by Robin Claremont | Apr 14, 2014 | Blog, Tax Reform
If you groan about Tax Day, you’re certainly not alone. But what if Tax Day was something we could be proud of as members of a democracy? Would you feel differently about paying taxes if you knew they were going to support public services that you, your family, and...
by Bill Scher | Apr 11, 2014 | Blog, Health, Progressive Vision
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will finish her five-year tenure having implemented the biggest expansion of health insurance in 50 years. What should we learn from her success story? Three key lessons: 1. Don't Panic Yes, HealthCare.gov flopped...
by Bill Moyers | Apr 11, 2014 | Progressive Vision
I remember that day well: the 12th of April 1945. The day Roosevelt died. I was 11 years old and FDR had been president since before I was born. My father came home early from work. He had been sitting high in the cab of his truck waiting for the red light to change...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 11, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
More than a decade after Leno and Letterman slugged it out to succeed Carson, and four years after the Leno/O'Brien feud, the late night TV wars are back. This time right-wingers are bringing the hostility and hilarity. Late night television is experiencing a changing...
by Bill Scher | Apr 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
Sebelius Leaves On Top After 7.5M Obamacare sign ups, HHS Sec Sebelius to bow out. W. Post: "During the firestorm, Obama made clear to his aides that he would not seek the resignation of his health secretary, and her departure is timed to brighter news for the White...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 11, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
Here’s a story that resonates with so many layers of bitter irony that it’s hard to know where to begin. So we’ll start with the headline: “Citi Foundation to Help Teens Find 'Pathways to Progress.'” Two other recent stories add a certain piquancy to this...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 11, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
Thursday's unemployment applications number hit a 7-year low of (seasonally adjusted) 300,000, a drop of 32,000. We have restored the number of jobs lost in the Great Recession. This is indeed good news. But even so, things are not rosy in the unemployment numbers –...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 10, 2014 | Conservatism
Sometimes a budget is a moral document. Sometimes it’s a threat. With the passage of Rep. Paul Ryan’s latest austerian budget, the GOP is once again spelling out very clearly what they want to do to America. It’s not a threat, but a promise that Americans must make...
by Jeff Bryant | Apr 10, 2014 | Blog, Education
It's testing season in America, and regardless of how the students do, it's clear who is already flunking the exams. Last week in New York, new standardized tests began rolling out across the state, and tens of thousands of families said "no dice." According to local...
by Bill Scher | Apr 10, 2014 | Uncategorized
Ryan Budget Vote Expected Today House GOP close to majority on Ryan budget, but not quite there. The Hill: "House Republican leaders expressed confidence on the eve of Thursday’s vote on Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget, even as they made last-minute moves to prevent...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 10, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
You might have been hearing about "wage theft." The wage theft problem is about people showing up for work but not getting paid for the time they put in. It's a common problem and it is one of the ways people are being ripped off by a rigged system. How common is this...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 10, 2014 | Better Off Budget, Blog, Jobs and Growth
As expected, the Congressional Progressive Caucus' "Better Off Budget" was defeated on the House floor Wednesday, picking up only 89 Democratic votes and none from Republicans. But that vote does not end the fight for the priorities and values that budget document...
by Emily Schwartz Greco | Apr 9, 2014 | Health
To borrow a cute term William Safire penned for Spiro Agnew, the “nattering nabobs of negativism” carrying on about the evils of the Affordable Care Act aren’t going to roll back the health insurance overhaul they like to deride as “Obamacare.” Reality sure isn’t on...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2014 | Blog
On Monday, one Speaker John Boehner's allies Rep. Tom Cole told Politico, "I don’t think there is a great sense of pressure on our members" to pass the Senate's extended unemployment insurance bill, because "it’s time for this program to come to an end." Yet 24 hours...
by Thom Hartmann | Apr 9, 2014 | Economy
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…I want to tell you a tale of two countries, Country A and Country B. Country A has extraordinary wealth. In fact, according to the World Bank, national income per person in Country A is behind just Singapore, Norway,...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 2014 | Uncategorized
House Hints At Jobless Aid Compromise House may add business tax breaks to unemployment insurance extension. Roll Call: "[House Rules Chair Pete] Sessions said the five-month extension could serve as a partner for House-passed bills and other priorities, such as a...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 9, 2014 | Blog, Retirement Security
The unseen hand of antigovernment ideology can be found everywhere nowadays – even in your mailbox. The proof is in what you won’t find there, like your annual statement of earned Social Security benefits. The government stopped mailing those out in 2011. It’s also...
by Bill Scher | Apr 8, 2014 | Blog, Unemployment Benefits
Finally, a hard-fought compromise to temporarily reinstate unemployment insurance benefits to the long-term unemployed cleared the Senate, with six Republicans joining a unanimous Democratic caucus. With nearly 3 million jobless desperately needing the renewal of...
by Leo Gerard | Apr 8, 2014 | Democracy
The billionaire-hugging right-wingers on the Supreme Court, who began poisoning the American political process in 2010 with their Citizens United decision, dumped a truckload more Zyklon B into voting booths last week with their McCutcheon ruling. While in Citizens...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 8, 2014 | Jobs and Growth, Minimum Wage
[fve]http://youtu.be/iAAJKKZOqDk[/fve] So what if big-box retailer Costco already pays its workers well above the minimum wage, the rhetoric from the crowd opposing a minimum wage increase goes. Costco is a special case, they say, with a business model and sales...
