by Bill Scher | Apr 11, 2011 | Blog
Last month, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor literally said Social Security "cannot exist if we want America to be what we want America to be." Then last week, House Budget Committee approved the literal end of Medicare as guaranteed affordable comprehensive health...
by Sam Pizzigati | Apr 9, 2011 | Blog
House budget-cutters are taking their inspiration from the greatest giveaway — to the rich — artist the nation's capital has ever known. You won’t find many photos with smiles on the face of Andrew Mellon, the U.S. treasury secretary back in the 1920s. The...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 8, 2011 | Blog
"Watch what we do, not what we say" -- famous quote from a Nixon official, explaining that they make up the stuff they say to distract and divert people from understanding what they are doing. They say they are trying to cut deficits. They are doing something else...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 8, 2011 | Blog
Since the election the entire Republican structure, from the bottom to the top, has been rejoicing that they are in a position to shut down the government again. Their radio and TV and blogs and articles and speeches have been talking demanding a shutdown,...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 8, 2011 | Blog
When conservatives start talking "welfare reform," progressives usually respond one of two ways. We either: (a) start inching towards the exits; or (b) stand in open-mouthed wonder, asking one another "Wait, they're not serious, right?" Oh, they're...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 8, 2011 | Blog
Republicans are saying they are going to either gut the government or shut it down. They mean it. It's gut or shut, and they are not going to allow a third choice. This is not just posturing and they are not likely to engage in bipartisan bargaining. Their rhetoric...
by Roger Hickey | Apr 8, 2011 | Blog
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Editor's Note: Yesterday, Campaign for America's Future Co-Director Roger Hickey joined MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan to discuss the re-launch of TheMiddleClass.org and its breaking analysis of the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 8, 2011 | Blog
TheMiddleClass.org, the website that evaluates legislation and congressional votes based on their impact on middle-class people, is being officially reintroduced today with a scathing indictment of the House Republican budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 drafted by...
by Bill Scher | Apr 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: TheMiddleClass.org...
by Leo Gerard | Apr 8, 2011 | Blog
Republicans concocted death panels in an attempt to terrify Americans about health care reform, then propagated the lie because they wanted insurance corporations to profit from illness and injury unfettered. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 7, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
Last night the President took a lofty, almost disinterested stance regarding budget deadlock in Congress. He seemed to chastise Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner equally, focusing on the consequences of a shutdown and ignoring the...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 7, 2011 | Blog
Rep. Paul Ryan's getting a lot of attention for a chart he's using to publicize the new Republican budget: You know what's funny? I was just projecting the effect of that budget on the average retiree's household budget: I wish I were kidding, but I'm not. These are...
by | Apr 7, 2011 | Blog
Sometimes I think that the best thing that the only way our country is going to survive is if all of our political elites are forced to live like an average American for the next two years. And by average, I don't mean the delusional upper middle class, highly...
by Bill Scher | Apr 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: GOP Budget Serves...
by Jeff Bryant | Apr 7, 2011 | Blog, Education
Last week, President Obama gave us a clear perspective of what's wrong with current education policies and a positive vision for where they should be going. In a townhall meeting, he lamented that current education policies have "piled on a lot of standardized tests...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 6, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Who is our country for? Is this a country for We, the People, where all of us are banded together to protect and empower each other, together? Or is this a country where a powerful few reap all the benefits, and the rest of us are little more than "the help?" That is...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 6, 2011 | Blog
VIDEO Progressive Caucus co-chairman Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and other members of the Progressive Caucus react to Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal. Here we are only four months into Republican control of the House of Representatives and the government is shutting...
by Mary Bottari | Apr 6, 2011 | Blog
While Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan prepares to shut down the federal government to prove that government is bad, analysts say the radical agenda of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker suffered a major set back today as his good friend incumbent Justice David Prosser...
by | Apr 6, 2011 | Blog
Charlie Cook can hardly believe what he's seeing: [T]alking with Republican pollsters, strategists and veteran campaign professionals recently, I now hear sounds of concern that haven’t been heard in almost two years. Among the worries the party now has is that a...
by | Apr 6, 2011 | Blog
Throughout its 75 year history, Social Security has provided critical economic security to millions of retirees, families, children and the disabled. Social Security is paid for by the dedicated contributions of workers and their employers, has administrative costs of...
