by Zach Carter | Sep 21, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
Over at bloggingheads, my CAF colleague Bill Scher discusses the new international banking standards with Conn Carroll, a conservative blogger for The Heritage Foundation. Carroll actually agrees with a lot of what I have to say about Basel III, but I he draws...
by Bill Scher | Sep 21, 2010 | 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. Deficit Commissioner Says Don't Cut...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 20, 2010 | Blog, Minimum Wage
What do you say to a person with a story like the one of suburban Seattle resident Patricia Reid, the unemployed 57-year-old profiled in The New York Times on Monday? ...[F]our years after losing her job she cannot, in her darkest moments, escape a nagging thought:...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 20, 2010 | Blog
President Obama, speaking to a CNBC town hall on the economy today, China 's currency is valued lower than market conditions would say it should be. That means they can sell stuff cheaper here, and our stuff, when we try to sell there, is more expensive. So it gives...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 20, 2010 | Blog
According to a flurry of headlines today, a panel of economists just announced that "the recession's over." Is that true? Yes. Does that mean we're no longer in a crisis, or that steps to fix the economy aren't as urgently needed as they were before? Absolutely not....
by Alan Jenkins | Sep 20, 2010 | Blog
Two new government reports illustrate the complex and troubling state of opportunity in America, but also the right way forward. The first set of data, by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, found that the gender pay gap is at a historic low, with women earning almost 83¢...
by Bill Scher | Sep 20, 2010 | Blog
Earlier today at presidential town hall hosted by CNBC, President Barack Obama called on Tea Party leader to offer more than anger: The challenge I think for the Tea Party movement is to identify specifically what you would do. It's not enough just to say, "get...
by Bill Scher | Sep 20, 2010 | Uncategorized
Angry Rich Dig In To Protect Their Tax Cut Windfalls Treas. Sec. Geithner makes small biz pitch for letting Bush tax cuts expire on the wealthiest, in USA Today interview: "What everybody agrees on is, we should extend what we call the middle-class tax cuts. But they...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 19, 2010 | Blog
The 21st century has opened with a decade that has seen the vast majority of Americans go backwards economically. Just-released Census stats tell that tale — but not the whole income story. The U.S. Census Bureau last week closed the book on the first decade of...
by | Sep 18, 2010 | Blog
What a difference a week makes. Just last week, the Beijing government and outsourcers thought they could run out the clock and avoid a long overdue legislative reckoning on China's currency manipulation, which serves as a drag on global growth, a siphon for American...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 17, 2010 | Blog
Elizabeth Warren's first phone call after being named to her new White House position was to a group of progressive bloggers. Is that significant? Maybe not, but it certainly looks like Warren's appointment, and the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 17, 2010 | Blog
I just got off a "blogger call" with Elizabeth Warren, who President Obama just appointed as a Special Assistant in charge of setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I was able to ask her a question, and asked, "You are about to go up against the most...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 17, 2010 | Blog
Who counts and who doesn't count? We hear so much about the "middle class" but rarely about the plight of the poor. And of course we hear again and again that the wealthy are "successful" and the "job-creators" who shouldn't be "punished" by being asked to give...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 17, 2010 | Blog
The New York Times today is publishing yet again news about an important Democratic Party constituency, this time union members, threatening to sit on its hands in the November elections, giving Republicans a clear shot at a takeover of at least one house of Congress....
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 17, 2010 | Blog
The contrast between an aggressive policy of jump-starting growth and putting Americans back to work and the old, failed trickle-down economics formula was on sharp display Thursday in a mini-debate on CNBC Thursday between Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect and...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 17, 2010 | Blog
Here is a tax trick you hear all the time: we shouldn't tax corporations because they just "pass the taxes along to consumers." Go to any of the usual anti-tax, anti-government sites and you'll see them trying to trick people with this. First of all, if companies...
by Bill Scher | Sep 17, 2010 | Blog
As the President and congressional leaders propose letting the Bush tax cuts expire for those earning more than $250,000 a year, conservatives in Congress are screaming "class warfare!" Of course, if establishing different tax rates for people with different incomes...
by Bill Scher | Sep 17, 2010 | Uncategorized
300 Economists Warn: Don't Put Jobs Behind Deficit Reduction 300 economists warn politicians jobs must come before deficit reduction. WSJ: "Today, some 300 economists and 40 civic and labor unions released a statement today making the case for aggressive new spending....
by Richard Eskow | Sep 17, 2010 | Blog
Sometimes our political commentariat seems to go fashion-crazy. When a new trend gets popular it overwhelms everything in its path: logic, poltical divisions, even expert opinion. The latest vogue is deficit reduction, and our nation's Anna Wintours tell us we simply...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 16, 2010 | Blog, Economy
Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus has introduced a bill today that is a frankly unadventurous mix of jobs initiatives and tax incentives, with a healthy dose of loophole-closings to make sure that it can be presented as revenue-neutral. (Don't accuse Baucus...
