by Greg Colvin | Mar 28, 2012 | Blog
Reintroducing the Citizens Election Amendment…. Version 2.0 Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Citizens United case two years ago, saying that the Constitution gives corporations the right to spend without limit to influence American elections, people have been...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 28, 2012 | Blog
The world's been turned upside down by the Supreme Court hearings on the individual insurance mandate. Left is right, right is wrong, and the future is uncertain. There are only two approaches to health care that we know are constitutional: a European-style...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 27, 2012 | Blog
The other day I asked, Do You Know An Unsung Progressive Hero? Maria Leavey Tribute Nominations Are Now Open! April 2 is the deadline for nominations. And while I'm on the subject, the award is presented during the "Take Back the American Dream" conference which will...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 27, 2012 | Blog, Making it in America
We need to rebuild our country, and we need to do it with steel and supplies that are made in America. It actually costs taxpayers more to "save money" by outsourcing then it saves because of the "safety net" costs from lost jobs and factories. A new campaign...
by Bill Scher | Mar 27, 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:...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 27, 2012 | Blog
We've spent billions of dollars - perhaps trillions - to rescue big banks. But instead of dialing back on the risky behavior that shattered the economy in 2008, they're doubling down on it. And when their bill comes due we won't just be asked to pay it again. We'll be...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 26, 2012 | Blog
Is smaller government really better for the economy? Conservatives chant that taxes and government "take money out of the economy" and we need to "cut and grow," meaning if government spending is cut way back the economy will grow as a result. Europe's conservatives...
by | Mar 26, 2012 | Blog, Economy
The plot of the movie "War Games" (1983) involves a slacker hacker (played by Matthew Broderick) who starts playing the game Global Thermonuclear War with Joshua, a Department of Defense (DoD) supercomputer that has been given partial control by DoD of our nuclear...
by Bill Scher | Mar 26, 2012 | Blog
While the volatile price of gas can give you whiplash and screw up household and business budgeting, the fact is the price of gas has been steadily rising since 2002. It only took a break in 2008 after the global financial crisis shattered economic demand. During this...
by | Mar 26, 2012 | Blog
Originally posted at Capital Gains and Games. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) said on Fox yesterday that he would consider running for vice president this year if the Republican nominee asked him to be his running mate. Asking Ryan about the vice...
by Bill Scher | Mar 26, 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: What The Supreme...
by Sam Pizzigati | Mar 25, 2012 | Blog
We obsess over health care in the United States, because we all want to be healthy. In the process, new evidence suggests, we're ignoring the social dynamics that actually determine our health. The U.S. Supreme Court this week begins the process of deciding the fate...
by | Mar 23, 2012 | Blog
Good for him: President Barack Obama waded into the growing national controversy of the killing of an unarmed black teenager in Florida, saying the nation should do some "soul-searching to figure out how something like this happens." "I think every parent in America...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 23, 2012 | Blog
Spring is almost upon us, and the 99% Spring, too! I was on a call last night on which more than 500 people signed up to become trainers -- just on one call! Here are three things to help you get ready. 99% Spring, April 9-15 April 9-15, 2012, the 99% Spring: 100,000...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 23, 2012 | Blog
Here we go again. Once again the 'bipartisan' consensus in Washington, fueled by an intoxicating brew of conventional wisdom laced with campaign cash, has repealed some of those 'cumbersome regulations' that do nothing of value - nothing, that is, except prevent...
by Bill Scher | Mar 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 Dumbest...
by | Mar 22, 2012 | Blog
Originally posted at Capital Gains and Games. We now have some real indications that the fiscal 2013 budget plan proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is going to be as much a political albatross as a plus for Republicans. The first real proof came...
by Farbod Kadkhoda | Mar 22, 2012 | Blog
Last year, for a brief moment, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s popularity soared as he unveiled his audacious deficit reducing budget. His proposal maintained tax cuts for the wealthy and defense spending while dismantling important programs for lower- and...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 22, 2012 | Blog
Who is Mitt Romney, at his core? His constantly-changing public positions on issues -- sometimes changing inside a single sentence -- make it appear he has no core at all. But there has to be a set of core beliefs, a guiding star. This guiding star is the constant...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 22, 2012 | Blog
(Note - This post originally appeared Feb 14, 2011. The date was changed when CAF switched blog platforms.) Many people don’t understand our country’s problem of concentration of income and wealth because they don’t see it. People just don't understand how much wealth...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 22, 2012 | Blog
(Note - This post originally appeared Feb 14, 2011. The date was changed when CAF switched blog platforms.) Many people don’t understand our country’s problem of concentration of income and wealth because they don’t see it. People just don't understand how much...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 22, 2012 | Blog
Yesterday, House Republicans rolled out their budget plan in the Washington version of a Hollywood movie opening. There was a star turn for Budget Chair Paul Ryan at a conservative think tank. Gaseous rhetoric -- "liberties endangered, time to choose" -- fouled the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 22, 2012 | Blog
As a mark-up session for the House Republican budget for fiscal 2013 was taking place in the House Budget Committee hearing room, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus were outside presenting the outlines of their alternative, designed to put jobs and...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 22, 2012 | Blog
By now most people have heard some of the worst things about the Republican budget proposal - commonly called the "Ryan plan" and unironically described by the GOP as "the Path to Prosperity": That it decimates programs for middle class and lower-income Americans...
