by Jeff Bryant | Apr 3, 2014 | Blog, Education
"Democrats Scramble to Stave Off Midterm Disaster" was the headline in The New York Times article this week reporting on "the problem" the party has with turning out its base in the upcoming midterm election. As the reporter explained, "Young voters have abandoned the...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 3, 2014 | Blog, Democracy
The Supreme Court’s McCutcheon ruling will be remembered as a decisive battle in a determined and wealthy minority’s war against the popular will. It is not the first such battle, nor will it be the last. And the people will continue to lose – unless and until the...
by Jasmine Tucker | Apr 2, 2014 | Better Off Budget
On Tuesday, we at the National Priorities Project released our fourth annual, one-of-a-kind Competing Visions analysis, which compares the president’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal to two significantly different visions – the House Republican budget resolution,...
by Richard Long | Apr 2, 2014 | Better Off Budget, Blog
A day after the release of Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” budget, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus gathered to discuss their own “Better Off Budget,” outside a room in the Cannon House Building where the House Budget Committee was marking up the Ryan...
by Bill Scher | Apr 2, 2014 | Blog
The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn has a satisfying article cataloging the litany of off-target Obamacare doomsday predictions. His fire largely torches conservative politicians and pundits, who deserve it. But he does not extend his ire to the driving force behind the...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 2, 2014 | Better Off Budget
The new Ryan/Republican budget is out. It cuts $5.1 trillion from spending over 10 years on things that make our lives better, while reducing taxes on the wealthy and giant corporations, and increasing military spending by $483 billion over the same period. (Note that...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 2, 2014 | Conservatism, Health
More than seven million Americans have enrolled in health insurance through Obamacare, meeting the goal set by the Congressional Budget Office. Meanwhile, support for Obamacare has surpassed opposition, with 49 percent supporting, and 48 percent opposing the law in a...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 2, 2014 | Blog
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been getting a lot of press for the lane closing scandal, allegations that he misused Hurricane Sandy relief funds and, more recently, for the shockingly sexist tone of his taxpayer-funded “vindication.” The common thread to all...
by Maya Rockeymoore | Apr 2, 2014 | Progressive Vision
Perhaps years from now, when President Obama writes his autobiography about his time in office, we'll learn all the details about his conversation with Pope Francis. We knew before the meeting that economic inequality would be a topic of discussion, and afterwards we...
by Bill Scher | Apr 2, 2014 | Uncategorized
Ryan Proposes Another Ridiculous Budget Ryan budget cuts $5T over 10 years. W. Post: "Overall, Ryan would cut about $5.1 trillion from projected spending over the next decade, with nearly $3 trillion coming from repealing the health-care law and revamping Medicaid....
by Robert Borosage | Apr 2, 2014 | Blog
Rep. Paul Ryan’s fiscal 2015 budget will not become law. (Thank you, senators). It is a statement of values that is embraced this year, as it has been in the past, by virtually the entire Republican congressional caucus (the exceptions are a handful of dissenters who...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 1, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, chose April 1 to release his latest Republican budget proposal. Once again, Americans are played the fools. The latest edition of "The Path to Prosperity," which is the title Ryan likes to use for his budget...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 1, 2014 | Blog, Tax Reform
The company Caterpillar is in the news today as another example of corporate tax dodging. A Senate report looks into how the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment avoided paying $2.4 billion in taxes. That $2.4 billion could pay teachers, fix...
by Leo Gerard | Apr 1, 2014 | Progressive Vision
Big league universities want the athletes they recruit to see them as substitute moms and dads. Don’t worry, they say, be happy, ’cause we’ve got you covered. It’s all very appealing – until an athlete is seriously injured in practice or a game. Then the athlete may...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 1, 2014 | Blog, Financial Reform
Sen. Ted Kaufman was one of the great heroes in the fight for financial reform. He was a brilliant, articulate, and stalwart fighter for the rights of the American people to be free of Wall Street fraud, criminality and abuse. He attempted to restore the old...
by Bill Scher | Apr 1, 2014 | Uncategorized
Dems Pledge To Keep Up Minimum Wage Fight After GOP filibuster, Dems says minimum wage battle is not over. The Hill: "In a 54-42 tally, Democrats fell well short of the 60 votes necessary to end debate. Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.) was the only Republican senator to vote...
by Bill Scher | Apr 1, 2014 | Uncategorized
Final Obamacare Signup Surge Obamacare exchange signups may hit 7M. AP: "... President Barack Obama's health care overhaul was on track to sign up more than 7 million Americans for health insurance on deadline day Monday, government officials told The Associated Press...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 1, 2014 | Blog, Populist Majority
Last week Senate Democrats unveiled their "Fair Shot For Everyone" agenda for the rest of this election year. They say they want to "ensure that every American who works hard has a fair shot to succeed" and are planning to hold votes to: Raise the minimum wage,...
by Digby | Mar 31, 2014 | Health
I had a lot of trepidation about the ACA when it was proposed, mostly because it's a contraption with many moving parts, any one of which, if removed will make the whole thing weak, if not useless. But I supported it because the Medicaid expansions was the biggest...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 31, 2014 | Democracy
The Republican 2016 presidential primary season opened with the “Sheldon Adelson Primary.” The eight wealthiest person in the country, worth an estimated $40 billion, doesn't have to wait for the official GOP primary season to start. He holds his own primary....
