by Dave Johnson | Mar 18, 2011 | Blog, Economy
A "report" from Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee says that the path to job creation is cutting ... the very things that create jobs. This is like saying that cutting taxes increases revenue. We know how that worked out, and the job-consequences of...
by Bill Scher | Mar 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. MORNING MESSAGE: Spending Cuts...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 18, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
Jamie's going to Japan. Dealbreaker has a memo from JPMorgan Chase's senior executive in Japan which says CEO Jamie Dimon is on his way: "Colleagues from around the globe are heading here to pitch in. In addition to Jamie, we will be seeing ... others who are now...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 17, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
SoSome politicians are so determined to serve their corporate patrons that even disasters like Fukushima can't lessen their anti-government zeal. The expression for that kind of determination is "Come hell or high water." Now, thanks to deregulation and government...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 17, 2011 | Blog
The Calculated Risk blog takes a survey of all the bad news that could hit the economy, in Crisis Fatigue? Make a list, (click through for details, etc.) • Risks from the earthquake in Japan. • Higher oil prices and a possible supply shock. • U.S. Housing Crisis. •...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 17, 2011 | Blog
Earlier today I wrote that External Shock Happens, and "we should be shoring up our public structures, our infrastructure, our protections and empowerments. That is what government is and what it does, and we need it." I just came across a post, Black Swans, 100 Year...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 17, 2011 | Blog, Economy
You wouldn't know it from looking around you but this country has grown much richer over last 30 years. We have a vastly higher GDP, higher average income, much more wealth... But American workers haven’t shared in it. It is all captured by a few billionaires and...
by Bill Scher | Mar 17, 2011 | Blog
This week, an actual jobs idea garnered bipartisan support. Sens. John Kerry (D), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) and Mark Warner (D) teamed up to introduce "The BUILD Act" which would create a $10 billion "infrastructure bank" to provide loans and loan guarantees for...
by Bill Scher | Mar 17, 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 Chamber Spend...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 17, 2011 | Blog
Steve Earle, who's hands-down one of the best songwriters of our time, has re-released two union-themed songs on iTunes to support the Madison protesters. “Harlan Man” and “The Mountain” are being issued as a special "2-track digital single" (I didn't know you could...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 16, 2011 | Blog
The following caught my eye: It is today's distillation by Anzalone Liszt Research drawn from recent national polls: For first time in history, more Americans support gay marriage than oppose it: The General Social Survey shows that for the first time in history, more...
by Bill Scher | Mar 16, 2011 | Blog
Earlier this week, I offered advice to America's highest-ranking libertarian Sen. Rand Paul how he could find a working toilet, and dispel his belief that the federal government will not allow him one. Soon after, Grist's David Roberts, dismayed at the Senator's...
by Bill Scher | Mar 16, 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: Beware The "Adult"...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 16, 2011 | Blog
What's striking in the debate over America’s budget deficits isn’t the stridency of the anti-government Right. That’s expected and they don’t deviate from script. No, most impressive is the steely strength of a conventional wisdom that is flat out wrong. In its...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 15, 2011 | Blog
God save us from sentences like this one: "Don't look now, but an adult conversation has begun on the federal budget deficit." If we've heard this cliché once, we've heard it a thousand times, so we hope we'll be forgiven for the blunt talk that follows. Let's face...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 15, 2011 | Blog
Talked with Rick Smith about this piece on M & I Bank (" ") on his radio show last night. Here's the audio (it's about ten minutes long - just enough to listen to while you're clearing the paperwork off your desk): RickSmithMar142011-podcast (click on the link to...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 15, 2011 | Blog, Economy
As Abraham Lincoln famously said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." When you put enough dots in front of people sooner or later they will connect the dots....
by Dave Johnson | Mar 15, 2011 | Blog
Tuesday the House of Representatives voted to continue tax breaks and subsidies for oil companies. Every Republican voted to support the tax breaks and subsidies. Thursday House Republicans are expected to introduce legislation to prevent the Environmental Protection...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 15, 2011 | Blog
Karl Rove's corporate front-group Crossroads GPS is spending $750,000 to run ads explaining that unionized workers make 42% more than non-union workers. From the Politico story about the ad buy, Crossroads GPS is airing the ad on national cable. The buy is $750,000...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 15, 2011 | Blog
You just have to watch this video of a farmer named Tony Schultz in Wisconsin talking to the crowd about what is happening at his local schools and to his own community because of the governor's tax-cuts-for-corporations, budget-cuts-for-the-people budget: I found it...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 15, 2011 | Blog
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Yesterday on MSNBC, Campaign for America's Future Co-Director Robert Borosage previewed today's "Defend The Dream" rallies, organized by MoveOn.org and a broad coalition of progressive...
