by Dave Johnson | Jan 10, 2012 | Blog, Economy
President Obama will host a forum on insourcing jobs Wednesday. The forum will feature leaders of several companies who have already shifted jobs back home and are encouraging others to do the same. According to the White House, On Wednesday, January 11, 2012,...
by | Jan 10, 2012 | Blog
Greg Sargent says: This general election will turn heavily on a battle over the two candidates’ visions of capitalism and the proper role of government in regulating it. Yet the leading GOP candidates are on record arguing that Romney’s practice of it — which he...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 10, 2012 | Blog
"I feel stupid," someone said the other day. "I consider myself well-informed, but I have no idea what the term 'austerity economics' really means." Actually it's not that complicated, and most of the lesson plan can be found in today's headlines. We'll explain...
by Leo Gerard | Jan 10, 2012 | Blog, Financial Reform
In America, when gangs of bullies torment school children, pushing them around and extorting their lunch money, parents know only one response effectively counters the abuse: confrontation. Running, whining, negotiating -- none of that works. For the past year, since...
by Bill Scher | Jan 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: Mitt Romney,...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 9, 2012 | Blog
One of the benefits of the seemingly endless Republican primaries, aside from the entertainment value, is the opportunity to discover how right the candidates are ... about each other. With the Iowa primary and its game-changing outcome behind them, and...
by | Jan 9, 2012 | Blog
I think this says it all: Mitt Romney suggested in today’s debate that only rich people should run for office, and then quickly celebrated the fact that he’d forced a rival to take out a loan against his house. Romney said his father, Michigan Governor George Romney,...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 9, 2012 | Blog
Last month I wrote about a bill before Congress that would both help fight the offshoring of call-center jobs and protect consumers. Now the countries where we have been sending those jobs are organizing a lobbying campaign to fight the bill. The Bill There is a...
by Bill Scher | Jan 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: The SWAG Economy...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 8, 2012 | Blog
After years of conciliation and one-way "bipartisanship," with Republicans refusing to meet even partway, the President got fed up. The President is finally taking the necessary steps to get the government up and running, doing government's job of protecting citizens...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 7, 2012 | Blog, Making it in America
One after another, the Republican presidential candidates have come out with strong statements that appear to show support for making things in America and revitalizing American manufacturing. This is because they can read polls and polls show that Americans...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jan 7, 2012 | Blog
Today's swaggering rich are increasingly stuffing their dollars into investments that do America's 99 percent not one whit of good. Your pop quiz for today: Define “art.” Wait, you don't need to panic here. You don’t need to go fumbling in the deep recesses of your...
by Roger Hickey | Jan 6, 2012 | Blog, Economy
Today's report of 200,000 jobs created in December means that the economy is barely growing at the rate needed to keep up with the growth of the labor force. Economists estimate that the U.S. will have to create more than 350,000 jobs per month – for the next three...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 6, 2012 | Blog, Economy
It may not feel like it, but we dodged a bullet in 2011 when it came to unemployment. Today's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the economy created 200,000 jobs in the month of December, bringing the annual net total to 1.6 million new jobs for the...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 6, 2012 | Blog
Back in 2009, I asked "What's Wrong With Wall Street?", and then spent three posts answering that question. In my daily perusal of economic news, I have found myself more than once staring my computer monitor in open-mouthed wonder, occasionally exclaiming, "You've...
by | Jan 6, 2012 | Blog, The Sequester
Originally published at Capital Gains and Games. There are five reasons why it was virtually inevitable the White House would make military spending an issue this year. The Pentagon Has Become Increasingly Unpopular. After foreign aid and NASA, military spending is...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 6, 2012 | Blog
(Read parts one and two.) Whoever said it was right when he or she called the current economic downturn a "financial 9/11." Though he may not have meant it in quite this way, it' still an apt comparison. Because, just as 9/11 was something that didn't "just happen" to...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 6, 2012 | Blog
Read part one. Being married to a psychiatrist, there just happened to be a copy of the DSM IV in the house. I grabbed it and, on a hunch, turned to the section on personality disorders, where antisocial personality disorder caught my eye first. Definition Antisocial...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 6, 2012 | Blog
In my daily perusal of economic news, I have found myself more than once staring my computer monitor in open-mouthed wonder, occasionally exclaiming, "You've got to be kidding me," or "What's wrong with these people?",or something like that. To do what they've been...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 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. Bill Scher returns on Monday....
