by Richard Eskow | Aug 20, 2012 | Blog
In the annals of Mitt Romney's days at Bain Capital, one story seems to have escaped our collective memory. It involves Bain's acquisition of a New York City drug store chain during Mitt Romney's tenure there, and the hiring of a new president who would turn out to...
by Sam Pizzigati | Aug 18, 2012 | Blog
The old robber barons exploited workers and gouged consumers. Today's robber barons are making millions off a new class of victims: average American taxpayers. Our nation’s tax code has become an incredibly powerful enabler of bloated CEO pay. Boeing makes airplanes....
by Dave Johnson | Aug 18, 2012 | Blog
A look at one of Bain Capital's first deals shows a get-rich-quick-at-everyone-else's-expense pattern forming: borrow heavily, gut assets, cut wages, cut safety, crush unions, restructure for tax avoidance and sell with a sweetheart, insider deal. That pattern...
by Roger Hickey | Aug 17, 2012 | Blog
At a campaign stop in south central Virginia this past Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden said to a relieved coffee shop patron that, "Number one, I guarantee you, flat guarantee you, there will be no changes in Social Security. I flat guarantee you." Join Social...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 17, 2012 | Blog
As I've noted before, we have a saying in the south that often applies to national politics: "A hit dog will holler": A hit dog will holler: when a group of folks find themselves in a troublesome situation, more often than not, the troublemaker speaks up first to...
by | Aug 17, 2012 | Blog
Wow. Boehner must have had a few too many Merlots before he went on Greta Van Susteran's show on Wednesday: VAN SUSTEREN, FOX News: People think of him as hawkish on the budget, on expenses, but he voted for TARP. He voted for the auto bailout, voted for two stimulus...
by Bill Scher | Aug 17, 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 Makes Clear...
by Bill Scher | Aug 17, 2012 | Blog
Mitt Romney whipped out a whiteboard yesterday primarily to simplify and amplify his brazen lie that President's Obama health care law cuts benefits for seniors -- literally putting "$716B Cut" next to the word "Seniors", when in fact Obama saves $716 billion in the...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 16, 2012 | Blog
It's unclear what effect presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's decision to add Rep. Paul Ryan to his ticket will have on his candidacy, if any. But the choice certainly has had a salutary effect on the Obama re-election campaign. Naturally, it...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 16, 2012 | Blog
Mitt Romney's economic plan has a section on trade. While Romney gets it exactly right about China and offers the right proposals, his current actions tell us he might just pull out the old Etch-a-Sketch if elected. His other proposals generally go in the same old...
by Bill Scher | Aug 16, 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: On Social...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 16, 2012 | Blog
What Vice President Joe Biden said today was, to use his now-famous phrase, "a big effin' deal." No, we're not talking about his "chains" comment which, as usual, has fascinated a press corps obsessed with taking statements out of context and playing "gotcha" games....
by Bill Scher | Aug 15, 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-Ryan Guns...
by | Aug 14, 2012 | Blog
If anyone thinks that these guys are going to blame their fair haired boy for Romney's loss, they need to think again: This month, as a handful of Republicans auditioned at town halls and on bus tours to be Mitt Romney’s running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 14, 2012 | Blog
Sometimes there no joy in being right. Sometimes it's just no fun to say "I told ya so." This is one of those times. Depending on whom you ask, Mitt Romney choice of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as a running mate is either inspired or insane; bold or boneheaded; a...
by | Aug 14, 2012 | Blog
The following is an issue brief by Nancy Altman, Social Security Works, Eric Kingson, Syracuse University, and Benjamin W. Veghte, Scholars Strategy Network, Harvard University and originally published by the Scholars Strategy Network. More background on the...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 14, 2012 | Blog
Today, August 14, is Social Security's 77th birthday. That presents us with a difficult challenge: What do you give a government program that has everything … except a secure future of its own? Let's take a look at the options for this year's celebration. The...
by Bill Scher | Aug 14, 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 Budget Debate...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 14, 2012 | Blog, Economy, Minimum Wage
The following was originally published by Politico Now that Mitt Romney has selected Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), head of the House Budget Committee, as his running mate, he has insured that this campaign will feature arguments about the budget and deficits. Ryan jumped...
by Bill Scher | Aug 13, 2012 | Blog
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy John Sununu, top Romney campaign spokesperson, went on MSNBC's Hardball tonight with a message that the Romney budget and the Romney Medicare plan is not the same as his vice-presidential...
by Jeff Bryant | Aug 13, 2012 | Blog, Education
Even if you don't have school-aged children, you can tell schools are about to open in many places because the airwaves, mailboxes, and newspaper inserts are stuffed with "Back to School" advertising. It's also the time of year when we hear most about research studies...
