by Robert Borosage | Jan 21, 2014 | Progressive Vision, The New Populism
Is the “new populism” hailed by the mainstream press for real? The celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday reminds us how far we are from a vibrant people’s movement that can force change in Washington. But the difficulty that the White House has had in...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 21, 2014 | Financial Reform
Have you heard? Goldman Sachs is "a shell of its former self.” Fortunately for its executives, this “shell” earned $8.91 billion in 2013, just a few short years after its leaders mismanaged it into the ground as its bankers committed serial fraud. There’s no...
by Guest Writer | Jan 20, 2014 | Conservatism, Democracy, Progressive Vision
By Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II Note: This is an excerpt of an acceptance speech given by Rev. Barber on November 6, 2013, when he received the Paul Wellstone Citizen Leadership Award from the Campaign for America's Future. During this speech, he announced the...
by Guest Writer | Jan 20, 2014 | Economy, Progressive Vision
By Bob Lord As we commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.’s 85th birthday, we’ve all come to know his dream. Above all else, he dreamed that one day this nation would rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 17, 2014 | Conservatism, Economy, Making it in America
Bucking the conservative tendency to blame and punish the poor, and the trend towards criminalizing homelessness, Utah has come up with simple, cost-effective solution for homelessness. Earlier this month, Hawaii State representative Tom Bower (D) began walking the...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 17, 2014 | Blog
Today's ridiculous attack on teacher unions is one that accuses them of supporting sexual predators in schools. Let's see if we can figure out what's behind it. In a Wall Street Journal hit-piece, Campbell Brown – you may remember her as a former television news...
by Richard Long | Jan 17, 2014 | Education
Here’s a news flash for you that’s neither news nor flash: The majority of college graduates are coming out of school with student loan debt. Today, nearly 70 percent of college graduates come out of school saddled with an average debt of $29,400. Check out this map...
by Joshua Holland | Jan 17, 2014 | Conservatism
West Virginia Spill: Where “Regulation” Is a Dirty Word, Shady Businesses Flourish (via Moyers & Company) Asked about the spill of thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into a West Virginia river – a disaster that shut down schools and businesses, sent...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 17, 2014 | Blog
Guess who is one of the biggest employers of minimum-wage employees? Your own federal government. After years of "privatization" and outsourcing, the government now contracts out a lot of work to companies that pay really, really low wages for jobs that when they were...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 17, 2014 | Conservatism, Economy, Financial Reform
In 2010, the Heritage Foundation ranked Ireland in the top 10 counties in its "Economic Independence Index." Four years later, conservative austerity has wrecked Ireland's economy and other European economies. The "luck of the Irish" ran out in 2008, when the "Celtic...
by Bill Scher | Jan 17, 2014 | Uncategorized
Debt Limit Weeks Away After spending bill clears Congress, another debt limit confrontation looms. Bloomberg: "Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said yesterday that Congress should act as soon as possible to raise the borrowing cap at least by late February ... Democrats...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 17, 2014 | The Jobs Challenge, Unemployment Benefits
[fve]http://youtu.be/IodMh1T-eVw[/fve] As Republican senators were preparing to head to their home states Thursday for a week-long recess, several of them told The Huffington Post's Michael McAuliff that they have no regrets about filibustering an extension of...
by Bill Scher | Jan 16, 2014 | Blog
While President Obama's EPA is planning new regulations to cap carbon emissions from power plants, a sprawling grassroots "divestment" movement is pressuring fossil fuel companies from the bottom-up -- calling on individuals and institutions to dump their stocks in...
by Thom Hartmann | Jan 16, 2014 | Blog
We already knew that the Trans Pacific Partnership is a threat to our jobs, our civil rights, and our national sovereignty, and now we know it's also a danger to our environment. On Wednesday, Wikileaks published a leaked version of the environmental chapter of the...
by Bill Scher | Jan 16, 2014 | Uncategorized
Boehner, Conservatives Not On Same Page Boehner, House conservatives, not coordinating 2014 legislative strategy. National Journal: "...leadership officials and conservative members have been huddling separately [and their] plans appear to be on a collision course ......
by Richard Eskow | Jan 16, 2014 | Conservatism
When you look too long into the Abyss, said Nietzsche, the Abyss looks into you. “And,” adds comedian Brother Theodore, “neither one of us likes what we see.” That’s what the economic pronouncements of Republican politicians are like nowadays. Instead of a governing...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 16, 2014 | Budget Talks, Conservatism
“In Defeat for Tea Party, House passes $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill,” The New York Times reports. The compromise bill that will sail through the Senate by the end of the week is celebrated for heralding a return to “regular order,” to the bipartisan cooperation needed...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 15, 2014 | Conservatism, Democracy
Republicans filibustered the extension of unemployment benefits on the Senate floor Tuesday. Why? Because they can get away with it. Look at how the press reported what happened. If the public doesn't know that filibusters are occurring, how can democracy hold...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 15, 2014 | Blog
I was on "The Nicole Sandler Show" recently talking about the one-sided trade agreements we've been tricked into and the damage they do to the economy. It's also quite entertaining. Seriously, it is. Bad puns, jokes and, of course, Nicole!!...
by Jeff Bryant | Jan 15, 2014 | Education
Last week, the Obama administration took an important step for the well being of the nation's youth – especially those who are of racial minorities – by issuing new guidelines that many hope will shut down what has come to be known as "the school-to-prison pipeline."...
