by | May 23, 2012 | Blog, Climate
Van Jones will be a featured speaker at the Take Back the American Dream conference, convening June 18 to 20 in Washington, DC. The following was originally published by The Huffington Post and co-written with Roger Kim, executive director of Asian Pacific...
by Dave Johnson | May 23, 2012 | Blog
I attended a lunch gathering with economist and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman, who is speaking today in San Francisco about his new book. Paul Krugman will also be speaking at the Take Back The American Dream 2012 conference that takes place June 18-20 in...
by | May 23, 2012 | Blog
Jeffrey Rosen will be a featured speaker at the Take Back the American Dream conference, convening June 18 to 20 in Washington, DC, as part of the panel "The Supreme Court & Constitutional Policy for Progressives." The following is an excerpt from an article...
by | May 23, 2012 | Blog
I wanted to wait a few days before commenting on Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s spontaneous criticism of Barack Obama for picking on Mitt Romney's experience at Bain Capital. Booker doesn’t know much of anything about private equity, but many financial services donors...
by | May 23, 2012 | Blog
This can't possibly be right. Everyone knows the bully pulpit is a total myth and nobody with a thought in their head would ever dream that something the president said could ever make a difference in anything: Public opinion continues to shift in favor of same-sex...
by Bill Scher | May 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: 10 Reasons To Be...
by Richard Eskow | May 23, 2012 | Blog
Three of Wall Street biggest and best-known financial institutions handled the Facebook IPO, so why were people immediately suspicious when the stock soared and then promptly tanked? Easy answer: Because three of Wall Street biggest and best-known financial...
by Dave Johnson | May 22, 2012 | Blog, Making it in America
A number of groups representing American manufacturing companies and industries have asked the Obama administration for clear language that bans currency manipulation to be included in any new trade bills. A coalition of trade groups today sent a joint letter to U.S....
by | May 22, 2012 | Blog
Originally published at Capital Gains and Games. Like most federal budget watchers, I assumed that the extremely negative political reaction to the federal government shutdowns in 1995 and 1996 meant that tactic wasn’t likely to be threatened again, let alone actually...
by Terrance Heath | May 22, 2012 | Blog
The 2012 presidential election may go down as one of the strangest political seasons in recent memory, for the simple reason that the influence of the financial sector in politics, policy and the economy has caused Republicans to sound like Democrats and Democrat to...
by Bill Scher | May 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: The Real Bain...
by Leo Gerard | May 22, 2012 | Uncategorized
At Citigroup, shareholders had their say on CEO pay -- and they yelled, "No damn way!" Concerted action by shareholders, workers and public interest groups compelled corporate change in several other cases this spring as well. At least three CEOs resigned. Executives...
by Leo Gerard | May 22, 2012 | Blog, Financial Reform
At Citigroup, shareholders had their say on CEO pay -- and they yelled, "No damn way!" Concerted action by shareholders, workers and public interest groups compelled corporate change in several other cases this spring as well. At least three CEOs resigned. Executives...
by | May 21, 2012 | Blog
Originally posted at Capital Gains and Games. I can't tell you the number of focus groups I've watched and polls I read where the overwhelming opinion was that federal spending could be cut without any decrease in the quantity and quality of what the government does....
by | May 21, 2012 | Blog
False equivalence of the day: Appearing on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday, Newark Mayor and Obama bundler Cory Booker said he was “uncomfortable” with the Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s career with Bain Capital. “It’s a distraction from the real issues,”...
by Sam Pizzigati | May 21, 2012 | Blog
Facebook's initial public offering last week 'offered' the world another double dose of windfalls and greed. But Egypt's elections this week may bring an IPO of a different sort, the 'initial public offering' of an antidote to avarice. Remember the heady days of the...
by Bill Scher | May 21, 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: After JPMorgan...
by Richard Eskow | May 21, 2012 | Blog
When Jamie Dimon revealed that JPMorgan Chase had lost billions through risky and legally questionable trading, he said the losses would be about $2 billion and maybe more. Apparently it is more - a lot more. People in a position to know are saying the real figure is...
by Dave Johnson | May 20, 2012 | Blog
Which is better for an economy: millions of future jobs and trillions of future dollars, or a few people making a quick buck today by selling out their country? For decades America's 1%-backed conservatives have chosen the latter course, and we can see the results all...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 18, 2012 | Blog
From the House Republicans whose leader, Speaker John Boehner, just three days ago claimed that "we can’t go on spending money we don’t have," and "our economy is stuck in large part because it’s stuck with debt," comes this: The House on Friday approved a sweeping...
by | May 18, 2012 | Blog
Yesterday I posted (twice!) a Think Progress chart proving that the government under president Obama had pursued austerity policies. It was done to refute Mitt Romney's outright lie that the president had spent the country into oblivion, but some of us wondered why...
by Bill Scher | May 18, 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 Bully...