by Bill Scher | Mar 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: What "Free" Trade...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 15, 2011 | Blog
The President went to Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Virginia to deliver a speech on education, calling on Congress to fix and reauthorize No Child Left Behind by the fall. The speech was a carefully modulated discussion of education reform that echoed themes...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 14, 2011 | Blog
If you take a job away from someone who is paid a reasonable wage because they enjoy the protections and prosperity of democratic government, move it across a border, and give it to someone living under a thugocracy, forced to work for pennies with no protections...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 14, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
After a big buildup, the hacker group Anonymous released its first batch of whistleblower emails regarding Bank of America. The result was ... confusion. Maybe they're real, maybe not. (We assume they are.) Maybe they're a letdown. Maybe not. Here's what we know and...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 14, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
People in Wisconsin are pulling their money out of Marshall & Ilsley (M&I) Bank because they know it's been helping their Governor's crusade against public employees and the middle class. They might also like to know that M&I's executives ran one of the most...
by Bill Scher | Mar 14, 2011 | Blog
Last Thursday, I learned that Sen. Rand Paul hasn't had a functioning toilet in his home for 20 years. He seems to believe the federal government is not allowing him to own a functioning toilet. I found this strange, because I own a functioning toilet. And like the...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 14, 2011 | Blog
If you think conservatism's war on America's working- and middle-classes is only happening in Wisconsin and a few other states, you're wrong. If you think that it's only a war against public employees, you're more wrong than you know. Dan Rather recently filed a story...
by Bill Scher | Mar 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: You Have To See...
by Sam Pizzigati | Mar 13, 2011 | Blog
Has Jim DeMint, the right-wing senator leading the assault on federal domestic spending, finally gone too far? His corporate executive benefactors may soon come to think so. Even hypocrites can sometimes have a point. Take Jim DeMint, for instance, the U.S. senator...
by Richard Eskow | Mar 11, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
Today we saw state troopers in Madison tearing peaceful protesters out of their own capitol after the Senate voted to deprive them of their rights. Video footage of that event should come with a label: Brought to you by the State of Wisconsin, a wholly owned...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 11, 2011 | Blog
Van Jones gave an inspirational closing talk at yesterday's the Summit On Jobs & America's Future in Washington D.C. Beginning by talking about the Tea Party movement and how that movement really points a path for progressives to feel encouraged instead of...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 11, 2011 | Blog
I was as the Summit on Jobs & America's Future yesterday, so I didn't get to hear Keith Ellison's testimony at Rep. Peter King's hearing on "Islamic radicalization." Instead, I heard Ellison speak eloquently at the summit about the the "jobs and...
by Bill Scher | Mar 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: The Deluded Budget...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 11, 2011 | Blog
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his crew of country club conservatives this week brutalized the nation’s democratic traditions to secure legislation demanded by big corporations and billionaire conservative financiers like the Koch brothers – legislation stripping...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 11, 2011 | Blog, Economy
The following was originally published in Politico ‘America is broke.” “Government’s on a spending spree.” “Real deficit reduction requires taking on entitlements.” The delusions and distortions are so widespread the truth...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 10, 2011 | Blog, Economy
VIDEO Rep. Keith Ellison discusses his plan for a "jobs and economic justice tour" in cities nationwide. The Progressive Caucus is launching a "jobs and economic justice" tour around the country, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., announced at the Summit on Jobs and...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 10, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles, talked today at the Summit On Jobs & America's Future in Washington D.C. Villaraigosa described the bipartisan America Fast Forward initiative from the National Conference of Mayors. The America Fast Forward initiative is...
by Dave Johnson | Mar 10, 2011 | Blog, Economy
• "I can’t remember when we decided to downsize our middle class. When was it we decided to downgrade our living standards? I don’t remember that!" • " 'Jobs jobs jobs,' doesn’t mean people should need 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet." • "Our economy...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 10, 2011 | Blog
"It's the economy, moron!" That was pollster Celinda Lake's succinct take, at the Summit on Jobs & America's Future, this morning. Lake was there in 1992 when James Carville summed up the Clinton campaign's winning message in 1992, "It's the economy, stupid." In 1992,...
