by Bill Scher | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog
Mitt Romney's jobs plan is a collection of bullet points masking the fact that he has literally no proposals to create jobs. President Barack Obama's newly published jobs plan is a collection of bullet points that understates the detail in the jobs policies he has...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog
China and the US are in a fight to win a share of the millions of jobs and trillions of dollars that will come from the new alternative-energy industries that are gearing up to replace oil and coal. But Mitt Romney has told Republicans to remove an extension of...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog
You buy things till your wallet is empty. So you raid the savings account to buy more stuff. Then you get a loan, and buy more stuff. Another loan, another, you keep buying stuff… Finally you're selling off the tools you had used to make a living. That's where...
by Leo Gerard | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog
Over the years, China exported all sorts of toxic, dangerous and killer products to the United States. There was the tainted made-in-China Heparin blood thinner that killed more than 100 Americans. There were the recalled made-in-China toys, jewelry and clothing...
by | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog
So, I'm hearing this morning that despite the fact that President Obama clearly won last night's foreign policy debate, he actually lost: Josh Marshall tweeted that reporter friends of his are saying Mitt's playing 12 dimensional chess. I guess that makes sense since...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Economy
The middle class is disappearing. Our economy is "hollowing out" because the money goes to the top and the people fall to the bottom. This is because we allow American companies to close factories here and open them there, shipping the same goods back here to sell in...
by | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog
With Chinese President Hu Jintao’s state visit, it is a good time to reflect on how the dysfunctional U.S.-China relationship has developed, and to consider why it may be time for a trial separation. For nearly 40 years, the U.S. and China seem to have modeled their...
by Steven Capozzola | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
In a New York Times Economix blog post, David Barboza suggests that things are looking better in U.S.-China trade because America's exports to the People's Republic are increasing. Barboza cites a U.S.-China Business Council study that shows American exports to...
by | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Making it in America
China knows how to play us. In the days leading up to Vice President Biden's visit to Beijing, China's Central Bank took the Yuan to an all-time high against the dollar, just in time to fend off serious criticism of its ongoing currency manipulation. Let's be...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Making it in America
The Obama administration has filed a trade complaint against China for violations involving "extensive" government subsidies for autos and auto parts. From Reuters, at HuffPo: Barack Obama: China Auto Subsidies 'Directly Harm Working Men And Women', "These are...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog
The August trade figures are out and they are not good. The terrible trade deficit is where the jobs and the economy went but is ignored because it makes a few elites wealthy. Meanwhile our elites are whipping up fears about the budget deficit instead of the trade...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Climate
American solar companies are not alone in their battle with Chinese trade cheating. The Obama administration recently imposed tariffs because Chinese "dumping" was hurting American companies (like Solyndra). German solar companies are also bringing trade complaints...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Making it in America
We as a country have been running enormous trade deficits that enormously benefit our 1% at the expense of the rest of us. As a country we get poorer while they get richer, so they want things to stay just the way they are. And that is where we are today -- an...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog
The "China Currency Bill" has passed the Senate but is stalled in the House by Republican leadership. Republicans are trying to have it both ways on China and manufacturing, saying they want to do something, but blocking doing something. It could come to the floor and...
by | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog
Originally published at Capital Gains and Games. Have you heard the one about the big-name financial services CEOs who last week released a letter to Congress and the president demanding they do whatever it takes to avoid the fiscal cliff? I have no doubt the CEOs...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Climate
According to the Washington Post, President Obama "skinned the cat" and used executive powers "to press the most sweeping attack on air pollution in U.S. history." Oil- and coal-backed conservatives can't stand it. Washington Post, Obama’s record: Environmental agenda...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Economy
A group of workers whose jobs are being outsourced to China is touring the "rust belt." They are trying to make an election point. But what about the day after the election? Sensata Workers - More Jobs Going To China Two weeks ago I wrote about the workers at the...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, China Currency Showdown
Monday's final campaign debate focuses on foreign policy. Will it focus on our policy of running huge trade deficits with China? Every dollar of trade deficits makes our country a dollar poorer. That trade deficit is the deficit that our Washington elites should be...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Education
The online petition site Change.org is best known for enabling individuals to use the viral qualities of the internet to speak truth to power, such as when a 22-year-old nanny used the site to pressure a big bank to drop its debit fee, and an Eagle Scout challenged...
by Robert Borosage | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog
“I agree,” said Mitt Romney, and so he did, with the same passionate intensity with which he previously scorned the president’s foreign policies from one corner of the country to another. On Iran, on Afghanistan, on drones, on Libya, on using military force, on...