by Terrance Heath | May 18, 2012 | Blog
My first reaction to the now-famous Washington Post story of how an 18-year-old Mitt Romney bullied and assaulted a fellow student at the prestigious Cranbrook School was personal. The story is well known by now. Romney objected to John Lauber's bleach blonde hair,...
by Dave Johnson | May 17, 2012 | Blog
There is a news report that yet another right-wing billionaire is going to spend even more millions to run even more poisonous, divisive, racist, degrading, insulting, lying, character-assassination ads designed to turn people against government and democracy. And an...
by Roger Hickey | May 17, 2012 | Blog
The following was drafted for delivery at the Protest The Fiscal Summit demonstration outside the Peter G. Peterson Fiscal Summit in Washington on May 15. Thank you, Sen. Sanders. And welcome to all of you to Andrew Mellon Auditorium, named after one of the wealthiest...
by Robert Borosage | May 17, 2012 | Blog, Economy
The dire threat facing America, according to Mitt Romney and Republicans this week, is debt, not mass unemployment. We face "a prairie fire of debt," Mitt Romney warned in Iowa. Debt is "a grave threat to freedom," intoned House Speaker John Boehner in Washington,...
by | May 17, 2012 | Blog
I mentioned the annual Pete Peterson Poor People Ritual Sacrifice confab earlier, but this piece about the man's material devotion to his cause by Ryan Grim is a must-read: According to a review of tax documents from 2007 through 2011, Peterson has personally...
by Alan Jenkins | May 17, 2012 | Blog
One by one, the excuses have fallen. Yet Edward DeMarco, acting head of FHFA, the agency that runs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, still fails to offer the most effective relief available to American homeowners struggling with mortgages held by those entities. Economists,...
by Richard Eskow | May 17, 2012 | Blog
Most observers are missing the point. When CEO Jamie Dimon announced that JPMorgan Chase had incurred at least $2 billion in losses from risky, unsecured, derivatives-types trading, it uncovered the scandal of our time once and for all. The Chase disaster gives us a...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 17, 2012 | Blog, Financial Reform
JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion bad bet has made it crystal clear: The Wall Street banksters are still recklessly gambling with government-guaranteed money. And the too-big-to-fail banks are still too big. It is time for Congress to act. Tell Congress to break up the big...
by Bill Scher | May 17, 2012 | Uncategorized
MORNING MESSAGE: Make Banking SAFE OurFuture.org's Isaiah J. Poole: "SAFE (Safe, Accountable, Fair and Efficient) Banking Act sponsors Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Keith Ellison are featured speakers at the June 18-20 Take Back the American Dream conference. (Click...
by Dave Johnson | May 16, 2012 | Blog
Suppose the "deficit hawk" plan unfolds just as it is being presented -- right after the election and before those we elect can take office, the Congress meets and hammers out a "grand bargain" to "reform" taxes and cut back on government and the things democracy does...
by Richard Eskow | May 16, 2012 | Blog
Today a bunch of rich white guys held a "Fiscal Summit" and agreed that: 1. Despite the fact that unemployment is causing untold suffering for millions of people, it's not very important. 2. Despite the fact that wage stagnation is destroying the middle class, that's...
by Bill Scher | May 16, 2012 | Uncategorized
MORNING MESSAGE: Rich White Guys Hold "Fiscal Summit." Blame You. OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "Today a bunch of rich white guys held a 'Fiscal Summit' and agreed that: 1. Despite the fact that unemployment is causing untold suffering for millions of people, it's...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 15, 2012 | Blog, Economy, Minimum Wage
Multibillonaire Peter G. Peterson's Fiscal Summit may have started with conciliatory nods toward bipartisanship, but it did not climax that way. And that had to have been by design. Peterson and the people who planned the Fiscal Summit had to have known when they...
by Bill Scher | May 15, 2012 | Blog
The five finalists for the Sixth Annual Maria Leavey Tribute Award have been announced, honoring the person in the progressive movement whose behind-the-scenes work and selfless service has made an invaluable contribution to social justice. The public is invited to...
by Richard Eskow | May 15, 2012 | Blog
Heard about the meeting that's being held to decide your economic future? If the answer's "no," don't feel bad: That's because you weren't invited. But Tim Geithner was. So was Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican member of Congress whose radical right-wing plans for...
by Roger Hickey | May 15, 2012 | Blog, Economy
On Tuesday, May 15, one of America's wealthiest men, Peter G. Peterson, will use his foundation's money to lecture the rest of us about why the federal deficit is the most serious problem facing our country. Since poll after poll demonstrates that strong majorities of...
by Richard Eskow | May 15, 2012 | Blog
Everybody knows that Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist, a sometimes combative columnist and a liberal lion. But in a conversation which aired this weekend we learned more about his personal response to an ongoing crisis he describes as "really nasty,"...
by Dave Johnson | May 15, 2012 | Blog
The public is demanding jobs, jobs, jobs so DC's wizards and geniuses are gathered at a "Fiscal Summit" -- put on by a hedge-fund billionaire -- to not talk about jobs. This summit takes place at the seat of our representative government but none of the speakers will...
