kansas is coming from an unexpected source. In 2012, Kansas governor Sam Brownback signed into law a massive tax cut that he said would boost the state’s economy....
by Bill Scher | Dec 18, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism
With former Florida Governor Jeb Bush "actively exploring" a run for president, much of the initial analysis centers on the question if he is too moderate to win the Republican primary. The more important question is if Jeb is too conservative to win the general...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Dec 18, 2014 | Uncategorized
Elizabeth Warren Goes After The TPP Elizabeth Warren, other Democrats raise concerns about free-trade pact with Asia. The Washington Post: "Warren (D-Mass.), fresh off her break with the White House on the budget last week, said in a letter to U.S. Trade...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 18, 2014 | Blog, Trade
Again and again we are promised jobs and economy gains from trade deals. Instead we get job losses and trade deficits. Next year the giant multinationals are going to try to sell us another trade deal by promising jobs and prosperity. And they're going to push fast...
by Terrance Heath | Dec 17, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Republicans finally have something to run on: fear. This week, it’s fear of Ebola. Of course, right-wing fear-mongers always leave out how conservatism made the Ebola crisis worse. Fox News contributor Stacey Dash called for the federal government to establish...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Dec 17, 2014 | Blog, Progressive Vision
Last month, CAF co-director Robert Borosage called on President Obama to normalize relations with Cuba as one of the steps he should take to "move good things forward" in the face of a Republican opposition bent on advancing destructive economic policies. Today,...
by Bill Scher | Dec 17, 2014 | Uncategorized
Congress Grapples With Tax Breaks Senate passes extension of tax breaks for 2014. Politico: "Democrats and Republicans held their nose to vote for the short-term extension after Wyden and President Barack Obama joined forces to oppose a deal negotiated by Reid and...
by Bernie Horn | Dec 17, 2014 | Blog, Progressive Vision
Over the next two years, Washington will be a horror show. The president and a minority of senators will try to minimize the destruction that extreme conservatives will attempt to inflict on our personal freedoms, basic economic security, and the American Dream. As...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 17, 2014 | Blog, Trade
It is worth examining how the process was rigged to push that budget deal through Congress over the weekend that contained Citibank-written derivative deregulation and all kinds of other goodies for the rich and powerful. That's because the "cromnibus" formula will be...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Dec 16, 2014 | Jobs and Growth, Tax Reform
One might expect that Ayn Rand devotee Eddie Lampert, the CEO presiding over the disintegration of the once-great Sears and Kmart retail stores, would be a zealot when it comes to wriggling out of paying taxes to the governments that serve and protect his properties....
by Dean Baker | Dec 16, 2014 | Blog, Economy
With the holiday season upon us, the time for end of year lists is fast-approaching. To beat the rush, today I give my list of the top dead and enduring myths of 2014. The good news is that two myths that caused great confusion over the last several years are now...
by Leo Gerard | Dec 16, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, Trade
Under billions of tons of imports, the American dream is suffocating. The American people have lost faith. They know that bad trade has bled factories, middle class jobs and wage increases from the country. A report issued last week by the Economic Policy Institute...
by Bill Scher | Dec 16, 2014 | Uncategorized
Sanders Targets Big Banks Sen. Sanders has plan to break up the big banks. OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "Sanders’ website announced on Saturday that the Vermont independent 'will introduce legislation to break up Wall Street megabanks that are using a bill before...
by Robert Borosage | Dec 16, 2014 | Blog, Economy, Progressive Vision
The government didn’t shut down. Congress passed the massive – 1,603 page – spending bill, chock full of special interest giveaways, to keep the doors open. The Washington Post editorial page, the voice of the conservative establishment, acknowledges all the horrors –...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 16, 2014 | Blog, Financial Reform
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KytY-uXUnok] Sen. Bernie Sanders (audio) with Richard Eskow No sooner had the infamous “Citigroup amendment” been added to a vital spending measure than the warnings began. One of the first was from Rob Blackwell, writing in...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 15, 2014 | Blog, Democracy, Financial Reform
The budget bill called the "Cromnibus" (for Continuing Resolution and OMNIBUS budget bill) passed over the weekend. It included a provision undoing part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street regulation bill, allowing banks to gamble on derivatives using money from...
by Sam Pizzigati | Dec 15, 2014 | Blog, Economy
How has the United States become so unequal? We need to look for answers, first and foremost, in our society’s underlying economic and political realities, at the policies and practices that let wealth concentrate — at the top — so intensely. But we also ought to look...
by Bill Scher | Dec 15, 2014 | Uncategorized
What Will Warren Do Next? Democrats debate how Sen. Warren can maximize her influence. The Hill: "Associates and observers of Warren believe she will spend her new political capital on the issues that brought her to Washington in the first place — defending consumers...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 15, 2014 | Blog, Progressive Vision
Last week Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned that “the House of Representatives is about to show us the worst of government for the rich and powerful.” They promptly did, and the Senate quickly followed suit. We are now at greater risk of another derivatives-based...
by Terrance Heath | Dec 14, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
If this week is a preview of what we’re in for with the next Congress, get ready to step through the looking glass and into a world where executive actions are impeachable offenses, and Duck Dynasty is Broadway bound. What a difference an election makes! Remember just...
by Terrance Heath | Dec 12, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Only the worst kind of wingnut could conclude that America is “awesome” in spite of — or because of — “forced anal feeding and re-hydration” of detainees. But that’s what we heard this week. Well, now we know. America did a whole lot more than “torture some folks.”...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 12, 2014 | Blog, Financial Reform
The "Citibank budget" has not passed the Senate. There is time to fight this giveaway to Wall Street. Call your senators today and tell them take the Citibank bailout part out or block the budget. Tell them to let Wall Street know that their days of controlling our...
by Bill Scher | Dec 12, 2014 | Blog, Climate, Jobs and Growth
A fascinating graphic presentation from Bloomberg shows how America has nearly achieved energy independence and broken our addiction to oil. It's not because oil got too expensive. The U.S. shale boom has helped drive gas prices to their lowest point in four years....
by Bill Scher | Dec 12, 2014 | Uncategorized
House Democrats Almost Thwart Derivatives Deregulation House votes to keep government open, deregulate derivatives, despite Pelosi's opposition. The Hill: "By a vote of 219-206, the House sent the bill to the Senate ... The vote split Democratic leaders, with House...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Dec 12, 2014 | Conservatism, Economy
With all of the justifiable anger directed at what's in the 2015 spending bill – the omnibus continuing resolution or "cromnibus" – that the House struggled to pass late Thursday, there is also a major story to be told about what's not in the bill. It's a story of...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 11, 2014 | Blog, Trade
China's currency manipulation and other illegal practices "suck wages out of our economy," Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) said during a press call Thursday, citing the figure of a direct loss of $37 billion in reduced wages in 2011 alone. It "becomes difficult to do economic...
by Ady Barkan | Dec 11, 2014 | Progressive Vision
Last week, Local Progress hosted its third annual National Convening, bringing 50 local elected officials from around the country to New York City for three days of strategizing and movement-building that left them energized, empowered, and ready to make 2015 a year...