by Bill Scher | Jan 15, 2014 | Blog
The arrival of Center for American Progress founder John Podesta to the White House inner circle has kicked up buzz around what President Obama may do for the environment by executive order. As The Washington Post's Brad Plumer reminded us last month, Podesta was the...
by Roger Hickey | Jan 15, 2014 | Conservatism, Progressive Vision
I'm writing to ask you to join us in Raleigh, N.C., on February 8 to fight for justice. In 2012, right-wing Republicans took over the North Carolina state house and governor's mansion. They launched attacks on voting rights, education, the environment, health care and...
by Bill Scher | Jan 15, 2014 | Uncategorized
Unemployed Get Filibustered Republicans filibuster jobless aid again. NYT: "...Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, abruptly called a vote to end debate on two Democratic measures that would extend benefits for out-of-work Americans for at least three...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 15, 2014 | Conservatism
Today, about 35,000 of the 300,000 West Virginians left without water for five days, after a chemical leak contaminated the Elk River, can shower again. For the remaining folks in the nine counties affected by the chemical leak and the resulting ban on using tap...
by Leo Gerard | Jan 14, 2014 | Making it in America
That giant sucking sound predicted by Ross Perot commenced 20 years ago last week. It is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) vacuuming up U.S. jobs and depositing them in Mexico. Independent presidential candidate Perot was right. NAFTA swept U.S. industry...
by Trevor Davis | Jan 14, 2014 | Blog
Republicans must have gotten tired of being called the "do-nothing" Congress, given how in the past few days after their extended vacation they have gotten right to work. That is, if you count as "work" filing pointless legislation. There is Rep. Bill Cassidy [R-LA]...
by Bill Scher | Jan 14, 2014 | Uncategorized
Unemployment Insurance Deal May Be Near "Senators Closing In on Deal to Extend Unemployment Insurance" reports National Journal: "...a group of Republican lawmakers and the Democratic leadership [are] both signaling an agreement could be close. In a sign that a deal...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 14, 2014 | Progressive Vision
Rep. George Miller of California has announced that, after 40 years in the House, he will not seek re-election this fall. The House will lose a rare and valued leader; progressives will miss a true champion. Big George’s passions were clear in the committees he has...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 13, 2014 | Unemployment Benefits
Republicans are engaged in yet more hostage-taking obstruction. (Whatever gave them the idea that hostage-taking can work?) They are engaged in a filibuster of the effort to extend unemployment insurance, using it as a hostage to try to get even more cuts to the...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 13, 2014 | Retirement Security
Democrats have been pleading with President Obama not to cut Social Security for years. Until now, most of the public pleas have come from Democratic voters. Now they’re coming from Democratic senators. You can’t blame them. In 2010 polls showed that Democrats blew a...
by Digby | Jan 13, 2014 | Conservatism, Democracy
This piece by Arun Gupta gets to something important about our American "democracy": [T]hese days Americans have as much familiarity with democracy as they do with homesteading on the frontier. We like to imagine ourselves as pioneering statesmen, hewing a sturdy...
by Thom Hartmann | Jan 13, 2014 | Economy, Progressive Vision
More than 300,000 West Virginia residents are facing their fifth day of coping with a massive chemical spill, and FEMA is helping state and local agencies ensure that residents have access to safe drinking water. That means tax payers are already covering the cost of...
by Bill Scher | Jan 13, 2014 | Uncategorized
Warren May Oppose Fed Nominee Sen. Warren questions Fed nomination. The Hill: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is 'not sure' about President Obama’s pick to fill the No. 2 spot at the Federal Reserve. The outspoken liberal and bank critic expressed concerns about the...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 13, 2014 | Unemployment Benefits
Despite record-high levels of unemployment – especially long-term unemployment – Republicans are refusing to permit any extension of unemployment insurance benefits unless it’s “paid for” with money taken from other government programs. They've never demanded that of...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 10, 2014 | Making it in America
Friday's dismal jobs report showed that manufacturing jobs increased by 9,000 in December, after adding 17,000 jobs in October and 31,000 in November. In all of 2013, manufacturers added 77,000 new workers. According to the National association of Manufacturers...
by Bill Scher | Jan 10, 2014 | Uncategorized
Weak Jobs Report Rattles Nation Only 74K net new jobs, as labor force shrinks, reports NYT: "Economists said that weather exaggerated the weakness in the report. But they also cautioned that other indicators, like average hourly earnings and the labor participation...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 10, 2014 | Blog
For December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the economy added an unexpectedly low 74,000 new jobs in December, while the unemployment rate declined from 7.0 to 6.7 percent, largely because of people dropping out of the labor force. The jobs number...
by Bill Scher | Jan 10, 2014 | Uncategorized
Partisan Divide Widens In Jobless Aid Debate New Dem bill to extend jobless aid for 10 months set for Monday vote, but lacks any GOP support. W. Post: "After Reid spoke, [GOP Sen. Rob] Portman criticized the plan for not including his proposal to save money by barring...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 10, 2014 | Making it in America
Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Representative Dave Camp (R-Mich.) have officially introduced fast-track trade authority legislation in Congress. Fast track is a process that bypasses Congress' constitutional role in the treaty process. Fast track prohibits...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 9, 2014 | Conservatism
Some Republicans are claiming Chris Christie isn't really one of them. Some pundits are claiming, even as scandal erupts around him, that he's a "different kind of Republican." He's more, and less, than that: He is the archetypal Republican, the incarnation of its...
