by Richard Eskow | Feb 4, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke held a press conference today, and my friend Pete is holding a Super Bowl party this Sunday. This is the second year in a row that the Big Game will feature two pre-expansion teams, franchises with names that would've been...
by Bill Scher | Feb 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: Unemployment Isn't...
by Robert Borosage | Feb 4, 2011 | Blog
Clear and compelling: The Big Bank Catastrophe. Worth Reading And a brutal critique by Tom Adams and Yves Smith: The fraud was even worse than the Commission suggests. My own sense: There was massive and widespread fraud at all levels as the frenzy of the casino grew....
by Richard Eskow | Feb 3, 2011 | Blog
Here's a clip of our appearance on the Russia Today network to discuss the economies of Egypt and the United States. It felt very important, while pointing out the possibly surprising similarities, to also point out their greater hardships and dangers -...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 3, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Earlier in Jobs Crisis In Real World ... Just Not In DC I wrote about the gap between DC/Wall Street thinking about the jobs crisis and reality in the rest of the country. Summary: Our government is not addressing out problems because it is captured by interests: Out...
by Bill Scher | Feb 3, 2011 | Blog
In case you weren't sure if the President was serious about investing in clean energy, yesterday, President Obama took time out of dealing with the crisis in Egypt to privately meet with the head of the Senate energy committee about drafting legislation to set a...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 3, 2011 | Blog, Economy
Who is our economy for? Who is our government for? For 30 years we have been undergoing a transition from "We, the People" democratic government to a plutocracy run by and for the wealthy. One indicator of this transition is the way the DC Elite respond to...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 3, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
Much as I loathe the woman, I'm hearing stuff that almost makes me consider donning a "Palin in 2012" button. Not because I want to see her elected (*shudder*). And not out of morbid curiosity But because of what her candidacy could do to the election — and...
by Bill Scher | Feb 3, 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 Crisis In...
by Bill Scher | Feb 2, 2011 | Blog
After President Obama declined to embrace any specific recommendation from the Simpson-Bowles proposal that originated in his deficit commission, you might have thought that the plan would be buried for good, But key senators won't let it die the death the public...
by Mary Bottari | Feb 2, 2011 | Blog
Rumor has it that the 50 state attorney general investigation into the Fraudclosure scandal is wrapping up. It's time for a backbone check. Will the state attorneys general just ask the big banks and service providers to turn over a chunk of change from seemingly...
by Bill Scher | Feb 2, 2011 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. MORNING MESSAGE: Exporting Our...
by Robert Borosage | Feb 2, 2011 | Blog
Steve Forbes, former presidential candidate, and editor in chief of Forbes Magazine argues from this "Greece/Ireland-like crisis battering local U.S. governments" that "a lot of good may come." He lists the opportunities that misery creates for conservatives. It's an...
by Robert Borosage | Feb 2, 2011 | Blog
"A third group of companies simply seems to have become expert at avoiding taxes. When the three accounting professors analyzed more than 2,000 companies, they found big variations in tax rates within almost every subset of companies. Companies in the same industry...
by Richard Eskow | Feb 2, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
The collapse of Afghanistan's largest bank will seem familiar to Americans, and so will the upcoming reports of its bailout. We've heard the story before: Unheeded warnings. Lax (or nonexistent) law enforcement. An American auditor who said nothing as the books...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 1, 2011 | Blog
Here is a letter in a recent "Mr. Roadshow" column in the San Jose Mercury News. The letter illustrates the problems in plutocratic/libertarian thinking vs democracy. (Note: Caltrain is the commuter-rail line serving towns between San Francisco and San Jose.) Your...
by Bill Scher | Feb 1, 2011 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Conservative lawmakers in South Dakota think they've found a brilliant way to provide that the provision in the health reform law requiring most everyone to obtain insurance is unconstitutional. The Argus-Leader reports: Five South Dakota lawmakers have introduced...
by Robert Borosage | Feb 1, 2011 | Blog, Reagan Revolution, Rick Perlstein
The celebration of Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday doesn't come until early March, but the devotions have been going on for years. For conservatives, Reagan is the lodestar, the genial demigod to whom all must avow fealty. In a Time cover story, Michael Scherer and...
by Dave Johnson | Feb 1, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
I want to bring attention to a post today,Balance Trade—Make Jobs, by Bill Parks. In the post Parks writes about the harm being caused by our trade imbalances: The U.S. trade deficit—like an infected appendix—not only won’t get better on its own, it will get worse....