by Bill Scher | Mar 22, 2012 | Blog, Economy
Last year, when the House Republican leadership introduced its budget, they tried to pretend that giant tax cuts for the wealthy and the obliteration of most government functions would create jobs. They commissioned right-wing propaganda shop The Heritage Foundation...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 22, 2012 | Blog
The new Republican budget plan: Smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke. Tax cuts for the 1%, cuts in the things We, the People do for each other. Smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke,...
by Bill Scher | Mar 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: 3 Medicare Time...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 21, 2012 | Blog, Making it in America
You have probably heard about a solar-energy company named Solyndra, but probably what you have heard is a bunch of negative, conspiratorial, anti-alternative-energy, anti-Obama stuff from the corporate/conservative spin machine. The real story is that our government...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 21, 2012 | Blog
End Secret Corporate Campaign Cash. From CAF: It has been two years since the Supreme Court decided in the infamous Citizens United case that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. Since then, our democracy has been drowning in a...
by Bill Scher | Mar 21, 2012 | Uncategorized
MORNING MESSAGE: House Republican Budget Would Crush The American Dream OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "The Republican budget is a remarkably revealing document. The budget document says it is time for America to choose. And Republicans choose to be the tribunes of...
by Alan Jenkins | Mar 21, 2012 | Blog
The Obama administration and states around the country have taken important steps in recent months toward putting American homeownership and financial security back on track. But it’s clear that more ambitious solutions are needed. After a lull due to negotiations...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 20, 2012 | Blog
The Republican budget – released by House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan – is a remarkably revealing document. The budget document says it is time for America to choose. And with this document, Republicans choose to be the tribunes of the 1 percent, willing...
by Roger Hickey | Mar 20, 2012 | Blog
On Tuesday House Republicans, led by Budget Committee chair Paul Ryan, will unveil a suicide pact in the form of a new budget that ignores the clear views of the majority of Americans – and which, if they embrace it almost unanimously, as they did last year’s similar...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 20, 2012 | Blog
On March 22, workers from the Communication Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers will be joined by thousands of supporters to rally around the country to stand up to corporate greed, and in support of good jobs for the 99%. The rally...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 20, 2012 | Blog, Economy
The Senate is considering the House-passed, typically-misnamed "JOBS Act." This act dramatically cuts regulations and disclosure requirements for companies that want to sell stock. As written it opens the door to the usual scammers, fleecers and fraudsters that feast...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 20, 2012 | Blog, Economy
Whenever Washington politicians get together on something "bipartisan," there's a very good chance it's a lobbyist-driven initiative - one that will enrich the lobbyists'' patrons, generate campaign funds for pliant politicians, and stick it pretty much everyone else....
by Dave Johnson | Mar 20, 2012 | Blog
Republicans want to "reform" the Export-Import Bank. Uh Oh. Lobbyists pushing this "reform" say helping American companies compete against subsidized foreign-made goods is "corporate welfare." It turns out that a lot of the noise isn't about what the lobbyists say it...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 20, 2012 | Blog
The chair of Sunoco’s board of directors is a refinery assassin. Lynn Laverty Elsenhans, who will remain Sunoco chair until May, tried to kill off a Shell refinery in Bakersfield, Calif., when she was CEO at Shell Oil Products. At Sunoco, where she was CEO until March...
by Bill Scher | Mar 20, 2012 | Blog
Last week on Fox News, while chatting with Mitt Romney about President Obama's citations of increased domestic oil production, Sean Hannity retorted, "He's claiming we've never produced more oil, but that is on private land." Similarly, on ABC's This Week this Sunday,...
by Bill Scher | Mar 20, 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: Ryan, GOP Unveil...
