by Leo Gerard | Aug 25, 2010 | Blog, Economy
Glenn Beck made it official on Fox News last week: He’s seeking the office of 21st Century Marie Antoinette. The queen of France, beheaded during the revolution, attained infamy for insensitivity toward hungry peasants. Glenn Beck, the Fox talk show host, achieved...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 25, 2010 | Blog
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) gave a speech yesterday describing his party's positions on jobs & the economy going into the fall election. Summary: Our economic policies destroyed the country’s economy and millions of lives, but it made a few of my buddies...
by Bill Scher | Aug 25, 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. Calls For Alan Simpson's...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 24, 2010 | Blog
Alan Simpson is the co-chair of President Obama's Deficit Commission, which is charged with creating a bipartisan consensus for balancing the budget. Lately Simpson's foulmouthed tirades have drawn at least as much attention as the Commission's actual work. His latest...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 24, 2010 | Blog
The President has appointed a commission to study ways to reduce the deficit, but the only thing anyone is hearing from this commission (they meet in secret) is that they are going after Social Security instead. For this reason it has become known as the "Catfood...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 24, 2010 | Blog
Rep. John Boehner, the perpetually tanned House Minority leader, unveiled his plan to get the economy going today in a speech before the Cleveland City Club. Hold on to your job -- if he becomes Speaker, things will get worse. Understandably, Boehner said not a word...
by Bill Scher | Aug 24, 2010 | Blog
House Minority Leader John Boehner pulled a sly move today, calling for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and top presidential economic adviser Larry Summers. It gave the media an easy headline to write, and obscured the rest of the speech. That sad,...
by Bill Scher | Aug 24, 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 Backs Bush Tax Cuts In...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 23, 2010 | Blog
The bloggers who attended briefings from a "senior Treasury Department official" last week have interpreted the concept of "deep background" in several different ways. I attended one of the briefings and initially didn't plan to write about it at all. Others did write...
by Bill Scher | Aug 23, 2010 | Blog
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is repeating lies about the Bush tax cuts for multi-millionaires. Good journalists should stop him. After McConnell defensively dodged questions from Meet The Press host David Gregory on how he could support both deficit...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 23, 2010 | Blog
The things that people "know" are very different from the "reality-based" things those of us reading a blog like this know, and those things seem to always, always serve the corporate right. I have been away on vacation. While away I have been talking to "regular"...
by Bill Scher | Aug 23, 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. Both Parties Struggle To Find...
by Sam Pizzigati | Aug 22, 2010 | Blog, Economy
The takeaway from the latest top gun flame-out at Hewlett-Packard: Chief executive 'success,' in America today, essentially demands no more than greed and a developmentally arrested ego. The tall tales we’ve inherited from ages long gone we call myths. The tall...
by Zach Carter | Aug 20, 2010 | Blog
Do today's economic conservatives actually want to live in a functional society, or are they striving for an economy that runs on Monopoly Money? NPR's Planet Money recently did a fun segment on the classic board game and its relationship to actual economics,...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 20, 2010 | Blog
Progressive bloggers were ready to have a "stroke" after Mike Allen from Politico reported that the Administration wants to take action on Social Security - action that's likely to include cuts. Many were relieved when Tim Fernholz of the American Prospect, who...
by Bill Scher | Aug 20, 2010 | Blog, Economy
Yesterday, I flagged the 12 Democratic Senators who, in addition to all 41 Republican Senators, have prevented Congress from using Econ 101 deficit spending to create jobs and spark a robust recovery. I'm sure some of these Senators are sincere and some are cynical....
by Bill Scher | Aug 20, 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. New Jobless Numbers Sound Alarm....
by Bill Scher | Aug 19, 2010 | Blog
As we try to digest another bitter morsel of economic news -- higher numbers of unemployment insurance applications suggesting a return to job cutting -- the White House appears handcuffed from doing anything about it. And I can give you 53 reasons why. Reuters' Felix...
