by Dave Johnson | Jan 27, 2011 | Blog
Last night, the President pledged to improve Social Security "without putting at risk current retirees" and "without slashing benefits for future generations." With the State of the Union speech out of the way Progressives can claim some credit and breathe a little...
by Bill Scher | Jan 27, 2011 | Uncategorized
MORNING MESSAGE: Crisis Report Puts Focus Back On Wall St. OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "Today's Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's report couldn't come at a better time ... when the nation's capital is convinced that CEOs need appeasing rather than policing, the...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 26, 2011 | Blog
To hear some progressive bloggers tell it, Paul Ryan's response to President Obama's State of the Union address was an utter failure, and the GOP blundered in picking him to carry its message. But the true measure of a speech's success is how well the speaker reaches...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 26, 2011 | Blog, Economy
The retiring Kent Conrad, Democratic Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, released his own statement on the State of the Union (see below in full). He praises the president for calling for civility and bipartisan action on deficits. Missing in action is any mention...
by | Jan 26, 2011 | Blog
Here's an interesting interpretation of Winning the Future: After two years of federal spending to boost the economy, the ground has shifted decisively in Washington: On Tuesday night, the most pressing question was not whether to spend more to create jobs but whether...
by Alan Jenkins | Jan 26, 2011 | Blog
I received a notice from my employer earlier this month, announcing changes to our health care plan. Under the topic “Health Care Reform Mandates Changes,” the first four items read: o Pre-existing condition limitations are not imposed for children up to the age of...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 26, 2011 | Blog, Economy
No surprise that President Obama knows how to deliver a speech. His State of the Union speech will add to his reviving poll numbers. He set up what should be a centerpiece of Washington's debate over the next months: invest and grow vs. the Republican "cut and...
by Bill Scher | Jan 26, 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: Invest & Grow Vs....
by Dave Johnson | Jan 25, 2011 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
Tonight, when President Obama gives his State of the Union address, he will be facing a nation that has millions of infrastructure jobs that need doing and millions of people out of work. The President is planning to address these two problems with a proposal to...
by Bill Scher | Jan 25, 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: 10 Benchmarks For...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 25, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
Tonight the President gives his State of the Union address, followed by the Republican response from Rep. Paul Ryan. There'll be a lot of talk about the economy: jobs, taxes, deficits, and the state of American business. If you find that your mind's getting lost in...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 24, 2011 | Blog
Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post just wrote an article entitled "Obama won't endorse raising retirement age or reducing Social Security benefits," where she reports that the State of the Union speech will not include any suggestions for cutting retirement...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 24, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
Two years into his first term, President Obama can claim credit for two passing historic reforms — health care reform and financial reform. However, both were merely a beginning — a first step toward real reform — and fell far short of addressing effectively the...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 24, 2011 | Blog
We all want to see the Senate start working again, and be more democratic. We have all lived through the breakdown of the Senate and the damage this has done to our democracy and the public's faith in government because of the abuse of the current rules. There is a...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 24, 2011 | Blog
Schemes and scams unravel, usually badly. China has been manipulating its currency, causing economic imbalances on a scale the world has rarely if ever before seen. The consequences are causing inflation problems inside China. One way or another this is going to...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 24, 2011 | Blog
A national industrial/economic policy is a plan by a government to promote the growth of key strategic industries or sectors in a country. Examples: China has been developing their manufacturing sector and is now the largest exporter. India spent decades building up...
by Bill Scher | Jan 24, 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: Social Security...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 23, 2011 | Blog
Whatever the President says about Social Security in his State of the Union speech, the push to cut it will continue. A great deal of time, effort, and money has been expended to make sure that it does, and to promote a very limited set of policies for reducing...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 21, 2011 | Blog
Here's something else for the President to consider while he's drafting the Social Security portion of his State of the Union message: Yet another poll demonstrates the public's strong support for Social Security, and its strong opposition to benefit cuts. But this...
by Bill Scher | Jan 21, 2011 | Blog
At a time when the American public is primarily anxious about the current state of the economy, and after the last Congress proved that the politics around climate policy are miserably and treacherously complicated, it wouldn't appear to make much sense for the...
by Bill Scher | Jan 21, 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: Obama Less Trusted...