by | Feb 1, 2011 | Blog
Greg Sargent highlights a post by Brendan Nyhan about the myth that Reagan turned the American people against government and adds: The key takeaway here is that public attitudes towards government are not fixed in stone, and if there's one thing that can get folks to...
by Robert Borosage | Feb 1, 2011 | Blog
Republicans have obstructed the confirmation of unprecedented numbers of Obama judicial nominees. Vacancies have grown so bad that even Justice Roberts, the partisan Chief Justice, urged the Senate to act, since the undermanned courts were getting overwhelmed. But the...
by Bill Scher | Feb 1, 2011 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. MORNING MESSAGE: Jobs, No. Narrow...
by Terrance Heath | Feb 1, 2011 | Blog, Economy
While the rest of us as asking "Where are the damn jobs?", Republicans are apparently focused on everything else but jobs. Republicans won dozens of elections last fall after claiming Democrats had focused too little on creating jobs. Now GOP lawmakers stand...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 31, 2011 | Blog
Those pesky founding fathers. You'd think guys who so long ago shuffled off that old mortal coil would find it harder to surprise us. With them safely dead for so long, you'd think we could easily appropriate and their past and politics in support of our own, without...
by Bill Scher | Jan 31, 2011 | Blog
Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a joint statement with the AFL-CIO supporting President Obama's call for increased public investment in infrastructure, which read: Whether it is building roads, bridges, high-speed broadband, energy systems and...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 31, 2011 | Blog, Economy
A tourist who was interviewed last night from Cairo spoke for millions of his fellow Americans when he said he couldn't imagine living a country like Egypt. It is hard, isn't it? Imagine: A government run by and for the rich and powerful. Leaders who lecture others...
by Bill Scher | Jan 31, 2011 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. MORNING MESSAGE: The Chamber Wants...
by Leo Gerard | Jan 31, 2011 | Blog
Not the wars. Not greenhouse gasses. Not even the deficit. The issue most important to Americans is jobs. Despite that, jobs failed to make an appearance in the State of the Union address. The talk was all about business. Business was doing better. Business needed...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 30, 2011 | Blog
Republicans are caught between what their ideology calls for -- getting rid of Social Security, Medicare and much of the rest of government -- and what the public will accept. The American people hate what they propose so they use tricks and schemes to get what they...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jan 30, 2011 | Blog, Reagan Revolution
With the centennial of our 40th President's birth fast approaching, how about a shout-out for the soak-the-rich tax rates that he so despised — and more civic-minded Hollywood stars so enthusiastically embraced. Did Ronald Reagan change history? Well, we all change...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jan 28, 2011 | Blog
The latest figures on Wall Street compensation reveal a recovery that starts — and stops — at America's economic summit. Back in the Great Depression, even at the height of America’s misery, some people made quite a bit of money. Chase National Bank...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 28, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
It's on. The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission released its report today, and it's already under attack by the Four Horsemen of the Economic Apocalypse: the Ideologue, the Lobbyist, the Think-Tanker, and the Politician. We've already seen the Maestro transformed...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 28, 2011 | Blog
... in English, of course:
by Richard Eskow | Jan 28, 2011 | Blog
LISTEN I spent a few minutes speaking with Gil Gross on KGO Radio in San Francisco during the run-up to yesterday's State of the Union. We talked about the additional financial reforms we still need and the unfair economic privileges the big banks still enjoy. And I...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 28, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's report couldn't come at a better time. At a moment when it seems that Washington would rather forget what happened two years ago, it documents the opportunism, bad judgment, and criminality that crashed the world's economy...
by Bill Scher | Jan 28, 2011 | Uncategorized
Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security. MORNING MESSAGE: The Wall St....
by Josh Rosenblum | Jan 27, 2011 | Blog, Minimum Wage
The Social Security Caucus, who could also be known as the “True Grit” Caucus began meeting today in the U.S. Senate as a new sense of urgency grew on the same day as the Tea Party Caucus met. The five Tea Party Senators expressed a willingness to privatize the...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 27, 2011 | Blog
See Update at end. Should we cut Social Security to "save" it from cuts? Just two days after the President pledged during the State of the Union address to improve Social Security "without putting at risk current retirees" and "without slashing benefits for future...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 27, 2011 | Blog
Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus convene today in their first-ever strategy retreat. The meeting will be opened by newly selected co-chairs Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota. With 83 members, the CPC is the largest caucus...
by Mary Bottari | Jan 27, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
In a response to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission releasing its final report on the financial crisis today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pitched a hissy fit calling the report an "abuse of the process" that would create "job-killing lawsuits." (So much for the...
