by Dave Johnson | Mar 6, 2014 | Trade
Our enormous, humongous trade deficit hurts our economy; our budget deficit right now doesn’t. What would the result be if people were more worried about the trade deficit than the budget deficit? Fixing the trade deficit would mean more jobs, higher wages and a much,...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 6, 2014 | Minimum Wage
The opponents of an increase in the minimum wage say they speak for small business. Here's more proof that they don't. It comes from the organization Small Business Majority, in the form of a poll of 500 randomly selected small-business owners. Among those polled, 57...
by Bill Scher | Mar 6, 2014 | Uncategorized
Obama Puts Minimum Wage Front and Center... Obama highlights minimum wage proposal by eating at CT diner that pays workers $10/hr. W. Post: "The diner’s owner 'knows what it’s like to work all his life, and he understands that if people are working hard they shouldn’t...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 6, 2014 | Conservatism
In the introduction to “The War on Poverty: 50 Years Later,” House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan identifies the “breakdown of the family” as the key cause of poverty. It’s poverty that causes the “breakdown” of many families, not the other way around. Ryan...
by Bill Scher | Mar 5, 2014 | Minimum Wage
If you thought that the hotly contested Congressional Budget Office report, suggesting that a higher minimum wage would reduce the number of jobs, would squelch any chance of raising it, think again. President Obama ratcheted up the pressure today, speaking out in...
by Emily Schwartz Greco | Mar 5, 2014 | The 2015 Budget
With Bob Lord Have you heard? Our economic policy debate is getting some spring cleaning. President Barack Obama has signaled that he’s had it with all that talk about America being broke and the belt-tightening austerity measures that went along with that chatter....
by Dave Johnson | Mar 5, 2014 | Economy, The 2015 Budget
The President's 2015 budget proposal "pivots" away from the 2010 "pivot" to austerity, pushes modestly for jobs and prioritizes infrastructure repair. Republicans will obstruct this – just like they have obstructed every jobs plan since the stimulus. But the public...
by Joshua Holland | Mar 5, 2014 | Conservatism
Some date the advent of the tea party to 2007, when then-presidential candidate Ron Paul held a “tax day tea party” fundraiser to fill his campaign coffers. But the broader movement began five years ago last week — shortly after Barack Obama was sworn into office....
by Bill Scher | Mar 5, 2014 | Uncategorized
Obama Budget Sets Up 2014 Debate President's budget draws clear contrasts with Republicans. NYT: " The document, his sixth budget, seeks to energize Democratic voters with populist proposals like a more generous tax credit for the working poor, paid for with higher...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 5, 2014 | The 2015 Budget
President Obama’s 2015 Budget sets up many of the right fights with the right opponents. Republicans who dismiss it out of hand – “most irresponsible budget yet” fumed House Speaker John Boehner – are exposed for what they are: defenders of privilege and entrenched...
by Thom Hartmann | Mar 4, 2014 | Economy
According to the Economic Policy Institute, we need an economy that works for everyone – not just the top one percent. The EPI recently issued a new report on how those at the top have fared - compared to the rest of us - over the last few decades. What they found...
by Bill Scher | Mar 4, 2014 | Blog
Conservatives are crowing. Yes, Mitt Romney said Russia was our "number one geopolitical foe" in 2012, and was guffawed at from the left. Yes, Sarah Palin said in the 2008 campaign that Obama's "indecision and moral equivalence" in response to Russia's invasion of...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 4, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
There have been strikes today in 190 cities with fast-food and other low-wage workers demanding $15 an hour and the right to unionize. At the same time, low-wage federal contract workers are demanding presidential action to win $15 and a union. It's not just fast-food...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 4, 2014 | Blog
It's now been almost two days since the last Academy Award was handed out, which makes it an old story in today's hyper-accelerated news cycle. But here's a final observation - a question, really - before Sunday night's relatively unmemorable gala fades from memory...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 4, 2014 | Conservatism, This Is The GOP
All those rights Americans cherish, those fundamental human and political freedoms protected by the U.S. Constitution, Republicans contend those aren’t really inalienable rights or anything solid or permanent like that. See, according to the GOP, some Americans are...
by Bill Scher | Mar 4, 2014 | Uncategorized
Obama Budget Seeks To Bolster Middle Class Obama releases 2015 budget proposal today. AP: "...expected to include proposals to upgrade aging highways and railroads, finance more pre-kindergarten programs and enhance job training. The White House said it would also...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 4, 2014 | Conservatism
Rep. Paul Ryan begins his analysis of the federal government's antipoverty efforts by repeating President Lyndon Johnson's call for "total victory" in an "unconditional war on poverty" and suggests we "figure out why we have yet to achieve the 'total victory' Johnson...
by Joshua Holland | Mar 3, 2014 | Conservatism
Dog whistle politics have served Republicans well. But with shifting demographics, they may become an albatross around the party’s neck. No issue reflects that dynamic as clearly as immigration reform. Failure to address a broken system has alienated key...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 3, 2014 | Trade
Today more than 40 organizations called on the U.S. Trade Representative to start an open, transparent, public consultation process allowing them to provide input on our country's trade-agreement negotiating process and the resulting trade deals. In particular these...
by Digby | Mar 3, 2014 | Conservatism, Economy, This Is The GOP
I guess you know it's election time when the Republicans decide it's time to troll for votes among their lovely base by kicking the poor. As a direct counter to President Obama’s recent emphasis on the gap between rich and poor, the upcoming House Republican budget...
