by Bill Scher | Mar 12, 2012 | Blog
From progressive activists to mortgage bankers to Wall Street traders, the drumbeat is getting louder and louder for Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco to end his resistance and act to end the housing crisis by allowing principal to be...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 12, 2012 | Blog, Economy
Perhaps my reaction to the latest unemployment statistics is colored by the fact that I'm reading them in Africa, far from the comfortable familiarity of Washington, New York, and California. There's nothing like the songs of unfamiliar birds as the sun rises over the...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
Conservatives love Small Town America™. They extol its virtues all the time. Too bad conservative economics is wiping Small Town America™ off the map. Move over ! Two years ago, I wrote that Colorado Springs was a conservative "Utopia," for its rejection of tax...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
Just what is this Koch Industries? Should it be called a "company?" If so we need to re-think the idea of what a company and a business is supposed to be. Even the brother of Koch Industries owners David and Charles Koch called the company an "organized crime"...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
Voting doesn’t work anymore. If it did, Americans would get what they want -- or at least some of it -- from Washington. But they don’t. Instead of the people’s priority, which is jobs, country club conservatives in Congress stubbornly fixate on deficits. Instead of...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the year of protecting Social Security, and the year of cutting Social Security. It was the age of defending Medicare, and the age of ending Medicare. In other words, it was another day on the Mitt Romney...
by Mary Bottari | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
One year ago this week, blogger Ian Murphy of the Buffalo Beast pranked Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker by posing as billionaire David Koch on a phone call. As the crowds at the Capitol protesting Walker's bill to end collective bargaining were increasing in size and...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
Does it seem to you like many of the things conservatives advocate end up bringing the country down? The budget cuts they demand hurt our schools and infrastructure -- which ends up making us less competitive in the world. They're against a national...
by Greg Colvin | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
On Thursday, December 8th, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a constitutional amendment to drive big money out of politics for good. He was not alone. Senator Mark Begich of Alaska joined him. Sanders’ amendment is called “Saving American Democracy”...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
The Senate scheduled a vote for 5:30 p.m. today on restricting labor rights in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill. Committee Dems caved and gave away union election rights. At least 18 unions, including the Communications Workers of America and...
by Zach Carter | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
Undue corporate influence over U.S. elections has been a serious problem in American politics for decades, but this year's Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission made things worse. Worst of all, we may never know the extent of the...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
Originally published in Politico. Financial wilding led to our economic collapse. Use of exotic “innovations” — like derivatives and credit default swaps — exploded. Regulators were paralyzed while huge bets were made in the shadows. Markets, we were assured,...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
Saturday is the two-year anniversary of the infamous Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court that allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. Since then, our democracy has been drowning in a tsunami of corporate special...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog
The "success" of the 1996 "welfare reform" pact between President Clinton and congressional conservatives is an hardy piece of conventional wisdom that you will hear repeated, and usually unchallenged, in the rare times that poverty comes up in the political...
by Bill Scher | Mar 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: Jobs Report No...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 9, 2012 | Blog, Economy
There is modestly good news for jobseekers in the February jobs report today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the economy creating 227,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate holding steady at 8.3 percent. But once again the Obama administration and Democrats...
by Bill Scher | Mar 8, 2012 | Blog
A pattern has emerged in the Republican primaries, Romney wins among Republican voters with six-figure incomes and loses among Republican voters with five-figure incomes. We have a class war, and it's inside the Republican Party. What has happened? What is it about...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 8, 2012 | Blog, Minimum Wage
As I wrote yesterday, at this point it no longer matters whether or not Mitt Romney takes the positions he does because he truly believes they are right or to satisfy conservatives in his party. The right-wingers who own his party will demand his fealty, if Romney...
by Bill Scher | Mar 8, 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: Pressure Rising On...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 8, 2012 | Blog
There is a "Highway Bill" amendment in front of the Senate today that closes loopholes in "Buy America" preferences when government spends money on infrastructure. This is the Brown-Merkley Amendment #1819. Call your senators now! The Brown-Merkley Amendment #1819...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 7, 2012 | Blog
It's time for nominations for the Maria Leavey Tribute Award. If you know someone who deserves this award, please nominate them! This annual award honors an unsung hero of the progressive movement whose behind-the-scenes work and selfless service has made a major...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 7, 2012 | Blog
There is a bipartisan bill in the Congress that regulates call centers, names companies that move jobs out of the country, gives customers the right to talk to Americans if they are having trouble understanding the support representative, protects private information...
