by Sam Pizzigati | Mar 17, 2014 | Blog
New York has a new mayor who wants to remake his deeply unequal city into much more than a playground for the super rich. The experts who track global wealth trends don’t think he’s going to succeed. A new report from Knight Frank, a global property consultancy firm,...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 17, 2014 | Retirement Security
co-written by Richard Eskow and Richard Fowler, host of The Richard Fowler Show Last week, MSNBC's Abby Huntsman expressed some strong opinions about Social Security. That's her right and her privilege. Unfortunately, she also made some inaccurate and misleading...
by Bill Scher | Mar 17, 2014 | Uncategorized
Fed To Pull Back This Week Fed expected to reduce monetary stimulus this week. NYT: "The Federal Reserve’s policy-making committee, which meets Tuesday and Wednesday, is widely expected to cut the Fed’s monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities by...
by Roger Hickey | Mar 16, 2014 | Progressive Vision, The New Populism
A new progressive populist movement is rising up in the United States. Inspired by an expansive vision of greater economic opportunity for all Americans, this new movement is also fueled by anger over politicians’ broken promises. After decades of recurring economic...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 14, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
This week Rep. Paul Ryan took the cake. After debuting his embarrassing copy-and-paste job on the war on poverty last week, only to get his knuckles rapped by the very scholars whose work he cribbed, Ryan outdid himself with a clumsy bit of dog whistle politics...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 14, 2014 | Better Off Budget
The big battles in D.C. are over the federal government's budget. You would think that the announcement of a comprehensive budget proposal from the largest group of Democrats in the House, that lines up with the American people's wishes and solves the country's budget...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 14, 2014 | Conservatism
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has become the latest right-winger to blame black poverty on “culture” and character. Just as he got it backwards on families and poverty, Paul Ryan gets it twisted on poverty and black men. Ryan went on William Bennett’s “Morning in America”...
by Bill Scher | Mar 14, 2014 | Uncategorized
Unemployment Insurance Breakthrough Senate strikes deal to extend unemployment insurance for long-term unemployed. W. Post: "...the five Republican supporters of the legislation provide just enough votes to clear the 60-vote hurdle needed to pass the legislation ......
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 14, 2014 | Unemployment Benefits
After all that 2 million of this nation's unemployed workers have gone through, it is hard to say anything positive about the news that Senate Democratic leaders have reached a deal with five Senate Republicans on a renewal of emergency unemployment benefits that were...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 13, 2014 | Progressive Vision
The echoes of Adolph Reed’s critique of the left in Harper’s magazine continue to reverberate. At its fringes, where the heat’s generated, it’s an argument about the relationship between the progressive movement and the Democratic Party. At its center, where there...
by Sarah Anderson | Mar 13, 2014 | Minimum Wage
Purveyors of Ferraris and high-end Swiss watches keep their fingers crossed toward the end of each calendar year, hoping that the big Wall Street banks will be generous with their annual cash bonuses. New figures show that the bonus bonanza of 2013 didn’t disappoint....
by Thom Hartmann | Mar 13, 2014 | Climate
It’s time for America to leave the 19th century behind, and keep the lights on. Last night, the U.S. Capitol building and other Washington, D.C. landmarks went dark, as powerful wind gusts of up to 55 MPH knocked out power for thousands of people in the D.C. area. In...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 13, 2014 | Economy
Big companies have discovered a loophole that lets them avoid paying their taxes. These tax-dodgers are holding $2 trillion-plus of taxable profits outside of the US, on which they could owe as much as $700 billion in taxes. What could our country do with this $700...
by Bill Scher | Mar 13, 2014 | Uncategorized
Obama Moves On Overtime Pay WH announces executive order directing Labor Dept to expand overtime pay: "Today, only 12 percent of salaried workers fall below the threshold that would guarantee them overtime and minimum wage protections (compared with 18 percent in 2004...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 13, 2014 | Better Off Budget, Economy, Progressive Vision, The 2015 Budget
Budgets are numbing – grist for geeks, not citizens. The Congressional Progressive Caucus annual budget proposal – the Better Off Budget – is no exception, detailing row after row of numeric projections. Produced in conjunction with the Economic Policy Institute,...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 13, 2014 | Conservatism
For two hours last Wednesday, New Jersey governor Chris Christie took reporters’ questions about “Bridgegate" — in which Christie's senior aides closed the George Washington Bridge to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, for not endorsing Christie’s re-election bid...
by Bill Scher | Mar 12, 2014 | Conservatism
We are so accustomed to seeing Senate Republicans filibuster and House Republicans bury legislation that is easy to be pessimistic, and easy to accept pessimistic predictions. But as I write today in The Week, I would urge you not to quickly embrace the early...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 12, 2014 | Democracy
Republicans won in Florida's 13th district special congressional election on Tuesday. What does this mean? Here is the key point about why the Republican candidate, David Jolly, won: More Republican voters went to the polls and voted than Democrat voters. The...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 12, 2014 | Education
It was Monday morning, and the folks at MSNBC's "Morning Joe" were already steamed. Joe Scarborough had his Very Serious scowl face on while Mika Brzezinski's eyes were flashing with poised rage. Their target: newly elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 12, 2014 | Conservatism
In her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Sarah Palin ripped off an old chain email, mangled Doctor Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham," and declared that “Yes, we can” has become “No, we can’t” under Obamacare. “This is the guy who promised to provide...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 12, 2014 | Better Off Budget, The 2015 Budget
The Congressional Progressive Caucus releases a federal budget proposal today that, if it were fully enacted, is projected to create almost 9 million jobs over the next three years. As a statement of values as well as policy, the Caucus' proposal – called "The Better...