by Sam Pizzigati | Mar 3, 2014 | Blog
The two cousins who run the private equity giant KKR, required disclosures revealed last week, together took home an astounding $327 million in 2013. Even more astounding: Analysts expect that the top execs at two of KKR’s biggest private equity rivals, Leon Black of...
by Bill Scher | Mar 3, 2014 | Uncategorized
Obama Wages Wage Battle... Obama to stump for $10.10 minimum Wednesday. The Hill: "President Obama will appear with four Democratic governors from New England on Wednesday in Connecticut ... Three of the governors, Dannel Malloy (Conn.), Peter Shumlin (Vt.) and...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 3, 2014 | The 2015 Budget
House Speaker John Boehner has announced that Republicans plan to offer another budget proposal from Rep. Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chair, for fiscal 2015. Progressives should relish the opportunity to show what a real jobs and growth budget should look...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 28, 2014 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
When the week began, Arizona governor Jan Brewer thought she had all the time in the world to decide whether to veto Arizona’s “Gay Jim Crow” bill. By the middle of the week, Brewer learned differently. Conservatives lost it. SB 1062, Arizona’s bill that would allow...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 28, 2014 | Conservatism, Progressive Vision
Arizona and Uganda are nine thousand miles apart, but they were side by side in the news this week, due to extremist anti-gay laws that spring from and are supported by the religious right. Uganda, Nigeria, etc. On Monday, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni signed an...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 28, 2014 | Minimum Wage
In a USA Today poll in January, close to three-quarters of Americans said that they would support an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. But even though a majority of Americans at least want this issue decided by Congress, House Speaker John Boehner won't...
by admin | Feb 28, 2014 | Uncategorized
Minimum Wage Debate Heats Up New York Times editorial says business will benefit from a $10.10 minimum wage. "Scholarly studies and the experience of businesses themselves show that what companies lose when they pay more is often offset by lower turnover and increased...
by Richard Eskow | Feb 28, 2014 | Progressive Vision
Has the American left ceased to exist as a viable political force by surrendering its power to a corporatized Democratic Party? That’s the argument put forward by political scientist Adolph Reed Jr., first in an essay for Harper’s magazine and then in a televised...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 27, 2014 | Education
A collaboration between the group In the Public Interest and the American Federation of Teachers offers progressive education activists a new resource for pushing back against efforts to turn public schools into private profit centers. The "Cashing In On Kids" website...
by Sarah Anderson | Feb 27, 2014 | Conservatism
The austerity mania that plagued our political system for four years is finally subsiding. The latest sign is President Barack Obama’s decision to nix the Social Security cuts he had previously included in his budget proposal. This was a body blow to the most powerful...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 27, 2014 | Uncategorized
GOP Tax Plan DOA A Republican’s Tax Overhaul Envisions Big Changes [NY Times]: "Big banks would face a new tax on lending. Taxes paid to state and local governments would no longer be deductible. The earned income credit for low-wage workers would be converted to a...
by Richard Eskow | Feb 27, 2014 | Trade
If you take the king’s shilling, says the old saying, then you do the king’s bidding. So what happens when you take 100 million of them? Here’s one possible answer: You negotiate trade deals like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the new pact that...
by Robert Borosage | Feb 27, 2014 | Conservatism
Remember that Republican promise on comprehensive tax reform? Well, never mind. For years, Republicans have called for comprehensive tax reform that would offer lower rates paid for by closing loopholes. They’ve rejected any effort to close obscene dodges in the tax...
by Jeff Bryant | Feb 27, 2014 | Education
When President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address, called for a "year of action," he probably didn't have this in mind. An extensive and diverse coalition of forces opposed to the education policies pushed by his administration, and many state governors,...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 27, 2014 | Jobs and Growth
You may have heard about all the giant multinational corporations that have moved jobs, factories and profits out of the country in order to avoid paying the taxes they owe. You may have heard that we haven't been maintaining (never mind modernizing) our...
by Digby | Feb 26, 2014 | Blog
Hmm: The shift toward greater liberal self-identification has been led by Democrats. Currently, 43% of Democrats say they are liberal, a nearly 50% increase from 29% in 2000. Over the same period, the percentage of Democrats identifying as moderate is down to 36% from...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 26, 2014 | China Currency Showdown, Trade
The United States could create up to 5.8 million new jobs, reduce our trade deficits by up to $500 billion per year by 2015 and increase U.S. gross domestic product by up to $720 billion per year if we act to end global currency manipulation. Simple as that....
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 26, 2014 | Conservatism
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal got himself some attention this week for being the skunk at what is typically a diplomatic, nonconfrontational exchange between a bipartisan group of governors and reporters outside the White House after a meeting with President Obama. His...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 26, 2014 | Uncategorized
Obama And Boehner Meet Again Obama, Boehner Meet for Hour at White House [ABC News]: "Disentangled from showdowns or looming crises, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner held a rare one-on-one Oval Office meeting Tuesday addressing potential areas of...
by Sam Pizzigati | Feb 26, 2014 | Economy, Progressive Vision
By Khalil Bendib for OtherWords Back in the early 1990s, the infancy of the Internet Age, our hippest policy wonks orated endlessly about the emerging “information superhighway.” But that mouthful of a moniker would soon fall out of fashion. Anyone today who talks...
