by Dave Johnson | Aug 12, 2011 | Blog
"The patient is sicker so we have to apply more leeches." Countries that are trying to fix deficits with spending cuts are finding out that taking money out of their economies by cutting government is slowing their economies. Duh! Imagine that! So instead of cutting...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 12, 2011 | Blog
Mitt Romney got a lot of press for telling a heckler at the Iowa State Fair that "corporations are people." He did not go on to sing that Patti Smith song, People Have the Power. But corporate "people" certainly do. Their power was on display this week, both in...
by Bill Scher | Aug 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: Super Committee of...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 11, 2011 | Blog
The political world is abuzz with a heat-of-the-moment comment by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that is starkly revealing. Here's how The Huffington Post reported it: Pressed by an attendee at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday as to why he was focusing...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 11, 2011 | Blog
In the new economy, we may all need a "sugar daddy." And, no, I don't mean the candy. "People will find a way," has been Republicans' constant refrain for the past year or so, in their ceaseless targeting vital programs and services for deep cuts,...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 11, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
Washington is in a Fox News tizzy about budget deficits. But even though the budget deficits were clearly caused by tax cuts for the rich, huge military spending increases and the effects of the lack of jobs, ideas for fixing those are the very things that are "off...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 11, 2011 | Blog
Hopefully the worst of the violence is over in Great Britain. London's fires are cooling into ashes, and with any luck they won't be rekindled. But even though the British economy is still a tinderbox, nothing that's happened has dampened some people's enthusiasm for...
by Bill Scher | Aug 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: England's Ashes....
by Robert Borosage | Aug 10, 2011 | Blog
The establishment campaign to use the economic crisis to cut Social Security and Medicare continues to escalate. Helene Cooper in New York Times offers up a new theme: If the president is courageous and puts country before campaign, he'll "administer the disagreeable...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 10, 2011 | Blog
Ignore the chest-thumping from the right following the Wisconsin recall elections Tuesday night. The fact that Democratic challengers prevailed in two of the six races, and came within less than 1,100 votes of unseating a third in a race where almost 51,000 votes were...
by | Aug 10, 2011 | Blog
At this point in the evening, two Democratic wins out of six in the recalls and a lot of questions about a third (coming down to the same Republican activist who was suspected of rigging the Supreme Court election last April.) Remember that these were all GOP...
by Bill Scher | Aug 10, 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: Super Cmte Picks...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 9, 2011 | Blog
Aspiring journalists are often advised to become multilingual so they can cover more stories. That's why I'm prepared to offer the first summer program in Federal Reserve as a Second Language ... once anybody turns up who can really understand it. Any attempt to...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 9, 2011 | Blog
People watching the news over the past week might have thought that Congress was the only place where battles for our future were being won and lost. That's wrong. There are other battles, better battles, battles far from the glare of the Beltway spotlights. And more...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 9, 2011 | Blog
This morning Wisconsin voters will stream to the polls in a historic recall election that pits defenders of working people against six incumbents who backed a right-wing legislative assault on workers. It is not too late to give those working-class fighters a massive...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 9, 2011 | Blog
Just ten years ago this country was running huge surpluses and paying off its debt. But then we elected Obama and all hell broke loose. Oh, wait... Something Happened Between the time ten years ago when we had big surpluses and were paying off the debt and now when we...
by Bill Scher | Aug 9, 2011 | Blog
The Huffington Post reported that Democratic leaders are "narrowing down the list" of who will be appointed to the so-called "Super Committee" designed to fast-track proposals to cut the deficit, including possible cuts to Social Security and Medicare. So time is...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 9, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Rebuild The Dream As I wrote earlier in Ten Years Ago We Were Paying Off The Nation's Debt. But Then We Elected Obama., the The American Dream Movement is rolling out their Contract for the American Dream. The Tea-Party-fascinated press is largely ignoring this, but...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 9, 2011 | Blog
Government is the great teacher of its people, by what it does and by what its leaders say. And no one has a larger pulpit than the President, as Barack Obama showed yesterday, when he summoned the media to broadcast comments as markets tanked across the world. The...
by Bill Scher | Aug 9, 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: We Are Wisconsin,...
by Alan Jenkins | Aug 8, 2011 | Blog
The President has shown a talent for slowly but surely moving public opinion in the right direction on crucial policy points, then inexplicably giving those points away to his political opponents for little or nothing in return. According to last month’s Gallup poll,...
