by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 24, 2013 | Financial Reform
The CEO pay debate inside the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Washington, D.C. headquarters last week generated wild rhetoric — and a solid step toward CEO pay transparency. Watching grown men fulminate in public can be an unnerving experience. Michael Piwowar...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 24, 2013 | Blog
The folks behind Fix the Debt, the corporate- and billionaire-funded group lobbying against Medicare and Social Security benefits, asked if people like me have a "solution" for Social Security's benefits or would rather "do nothing." Hey, thanks for asking! Like most...
by Bill Scher | Sep 24, 2013 | Uncategorized
Shutdown... Senate filibuster plan rejected by McConnell. National Journal: "McConnell’s statement helped settle a nagging question for some Republicans: Do they vote against ending debate on the House continuing resolution—thereby voting against legislation they...
by Leo Gerard | Sep 24, 2013 | Blog
Last week, in an example of what makes America beautiful, several strangers rushed to the aid of a New York City construction worker trapped in a burning fifth-floor apartment. The rescuers hoisted a ladder up a fire escape and extended it to the smoky window sill...
by Dean Baker | Sep 24, 2013 | Health
In just one week the main part of Obamacare will begin to kick in. This is the state level exchanges that will allow the uninsured to be covered. Beginning on October 1, people will be able to sign up to get insurance in their state regardless of their health. Most...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 23, 2013 | Making it in America, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Late last week a largely anonymous group of officials from several major world economies gathered in Washington, most likely in an office a short walk from the White House, to hammer out details of an agreement that is often described as "NAFTA on steroids." In other...
by Thom Hartmann | Sep 23, 2013 | Conservatism, Economy, Minimum Wage
Pope Francis did it again. On Sunday, during a meeting with a group of unemployed workers, the Pope abandoned his prepared comments and railed against economic inequality. Pope Francis has previously spoken out against harsh austerity policies that are harming...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 23, 2013 | Shutdown
Republicans are trying to use a government shutdown as a hostage to get things they want. But the Obamacare defunding is misdirection -- Republicans don't want people thinking about the terrible, economy-killing cuts they are demanding to keep the government running...
by Digby | Sep 23, 2013 | Conservatism, Health, This Is The GOP
My good friend the struggling single mom has recently taken a job in the insurance industry. (It pays terribly so she has to work two jobs, of course, but it's better than nothing.) I spoke with her yesterday and she tells me that the votes to defund Obamacare have...
by Bill Scher | Sep 23, 2013 | Uncategorized
7 Days To Shutdown Deadline "Wild week" ahead. Reuters: "Yet the only certainty is that when the dust settles, Obamacare will still be standing ... The first important [Senate] vote ... could come on Tuesday when Reid might stage a vote on a 'motion to proceed,' which...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 22, 2013 | Chained CPI, Retirement Security
It’s autumn, when a politician’s fancy turns to thoughts of a Grand Bargain. Right now it looks as if the two sides are at an impasse. But President Obama’s “no negotiations” posture only applies to the debt ceiling, and his budget still includes the “chained CPI” cut...
by Derek Pugh | Sep 20, 2013 | Blog
The House GOP believes in welfare – just not the kind that goes to help the poor, sick, students, elderly or working class. Thursday’s vote to cut food stamps embodies what House conservatives are all about: giving billions away in corporate welfare to the richest...
by Bill Scher | Sep 20, 2013 | Blog
Environmentalists are cheering the new EPA draft rules that cap carbon emissions from new power plants, and effectively prevent future construction of traditional coal-power. And they should. The coal industry is whining that the White House has launched a "war on...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 20, 2013 | Blog
With one in seven Americans experiencing "food insecurity," Republicans yesterday passed a terrible and cruel cut in Food Stamps. This shows us just who they are. One In Seven New America Foundation: More Than One in Seven U.S. Households Experienced Food Insecurity...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 20, 2013 | Blog
This week the Obama administration's Department of Labor issued new rules extending minimum wage and overtime protection (beginning in 2015) to home care workers. These workers had been classified as the same as babysitters. This is a big change for almost 2 million...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 20, 2013 | Blog
An outside observer might be forgiven for thinking JPMorgan Chase isn’t so much a bank as it is a criminal enterprise with a bank attached to it. Even before the London Whale scandal, Chase's documented list of crimes included repeated fraud, perjury, forgery,...
by Bill Scher | Sep 20, 2013 | Uncategorized
House To Take Step Toward Shutdown Today House expected today to pass bill tying Obamacare repeal to keeping government open. The Hill: "It cleared a test vote in the House on Thursday, 230-192, setting up a final vote for Friday. Once approved by the House, the...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 20, 2013 | Conservatism, Economy, This Is The GOP
The GOP is burdened with a base too steeped in racial denialism and resentment to allow Republicans to reach out to minority voters. Republicans have painted themselves into a corner through decades of appealing to racial fears and stoking the racial resentments of...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 20, 2013 | Blog
Republicans are playing a trick on people with the negotiations over the budget and threats to shut down the government. On the one hand, they are threatening to shut down the government over "Obamacare." On the other hand, aside from Obamacare defunding, they are...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 19, 2013 | Blog
When it comes to the economy, the White House is talking tough to the Republicans ... about the debt ceiling. It's true that the threat to shut down the government by refusing to honor its debt obligations is downright un-American. The Administration's right to call...
