by Zach Carter | Sep 14, 2010 | Blog
Nobody seriously disputes whether Elizabeth Warren is the best-qualified candidate to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Everybody recognizes the bipartisan political appeal that Warren has with voters, and Democratic strategists know that no action in...
by Bill Scher | Sep 14, 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 To Get Interim Appointment....
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 14, 2010 | Blog, Economy
The House of Representatives, which returns from its summer recess today, and the Senate, which returned Monday, really only has one legislative priority it should be focused on before members return to the campaign trail: Treat the jobs emergency as the emergency...
by Bill Scher | Sep 13, 2010 | Blog
A prediction: the next Senator from Delaware will know that global warming is real and will support a cap on carbon emissions. That description fits the Democratic nominee Chris Coons, who is running unopposed in tomorrow's primary, and GOP Rep. Mike Castle. It does...
by Zach Carter | Sep 13, 2010 | Blog
International bank regulators have finally agreed to a new set of rules to rein in financial excess, and the reviews thus far are cautiously positive. But the new capital requirements announced today by the Basel III accord are not actually as sturdy as they seem. By...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 13, 2010 | Blog
Last November, when the Tea Party Express was just building up a head of steam, it seemed worthwhile to stop for a minute and listen to a country song. Why? For one thing it's a really good song, and it had a great hook. "Here in the real world," it says, away from...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 13, 2010 | Blog, Making it in America
Charlie Brown (us) has again run up to kick the football. Lucy (China) has again pulled the football away at the last minute. The result? The trade gap continues to grow and tis eats away at our jobs and our GDP: "...the worsening trade deficit cut the Q2 GDP growth...
by Bill Scher | Sep 13, 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. Boehner Ready To Deal On Bush Tax...
by Zach Carter | Sep 12, 2010 | Blog
The Washington Post has published a very silly op-ed by Chrystia Freeland accusing President Barack Obama of unfairly "demonizing" Wall Street. Freeland wants to see Obama tone down his rhetoric and play nice with executives in pursuit of a harmonious economic...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 12, 2010 | Blog
The tax dollars we spend on higher ed ought to have one purpose and one purpose alone: to educate students. So why do we let these dollars mint mega millionaires? Most students who attend college today are getting an education. But more and more are not getting the...
by Mary Bottari | Sep 11, 2010 | Blog, Economy
Sometimes job cuts have a way of sneaking up on you -- a few teachers here, a police officer there and another fire department that is not open when you need them. But as every EMT knows, a thousand small cuts can still kill the patient. One group is pushing back...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 10, 2010 | Blog
I appeared on the Stephanie Miller Show yesterday with guest host John Fugelsang to discuss Social Security and the Deficit Commission. He'd seen my piece on the fact that the Commission members who want to cut retirement benefits all have excellent retirement...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2010 | Blog
Pretty much any time the President proposes anything, conservatives cry "Uncertainty!" -- that somehow the mere act of proposing reform causes businesses to be become paralyzed by uncertainty at what will happen next. Of course, the only way to end any uncertainty is...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 10, 2010 | Blog
The rest of the world is realizing that extracting and burning fossil fuels as their main energy source is not a good, safe, sustainable and cost-effective approach, and is starting a transition to alternatives. This transition presents the biggest economic...
by Brian Dockstader | Sep 10, 2010 | Blog
Did you hear the big news? Yesterday on his show, Rush Limbaugh vowed that he would leave the country if health care reform passes! LIMBAUGH: I’ll just tell you this, if this passes and it’s five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented — I am leaving the...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2010 | Blog
The White House has agreed to meet with 350.org climate activist Bill McKibben about his quest to get the White House to bring back the solar panels that President Jimmy Carter installed and President Ronald Reagan ripped off. That's nice and all. But I think McKibben...
by | Sep 10, 2010 | Blog
I know the conservatives want to cut "entitlements" but literally killing off old people seems extreme even for them. But they seem to think that the elderly are being profligate spenders on health care and so they need to "take responsibility" and pay more so they...
by Leo Gerard | Sep 10, 2010 | Blog
Long-suffering victim is hardly the American image. Paul Revere, Mother Jones, John Glenn, Martin Luther King Jr. -- those are American icons. Bold, wry, justice-seeking. So how is it that America finds herself in the position of schoolyard patsy, woe-is-me casualty...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 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. Presidential Presser Caps Week Of...