by Bill Scher | Aug 19, 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. Conservatives Start Rolling Out...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 18, 2010 | Blog
I'd started thinking that I was too hard on our power company last week, when I agreed with Gov. O'Malley that their service was less reliable than power in some Third World countries. I was starting to think maybe that was a bit hyperbolic. That is until I read the...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 18, 2010 | Blog
The Republican Party's attempt to privatize Social Security under George W. Bush was wildly unpopular. At least one Republican Congressional candidate is openly calling for Social Security cuts, and Rep. Paul Ryan's widely-publicized "Roadmap for the Future" includes...
by Bill Scher | Aug 18, 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. Economy Comes Back Into Focus...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 17, 2010 | Blog
To be more specific, what's Rand Paul smoking these days? His musings that America was a better, freer place when African Americans had no civil rights protection, and no one was looking out for the safety of American workers (at least no one who didn't have one eye...
by Zach Carter | Aug 17, 2010 | Blog
Finally, some good news on Wall Street accountability. A federal judge is holding up the SEC's effort to let Citigroup's top executives off the hook for misleading their own shareholders about $40 billion in subprime debt. If Citi executives did what the SEC says they...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 17, 2010 | Blog
Last week, I wrote this: The fundamental differences between the left and the right — between conservatives and progressives — comes down to how we answer three simple questions: "Can we?," "Should we?" and "What do we mean, 'We'?"...
by Bill Scher | Aug 17, 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. McConnell: Obstruct More After Sen....
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 16, 2010 | Blog
As you encounter congressional candidates who are out vote-hunting this week, as them a simple question: Will you pledge to oppose any cuts to Social Security benefits, including increasing the retirement age, and any effort to privatize Social Security? It's a simple...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 16, 2010 | Blog
Billionaire Steve Schwarzman compares Obama's call for taxing private equity income as income, just like everyone else, a "war, like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/16/steven-schwarzman-obama-a_n_683178.html Currently...
by Bill Scher | Aug 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. Social Security Still Secure At 75...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 13, 2010 | Blog
It sounds like the plot to a dozen movies: Picture a corporation so powerful that its tentacles circle the globe and reach into the highest corridors of power. Yet a single sentence on an ex-employee's obscure website forces it to move into action. That sentence is so...
by Trevor Davis | Aug 13, 2010 | Blog
by Terrance Heath | Aug 13, 2010 | Blog
"Haven't we already given money to rich people ... Shouldn't we be giving money to the middle?" -- President George W. Bush in November 2002, acknowledging to advisors that he knew his tax cuts were giveaways to the super-wealthy. (Source.) If you were among the...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 13, 2010 | Blog
China has a national economic/industrial policy and we don't. They create the conditions for key industries to thrive and we don't. They make sure all of the infrastructure, finance, supply chain, educational, legal, technical and policy elements are in place for an...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 13, 2010 | Blog
Tomorrow is the 75th birthday of Social Security. It is the most successful government program, demonstrating that government of the people, by the people and for the people works. For this reason a new poll shows that politicians will face major voter backlash if...
by Bill Scher | Aug 13, 2010 | Blog
On Wednesday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) received his second puff profile piece from a major national newspaper this month, this time from the New York Times' Matt Bai who surmised that the conservative congressman is tailor-made for "serious negotiation" with the...
by Bill Scher | Aug 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. Voters: Don't Cut Retirement...
by Zach Carter | Aug 12, 2010 | Blog
A landmark court ruling on Wells Fargo's outrageous overdraft scam has the potential to return hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen funds to consumers all over the country. But like many of the banking scandals from the past decade, there's more to the story than...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 12, 2010 | Blog
Here are two numbers that should warm the heart of anyone who wants to end sectarian bickering and build a bipartisan consensus for change: 68% of likely voters polled believe that we should not cut Social Security and Medicare to reduce the deficit. 60% of...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 12, 2010 | Blog
The DC-elite think that "the responsible thing to do" is to cut Social Security benefits. The public who they are supposed to represent overwhelmingly thinks that Social Security is one of the few remaining lifelines and must not be cut. The public strongly favors...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 12, 2010 | Blog
After all the noise and fluff about China letting its currency float, and the Obama administration deciding not to declare China a currency manipulator, is turning out to be just noise and fluff. And our trade deficit just grows, outsourcing our jobs and our economic...
