by Dave Johnson | Oct 14, 2011 | Blog, Economy
After the
by Bill Scher | Oct 14, 2011 | 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 Trade Deals,...
by Leo Gerard | Oct 14, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
As the Occupy Wall Street movement spread across the nation last week, politicians in D.C. flipped the bird at protesters – including those camping in Washington’s McPherson Square. Here’s how: While occupiers sought political focus on the unemployment, impoverishment...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 14, 2011 | Blog, China Currency Showdown
Congress just passed three more NAFTA-like trade deals, so our country's trade deficit is going to get even worse. And pressure on working people to accept pay and benefit cuts and longer and harder working hours is going to get even worse. And the rewards to the top...
by Sean McMartin | Oct 13, 2011 | Blog, Economy
On the same day that conservatives in the Senate blocked action on a bill that would create 2 million new jobs, progressives and business leaders were in the nearby Russell Senate Office Building discussing what it takes to create good jobs. The Good Jobs For A...
by Robert Borosage | Oct 13, 2011 | Blog
(Updated with new action items.) Disturbing developments in New York City. Mayor Mike Bloomberg just said he's going to use the police to effectively end "Occupy Wall Street" Friday morning. In a transparent ploy, new rules were passed out this morning prohibiting...
by Robert Borosage | Oct 13, 2011 | Blog
Wall Street’s excesses blew up the economy. Now the question is who pays to clean up the mess. And across the country, our children are already paying part of the bill – as their schools are hit with deep budget cuts. A new report – Starving America’s...
by Bill Scher | Oct 13, 2011 | 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: Can't Have Great...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 13, 2011 | Blog, Economy, Education
Even after writing the headline to this post I have to wonder, "Is this a point that even has to be made?" But in light of events in Washington, DC this week, I have to answer, "Yes." Because just as lawmakers in the White House and Congress were hard at work crafting...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 13, 2011 | Blog, Education
By the time that July slips slowly off the calendar, events this month -- culminating with an upcoming teacher/parent-organized march on the nation's capital -- will have clarified all too well the lay of the land in the debate on the fate of our nation's public...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 13, 2011 | Blog, Education
Back to School: Investing In Distraction My guest today is Sabrina Stevens Shupe. Sabrina is a teacher, writer, and activist who has worked with students in struggling communities in Philadelphia and Denver. She recently helped to organize the Save Our Schools March &...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 13, 2011 | Blog
The House is poised to vote on legislation that would increase federal support for charter schools and would encourage states to authorize new charter schools. The "Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act" represents the latest triumph of ideology over...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 13, 2011 | Blog, Education
If aliens from another planet landed in the U.S. this weekend they would likely assume that the people inhabiting this place are completely obsessed with one thing and one thing only: money. Unless of course if they landed at the Save Our Schools March that happened...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 13, 2011 | Blog, Education
So much for the "New Washington Consensus on Education". Education policy, we were told by conservative leaders merely six months ago, was a " redeeming feature" of the Obama administration that would provide DC policy makers with a tranquil eddy amidst the whitewater...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 13, 2011 | Blog, Education
Much in the same way that September ushers in a new football season every year regaled by a bombast of armchair quarterbacks analyzing "the game," the month also brings on yet another Back to School Season with a chorus of commentators declaring their prescriptions to...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 12, 2011 | Blog
We buy a lot from China, and they don't buy much from us. Some call that "trade." The result is that our jobs, factories, companies, industries and wealth are moving to China. One very big thing we can do about this right now is to confront China over their currency...
by Bill Scher | Oct 12, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Yesterday, an unanimous Senate Republican caucus didn't just lead a filibuster to kill the American Jobs Act. The Republicans stopped the Senate from even beginning to have a discussion about doing anything at all to create jobs. Typically, a filibuster happens after...
by Bill Scher | Oct 12, 2011 | 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: Ideological...
by Robert Borosage | Oct 12, 2011 | Blog
The Republican debate on the economy was staged in New Hampshire, but quickly descended into a netherworld of Republican ideological cant. Each candidate brought the idiosyncratic traits we’re learning to expect. Gingrich blustered about throwing Chris Dodd and Barney...
by Steven Capozzola | Oct 11, 2011 | Blog
The U.S. must address China’s deliberately undervalued currency. What few seem to understand is that we are already in a trade war with China. It’s not one that we launched, nor one that we wanted. But China’s undervaluation of its currency, which...
by | Oct 11, 2011 | Blog, The Sequester
Originally published at Capital Gains and Games This is not a defense of the Congressional budget process. How could it be? With annual budget resolutions and appropriations now among the hardest things on the planet to pass, with deficit reduction effort after...
