by Bill Scher | Jul 19, 2011 | Blog
Conservatives and corporate leaders routinely blame President Obama's policies and proposals on progressive taxation and new regulations for the current weak state of the economy. Such claims were reheated yesterday with a fresh blast of hot air from Wynn Resorts CEO...
by Bill Scher | Jul 19, 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: The Slash, Crush...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 18, 2011 | Blog
Forty-one members of Congress today are calling on the White House to take a simple step toward respecting the views of the American Majority: Include the budget proposal that reflects the American Majority's priorities in the deficit discussions the White House is...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 18, 2011 | Blog, Economy
The debt limit has been reached. The President should be demanding a "clean" debt ceiling bill instead of letting hostage-takers force negotiations over their ransom. For deficit reduction The People's Budget is the right approach. It's the budget that polls show the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 18, 2011 | Blog
House Republicans on Tuesday are expected to vote for a bill that will make unmistakably plain their intentions for our government and the work government can and should do for its citizens. They call the bill the "Cut, Cap and Balance Act," but what it does...
by Robert Borosage | Jul 18, 2011 | Blog
Today President Barack Obama nominated Robert Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Robert Cordray has proven to be an effective defender of consumer rights. And Elizabeth Warren he is not, to the relief of congressional Republicans, the banking...
by Richard Eskow | Jul 18, 2011 | Blog
Elizabeth Warren's well-heeled opponents have behaved ... well, like heels. The Washington/Wall Street axis prevented her from becoming the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but they may regret it someday. Washington has lost the best person...
by Robert Borosage | Jul 18, 2011 | Blog
Conservatives argue that America has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. We earlier dispelled the myth that Americans – particularly wealthy Americans – pay too much in taxes. Now let’s look at the spending question. Part 5 in a series of...
by Bill Scher | Jul 18, 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. The UK Holds Its Corporations...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 18, 2011 | Blog
In the UK the News-Of-The-World/News Corp/Murdoch scandal seems to be reawakening democracy. A big, powerful corporation has been found to be engaged in criminal activity, manipulating news, paying off police and politicians, and generally getting its way. The people,...
by Richard Eskow | Jul 17, 2011 | Blog
On most issues Lawrence O'Donnell is on the side of the angels. But O'Donnell, who held senior staff positions on Capitol Hill during the 1990's, is one of many Democrats and liberals who think the way to fix today's problems is by recycling yesterday's solutions -...
by Richard Eskow | Jul 16, 2011 | Blog
While hosting The Young Turks this week we covered the latest interrogation of Elizabeth Warren by House Republicans, who are determined to make sure that she -- and the bureau charged with protecting consumer from bank ripoffs - are discredited. The headline...
by Terrance Heath | Jul 15, 2011 | Blog
"I want what I want when I want it." Those are Eric Cantor's words. No, they're not words he said recently, but words he chose years ago, for his high school yearbook quote. And while it may seem unfair to bring them up now (After all, how many of us said or...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 15, 2011 | Blog
Conservatives say greed is a good thing. But the lessons of history, religion, philosophy, psychology and even biology say it is not. I am visiting England this week. Today I'm in York, and I toured the York Minstrel which is a huge 13th-century cathedral. Down in...
by | Jul 15, 2011 | Blog
Enjoying the debt ceiling talks? The posturing, petulance, brinksmanship, bluffing? Well, let me make it a little bit more nauseating: China has pulled up a seat at the table. China’s leaders have been weighing in nearly every day, reminding the U.S. of its...
by Eric Hunt | Jul 15, 2011 | Blog, Economy
With Isaiah J. Poole When the Speak Out for Good Jobs Now Tour rolls into Miami on Saturday, it will be in a state where bad economic conditions are being made more harsh by a series of conservative policy actions. “Florida workers have fared worse than the nation as...
by Terrance Heath | Jul 15, 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: Ignorance Index...
by Robert Borosage | Jul 15, 2011 | Blog
House Speaker John Boehner and his Tea Party comrades regularly assail “job-killing regulations that are strangling employers all over the country.” Lurid, graphic, and no doubt focus group and message dial tested, these very words – job-killing regulations strangling...
by Robert Borosage | Jul 15, 2011 | Blog
Conservatives say they are prepared to blow up the economy by not lifting the debt limit if that is what it takes to avoid raising taxes on the rich – even to avoid closing loopholes that have hedge fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their chauffeurs. Tax...
by Richard Eskow | Jul 15, 2011 | Blog
Want to be a cynic? You've got plenty of material to work with, that's for sure. But if you want to be an idealist, a practical idealist who can get things done, cynicism would be a tragic mistake. Lately all I've been hearing — and, frankly, most of what I've been...
