by Richard Eskow | Apr 2, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
Writers love coming up with absurd stories on April Fool's Day and then trying to pass them off as real news. So let's play a game: Which of these stories are real and which are just April Fool's Day pranks? Meet my friend Berkshire and his wife, Anne: A review of...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog, Economy
I think Alonya was suggesting at the end that I was being a downer about those job figures ... I believe the current slang term for that kind of thing is "buzz kill." Oh, well! For a change, all of the political negativity coming from my general vicinity was directed...
by Richard Eskow | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
Oh, Democrats, Democrats, Democrats. Your party's symbol's an ass - a word that was on John Boehner's lips this week, and maybe some other people's too. Here's how it went down: First House Republicans proposed $32 billion in cuts. The President offered $6.5 billion....
by Leo Gerard | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog, Minimum Wage
The nation’s greedy corporations and insatiable wealthy are fattening themselves on workers. There’s no trickle down. It’s the opposite; the rich have been sucking the economic lifeblood from the middle class for decades. When reckless Wall Street banksters get...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog
"We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God's children. And that we don't have to live like we are forced to live." —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speech in Memphis, Tenn., April 3, 1968 On April 4, we will be called on not to merely remember that Dr....
by Bill Scher | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog
On April 4, "We Are One" community-based actions will be taking place all over the country, in honor of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination while trying to organize sanitation workers in Memphis, and in solidarity with working people all over America facing...
by Mary Bottari | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog
Wisconsin continues to spin out of control and a constitutional crisis looms as a judge this week again ordered Walker’s administration to halt implementation of his bill stripping Wisconsin public workers of collective bargaining rights. Walker's team moved to...
by Dave Johnson | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog
By now you have heard that the Majority Leader Eric Cantor said that Social Security "cannot exist if we want America to be what we want America to be." At least they are out in the open about their plans. So Campaign for America's Future wants to do something about...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Two steps forward, one step back. That's what we keep doing on the jobs front as long as we allow conservative budget austerity to drown out efforts to keep the jobs-producing machine revved up. The private sector generated a net increase of 230,000 jobs in March,...
by Bill Scher | Apr 1, 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 Need An...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog
He said what? House Majority Leader Eric Cantor appears to have called for the eventual elimination of Social Security because it stands in the way of what "we" want America to be. Here's the quote, from NPR's "Morning Edition" today: I mean, just from the very notion...
by Sam Pizzigati | Apr 1, 2011 | Blog
In just seven years, the top annual pay for hedge fund managers has jumped from just over $1 billion to just shy of five times that total. The hedge fund industry’s trade journal has just released its annual figures for hedge fund manager earnings. The big...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 31, 2011 | Blog
"Dance with the one that brung you." It's an old saying, and an unwritten rule in politics: stick with the strategy and/or constituency that "brung you" to power, if you want to stay in power. Dance with the one that brung you, or you might not...
by | Mar 31, 2011 | Blog
How to sound like a total ass in one easy lesson: At a town hall meeting in Polk County, Wisconsin earlier this year, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) was asked whether he'd vote to cut his $174,000 annual salary. Duffy sort of hedged, and went on to talk about how $174,000...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 31, 2011 | Blog
Why are Republicans forcing a government shutdown and doing other things aimed at blowing up the economy? The question isn’t “are they,” it is why are they? Their election strategy for 2010 was to obstruct everything and keep the economy from creating jobs, and then...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 31, 2011 | Blog
Bloggers always wonder why Democrats couldn’t get anything done even when they had a solid majority in the House and 60 votes in the Senate, while Republicans get everything they want even when they are in the minority. Take the current budget negotiations, for...
by Bill Scher | Mar 31, 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 Mortgage...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 31, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
The mortgage crisis in this country doesn't get much attention in Washington these days, but it's huge. It's so huge, in fact, that it dwarfs most of the economic issues that have Washington in their grip. It's so huge that it's dragging down our entire economy. It's...