by Leo Gerard | Oct 23, 2012 | Blog, Making it in America
Every day President Obama reads and responds to letters from citizens. This illustrates his basic philosophy: people first. By contrast, for Mitt Romney, profit is the priority. He hasn't responded to any of the letters sent to him by workers at Sensata Technologies,...
by Bill Scher | Oct 23, 2012 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to effect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. MORNING MESSAGE: The Doublethink...
by Robert Borosage | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog, Economy
The broad American middle class is in trouble. Working families have been struggling with stagnant wages and rising insecurity for over three decades. From 2002-2007, Americans witnessed the first “recovery” in which the typical household suffered declining income....
by Bill Scher | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog
Today, the Campaign for America's Future unveiled TheMiddleClass.org Voter Guide which allows you to see how often your representatives in Congress vote for the middle class. A whopping 181 scored a big fat zero. But we didn't want this data to just collect dust on...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog
Don't be surprised if Republican Rep. Paul Ryan works hard at tonight's vice presidential debate to counter Vice President Joe Biden's Scranton, Pa. working-class roots with his own small-town roots in Janesville, Wis. But while both will invoke their middle-class...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog
TheMiddleClass.org Voter Guide is getting attention this week for its rating 200 members of Congress "zero" on a set of votes it deems reflective of the members' stands on middle-class concerns. It turns out it was not alone in taking a dim view of the performance of...
by Bill Scher | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog
Two representatives from New Hampshire are among the members of Congress targeted by a Campaign for Americas Future ad campaign aimed at vulnerable conservative congresspeople who rate the worst on TheMiddleClass.org Voter Guide. (You can contribute to the campaign by...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog
Pennsylvania's Jim Gerlach, a Congressman representing the 6th Congressional District received a ZERO rating from TheMiddleClass.org Voter Guide. That's right, he votes with the middle class zero percent of the time! Help us run ads that inform voters about Rep....
by Terrance Heath | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog
Last summer, my family took what we would later decide was our favorite family vacation thus far. We packed the car and headed north of Washington, DC, to Chautauqua Institute in New York state. I didn't know it at the time, but our trip took us through New York's...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog
What is Pennsylvania Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick's score in TheMiddleClass.org Voter Guide? 0%. Zero. Nada. That'd be a 'no.' Zip. Nothing for the middle class. Negatory, good buddy. Pennsylvania's Michael Fitzpatrick represents Pennsylvania's 8th District in Congress....
by Dave Johnson | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog
Doctoring audio in an ad to fool voters? No problem, and certainly no consequences. Romney did it and got away with it, and then did it again, and got away with it again. So now it's the new normal for corporate-conservative election campaigning, just run ads that...
by Bill Scher | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy The real story in Libya is not that there was a local terrorist attack. It's that the Libyan people sided with us over them after the attack. From yesterday's Meet The Press, here's Tom...
by Bill Scher | Oct 22, 2012 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to effect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. MORNING MESSAGE: Romney's Foreign...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog, The Sequester
The upcoming presidential debate on foreign policy will undoubtedly feature warnings from Republican candidate Mitt Romney that defense spending cuts from the Obama administration will compromise the nation's ability to defend itself. What you will not hear, at least...
by Richard Eskow | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog, Making it in America
In tonight's foreign policy debate, Mitt Romney will say that the way to get jobs back from China is with more free trade and lower taxes. But China's Communist. It already has tougher trade restrictions and higher taxes than we do. How, exactly, will more tax cuts...
by Sam Pizzigati | Oct 21, 2012 | Blog
Americans haven't heard much at all from Joe the Plumber this election cycle. A shame. Without his rants against sharing the wealth, no one's bothering to debate how desperately America really needs to be sharing. And how desperate has our maldistribution of wealth...
by Bill Scher | Oct 19, 2012 | Blog, Climate
We've had four and a half hours of presidential and vice-presidential debates. We've covered a lot of ground. There's been a lot of substance. Yet it is unconscionable that the biggest crisis the world faces has not yet warranted a mention: global warming. Will it be...
by | Oct 19, 2012 | Blog
We've had a number of disturbing reports these last couple of weeks about employers instructing their workers to vote for Romney or risk losing their jobs. It has a chilling effect on free speech, certainly, letting employees know that any public announcement of their...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 19, 2012 | Blog
Mitt Romney said a lot of "sketchy" things in Tuesday night's debate. He again and again said jobs were lost under Obama, when all of that happened right after Obama took office and before the stimulus turned things around. He said "government does not create jobs"...
by Bill Scher | Oct 19, 2012 | Uncategorized
MORNING MESSAGE: Even Romney's Scripted Binder Story Was A Lie OurFuture.org's Dave Johnson: "Turns out that Romney didn't even ask aides to look for qualified women as he said in his prepared statement at the debate, women's groups brought the binders to him. He did...
