by Robert Borosage | Apr 12, 2012 | Blog
The following was originally published at Politico Texas Gov. Rick Perry this week will try to revive his flagging presidential campaign by embracing an old conservative fancy — the flat tax, while calling for “scrapping the 3 million words of the current...
by Sam Pizzigati | Apr 12, 2012 | Blog
President Obama has proposed a specific new minimum tax rate for millionaires. Should America's rich feel angry or relieved? We check the IRS tax data archives for an answer. The most famous secretary in America works “just as hard” as her billionaire boss — according...
by Sam Pizzigati | Apr 12, 2012 | Blog
Can democracy, one top political scientist asked last week, 'function effectively in a society marked by vast economic inequality'? The fate of the modest new White House bid to tax our rich may tell the tale. Most Presidents of the United States end up with a...
by | Apr 12, 2012 | Blog
Leo Hindery, Jr. will be a featured speaker at Take Back the American Dream, convening from Oct. 3 to 5. Click here to register. The following was originally published at the Huffington Post. In America, we believe strongly in investment as the backbone of economic...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 12, 2012 | Blog
Later this week on the floor of the House of Representatives, several federal budget proposals embodying different approaches to our country's economic challenges will compete for attention. One of those, the Congressional Progressive Caucus's "Budget for All," offers...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 12, 2012 | Blog
You know the KISS rule: "Keep It Simple, Stupid." When it comes to taxing wealth vs. taxing work, what's become known as the "Buffett Rule" is an elegant example of the KISS principle at work. Income is income. It should be taxed at the same rate, whether you've...
by | Apr 12, 2012 | Blog
Last year I prepared for the SOTU by speculating about the “fairy tales” the President would tell about fiscal responsibility, fiscal sustainability and the debt/deficit problem. That series ended here, and here. Yesterday's SOTU covered many subjects, but once again,...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 12, 2012 | Blog
President Obama said on Monday that his proposal would bring taxes for millionaires in line with those paid by the middle class. This “is not class warfare; it’s math,” he stated. But he could have easily been referring to math that hasn’t favored working-class and...
by | Apr 12, 2012 | Blog
They used to say that the money wealthy people spent would trickle down to everyone else, but nobody was really buying it. I'm not sure anyone's buying this either: "Let's define rich," Scarborough suggested. "So, what's the cutoff? Is it $500,000?" "I don't even want...
by Bill Scher | Apr 12, 2012 | Uncategorized
MORNING MESSAGE: Make Mitt Pay His Fair Share OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "We saw the need for the Buffett Rule when Mitt Romney revealed his taxes. Worth over $250 million, Romney paid a tax rate of 13.9% on income of millions. The police who protect him pay a...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 12, 2012 | Blog
I didn't think that anyone — not even her fellow Republicans — could top Michelle Bachmann's 2008 interview with Chris Matthews, in which she accused then-candidate Barack Obama — and certain members of Congress — of being "anti-American," and urged the media to "do a...
by Alan Jenkins | Apr 11, 2012 | Blog
Is there a house in your neighborhood that everybody hates to walk past? You know, the one with broken and boarded up windows, trash left to gather on the lawn, and grass so overgrown it’s becoming a habitat for rodents? If you have a house like that in your...
by Robert Borosage | Apr 11, 2012 | Blog
We have a lot of work to do in America: jobs to create, infrastructure to build, clean energy to generate, homeowners to save, teachers to hire and student debt to retire. And we can’t pay for it so long as we keep the Bush-era policy of absurdly low taxes for the 1%....
by Dave Johnson | Apr 11, 2012 | Blog
There's a lot of discussion right now about the "Buffett Rule." This is the proposed tax rule that says people who make more than $1 million a year should at least pay as much of their income in taxes "as their secretaries." The Senate is getting ready to vote on this...
by Greg Colvin | Apr 11, 2012 | Blog
No doubt about it, large unlimited donations are flowing into SuperPACs from rich individuals and corporations aimed at influencing who is elected at all levels of government in 2012. With the SuperPACs and other forms of political committees regulated by the federal...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 11, 2012 | Blog
This week there was another big attack on Social Security by another elite. This time the attack comes from an elite columnist, other times it comes from Wall Street types, wealthy CEOs or the kind of politicians that have been in DC way too long. These attacks never...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 11, 2012 | Blog
What the Republican budget proposal by Rep. Paul Ryan doesn't say is in many respects more ominous than what it says—and on taxes, perhaps more indicative of the truth. For while the Ryan slash-and-burn budget proposal doesn't come right out and say it, it could have...
by Bill Scher | Apr 11, 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: DeMarco Sits While...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 10, 2012 | Blog
I was on the Thom Hartmann TV show Big Picture last night, discussing a new banker Super PAC. I wrote a piece for AlterNet, New Super-PAC Threatens to Destroy Candidates Who Side With the People Over Wall Street. The basic story here, (click through for the whole...
