by Robert Borosage | Aug 12, 2010 | Blog
"I still believe that this will be largely a referendum on the administration's policies," said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, explaining why the primary successes of wingnut tea-party conservatives may not hurt...
by Bill Scher | Aug 12, 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 sec Major Social Security Poll To Be Released...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 11, 2010 | Blog
There's a great deal of alarmist talk these days about the fact that Social Security won't be adding to its surplus this year. Instead it will call in some interest payments (and possibly other monies, too) on the money Uncle Sam borrowed from its fund. (When a rich...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 11, 2010 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America, Minimum Wage
In the news today, a familiar story: imports increased, exports declined. About $50 billion in one month alone. The trade gap isn't just costing jobs, it's a significant factor in the slow recovery as well. See below. In 2005, when we were halfway down to where we...
by Zach Carter | Aug 11, 2010 | Blog
Robert Rubin and Joseph Stiglitz are going public on jobs and the deficit, in what looks very much like a re-run of a major policy debate during the Clinton era. The dispute is simple—should the government focus on putting people back to work, or should it try to cut...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 11, 2010 | Blog
Part I of III When caught at something, it's best to come clean. I was recently caught by the Crow, who — in a response to my earlier post about power outages and our politics of powerlessness — saw and asked outright the obvious question I've been hinting...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 11, 2010 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
The following was originally published by Politico. These days, Republicans can’t suppress the gloat. The “Party of No,” leading in most polls, is said to be on the verge of taking the House and possibly the Senate in November. The irrepressible Rep. Paul Ryan...
by Bill Scher | Aug 11, 2010 | Blog
Dave Johnson asks the question: "Is It A Social Security OR A Deficit Commission?" And he answers: "Social. Security. Does. Not. Contribute. To. The. Deficit." One person that would appear to agree is the White House's deficit commission executive director Bruce Reed....
by Bill Scher | Aug 11, 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. State Aid Signed Into Law After...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 10, 2010 | Blog
Ever since President Obama set up the Deficit Commission all the talk has been about Social Security? Why? Social Security is separate from the rest of the US budget, is separately funded, has a huge trust fund and, most important: Social. Security. Does. Not....
by Richard Eskow | Aug 10, 2010 | Blog
Allan Sloan, Senior Editor at Fortune and a frequent Washington Post contributor, is usually a smart and fair guy with a knack for seeing through the usual DC economic spin. That's why it's particularly disappointing to see him get it wrong on Social Security trust...
by Sara Robinson | Aug 10, 2010 | Blog, Reagan Revolution
Dave Johnson's post on the broken contract that's allowed private interests to siphon off our public wealth for the past 30 years is incredibly important. His basic argument is this: We, the People built our democracy and the empowerment and protections it bestows. We...
by Bill Scher | Aug 10, 2010 | Blog, Economy
The House this afternoon moved legislation to the President's desk providing aid to fiscally distressed states that would save an estimated 319,000 jobs, including public school teachers, firefighters, police officers and private
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 10, 2010 | Blog, Making it in America
The Commerce Department on Wednesday is expected to release new international trade figures that will underscore how critical it is that Congress and the White House move forward with an aggressive "Make It In America" program combined with a rejection of the...
by Leo Gerard | Aug 10, 2010 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
Red, as in furiously red, defined the day last fall when a consortium of companies announced it wanted $450 million in U.S. stimulus money to build a wind farm in Texas, creating 2,000 jobs in China and 300 in America. Now, nine months later, things have cooled down...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 10, 2010 | Blog
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs went off the other day on the "professional left," which is never satisfied. The White House apparently is miffed at the criticism they get from the left. It's summer. It's hot. The president's poll numbers stink. The...
by Bill Scher | Aug 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. State Aid Vote Today, As GOP...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 10, 2010 | Blog
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 9, 2010 | Blog
As the right continues to flail for new ways to justify its assault on progressive taxation, Robert Samuelson has come up with a doozy: If we raise taxes to reduce the deficit, "more Americans may choose not to have children or to have fewer children." Imagine the TV...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 9, 2010 | Blog
Conservative economics has often felt like religious dogma, with its elevation of "a rising tide lifts all boats" to unintended extremes and its unfounded belief that lower tax rates create higher government revenue. But, at least as far as that second article of...
by Bill Scher | Aug 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. State Aid Will Pass This Week, But...