by | Aug 8, 2011 | Blog
When it happened, I said that we should wait and see what the markets do before making any assumptions about whether the S&P was credible in their latest "analysis." Sure enough, S&P downgrades US credit on Friday and on Monday morning investors rush to flee equities...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 8, 2011 | Blog
There's been a great deal of complaining today about Standard & Poor's downgrade of the US government's creditworthiness, but the time for talking about credit rating agencies is long past. There are four steps that can be taken now to end the rating corporations'...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 8, 2011 | Blog
Global economic turmoil is getting worse. Europe’s financial crisis now imperils Spain and Italy. The folly of premature austerity savages economies in Great Britain, Europe and, increasingly, the United States. China and the emerging economies are slowing down. This...
by Bill Scher | Aug 8, 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: How To Fight Back...
by Sam Pizzigati | Aug 6, 2011 | Blog
The American political system isn't working for average Americans anymore. Don't blame the Tea Party, new political science research suggests. Blame inequality. In a sensible republic, democratically elected leaders come together in a respectful give-and-take to...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 6, 2011 | Blog
It's beginning to look like there's an economic shipwreck dead ahead. That plunging stock market is the wealthy passengers, trampling the children as they rush headlong toward the lifeboats. The nation's capital, the bridge of our ship of state, lies abandoned. The...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 6, 2011 | Blog
(Reposted from May of last year to commemorate the S&P "downgrade." The "agency" scams have since spent millions in lobbying money to weaken and delay the Franken Amendment and other urgently needed reforms.) PowerPoints, emails, and transcripts obtained by Sen. Carl...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 6, 2011 | Blog
PowerPoints, emails, and transcripts obtained by Sen. Carl Levin's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations illustrate the real magnitude of Sen. Al Franken's victory today. Sen. Franken was able to pass an amendment which eliminates the conflict of interest that's...
by | Aug 5, 2011 | Blog
This story from the LA Times a few days ago does something really unusual. It puts a human face on the "spending" that everyone in government believes is unaffordable: Cynde Soto dreads the arrival of yet another benefit notice. Her cash assistance has been...
by | Aug 5, 2011 | Blog
Of course, it’s all about jobs. But why did the president ever think differently? Elizabeth Drew and others write that the White House believed the message of the 2010 losses was that Americans believed government spending was out of hand. Thus, cutting government...
by Bill Scher | Aug 5, 2011 | Blog
Last night, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell reported on the Campaign for America's Future petition to "Put Bernie On The Super Committee" and interviewed Sen. Bernie Sanders on what he would do if named to the committee. The transcript is below. O'DONNELL: Senator, the...
by Bill Scher | Aug 5, 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: Jobs Numbers Are a...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 5, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Today's jobs report from the Labor Department should not be spun as positive, even though at a net increase of 117,000 jobs it is better than the Wall Street consensus. While the White House may breathe a sign of relief that the numbers were not lower, one fundamental...
by | Aug 4, 2011 | Blog, Economy
We said it first last week. Now, everyone is catching on: it’s (past) time for Congress and the Administration to pivot to a jobs agenda. While there are already pretty clear indications from recent polls that voters may forgive the gamesmanship on the debt ceiling,...
by | Aug 4, 2011 | Blog
In the six months since the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s report was released, a small band of critics—with many congressional Republicans in tow—has labored mightily to undermine the credibility of the FCIC’s work. They have attacked the report, even as its...
by Roger Hickey | Aug 4, 2011 | Blog
The immediate impact of the “debt deal” was bad enough: painful cuts without any tax increases for the wealthy. But Phase Two could be much worse--unless we push back hard. A new undemocratic "Super Committee" is charged with finding $1.5 trillion in savings – from...
by Bill Scher | Aug 4, 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: A Republic, If We...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 4, 2011 | Blog
Last night, as I lamented the state of America's governance — that we have come to be ruled by a 60-member tea party coalition that, at most, comprises only about 14 percent of the House yet somehow overrules the rest of the House, the Senate and the White House — my...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 3, 2011 | Blog
You probably don’t know that another act of hostage-taking by Republicans is underway. They have shut down the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to help Delta Airlines in its battle to keep its workers from voting in a union. This is costing the government $200...
