by Bill Scher | Oct 2, 2014 | Uncategorized
Republicans Threaten Social Security, Wages NYT's Gail Collins calls out Republicans who only support Social Security for those currently 55 and up: "If you happen upon a congressional debate in the next few weeks, feel free to ask the candidates what they’re going to...
by Richard Eskow | Oct 2, 2014 | Blog, Financial Reform
The secret Goldman Sachs tapes released this week by ProPublica and This American Life are attracting a lot of attention, and rightly so. They were clandestinely recorded by Carmen Segarra, an investigator for the New York Federal Reserve Bank who was eventually fired...
by Lynne Stuart Parramore | Oct 1, 2014 | Blog
The FDIC estimates there are 10 million people living in the U.S. who do not have a bank account — that’s one out of every 13 households. Nearly 33 percent of people living in Starr County, TX can’t write a check. In one census district in Savannah, GA, over 42...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 1, 2014 | Blog, Economy, Tax Reform
Washington elites are "optimistic" about another "reform." That's never good. According to an article in The Hill this week, "WH adviser 'optimistic' for corporate tax reform": A top economic official in the White House on Tuesday expressed confidence that the next...
by Dean Baker | Oct 1, 2014 | Economy, Financial Reform
The big news item in Washington last week was Attorney General Eric Holder decision to resign. Undoubtedly there are positives to Holder’s tenure as attorney general, but one really big minus is his decision not to prosecute any of the Wall Street crew whose actions...
by Bill Scher | Oct 1, 2014 | Uncategorized
Goldman Sachs Tapes Reverberate Sen. Warren speaks to NPR about the Goldman Sachs tapes: "...there were two things that jumped out. The first was just a basic lack of truthful reporting: Supervisors are actually telling examiners not to report accurately the damning...
by Bill Scher | Oct 1, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism
Republicans hungry to win back the Senate had a strategic choice to make. Should they run on a comprehensive policy platform that detailed their conservative vision for the country? Should they pick one or two of their most popular ideas for legislation and promise to...
by Jasmine Tucker | Sep 30, 2014 | Blog, Economy
President Obama campaigned on an anti-war platform and has talked convincingly about moving gradually towards a world that is free of nuclear weapons, yet a new report shows that nearly half (45 percent) of the 16,300 nuclear weapons on earth belong to the United...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 30, 2014 | Blog
You may have heard that there is an oil and gas "boom" happening in the US. You might not know that there is a ban on exporting our own oil. This ban is good for the country but bad for oil companies. And the oil industry is attempting an end run around Congress to do...
by Jim Hightower | Sep 30, 2014 | Minimum Wage
Just when you thought the plutocratic profiteers running America’s exploitative, low-wage economy couldn’t get any more clueless, self-serving, pious, and mingy — along comes Lady Maria of Marriott, magnanimously saying: “Let them eat tips.” Marriott International...
by John Light | Sep 30, 2014 | Conservatism, Economy, Progressive Vision
#95920158 / gettyimages.com Google Chairman Eric Schmidt attracted some attention last week when he announced that his company would no longer be funding the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative think tank that pushes a big-business agenda at...
by Bill Scher | Sep 30, 2014 | Uncategorized
Mayor de Blasio Raises Wages NYC Mayor de Blasio expands living wage law. NYT: "Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to sign an executive order on Tuesday significantly expanding New York City’s living wage law, covering thousands of previously exempt workers and raising the...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 30, 2014 | Blog, Economy, Trade
Our 2010 Reagan Revolution Home To Roost series, especially the post Reagan Revolution Home To Roost — In Charts described the beginning of the great decoupling of the American economy from the middle class. The summary: Conservative policies transformed the United...
by Craig Shirley | Sep 29, 2014 | Conservatism
Establishment Republicans should keep the champagne on ice until after the midterm elections. Too many are already popping corks, pronouncing their strategy of “crushing” the Tea Party during the primaries as a crucial step in their successful takeover of the U.S....
by Robert Reich | Sep 29, 2014 | Conservatism, Economy
I was in Seattle, Washington, recently, to congratulate union and community organizers who helped Seattle enact the first $15 per hour minimum wage in the country. Other cities and states should follow Seattle’s example. Contrary to the dire predictions of opponents,...
by Bill Scher | Sep 29, 2014 | Uncategorized
Republicans Abandon Key Conservative Positions for Midterms Parties will give up on certain races soon. The Hill: "In October, the cycle is entering the phase when party officials must put candidates through triage, like a hospital station on the Western Front....
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 28, 2014 | Blog, Economy
What is it going to take to save the planet from environmental devastation? Sheer people power? We certainly saw that on the eve of last week’s United Nations Climate Summit in New York. Some 400,000 marchers packed the streets of Manhattan. Millions more rallied that...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 26, 2014 | Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation brought out the nuttiest of wingnuts. Obama saluted with a latte, prompting the usual calls for impeachment. Meanwhile, Kansas raises funds and generates buzz. Rumors were confirmed this week when Attorney General Eric Holder...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 26, 2014 | Progressive Vision
What passes for justice in police shootings, and extra-legal shootings, of young black men neither satisfies nor inspires us to “trust the system.” In response to the epidemic of police violence that’s taken the lives of Michael Brown, John Crawford, and countless...