by | Jan 21, 2011 | Blog
We're working with some of the best state-level bloggers from around the country to help us tell the truth about key economic and social policy issues, and to draw the contrast between the rhetoric of the right and the progressive alternative. Please visit our CAF...
by | Jan 21, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
There is no swifter way to alienate working class voters than to name an outsourcing CEO to lead your jobs strategy. Yet that’s exactly what President Obama is doing. General Electric CEO Jeffery Immelt has fooled the media and the White House into believing that he...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 20, 2011 | Blog
Social Security Works has assembled a set of slides that illustrate the Democratic Party's striking decline in voter opinion on the issue of Social Security. They're all worth seeing, but one of them especially demands attention: When asked whether they trust the...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 20, 2011 | Blog
In a column today, Hubris heading for a fall, George Will lays out his problem with America's system of decision-making by We, the People. The idea that America's problem of governance is one of inadequate resources misses this lesson of the last half-century: No...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 20, 2011 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Will the president's State of the Union address next Tuesday be another transcendent Obama moment? As we've witnessed repeatedly, from the moment he burst on the national scene at the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston to last week in Tucson, President Obama can...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 20, 2011 | Blog, Economy
In the much-buzzed-about Sunday New York Times Magazine article by Peter Baker on President Obama's search for an "exciting" jobs plan that could be offered in his State of the Union address next week, a White House adviser describes Obama as "really frustrated that...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 20, 2011 | Blog
The White House Looks for Work is an online preview of a coming story by Peter Baker in the NY Times Magazine, looking behind the scenes in the White House as they tried to move "from crisis to anemic recovery." Baker reports on a late-December meeting to prepare for...
by Leo Gerard | Jan 20, 2011 | Blog, Making it in America
America plays the role of abused partner in its relationship with China. Although the Asian giant repeatedly injures U.S. industry by violating international trade rules, America has responded, almost exclusively, by pleading and begging for China to stop. China says...
by Bill Scher | Jan 20, 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. Establishment Waking Up On China....
by Richard Eskow | Jan 20, 2011 | Blog, Financial Reform
People are debating the need for a "systemic fix"to address the foreclosure crisis. What we really need is a systemic redesign, from the ground up. Fortunately, the design was laid down centuries ago - by 800 years of law, and by the idea that free people are entitled...
by Greg Colvin | Jan 20, 2011 | Blog
Introducing the Citizens Election Amendment…. Version 1.0 Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Citizens United case exactly one year ago tomorrow, saying that the Constitution gives corporations the freedom to spend without limit to influence American elections,...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 19, 2011 | Blog
As Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington one subject being discussed is China's currency manipulation. China keeps its currency "weak" because it mean goods made in China have a huge price advantage in world markets. This is part of a larger national strategy...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 19, 2011 | Blog
In a signal of change in elite attitudes, Steven Pearlstein wrote a Washington Post op-ed, Chinese follow same old script (and they get the punch line), describing the cost-to-us of the business-as-usual game we have been playing with China. Pearlstein has seen the...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 19, 2011 | Blog
The latest Democracy Corps/Campaign For America's Future poll on jobs and the economy has a clear message for the President and his party: Stand up for jobs, and protect Social Security and Medicare. The results couldn't be clearer. Yet it's still rumored that the...
by | Jan 19, 2011 | Blog, Economy
The debate about America’s future “begins and ends concretely with the question of jobs,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said this morning In a speech at the National Press Club in Washington outlining a working families’ vision for the nation. Trumka urged...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 19, 2011 | Blog
A couple of weeks ago it looked like Senate Democrats were "fired up and ready to go" on reforming the filibuster system. All of the returning Senate Dems signed a letter calling on Harry Reid to push for change, and that unanimous opinion looked like the foundation...
by Bill Scher | Jan 19, 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: New Civil Tone,...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 19, 2011 | Blog
During the presidential campaign, Republicans enjoyed poking fun at Obama's "Yes, We Can," campaign slogan. Most often they simply restated it as "No, You Can't." However, the GOP majority in the House is setting out to exemplify its own slogan: "No, We Can't." The...
by Bill Scher | Jan 19, 2011 | Blog
Yesterday the House Republicans began the floor debate over its bill to repeal the health reform law. And as both McClatchy Newspapers and The Washington Post's Dana Milbank noted, they managed to leave behind much of their past vitriol. There was little talk of...