by Terrance Heath | Aug 8, 2010 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
"Stuff happens." - Donald Rumsfeld on the looting of Iraq following the U.S. invasion. Forget about "the Aughts." Never mind "the Naughts." The decade just passed — and which promises to leave a lingering, bitter aftertaste — deserves a better, more descriptive name....
by Richard Eskow | Aug 7, 2010 | Blog
They're too old to rock and roll, too young to ... ruin Social Security. Despite the scaremongers' attempts to incite generational war, people born between 1946 and 1964 are not going to destroy the Social Security system. The Baby Boom cohort isn't going to be a...
by Zach Carter | Aug 7, 2010 | Blog
Of all the accomplishments Elizabeth Warren has amassed during her lifetime, one of the most impressive is also one of the least well-known to the general public. Warren was a co-founder of Credit Slips, a very technical, influential blog on banking and bankruptcy....
by Bill Scher | Aug 6, 2010 | Blog, Economy
In the Reality-Based Community, the disappointing job reports are evidence we need our government to do more to get the economy on sound footing. In Conservative Fiction Land, the disappointing jobs reports are evidence we need to go back to the policies that gave us...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 6, 2010 | Blog, Economy
The economy is stuck. We need jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Not tax cuts. The government released the July Employment Situation Summary and it isn't great. First, in context, before the stimulus we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. The...
by Eric Lotke | Aug 6, 2010 | Blog
Today’s new unemployment report contains no news, just decimal point changes. It tells us what we already know, that times are bad. The question is whether our great nation can rise to the challenge. Unemployment remains unchanged at 9.5 percent, with 14.6 million...
by Bill Scher | Aug 6, 2010 | Uncategorized
Senate Clears State Aid Jobs Bill, As Weak Jobs Data Continues BREAKING: Weak jobs numbers this AM from Labor Dept. "Total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 131,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent ... Federal government employment...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 5, 2010 | Blog
The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have broad powers to root out and punish financial fraud. The Interagency Financial Fraud Task Force, formed last November, is an Obama-era innovation that enhances the government's ability to track...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 5, 2010 | Blog
teworthy that the right-wing reaction to U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling against California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage is not based on coherent, substantive and scientific arguments about the impact of gay marriage on society. Rather,...
by Bill Scher | Aug 5, 2010 | Blog
Today, the President visited his third American auto plants in recent weeks, highlighting the fact that all three major American automakers are now profitable after government intervention and restructuring of the industry. Also today, the Medicare trustees reported...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 5, 2010 | Blog
Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees today released their report on the Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs. Here is what it says: Social Security Just Fine Until At Least 2037 The summary of the report says, "The financial outlook for...
by Zach Carter | Aug 5, 2010 | Blog
Financial giants have figured out yet another way to profit from fraud. After devastating communities across the country with shady subprime loans, the mortgage industry has launched a new assault on America's neighborhoods. Big banks are now outsourcing their...
by Bill Scher | Aug 5, 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. State Aid, Boost For Jobs, Secures...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 5, 2010 | Blog
Where are the prosecutions of bank officers for defrauding investors or the government? This isn't an academic question or an eruption of pitchfork populism. Personal accountability is vital in board rooms. We know regulation doesn't work very well. Regulators get...
by Tula Connell | Aug 4, 2010 | Blog
AFL-CIO Now blogger Mike Hall lets President Obama tell it like it is. After President Obama finished delivering his speech to the AFL-CIO Executive Council this morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka had this question for the president. We're going into a...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Aug 4, 2010 | Blog
The Social Security trustees are expected to release an annual report on the health of the Social Security system on Thursday, and it's almost certain that the report will be accompanied by a tsunami of stories and commentary about how Social Security is bankrupting...
by Bill Scher | Aug 4, 2010 | Blog
In an article for The Daily Beast, economist James K. Galbraith makes the case against cutting Social Security and for expanding it, leveraging the fiscally sound retirement insurance program to help alleviate the jobs crisis: Cutting Social Security would simply...
by Eric Lotke | Aug 4, 2010 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
Three important things happened in the last few days for manufacturing in America. Two are good. One is really really bad. The House passed good bills promoting American manufacturing, and the Joint Economic Committee released a new report finding that our...
by Dave Johnson | Aug 4, 2010 | Blog, Making it in America
Addressing the AFL-CIO Executive Council today, President Obama signaled support for the new Congressional "Make It In America" initiative, saying, "As long as I'm president, I'm going to keep fighting night and day to make sure that we win those jobs, that those are...