by Bill Scher | Sep 26, 2014 | Blog
Earlier this month I observed, over at Real Clear Politics, that Republicans have been leaning left to survive the midterm elections, belying notions of a conservative-fueled Republican wave. And on this site my colleague Isaiah J. Poole noted that the GOP has been...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 26, 2014 | Blog, Financial Reform
The payday lending industry has up to now escaped comprehensive regulation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but the agency is currently working to change that – and payday lenders aren't expected to let that happen without a vicious fight. That's why...
by Bill Scher | Sep 26, 2014 | Uncategorized
Holder's Wall Street Legacy AG Eric Holder's lack of banker prosecutions is "his biggest failure" says TNR's Danny Vinik: "Holder simply never tried to use it to hold Wall Street executives accountable. That is a major blemish on Holder’s record. Bankers sleep easier...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 26, 2014 | Blog, Populist Majority, Winning Issues for 2014
[fve]http://youtu.be/QxLnH6jp7eE?list=UUcnNWp-tx3-FaCWV4pMFTAg[/fve] Last week on The Zero Hour we talked about the upcoming election with Celinda Lake, a leading strategist for progressive organizations and liberal Democratic candidates. The conversation was...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 25, 2014 | Blog, Trade, Winning Issues for 2014
Politicians need to know that the public "gets it." So-called "trade" deals that were sold with a promise to increase jobs and prosperity have instead sent jobs out of the country and forced wages down. People get it. Ask people what they think of NAFTA and you'll...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 25, 2014 | Blog, Economy
Sexism. A culture of violence. Untrustworthy leadership. Runaway wealth inequality. An indifference to workers' health. Employees who are above the law. Hush-hush financing. Multimillion-dollar tax breaks. We're not talking about America's top corporations. We're not...
by Jeff Bryant | Sep 25, 2014 | Blog, Education, Winning Issues for 2014
Is it possible that education is the issue that will determine whether results of the upcoming election swing the United States Senate to Republican Party control? Will there be a dramatic change in party control of state governors' offices because of how candidates...
by Bill Scher | Sep 25, 2014 | Uncategorized
Republicans Have Hard Time Buying Senate Democrats holding their own in Senate TV ad spending. Center for Public Integrity: "The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ruled the TV airwaves last week, even trumping the conservative super PACs and Koch...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 25, 2014 | Blog, Economy, Progressive Vision
At the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative this week, former President Bill Clinton predicted corporations would soon care less about maximizing profits and more about employees and society. This would happen without significant government involvement...
by Alan Jenkins | Sep 25, 2014 | Blog, Economy, Populist Majority
Every couple of generations, the stars align to create the potential for monumental, transformative social change. It turns out we’re in just such a moment right now when it comes to tackling poverty in the United States. I don’t blame you for being skeptical....
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 25, 2014 | Economy, Jobs and Growth
An opportunity is coming for progressives to have a voice inside the Federal Reserve that represents working people and can influence how the Fed does business. This week we learned that two members of the Federal Reserve's open market committee, Charles Plosser,...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 24, 2014 | Blog, Tax Reform
What does it mean when the owners of big companies say they will move because our corporate tax rates are "too high" and not "competitive"? Just who are we "competing" with, and for what? Extortion is the practice of obtaining something of value through fear, using...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 24, 2014 | Progressive Vision
The New York Times caught hell for an article characterizing television producer Shonda Rhimes as an “angry black woman,” but anger is still privileged in “post-racial” America. The only thing more shocking than Alessandra Stanley’s New York Times article that called...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 24, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism
The theme of Ayn Rand’s "Atlas Shrugged," according to Ms. Rand herself, “what happens to the world when the Prime Movers go on strike.” Those prime movers are corporate executives – “the motor of the world” – and Rand imagines what would happen if they all just went...
by Bill Scher | Sep 24, 2014 | Uncategorized
Obama Headlines Climate Summit Obama nudges China in U.N. climate summit address. NYT: "Declaring that the United States and China — the world’s two largest economies and largest polluters — bear a 'special responsibility to lead,' Mr. Obama said, 'That’s what big...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 24, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, Tax Reform
As fast-food workers across the country strike for decent pay, Burger King is still preparing to abandon the U.S. as its home country. How does a burger company get flipped like this and who gets rich when it happens? Burger King is a company whose products encourage...
by Bill Scher | Sep 24, 2014 | Blog, Climate
Last week I noted that "Capping Carbon Costs Nothing", which is something we already knew but received renewed attention with the release of a new report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. As The New York Times summarized, while there is some...
by Joshua Holland | Sep 23, 2014 | Financial Reform, Progressive Vision
By Joshua Holland and John Light On Monday, a day after an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people participated in the People’s Climate March in New York, a smaller group of activists set out to shut down Wall Street. The day began with a festive atmosphere, and ended...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 23, 2014 | Blog, Tax Reform
The Obama administration took executive action Monday to fight the trend of corporations "abandoning their U.S. citizenship" using the "inversion" tactic. The move earned praise today from a leading opponent of inversions, Citizens for Tax Fairness, which called the...
by Leo Gerard | Sep 23, 2014 | Blog, Democracy
The GOP is working desperately to deny the right to vote to citizens it doesn't like. You know, poor people, black people, Hispanic people, old people, female people, especially people it believes are inclined to vote for Democrats. Republican politicians have hatched...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 23, 2014 | Blog, Progressive Vision
Writing on our blog and in Real Clear Politics, my Campaign for America's Future colleague Bill Scher dismisses Zephyr Teachout's call for progressive primary challenges against conservative Democrats. Scher argues the left should focus instead on "gaining influence...