by Jeff Bryant | Jan 6, 2012 | Blog, Education
I remember the day that the poor kids showed up at our school. It was in 1964. Classes had already started, and I was in second grade, surrounded by my familiar friends from my mostly white, mostly well-to-do, suburban neighborhood in North Dallas. Their bus showed up...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 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. Bill Scher returns on Monday....
by Terrance Heath | Jan 5, 2012 | Blog, Economy, Minimum Wage
Bachmann is gone. Perry was out, then back in, and is filing briefs in Virginia. Having tumbled from front-runner to fourth place, Newt stormed out of Iowa, heading for New Hampshire to prepare for the next round. After "winning" the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney is now...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 4, 2012 | Blog
President Obama moved an obstructing GOP out of the way earlier today, announcing that he was making a recess appointment to get the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) up and running. Later, the White House announced he is doing the same to get the National...
by | Jan 4, 2012 | Blog
Well hell. Bachman's gone, which is going to make the GOP debates far less entertaining. And frankly, that's the only real interest I have in these primaries. Still, what you'll see is a hardcore religious right extremist, a hardcore conservative movement ideologue,...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 4, 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: Mitt or Santorum?...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 4, 2012 | Blog, Financial Reform, Making it in America
Don't get too distracted by the fissures in the Republican electorate revealed in Tuesday night's Iowa caucus vote. On basic economic issues, in fact, the candidates are remarkably united; there's hardly eight votes worth of difference between Mitt Romney and Rick...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 4, 2012 | Blog
There are so many unanswered questions and contradictions all around us. But like the families of alcoholics in denial we stay quiet and try not to rock the boat. Here are some questions that need to be asked, and maybe 2012 can be the year we start demanding answers....
by Dave Johnson | Jan 3, 2012 | Blog
As of now an agency of our government, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), is effectively shut down, unable to do its job. This is a "nullification" by Republicans, of laws that protect workers and companies, in exchange for campaign help from the 1%. They are...
by | Jan 3, 2012 | Blog
There's a lot of chatter about Ron Paul among lefties these days, some of which I've addressed here, here and here. Apparently there are quite a few liberals and progressives who normally vote Democratic who are going to vote for Ron Paul instead. Many have decided to...
by Leo Gerard | Jan 3, 2012 | Blog
‘Tis the season of resolutions. With the new year comes pledges to quit smoking, get out of debt and spend more time with family. Gym memberships jump. Weight Watchers’ profits fatten. This also happens to be the season of political resolutions. It’s that...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 2, 2012 | Blog
The other day I was asked what one single thing could do the most to save our economy. What one idea or tool might help us create a more just society? My answer was "shame." Shame isn't always a wasted or negative emotion. On the contrary, it can perform an important...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 31, 2011 | Blog
Our lives are defined by invisible wars, wars whose theater of combat is the human imagination. These economic and political wars are waged year in and year out, decade after decade, century after century. Words are the weapons of choice in these wars, and the...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 30, 2011 | Blog
You may have heard that Verizon is going to charge customers a $2 "convenience fee" to pay their bills online. You may not have heard that Verizon is asking its workers to take cuts in their pensions, sick pay, health insurance, even disability for employees injured...
by Terrance Heath | Dec 30, 2011 | Blog
I heard one of my favorite holiday songs on the radio yesterday — John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." I've always loved it, but this year it holds special meaning for me — especially the children of the Harlem Community Choir singing "War is over, if you want...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 30, 2011 | Blog
At the end of the year the Washington Post published as "news" a story, "Support grows for tackling nation's debt" that pushed the idea of "a special commission to make the tough decisions that will be required to dig the nation out of debt" and "rein in skyrocketing...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 30, 2011 | Blog
See if you can spot the big mistake (giving them the benefit of the doubt) in this Washington Post story: Payroll tax cut raises worries about Social Security’s future funding: This year, the Social Security system projects that it will pay out $46 billion more in...
by Anne Thompson | Dec 30, 2011 | Blog
As New Year's Day approaches, here's wishing you a Happy New Year 2001! That's right, 2001. With wages stuck at 2001 levels, it's been a lost decade for working families.
by Jeff Bryant | Dec 27, 2011 | Blog, Education
For a ten-year stretch in my life I was fortunate to spend every Christmas in Jamaica. In Jamaica, Christmas is a far more modest affair than it is here in the US. For sure, during the days leading up to “the Christmas,” the markets are packed with shoppers and the...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 27, 2011 | Blog
In November President Obama said, "enough is enough" to China's currency manipulations. Today the Treasury Department said it hasn't seen enough to call China a currency manipulator. This is happening because certain powerful interests are benefiting tremendously and...