by | Aug 13, 2012 | Blog
Ever since Barry Goldwater lost his bid for the presidency in 1964, the conservative movement has been looking for a choice, not an echo (Goldwater’s mantra). Reagan came close, but compromised too often on taxes and back-slapped with Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill...
by Leo Gerard | Aug 13, 2012 | Blog
This guy, Edward DeMarco, is deliberately damaging America -- promoting foreclosures, high unemployment and excessive taxes. This guy, the acting head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), has aggressively denied help to eviction-imperiled homeowners. And now...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 13, 2012 | Blog
It is difficult to read, watch or listen to the news without hearing that public employees are paid too much and get “lucrative” pensions and this is “bankrupting” your state, county or city. Public officials are "in bed" with "union bosses" and state and local...
by Bill Scher | Aug 13, 2012 | Blog
"We're Not Going To Reduce Taxes for High-Income People." -- Mitt Romney on CBS' 60 Minutes, 8/12/12, at the 12:41 mark above Mitt Romney was trapped. The Tax Policy Center smoked out his tax plan -- no matter how many unspecified tax loopholes Romney says he would...
by Bill Scher | Aug 13, 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: "President Ryan"...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 13, 2012 | Blog
Paul Ryan's looks are often compared to an actor's, and that's no accident: He's being groomed for the role of a lifetime. When Mitt Romney accidentally introduced Ryan as "the next President" he may have been displaying the same predilection for accidental honesty -...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 12, 2012 | Blog
Did Republicans work to help our President fix the economy and the country after he took office, in the midst of two wars, a financial crisis, and an economic emergency? This is a question every American should consider. The month President Obama took the oath of...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 12, 2012 | Blog
More than 35,000 working people attended Saturday's Workers Stand For America rally in Philadelphia – the birthplace of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights – to demand an economy that works for all of us. This rally was called to support America's Second Bill of...
by Sam Pizzigati | Aug 12, 2012 | Blog
The United States already sports an exceedingly rich people-friendly tax structure. But America's rich seem to have far more friendly tax models in mind. Like Singapore. Why do the mega rich in the United States feel so put upon? Their incomes are rising, after all,...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 10, 2012 | Blog
I'm probably going to take this just couple of steps too far. But it's too hard to resist, and I think its a valid point. Back in 2007, right-wing water-carrier Dinesh D'Souza made a big splash when he published The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 10, 2012 | Blog
Yesterday the Justice Department announced that once again it's not going to pursue evidence of Wall Street crimes which has been sent its way. It has already failed to act on information sent to it by sources whose investigators are apparently more dogged than its...
by Bill Scher | Aug 10, 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 Shifty...
by Steven Capozzola | Aug 10, 2012 | Blog, Making it in America
It's interesting to see the U.S. competing head-to-head with China for the top of the Olympic medal standings. As Andrew Weber points out in USA Today, for decades this close competition was instead the exclusive battle of the U.S. vs. the USSR. But times have...
by | Aug 10, 2012 | Blog
New polling with the same results: As President Obama and Democrats in Congress prepare to square off at least one more time with Republicans over the federal budget, about eight in 10 Americans would like to see both sides strike a compromise rather than let the...
by | Aug 9, 2012 | Blog, The Sequester
Originally posted at Capital Gains and Games. You would think that Phil Gramm -- the former Republican Texas senator who was one of the authors of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget process from the late 1980s -- would know how the law bearing his name works. At the...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 9, 2012 | Blog, Economy, Minimum Wage
Everyone agrees that there is only one question on voters' minds: who has a plausible plan to put this economy on the right track? Yet in the most expensive election in recorded history, candidates up and down the ticket aren't offering much of an answer. The...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 9, 2012 | Blog
Whether or nor history will record Mitt Romney's misadventures in Britain and Israel last week as the Republicans' equivalent of Michael Dukakis in a tank, remains to be seen. But whatever missteps Romney made abroad, he did not misspeak. Nor did anyone who spoke for...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 9, 2012 | Blog
A little over a year ago, I wrote: When conservatives start talking "welfare reform," progressives usually respond one of two ways. We either: (a) start inching towards the exits; or (b) stand in open-mouthed wonder, asking one another "Wait, they're not serious,...
by Bill Scher | Aug 9, 2012 | Uncategorized
MORNING MESSAGE: This Saturday, Workers Stand For America OurFuture.org's Dave Johnson: "There is a big rally Saturday in Philadelphia, to begin to "change the conversation" to focus on the needs of working Americans. Read America's Second Bill of Rights, which...