by Roger Hickey | Apr 6, 2011 | Blog
House Budget chairman Paul Ryan’s budget resolution has been rightly condemned by anyone who cares about economic recovery, Medicare, Medicaid, public investment, programs for the poor and disadvantaged, tax justice, and just plain honesty in budgeting. The Huffington...
by Bill Scher | Apr 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: Sen. Conrad...
by Bill Scher | Apr 5, 2011 | Blog, Economy
With Congress furiously negotiating as the clock ticks towards government shutdown, the focus of the 2011 budget talks is almost all on how much spending to cut -- precisely what our job-starved economy doesn't need right now. But now that House Budget Chair Paul Ryan...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 5, 2011 | Blog
How often have you looked up from a "news report" in disgust at the way our modern news media tries to be cover for conservative lunacy and extremism? There is a template that stamps out the false equivalences: "Both sides do it." They find something extreme written...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 5, 2011 | Blog
This morning Representative Jan Schakowsky responded to Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's statement that Social Security and Medicare "cannot exist if we want America to be what we want America to be." Schakowsky said, “There are two stark visions of our...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 5, 2011 | Blog
I attended a We Are One event in Redwood City, California, at "Courthouse Square." The early-evening event was well-attended with maybe 250 people and a number of speakers. Most local media ignored the event. The San Francisco Chronicle had a story, We Are One rallies...
by Robert Borosage | Apr 5, 2011 | Blog
Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan will push rising health care costs onto those least able to afford them – the elderly, the disabled and the poor. It will do nothing to curb the rising costs imposed by the powerful complexes – insurance and drug companies, private...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 5, 2011 | Blog
For most people the "American Dream" is to be in the middle class, or to raise yourself up to be in the middle class. And people used to expect that things would get better over time for all of us. But today more people are going the other way. Many people are finding...
by Bill Scher | Apr 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: The GOP's Most...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 5, 2011 | Blog
Back when I analyzed health plans and other benefits for a living, I asked a famous CEO what his goals were for the corporation's employee benefit plan. "I want to give them less and make them think it's more," he said. The new Republican budget proposes to radically...
by Alan Jenkins | Apr 4, 2011 | Blog, Economy
New job numbers released last Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics included some welcome news. The national unemployment rate dropped to a two-year low of 8.8% in March, with an increase of 216,000 non-farm payroll jobs. President Obama is rightly touting the...
by | Apr 4, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
When IHS Global Insight revealed this week that China has passed the United States to lead the world in manufacturing output, the response from some in government and manufacturing was to quibble with the data. The correct response is to develop a national...
by | Apr 4, 2011 | Blog
As they watched crowds build in Madison, Wisconsin this past week, and in support, weekend gatherings all around the country, it appears the GOP has lost its nerve on the big federal government shutdown they've been promising for this coming Friday. Democrats warming...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 4, 2011 | Blog
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. ~ Martin Luther King Jr. I wrote earlier today that from his mountaintop Martin Luther King Jr. saw the...
by Brian Dockstader | Apr 4, 2011 | Blog
April 4 marks the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, murdered in 1968 while fighting for the rights of striking Memphis sanitation workers. This event is brilliantly chronicled in the acclaimed documentary, At the River I Stand. This year's...
by Terrance Heath | Apr 4, 2011 | Blog
Years ago, I visited Memphis, Tenn., to attend a conference. The conference coincided with the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, and thousands of fans were in Memphis to visit Graceland. I visited the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr....
by | Apr 4, 2011 | Blog
Watch GOP flack Torie Clark fatuously parroting the most fetid, decaying conventional wisdom ("neither of the two Senators tried to score political points ... they were very responsible") and then drag out the crusty old "uncertainty" trope to explain why companies...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 4, 2011 | Blog
Today, We Are One, standing in solidarity with millions of working people from every walk of life – for the right to bargain collectively for good, middle-class jobs. Join us in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and dozens of other states...
by Bill Scher | Apr 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: On April 4, We Are...
by Sam Pizzigati | Apr 3, 2011 | Blog
Hedge fund honchos bet on stocks. They bet on gold. They bet on lawsuits. Most of all, they bet that the rest of us will never wise up to the awesome giveaway our current tax code ladles on them. Only in America can someone make $85 million in a year and feel...