by Bill Scher | Mar 31, 2014 | Uncategorized
Enrollment Spike Before Obamacare Deadline Today Exchange signups may hit 7M. Bloomberg: "The government last week said 6 million Americans had enrolled by March 27 and about 1 million people a day were visiting healthcare.gov. The sign-ups met a mark set by the...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 31, 2014 | Blog
“Populist pitch fizzles,” reads the breathless headline of The Hill, a publication catering to beltway insiders. Obama’s popularity is sinking; two-thirds of voters think the country is on the wrong track; and the Democratic majority in the Senate looks increasingly...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 28, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
When workers want to vote on joining a union, companies typically start a long, grueling process of bringing in professional anti-union consultants to do what they need to do to delay and hopefully stop them. So the National Labor Relations Board ruled that union...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 28, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
This week, they didn’t come any nuttier than Americans For Prosperity’s Jennifer Stefano, who clashed with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. There was more than enough good news for Obamacare to drive right-wingers around the bend. Stephano didn't hold back. After Hayes' detailed...
by Derek Pugh | Mar 28, 2014 | Tax Reform
Here's something that people on both sides of the ideological divide can agree on: reforming the mortgage interest deduction. Last year the federal government gave away roughly $100 billion through the mortgage interest deduction. The majority of those utilizing the...
by Bill Scher | Mar 28, 2014 | Uncategorized
Senate Set To Pass Unemployment Insurance Extension Big bipartisan vote ends Senate filibuster of jobless aid. The Hill: "The Senate voted 65-34 Thursday to advance legislation that would restore federal unemployment benefits ... Action in the House appears unlikely,...
by Bill Scher | Mar 28, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, Unemployment Benefits
When Speaker John Boehner really wants to get something done, he gets it done. If Congress did not act before Tuesday, doctors would face a 24 percent cut in their Medicare reimbursement rates. With the Senate yet to act, Boehner did not have any time to spare. But...
by Richard Long | Mar 27, 2014 | Economy, Tax Reform
The taxes paid by corporations today are near record lows as a percentage of the United States’ total tax bill, even as they are recording massive profits. Yet the unemployment rate is still high. However, if we turned back the clock on corporate tax rates and...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 27, 2014 | Jobs and Growth, Minimum Wage
[fve]http://youtu.be/MocqsPYblM8[/fve] Leo Hindery, who runs the private equity firm Intermedia Partners, is blunt in his criticism of two corporations – McDonald's and Walmart – that are leading the effort to block an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 27, 2014 | Blog, Trade
Thursday the AFL-CIO released a new report, NAFTA at 20. The report makes the point that, “On the whole, NAFTA-style agreements have proved to be primarily a vehicle to increase corporate profits at the expense of workers, consumers, farmers, communities, the...
by Lynne Stuart Parramore | Mar 27, 2014 | Retirement Security
Wall Street loves to celebrate its knack for innovation, and it's hard to disagree. The ingenuity financiers have mustered to scam Americans out of their retirements is truly a wonder to behold. Working through well-funded media campaigns and strategic investments in...
by Bill Scher | Mar 27, 2014 | Uncategorized
Jobless Aid Vote Expected Friday Unemployment insurance Senate vote may be Friday. Roll Call: "[Sen. Harry Reid] set the gears in motion to take up the unemployment measure, setting up a vote sequence that could start automatically on Friday ... Given the number of...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 27, 2014 | Blog, Education
America was shocked, shocked, by new data from the U.S. Department of Education last week showing that a child's education destiny in the nation's public schools is strongly determined by race. As a report in The New York Times put it, the new data revealed that...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 27, 2014 | Blog, Economy
If progressive and populist ideas resonate with most voters, some people have asked, why isn’t the Democratic Party doing better in the polls? Here’s one reason: Some of the party’s most prominent leaders are still pushing Wall Street’s unpopular and discredited...
by Bill Scher | Mar 26, 2014 | Blog
Enormous political weight is being put on what the final sign-up tally for Obamacare will be. Democrats want a strong number to show that Obamacare's individual mandate for buying health insurance is working as intended. Republicans want a weak number to show that the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 26, 2014 | Jobs and Growth, Minimum Wage
[fve]http://youtu.be/UhTyTzvCPMg[/fve] An increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour is especially important for the millions of women who are the backbone of the services sector yet struggle to provide the basics for their families. Plus, it would begin to narrow...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 26, 2014 | Blog, Retirement Security
A new Gallup poll shows seniors moving from the Democratic to the Republican party. Why has this happened? The poll, headlined "U.S. Seniors Have Realigned With the Republican Party," says: U.S seniors – those aged 65 and older – have moved from a reliably Democratic...
by Bill Scher | Mar 26, 2014 | Uncategorized
Dems Ramp Up Pocketbook Push Senate Dems prepare "pocketbook" votes to pressure GOP. NYT: "The effort is set to begin within the next two weeks in the Senate when Democrats will call a vote on their proposal to increase the minimum wage to $10.10, and it will continue...
by Bill Scher | Mar 26, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism
The 2012 Republican Party platform touted the 10th Amendment, because "The Republican Party, born in opposition to the denial of liberty, stands for the rights of individuals, families, faith communities, institutions – and of the States which are their instruments of...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 26, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, Tax Reform
Corporate tax policy involves a lot of complicated accounting language, so people tend to tune out. But you should pay attention because there is big money involved – really, really big money that could be used for roads, courts, schools, health care and all the other...