by Terrance Heath | Jul 14, 2011 | Blog
Sen. Claire McCaskill says Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has "lost his mind", indicated by his convoluted plan to escape negotiations around raising the debt ceiling, and his apparent renunciation of politics and elections because "Nothing has...
by Bill Scher | Jul 14, 2011 | Blog, Economy
If this jobs bill can't pass today's Congress, and apparently it can't, then nothing will. Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) teamed up to introduce a bill creating an independent infrastructure bank. To allay conservative concerns about...
by Robert Borosage | Jul 14, 2011 | Blog
“.. Washington doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem,” says House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). All Republican legislators have been taught to chant this tired Republican “talking point” as if it were the Hare Krishna mantra. To borrow one...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 14, 2011 | Blog
Today and Friday we're asking everyone to call their senators today and tell them to oppose cuts in Social Security and end the raid of Social Security funds to give corporations another tax break. The number you can use to call is 1-866-251-4044, courtesy of the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 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: Ignorance Index...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 14, 2011 | Blog
The conservative government in England is trying austerity. They are using the shock-doctrine tactic of drumming up public hysteria over bad news - in this case the financial collapse and resulting downturn - and using the panic as cover to quickly impose radical...
by | Jul 13, 2011 | Blog
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) plan for dealing with the debt ceiling imbroglio has been described in detail -- or at least as much detail as is possible when there's no legislative language -- just about everywhere (take a look at Jackie Calmes piece...
by | Jul 13, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Originally posted at RobertReich.Org. What did the President do in response to last week’s horrendous job report — unemployment rising to 9.2 percent in June, with only 18,000 new jobs (125,000 are needed each month just to keep up with the growth in the potential...
by | Jul 13, 2011 | Blog
“I am Undocumented, Unafraid & and Unapologetic!” was the phrase that rang in Chicago’s Daley Plaza on March 10th, 2011. I watched nervously from the crowd as my good friend Alaa Mukahhal, an undocumented Palestinian American, shouted those words from the stage. I...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 13, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Yesterday we learned that the trade deficit exploded in May, especially (as always) with China. The other side of our increasing imports is our increasing exports. The dollar is down against some currencies, putting us in a stronger position. Some countries are doing...
by Robert Borosage | Jul 13, 2011 | Blog
Conservative Republicans hold as an article of faith that cutting government spending creates jobs, even in the midst of a recession. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the conservative zealot who has personally blown up the debt ceiling talks twice over the mere hint...
by Terrance Heath | Jul 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: Ignorance Index...
by Eric Lotke | Jul 13, 2011 | Blog
Yesterday evening I attended an event sponsored by my U.S. Representative, Jim Moran (D-VA). I accepted an invitation I received from his email list to a community forum called "Principles & Priorities: How would you balance the budget?" I'm no dummy and I was...
by Richard Eskow | Jul 13, 2011 | Blog
Rupert Murdoch's got problems. His employees are being arrested, he's losing his latest acquisition, and he's just been called to testify before Parliament. But there's an easy way for Mr. Murdoch to protect himself from these inquiries and save his company at the...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 12, 2011 | Blog
I am in the UK this week. You can barely turn on the TV here without hearing about the “phone-hacking” scandal from outraged voices across the spectrum. It is a full-blown, 24/7 scandal. The thing that might be most astonishing to Americans, though, is that people are...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 12, 2011 | Blog
If this makes Michelle Malkin and the folks at Red State mad, it must be good. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is offering a way out of the hostage drama the Republicans orchestrated to defend millionaires and billionaires from having to sacrifice anything to...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 12, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
There was (yet more) bad economic news this morning. Reuters: US trade deficit grows to 31-month high. While oil takes part of the blame, the problem is not all oil: Oil imports helped widen the U.S. trade deficit to $50.2 billion in May from $43.6 billion in April,...
by | Jul 12, 2011 | Blog
Ezra Klein tells us what was in the Really Grand Big Deal and it's enough to make you feel as if somebody slipped some LSD in your coffee: I knew the White House wanted a compromise on the debt ceiling. I just didn't expect them to do quite so much, well,...
by | Jul 12, 2011 | Blog
CO-AUTHORED BY NANCY J. ALTMAN and ERIC KINGSON, co-chairs of the Strengthen Social Security Campaign (www.strengthensocialsecurity.org) In a recent Politico column, Jon Cowan and Jim Kessler, respectively the president and senior vice-president of The Third Way,...
by | Jul 12, 2011 | Blog
This article was co-written with Nancy J. Altman, co-chair of the Strengthen Social Security Campaign. President Obama, in his news conference today, again acknowledged that Social Security is not the cause of our national deficit. Yet he continues to suggest it...