by Bill Scher | Mar 7, 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 Eight New...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 7, 2012 | Blog
Can't stop, won't stop. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer is determined to advance his own career at the expense of middle-class Americans - so much so that he's ignoring political common sense and the desires of most Americans, including most Republicans. Hoyer insists...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 7, 2012 | Blog, Reagan Revolution
Conservatives and plutocrats claim that cutting taxes makes the economy grow. But after 'W' cut taxes, the economy didn't grow. And after Clinton raised taxes on the rich the economy grew a lot. Maybe - just maybe - having a government that is funded and functioning...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 7, 2012 | Blog
They don't call it "Super Tuesday" for nothing. Ten states hold primary elections, and results can make or break a candidate who has made it this far. Even when the results aren't all that "super" for any one candidate, the contest can be a defining moment for the...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 6, 2012 | Blog
I've got a daughter who's about the same age as Sandra Fluke, went to law school with her and worked wit her Georgetown's Law Students for Reproductive Rights group. So I want to ask a simple question of Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney, both of whom are also the fathers...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 6, 2012 | Blog, Minimum Wage
In January I called attention to the work of our former colleague Anne Thompson, who captured video of presidential candidate Mitt Romney saying that he supported ensuring that the minimum wage kept pace with inflation. "My view has been to allow the minimum wage to...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 6, 2012 | Blog
Non-violent direct action. Last month I wrote in, You Should Know About The "99% Spring", Action Coming -- Spread The Word! This is a Big Deal, just look at end of this post for the list of organizations that are signed on to this so far - and more coming. April 9-15,...
by Bill Scher | Mar 6, 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: Yes,...
by Alan Jenkins | Mar 6, 2012 | Blog
On March 1st, I had the honor of speaking at the memorial service for civil rights hero and respected jurist Judge Robert L. Carter. These were my reflections: I had the privilege of serving as Judge Carter’s Law Clerk in 1989. But years before that, I was sure that I...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 6, 2012 | Blog
Remember the fear in 2008? Think of the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers. Wall Street melting down. Pension savings disappearing. Housing values plunging and foreclosures skyrocketing. Three million workers losing their jobs. It had all the makings of...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 5, 2012 | Blog
Mitt Romney, in the latest permutation of his "pander-to-win" campaign strategy, has declared that he wants to take America back to the Age of Enron. Remember Enron? "The Smartest Guys in the Room"? <br /> Mitt Romney, just in time for Super Tuesday, says he...
by | Mar 5, 2012 | Blog
FIGHTING FOR OUR HEALTH Everyone involved in the 2009-2010 crusade for health care reform will want to read this new book by Richard Kirsch, who was on the front lines of the fight as the director of Health Care for America Now (HCAN). Click here to purchase a copy of...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 5, 2012 | Blog, Reagan Revolution
Conservatives like to talk about how well the economy did under Reagan, and how poorly it is doing now. Then they say that government "takes money out of the economy." But the difference in economic growth was that under Reagan the government was spending and hiring,...
by Bill Scher | Mar 5, 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: Top Pol Breaks...
by Sam Pizzigati | Mar 3, 2012 | Blog
A tax-the-rich bombshell has dropped in the presidential race. The French presidential race. But this bombshell’s blast will almost certainly reverberate elsewhere. Maybe even in the United States. Mainstream political leaders in the world’s developed nations have...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 2, 2012 | Blog
In January the President sidestepped Republican obstruction and made "recess appointments" to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This was because Senate Republicans were blocking all nominations, in order to keep...
by | Mar 2, 2012 | Blog
Think Progress tweeted this chart, writing: "FACT: Under Obama, government is shrinking. There are 598K fewer gov't jobs today than there were in January 2008." It's true, this is fact. And it's also true that this fact is ignored by the Republicans who say that the...
by | Mar 2, 2012 | Blog
FIGHTING FOR OUR HEALTH Everyone involved in the 2009-2010 crusade for health care reform will want to read this new book by Richard Kirsch, who was on the front lines of the fight as the director of Health Care for America Now (HCAN). Click here to purchase a copy of...