by Bill Scher | Apr 8, 2014 | Uncategorized
Senate Votes For Jobless Aid, Pressure Shifts To Boehner Senate passes renewed long-term unemployment insurance. National Journal: "A five-month extension of unemployment-insurance benefits cleared the Senate on Monday on a 59-38 vote, with the same six Republicans...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 8, 2014 | Better Off Budget, Blog
Tell your member of Congress (MOC) to vote for the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) "Better Off Budget' (BOB). Click to call. This week the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the "Ryan"/Republican corporate/conservative budget and the CPC "Better...
by Thom Hartmann | Apr 7, 2014 | Climate
This week, government officials and climate scientists from all over the world are meeting in Berlin, Germany, to finalize a U.N. study on climate change and its solutions. While the study hasn’t been released yet, a draft of it has, and it’s pretty stunning. The...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 7, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism
It has become a "truth" on the right that the IRS "targets" conservative "political" groups. Here is what is going on. Sea Of Smear Ads From Anonymous Donors Who is providing the sea of anonymous money behind the nasty smear-campaign ads in local, state and national...
by Bill Scher | Apr 7, 2014 | Uncategorized
Final Senate Vote On Unemployment Insurance Today Senate to pass jobless aid today. NYT: "The Senate is expected to easily approve legislation Monday restoring unemployment benefits to nearly three million people, throwing the bill to a divided House ... Seven House...
by Sam Pizzigati | Apr 7, 2014 | Blog, Economy
Detroit Tigers infielder Miguel Cabrera may or may not turn out to be, by the time he retires, the best hitter in baseball history. But Cabrera already holds a historic distinction. Last month, just before baseball’s 2014 opening day, the 31-year-old slugger became...
by Robert Borosage | Apr 7, 2014 | Better Off Budget, Blog
This week, the House of Representatives will vote on the Republican budget presented by the Republican Budget Committee chair Paul Ryan, as well as on the Congressional Progressive Caucus “Better Off Budget.” Republicans are lined up to vote for the Ryan budget, with...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 4, 2014 | Health
Forty-six years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. If he were alive today, Dr. King would be on the march again, demanding that governors stop standing in the way of justice and endangering the lives of the vulnerable by refusing...
by Bill Moyers | Apr 4, 2014 | Democracy
Fortunately for any of us who believe this country should be about fair play and justice, Saru Jayaraman [co-director of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, which has helped organize fast-food-worker protests for higher wages] and those waiters, busboys, and...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 4, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism
Republican Senator Rand Paul has been making a big play for millennials lately, most notably by taking his civil liberties pitch to colleges around the country. Paul has got the right idea when he says his party must “evolve, adapt or die” (although I think the first...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 4, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
This was a make or break week for Obamacare, with the enrollment deadline looming and a major goal hanging in the balance. Obamacare made good on the goal of 7 million sign-ups, and broke right-wingers tenuous grip with reality. There should be a new rule for...
by Bill Scher | Apr 4, 2014 | Uncategorized
No Filibuster On Jobless Aid Jobless aid expected to clear Senate Monday. W. Post: "The Senate voted Thursday to move forward with a bill that would restart federal unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, allowing for retroactive payments to go to more than 2...
by Robert Borosage | Apr 4, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
The March jobs report – 192,000 jobs with the unemployment rate remaining at 6.7 percent – is simply more of the same: an economy growing too slowly to make a major dent in continued mass unemployment. This is the 49th straight month of private jobs creation, as the...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 4, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism
In a surprisingly self-pitying Wall Street Journal editorial, billionaire Charles Koch has put forward the proposition that the nation's "collectivists" have unfairly characterized him as "un-American." What Koch calls "character assassination," however, others would...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 4, 2014 | Better Off Budget, Blog, Jobs and Growth
It doesn't matter what Friday's report of the March job numbers shows. If you listed our national problems in order of priority and immediacy, jobs has to be at or near the top. While America's political, media and business elites are all doing fine in their personal...
by Derek Pugh | Apr 3, 2014 | Better Off Budget, Jobs and Growth
The House GOP has no qualms about letting the American people know they stand for the wealthy and big corporations over everyone else. Their latest budget proposal from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is bold and unapologetic in its testimony to who the Republican Party...
by Bill Scher | Apr 3, 2014 | Blog, Economy
In his latest 10-year budget, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) cuts $5 trillion in overall spending, erases Obama's expansion of Medicaid then takes from it another $732 billion, partially privatizes Medicare and reduces social spending to less than half of its share of the...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 3, 2014 | Blog, Trade
Today's February trade deficit report shows that exports fell, which costs jobs, and imports increased, which costs jobs. The U.S. international goods and services trade deficit in February was $42.3 billion, up 7.7 percent from a revised $39.3 billion in January....
by Derek Pugh | Apr 3, 2014 | Better Off Budget, Jobs and Growth
[fve]http://youtu.be/Zv1pzXT20bU[/fve] Enthusiasm among young voters is at an all-time low. They rallied behind change in 2008 but have since steadily dropped off. But who can blame them? After enduring five long years of an anemic economy and lackluster economy many...
by Bill Scher | Apr 3, 2014 | Uncategorized
"One of the Worst Supreme Court Decisions of All Time" "One of the Worst Supreme Court Decisions of All Time" says Represent.us' Mansur Gidfar at HuffPost: "Under the old aggregate limit, it used to be that the most a donor could show up with was $123,000. Now, one...