by Zach Carter | Sep 9, 2010 | Blog
Former Citibank Chairman Robert Rubin knew about mounting subprime mortgage losses at his company, but still allowed executives to mislead to Citibank's shareholders about those losses, according to the SEC. But that same agency wants to let Rubin off the hook for an...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 9, 2010 | Blog, Economy
The Chamber of Commerce is rolling out its “jobs and economy” political initiative today. As Politico reports, the blitz is “designed to drive voters toward '5 Questions to Ask Your Candidates,' to be distributed by mail and online to millions of voters.” Here are the...
by Zach Carter | Sep 9, 2010 | Blog
3:45 Clearly the best FCIC hearing to date. Tough questions all around. Everybody comes out of it looking bad, bankers and regulators alike, as they should. *********************** 3:30 This hearing is full of surprises. Peter Wallison just presented a very productive...
by Zach Carter | Sep 9, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
1:20 All done. Lesson: Break Up The Banks. ****************** 1:00 Most of the discussion surrounding too-big-to-fail at this hearing has dealt with a relatively short period in time: the decision to bailout a firm, and what happened right after that decision. This is...
by Zach Carter | Sep 9, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
Last week, Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke finally acknowledged that his preferred "solution" for ending Too-Big-To-Fail is likely unworkable. When the financial crisis exploded in 2008, top Fed and Treasury officials insisted that they did not have the legal authority...
by Bill Scher | Sep 9, 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. President Elevates Tax Cut Fight...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 8, 2010 | Blog
President Obama traveled to Cleveland to deliver an address on the economy designed to highlight the "differences in governing philosophy" between his view and that of the Republican opposition. (A copy of the text is found here:...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 8, 2010 | Blog, Economy
Speaking in Ohio today President Obama described his new jobs and economic programs. (Full text here.) The two major pieces of Mr. Obama’s package — expanding and making permanent a popular credit for businesses’ research and experimentation expenses, and allowing...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 8, 2010 | Blog, Economy
President Obama unveiled a "Roads, Railways and Runways" infrastructure proposal today in Milwaukee. The proposal is for a six-year, $50 billion plan to create jobs by improving and expanding 150,000 miles of the nation's roads, 4,000 miles of railways and 150 miles...
by Bill Scher | Sep 8, 2010 | Blog
We know the pathetic disaster response to Hurricane Katrina by the Bush administration was rooted in anti-government, pro-privatization conservative ideology. President Bush removed FEMA from the cabinet, repeatedly appointed FEMA chiefs with no disaster management...
by Bill Scher | Sep 8, 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. Republicans Resist Obama Biz Tax...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 7, 2010 | Blog, Economy
I am attending the National Clean Energy Summit 3.0: Investing in American Jobs conference in Last Vegas, hosted by Senator Harry Reid (who is spending the day here hosting this). The Summit is put on by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. This is a quick...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 7, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
Peter Orszag's maiden voyage as a New York Times columnist resonates with twenty years of failed economic policy. It's a grab bag of Robert Rubin's Greatest Hits, remixed by a younger DJ for new audiences. It's all there: The mythologizing of the markets. The...
by Eric Lotke | Sep 7, 2010 | Blog
The August unemployment data are out. The unemployment rate was "about unchanged" at 9.6 percent,” says the BLS press release. Teenagers "showed little change" at 26.3 percent, as did African Americans (16.3 percent) and Hispanics (12.0 percent). You can feel the...
by Bill Scher | Sep 7, 2010 | Blog
Most of the chatter around poll numbers you'll hear over the next several weeks will be about whether either body of Congress changes hands. But some of these poll questions actually ask about what the country wants Congress to do. And it's crystal clear Americans...
by Eric Lotke | Sep 7, 2010 | Blog
The complaints are starting on the new Obama administration. Some are concerned that he filled his administration with former Clinton hands, reflecting the old school (if more competent), not the change we need. “What worries me is there is not one person in the...
by Bill Scher | Sep 7, 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. Obama Proposes $50B Infrastructure...
by Alan Jenkins | Sep 7, 2010 | Blog
Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is known for housing inmates in tent cities in the desert and making them wear pink clothes as humiliation, but also for allegations of racial profiling and abusive treatment of Latinos, inside and outside of his jailhouse....
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 5, 2010 | Blog, Economy
American corporate CEOs, an eye-opening new study documents, have discovered a quick fix that almost guarantees good times for the executive set. They kill jobs. If you started last year on the payroll at Verizon or Alcoa or Boeing or IBM, you may have found yourself...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 4, 2010 | Blog
If you had a company and could make people work for free, keeping all the proceeds just for yourself, you might do that. If you could. What’s stopping you? There are plenty of unemployed people in the country and in the world – more every day thanks to population...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 4, 2010 | Blog, Economy
The stimulus worked but was not enough. Here is the result: This is known as "the scariest jobs chart," from