by Bill Scher | Mar 12, 2014 | Uncategorized
Public Still Wants a Raise Minimum wage still backed, but job concerns loom. Bloomberg: "Sixty-nine percent of Americans, including 45 percent of Republicans, support the president’s call to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 over the next three years ... Asked...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 12, 2014 | Education
We recently interviewed Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, on "The Zero Hour" on the school crisis currently taking place in Newark, N.J. The Newark story is part of a larger pattern in which Republican governors override local...
by Derek Pugh | Mar 11, 2014 | Populist Majority
A new study by Pew Research has dubbed members of the millennial generation “detached” when it comes to U.S. politics. These 18- to 33-year-olds are increasing put off by organized politics and religion, less likely to identify as “patriotic” and hold significantly...
by Digby | Mar 11, 2014 | Conservatism, Health
It doesn't matter if they'll save money and get better coverage; they just know they're going to die: A Dexter cancer patient featured in a conservative group’s TV ad campaign denouncing her new health care coverage as “unaffordable” will save more than $1,000 this...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 11, 2014 | Blog
Before I tell you what the subject is, just click this to listen to the first five minutes of Sunday night's Virtually Speaking: (Actually skip in about 1:35 and then listen to five minutes.) Listen To Politics Progressive Internet Radio Stations with Jay Ackroyd on...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 11, 2014 | Conservatism, The 2015 Budget, This Is The GOP
“Shut up!” That’s what Republican darling Darrell Issa told a Democrat who tried to speak at a public hearing last week. Issa didn’t deign to actually talk to a Democrat; instead he cut the microphones so the Democrat couldn’t be heard. Rep. Issa, R-Calif., silenced...
by Bill Scher | Mar 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
Climate Gets A Night In The Sun Senate Democrats wrap up all-nighter for climate. AP: "Democrats have been plowing through a dusk-to-dawn talkathon during which more than two dozen speakers have agreed with each other about the need for action on climate change....
by Bill Scher | Mar 11, 2014 | Climate, Conservatism
We stand with science.– Sen. Barbara Boxer (R-Calif.) When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wanted to talk to the nation about health care, he read "Green Eggs and Ham." [fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9EX2XkpPgE[/fve] When 30 senators seized the Senate floor last night...
by Joshua Holland | Mar 10, 2014 | Minimum Wage
Conservatives should be on the front line of the battle to raise the minimum wage. Work is supposed to make one independent, but with the inflation-adjusted federal minimum down by a third from its peak, low-wage workers depend on billions of dollars in public...
by Lynne Stuart Parramore | Mar 10, 2014 | Retirement Security
When the city of Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in July 2013, America sucked in a collective gasp. This was the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history by the amount of debt ($18–20 billion), and Detroit was the largest city ever to officially go...
by Sam Pizzigati | Mar 10, 2014 | Economy
Exactly 25 years ago this week the British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee conceptually “invented” the World Wide Web — and began a process that would rather rapidly make the online world an essential part of our daily lives. By 1995, 14 percent of Americans were...
by Bill Scher | Mar 10, 2014 | Uncategorized
Worst Congress Ever? Is this the worst Congress ever, asks The Hill: "The most memorable action taken by this Congress was last year’s shutdown. It is not that passing lots of laws necessarily makes a 'good Congress,' and many people would argue that the opposite is...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 10, 2014 | The 2015 Budget
Republican House Speaker John Boehner calls President Obama’s new budget “irresponsible.” A New York Times headline calls it a “populist wish list.” But it’s neither of those things. The White House’s fiscal proposal is a cautious foray out of the president’s...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 7, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
This week, the world watched as Ukrainians threw out their Russian-puppet president, and Russian president Vladimir Putin prepared to invade. Conservatives, naturally, have decided that it’s all President Obama’s fault. Sen. Lindsay Graham (R, SC) summed it all up...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 7, 2014 | Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Paul Ryan says that "the left" is offering Americans "a full stomach and an empty soul." The truth is that conservatives like Paul Ryan are offering Americans empty stomachs and empty rhetoric . The American people want more than that. Near the end of his Thursday...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 7, 2014 | Trade
The January trade deficit report is out, along with the February jobs report. The trade deficit is up, and as a result manufacturing jobs aren't doing all that well. That's because a trade deficit means that jobs move out of the country. People should be afraid of the...
by Bill Scher | Mar 7, 2014 | Uncategorized
Jobs Report Won't End Anxiety New jobs report better than expected but down from last year's average. NYT: "... the latest figures for hiring were down from last year’s average of roughly 190,000 and fell a bit short of what policy makers had been hoping to see at...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 7, 2014 | Jobs and Growth
The February Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report – 175,000 new jobs with unemployment remaining at 6.7 percent – is better than many feared, but reveals a slow-growth economy that is failing to reach the more than 20 million Americans still in need of full-time...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 6, 2014 | Education
What happens when people feel they aren't being listened to? They raise their voices louder. For some time now, teachers, parents and students have spoken out against the extraordinary emphasis on standardized testing that has become the bedrock of the nation's...