by Bill Scher | Apr 10, 2012 | Blog
When George W. Bush accepted the nomination for President at the 2000 Republican National Convention, he declared: "On principle, no one in America should have to pay more than a third of their income to the federal government." Bush was able to pass tax reform that...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 10, 2012 | Blog
In 2010 the men's magazine Esquire enlisted Lawrence O'Donnell, along with a panel of Republicans and economically centrist Democrats, to duplicate the anti-Social Security efforts of the Simpson/Bowles Deficit Commission. Now the magazine is at it again, with an...
by Leo Gerard | Apr 10, 2012 | Blog
A spring awash with Etch A Sketch conservatives, camera-wielding GOP con men and a bogus deficit reduction budget from House Republicans shows that for the right, wrong is justified when it achieves the desired results. A perfect example of this political philosophy...
by Bill Scher | Apr 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: The GOP's Stealth...
by Robert Borosage | Apr 9, 2012 | Blog
Conservatives like House Speaker John Boehner say the government can't raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires because they are "job creators." Instead, House Republicans are once more calling for trillions in more tax cuts for the richest Americans. That's a big...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 9, 2012 | Blog
A new video is circulating showing an actual case of voter fraud! We can finally show people what happens if you commit voter fraud. Let's prosecute the perpetrator, put him in jail for a long time, and set a clear example and send a loud message: do not do this! "To...
by | Apr 9, 2012 | Blog
Social Security and Medicare are hugely important for the security of the non-rich population of the United States. For this reason, Robert Samuelson and The Washington Post hate them. As we know, this is a question of basic political philosophy. In the view of...
by Robert Borosage | Apr 9, 2012 | Blog
Bernard Rapoport was an American original. When he passed away last week at age 94, we lost a great spirit. Born and bred in Texas, son of Jewish Russian immigrants, B always said that he learned about Marxism and hard work from his father and a love of learning from...
by Roger Hickey | Apr 9, 2012 | Blog
This is big: Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist, will address the “Take Back the American Dream” conference in June. Krugman, author of the new book, “End This Depression Now!”, will break down what you and I have to do if we are...
by Sam Pizzigati | Apr 9, 2012 | Blog
At what point will our world wake up to the fantastically rewarding scam that our hedge fund masters of the universe have been running? No single individual in the United States had a more lucrative year at the office in 2011 than Raymond Dalio. Working out of his...
by Bill Scher | Apr 9, 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: Two Solutions To...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 8, 2012 | Blog
Every progressive should know about the Congressional Progressive Caucus's "Budget for All." In fact, every American should know about this budget. But the corporate news media sure isn't going to tell people. So you should help get the word out. Read and Share the...
by Leo Gerard | Apr 6, 2012 | Blog
As a favor to struggling Americans, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., proposed a federal budget last week ravaging programs for the poor, elderly, disabled, young, veterans, jobless, students and other vulnerable people. Ryan did it, he said, because these programs, food...
by | Apr 6, 2012 | Blog
Originally published on Capital Gains and Games. I was sorely tempted to devote this week’s Fiscal Fitness to what happened in the 1970s when some very well-intentioned people tried to implement an Etch-A-Sketch federal budget process called zero-based budgeting. ZBB,...
by Bill Scher | Apr 6, 2012 | Blog
Today, 228 House representatives -- all Republicans -- voted for a budget that would give every millionaire a brand new $265,000 tax handout, cut funding for the poor by $3.3 trillion, privatize Medicare, and impose spending caps so radical that it would "end most of...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 6, 2012 | Blog
Europe's in crisis. Unemployment is at a fifteen-year high after climbing for ten straight months, thanks to the austerity measures imposed on it by conservative leaders in France, Germany, and the international financial community. But if you think things are bad...
by | Apr 6, 2012 | Blog, Financial Reform
With Michael Winship Here we go again. Another round of the game we call Congressional Creep. After months of haggling and debate, Congress finally passes reform legislation to fix a serious rupture in the body politic, and the President signs it into law. But the...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 6, 2012 | Blog
The 99% Spring movement has been training people to lead non-violent protests, and action against corporate control begins next week. Click here to find out what is happening near you. "900+ Events, 49 states, Tens of Thousands of People, Hundreds of Groups -- This is...
by Bill Scher | Apr 6, 2012 | Blog
The Mitt Romney campaign is shaping up to be a constant stream of projection, accusing President Obama of whatever weaknesses are in his own record. Hug the House Republican plan to end Medicare as we know it, then claim President Obama wants to "end Medicare as we...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 6, 2012 | Blog, Economy
Now we know: The jobs situation is bleak, and it will continue to be bleak until we face up to the fact that we need more stimulus spending - lots more - and we have to relieve millions of homeowners from their indentured servitude to Wall Street so that they can help...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 6, 2012 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
Here is the Alliance for American Manufacturing's statement on manufacturing jobs in the March jobs report: Latest Monthly Jobs Report: Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) Statement The latest monthly jobs figures were released this morning and show that the...