by | Oct 11, 2011 | Blog
courtesy Jonathan Schwarz I've been getting a fair amount of static for my post the other day warning about tribal politics rearing its ugly head as the Occupy movement continues. It's not just the billionaires who will put their resources to bear to...
by Bill Scher | Oct 11, 2011 | 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: Will The U.S....
by Dave Johnson | Oct 11, 2011 | Blog
If we want to bring jobs and wealth back to the United States for the 99% of us who have been under extreme pressure we're going to have to do something about trade. The huge trade imbalances -- especially with China -- are sucking our jobs and factories and companies...
by Sam Pizzigati | Oct 10, 2011 | Blog
One luxury automaker is betting big that America's affluent feel no responsibility to the greater society crumbling all around them. And lots of pols are making the same wager. Audi, the luxury automaker, has a new ad campaign out. You may have seen the TV spot. The...
by Terrance Heath | Oct 7, 2011 | Blog
This week, my eight-year-old son asked me a couple of questions about the war in Afghanistan. They were simple questions. Yet, both times I struggled to answer. The first question came out of the blue. "Dad," he asked me, "Why did we go to war in Afghanistan?" I had...
by Terrance Heath | Oct 7, 2011 | Blog
As the last full day of the Take Back the American Dream conference ended, the "Building the Progressive Movement: What Should We Do Next?" action strategy session posed the question that was probably on the minds of many attendees: What should we do next? The...
by Robert Borosage | Oct 7, 2011 | Blog, Economy
The September 2011 jobs numbers continue to send an SOS to Washington to act now on jobs. This economy verges on another downturn. The few jobs being created are not sufficient even to employ the new people coming into workforce, much less to begin to reduce the 25...
by Leo Gerard | Oct 7, 2011 | Blog
To convey the significance of the Occupy Wall Street movement, NBC News anchor Brian Williams this week quoted the 1960s Buffalo Springfield song, For What It’s Worth: “There is something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear.” Maybe it’s unclear what the...
by Bill Scher | Oct 7, 2011 | 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: Demanding Justice...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 7, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Co-director Roger Hickey appeared on the Dylan Ratigan Show Tuesday to discuss the influence of big money in politics and whether progressives could find common cause with tea party activists on...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 6, 2011 | Blog
So tell me is this fair? We've got worker's rights in the air, and Congress hasn't put one jobs bill there. What's up, Boehner? Now I catch feeling that you don't even care about a debt ceiling. The only thing our Congress is doing is working to bring women's rights...
by Sean McMartin | Oct 6, 2011 | Blog
Courtney Foley, the Starkville, Miss. native responsible for making sure that a referendum to bring down an anti-worker bill in Ohio qualifies for the ballot, received this year's Maria Leavey Tribute Award at the Take Back the American Dream conference on Wednesday....
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 6, 2011 | Blog, Economy
This will be a disappointment for the political reporters always looking to gawk at "hot Dem-on-Dem" action or what Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., at the Take Back the American Dream conference this week called a "progressive food fight," but the straw poll taken at that...
by | Oct 6, 2011 | Blog
Nicole Sandler was a featured speaker at the Take Back the American Dream conference, and is host of The Nicole Sandler Show Mon.-Thurs. at 10 AM ET. The following was originally published at Radio or Not. After the American Dream rally at the Capitol, a group of us...
by | Oct 6, 2011 | Blog
Ezra is featuring some thoughts by veteran organizer Rich Yeselson on his blog today that are well worth reading. I think his insight about face to face involvement is particularly interesting. I'm hearing from people who are involved in the protests that the energy...
by Bill Scher | Oct 6, 2011 | Blog, Economy
President Barack Obama today made sure that congressional Republicans will pay a political price if they continue to obstruct any action on jobs. Asked whether he was merely campaigning instead of negotiating to pass a jobs bill, President Obama said he was "eager" to...
by Bill Scher | Oct 6, 2011 | 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: Time To March...
by Richard Eskow | Oct 5, 2011 | Blog
By now everybody knows that Hank Williams, Jr. was suspended from ESPN and Monday Night Football for that strange and now infamous interview where he seemed to compare the President of the United States to Adolf Hitler. I say: Bring Hank back. Bring him back with no...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 5, 2011 | Blog
The Annual Gala Dinner at the Take back the American Dream conference honored several people at the front lines of the progressive movement's most critical battles. Planned Parenthood Federation of America was designated this year's "Progressive Champion" for its...