by Mary Bottari | Sep 16, 2010 | Blog
American taxpayers bailed out the big banks. Now many of those banks are returning the favor by extending credit to payday lenders who sucker consumers into a spiraling debt trap. That is the claim in a new report published this week by National People’s Action (NPA),...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 16, 2010 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
Today the US Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk filed two complaints with the World Trade Organization (WTO). The first alleges that China is keeping American credit and debit card companies out of their electronic payment market. The second is a "dumping" (selling...
by Leo Gerard | Sep 16, 2010 | Blog
China is disrespecting America. The Asian giant is an international trade outlaw, and U.S. manufacturers and workers are its crime victims. China illegally subsidizes its export industries and unlawfully manipulates its currency. That kills U.S. industry and destroys...
by Zach Carter | Sep 16, 2010 | Blog
Reports are conflicting, details are uncertain, the White House isn't talking on-the-record, and after a confusing evening, it's still unclear exactly what is going on with Elizabeth Warren's next job. In one sense, it looks like President Barack Obama is pulling out...
by Zach Carter | Sep 16, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
ABC News is reporting that President Barack Obama will appoint Elizabeth Warren to a "special advisory" position to set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. We don't know the details, but so far, this seems very suspicious. As I wrote yesterday, Obama has...
by Bill Scher | Sep 16, 2010 | Blog
Don't let 30,000 Delaware teabaggers fool you. America has not shifted to the right. The latest New York Times/CBS poll shows that whatever frustrations votes have with the President and Congress, it has not prompted a shift towards anti-government conservatism. The...
by Bill Scher | Sep 16, 2010 | 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. Warren Tapped To Set Up Consumer...
by Bill Scher | Sep 15, 2010 | Blog
The Republican leaders in both houses of Congress are getting clearer what their alternative economic strategy is: Giant tax cuts for multimillionaires minus slashed public services for the middle-class minus letting our infrastructure rot equals even bigger budget...
by Zach Carter | Sep 15, 2010 | Blog
It's been two days, and the new Basel III bank regulations are still lousy. Martin Wolf slams the international banking accord here and Yves Smith agrees here, although Felix Salmon notes some improvements over the current banking regime here and Tim Fernholz offers a...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 15, 2010 | Blog
Update - please see RJ Eskow's post, As The Aging Stoop To Their Labors, Prosperous Pundits Lecture Them About Sacrifice Washington is talking about cutting Social Security for working people at the very same time it is talking about extending tax breaks for the...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 15, 2010 | Blog
Another billionaire has bit the dust here in 2010, and another grand fortune, thanks to this year's absence of an estate tax, is passing on tax-free to extremely fortunate heirs. But a new resource may help overcome the lies and half-truths that have the estate tax...
by | Sep 15, 2010 | Blog, Making it in America
Congress may be poised to pass legislation to penalize China unless its government plays by agreed-upon rules of international trade and stops manipulating its exchange rate. This currency manipulation, which makes U.S. exports more expensive as they head to China and...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 15, 2010 | Blog, China Currency Showdown
Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) our country's balance of trade has gotten worse and worse and we have lost jobs and jobs (and money and money). Between 2001 and 2008 we lost 2.4 million jobs just to China. Normally a situation like this balances...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 15, 2010 | Blog
The aging American workforce has been vilified a lot lately, in much the same way the poor were in previous decades. Politicians who once might have spread myths about "welfare queens" are now describing retired people as "greedy geezers." Not to be outdone, well-paid...
by Bill Scher | Sep 15, 2010 | 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. What Drove Delaware Conservatives...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 14, 2010 | Blog
A report in today's New York Times describes a policy analyst as believing that Social Security needs to change because people are"living longer." This is a misconception that gets repeated over and over, one which a lot of otherwise well-informed people are convinced...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 14, 2010 | Blog
The President has a commission looking at ways to reduce the budget deficits which were caused by tax cuts for the rich and military spending increases. Social Security – which has no legal authority to borrow money, so it can't contribute to deficits – is on the...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 14, 2010 | Blog
Lots of kids believe in Santa Claus. This is because people repeat the fable to kids over and over, telling them that Santa Claus will deliver presents to them if they're good. And then there's the Boogeyman, the "amorphous embodiment of terror." In some regions...
by Zach Carter | Sep 14, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is grasping at straws to block Elizabeth Warren's nomination as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He's making a fool of himself, and hurting his party's political prospects for November. Dodd's latest foray into bank lobby...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 14, 2010 | Blog
For all the noise they make extolling small town America and Main Street as the epitome of American values and the touchstone of morality, conservatism's world view is much closer to that voiced by Phil Gramm, who once called Wall Street a "holy place" — because of...