by Jeff Bryant | Mar 30, 2011 | Blog, Education
On Tuesday Sam Seder and I had a brief discussion during his daily web broadcast The Majority Report that touched on some points I made in my post here last week The Empty Rhetoric of School "Reform" (with broken links fixed – my apologies). We ventured into other...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 30, 2011 | Blog, Economy
What was the lesson of the 2010 election? Since the election conservatives and the DC opinion elite have been claiming that the public voted for budget cuts. But before the election they ran ad after ad saying Dems cut your Medicare and didn't provide jobs. Now every...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 30, 2011 | Blog
Like I said earlier, the truth about "Tax & Spend Conservatism" is that it isn't about raising or cutting taxes, but about whose taxes are raised and whose taxes are cut. It's about, as Robert Borsage put it, who gets hit with the tab for the great...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 30, 2011 | Blog
Last week, I wrote of strange fiscal shenanigans in the reddest of the red states; like tax increases in Mississippi and increased government spending in Texas. "So," I asked, "why are Texas and Mississippi having serious budget problems? And why are...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 30, 2011 | Blog
Common sense is an endangered species in today’s budget frenzy. Inside the Beltway, millions of dollars have gone into a concerted campaign to elevate hysteria about deficits, in an effort to roll Congress into deep cuts in entitlement programs. On the right, the Tea...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 30, 2011 | Blog
Today is a national call-in day to let Senators know that there is support for keeping Social Security out of the budget debate. Here are some facts. Social Security cannot borrow, so it does not contribute to the deficit. In fact, working people have been paying a...
by Bill Scher | Mar 30, 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: Social Security...
by Roger Hickey | Mar 29, 2011 | Blog
Ezra Klein has a prominently displayed piece in the Washington Post this morning, entitled The Pro-Social Security case for Social Security reform. He takes to task liberals most committed to Social Security for being unwilling to “reform” Social Security out of fear...
by | Mar 29, 2011 | Blog
Last week I said that the current budget debate comes down to two competing messages: The Republicans need to convince the people that the way boost the economy and create jobs is to eliminate the deficit. The Democrats need to convince people that the way to...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 29, 2011 | Blog
Call Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday! The following is from the Strengthen Social Security coalition, of which Campaign for America's Future is part: We need you to call your Senators and demand that they vote for the Sanders/Reid Social Security Protection...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 29, 2011 | Blog
Call Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday! Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid led a press conference and rally to save Social Security yesterday: Senate Majority Leader Reid, Other Democrats, Join Hundreds to Demand No Cuts to Social Security Sens. Reid, Harkin, Sanders,...
by Bill Scher | Mar 29, 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: Social Security:...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 29, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
If you're a banker who bought your estate with the millions you made from mortgage fraud, relax. The Justice Department isn't looking for you. But if you're an illegal immigrant who's working on that banker's estate, look out. The Department of Justice is ignoring...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 28, 2011 | Blog
Charles Krauthammer wants you to know two things: There's no "lockbox" for Social Security and there's no such thing as a free lunch. He's wrong about Social Security, but first things first: Let's do lunch. Here's Krauthammer last Thursday, rebutting White House...
by | Mar 28, 2011 | Blog
Showing the sort of balanced journalism that we have come to expect from the Washington Post, its oped page featured a column by Robert Pozen, a financial industry executive and proponent of Social Security privatization, telling liberals why they should support cuts...
by | Mar 28, 2011 | Blog
Journamalism in 2011 is long on hyperbolic headlines and short on actual facts. If you go to The Washington Post business section this morning, you will see what I mean. Lori Montgomery has turned in, and an editor has seen fit to publish, 700 or so words of ignorant,...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 28, 2011 | Blog
One group of senators is determined to cut Social Security benefits. Another is equally determined to stop them. And nearly two-thirds of the Senate signed a letter that took a clear stand in favor of ... well, it's not exactly clear what they want. It's been a battle...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 28, 2011 | Blog
"This is not some abstract debate. This is about real people who live real lives." Those were the words of Wade Henderson, CEO of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights, at the Strengthen Social Security press conference on Capitol Hill this afternoon. The...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 28, 2011 | Blog
Scientists say there are trillions of parallel universes. Statistically, that means that must be one where some poor version of humanity lives in an inverted, mind-bending alternate reality where everything is backwards and nothing makes sense. But why did it have to...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 28, 2011 | Blog
Marketing works. If you put a lot of money into repeating a marketing message over and over and over, eventually people's brains absorb the message. Conservatives have put a lot of money and effort into convincing people that there is something wrong with Social...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 28, 2011 | Blog
Isn't it funny how the corporate conservatives always offer the same solutions to every problem? Even when the solution doesn't really have much to do with the problem? Iraq didn't attack us, and Social Security doesn't have anything to do with deficits. But the...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 28, 2011 | Blog
The nightmare for far too many is Cyborgs. The public fears HAL, the 2001 Space Odyssey computer that killed astronauts rather than forfeit its objective. So terrified of the sentient machine, citizens overlook the allegory. The soft-spoken, reasonable-sounding HAL...