by Emily Foster | Sep 19, 2013 | Conservatism, Economy
As the House of Representatives prepared to vote Thursday on a bill that would cut $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as “food stamps,” three economic experts denounced the conservative underpinnings of what they describe as...
by Bill Scher | Sep 19, 2013 | Shutdown
After putting maximum pressure on House Republicans to threaten government shutdown if Obamacare is not repealed, he seems uninterested in pressuring his fellow Senators to follow suit. His statement last night put all the responsbility on the House: "Harry Reid will...
by Digby | Sep 19, 2013 | Conservatism, Economy
You've got to love the Randroids. they never give up. Here's one writing in Forbes about the 99% vs the 1%. Guess who he thinks need to give back? Each particular individual in the community who contributed to a man’s rise to wealth was paid at the time–either...
by Thom Hartmann | Sep 19, 2013 | Conservatism, Economy, Health, This Is The GOP
The United States House of Representatives is in the midst of a food stamp showdown. House Republicans want to slash the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by nearly $40 billion dollars, and House Democrats are fighting it with all their might. The drastic cuts...
by Bill Scher | Sep 19, 2013 | Uncategorized
GOP Squabbles Over Who Should Force Shutdown First... House Republicans slam Sen. Ted Cruz for suggesting he wouldn't fight in the Senate to pass the ObamaCare repeal he's demanded of the House. WSJ: "Rep. Sean Duffy (R., Wis.) tweeted that Messrs. Cruz and Lee...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 18, 2013 | Blog
The Constitution does an admirable job of describing the way our government is supposed to operate, and nowhere does it say the House of Representatives has the power to shut it down in order to revoke a law that displeases it. In fact, it makes it clear that this is...
by Digby | Sep 18, 2013 | Economy, Minimum Wage, Progressive Vision
When I was in college I worked as a staffer for a home health agency for a while. And I learned what a terribly difficult job it is. These people care for the elderly and disabled in their homes often under very difficult conditions and they almost always do it with a...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 18, 2013 | Blog
The 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act included a provision requiring publicly traded companies to report the "pay ratio" -- the ratio of CEO compensation to worker compensation in that company. Corporate lobbying groups have been fight...
by Bill Scher | Sep 18, 2013 | Uncategorized
Poverty Rate Refuses To Budge Poverty rate stuck at 15%, finds Census. Time: "The poverty rate and the number of people living in poverty haven’t budged since 2011 despite the slowly improving economy ... Before the last recession began in 2007, the rate was 2.5...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 18, 2013 | Economy
If you've read the new Census Bureau report on income, poverty, and health insurance you may be asking yourself: Where did our $7,000 go? We're inundated with economic numbers every day, so let's just consider that one figure for a moment: Seven thousand dollars....
by Richard Eskow | Sep 17, 2013 | Blog
The City of Richmond, California is fighting back against Wall Street's mortgage fraud and foreclosure criminality. It's one of a handful of municipalities that is using eminent domain to stop foreclosure abuse, and it's being very smart about it. We were one of three...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 17, 2013 | Making it in America, Trans-Pacific Partnership
The corporate push to get Congress to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement is about to begin. Again and again we have been promised that these trade agreements "create jobs" and grow the economy. So do they? "Free-Trade" Claims Proponents of...
by Jeff Bryant | Sep 17, 2013 | Education
Earlier this year, spontaneous rebellions against top-down mandates and budget cuts inflicted on public schools erupted around the nation. In a months-long Education Spring, students, parents, teachers and community activists staged boisterous rallies, street...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 17, 2013 | Conservatism, Economy, This Is The GOP
Some Republicans now think it's a "moral hazard" to feed the poor. It's bad enough that Republicans are proposing $40 billion in cuts to food stamps, but portray it as a moral act beggars belief. Earlier this summer, Rep. Steve Fincher (R-Tenn.) quoted the...
by Digby | Sep 17, 2013 | Conservatism, This Is The GOP
You've got to hand it to these misanthropic wingnuts. They don't suffer from a surfeit of self-awareness, that's for sure: At a sugar lobby symposium at a Napa resort, of all places, Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) chose to champion the cuts last month, preaching of...
by Bill Scher | Sep 17, 2013 | Uncategorized
GOP Running Out Of Tricks To Keep Government Open... Congress out of gimmicks. NYT: First came the 'supercommittee,' ... Then came the 'McConnell plan,' a way for Congress to raise the government’s debt limit without actually voting to do so. And in January there was...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 17, 2013 | Blog
Today, September 17, marks the second anniversary of the Occupy movement. When that movement is mentioned at all in Washington, which is rarely, the tone is dismissive. It didn’t have coherent goals, someone may say. The movement needed an electoral strategy, someone...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 16, 2013 | Blog
The exceedingly comfortable who sit in America's richest 1 percent have regained the outrageously outsized share of the nation's income they held just before the economy cratered five years ago. The future just keeps getting brighter for Americans with unique...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 16, 2013 | Blog
While our government is laying off hundreds and hundreds of thousands and cutting services in the name of cutting deficits, a new report exposes that taxpayers are handing more than $1 trillion a year to the wealthiest. DC Focused On Deficits Not Jobs Instead of...
by Stan Collender | Sep 16, 2013 | Conservatism, Economy, Health, Shutdown
There are many reasons why the budget fight that will take pace over the next few weeks and months will be more difficult than any of the close-to-debacles that have occurred in recent years. The reasons include John Boehner (R-OH), who was already the weakest and...
