by Sam Pizzigati | Jul 6, 2010 | Blog
Just in: new data on our staggering income gap. Just emerging: a better understanding why such gaps make economic calamities inevitable. Years ago, in the mid 20th century, no one in the United States spent much time talking about rising income inequality, for the...
by Bill Scher | Jul 6, 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. Wall St. Throws Hissy Fit Over Bank...
by Richard Eskow | Jul 5, 2010 | Blog
There's a new conventional wisdom forming in Washington, DC this July 4th, one that transcends party lines and the usual classifications of "left" and "right" as they're understood in that city. It's only being recognized now, because it deals with a number of...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 4, 2010 | Blog, Minimum Wage
July 4, 1776, Independence Day celebrates our fight to cast off colonial rule by a wealthy elite who were keeping the benefits of our labors for themselves. We fought this system and we won our independence. In the years since We, the People have built up solid public...
by Bill Scher | Jul 2, 2010 | Blog
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, who is emerging as the point person for any energy bill this year, ended a C-Span interview yesterday with a strikingly candid statement: There is a big gap between what the scientists say we should do to deal with climate change, and what the...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 2, 2010 | Blog, Economy
The real jobs and deficit test is coming when the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire this year. If Congress lets them expire, deficit fears go away and there will be money to create jobs, maintain and modernize infrastructure, make the nation competitive in world...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jul 2, 2010 | Blog
If the members of Congress who are spending time in their states and districts during the July 4 recess only get one message, it must be this one: Fight for the unemployed when you return to Washington. We mean, really fight, with serious votes on bills that match the...
by Bill Scher | Jul 2, 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. House Moves On Jobs, But Clashes...
by Richard Eskow | Jul 2, 2010 | Blog
Democrats won the news cycle yesterday when they slammed John Boehner for calling the economic crisis an "ant." But winning a news cycle isn't the same as winning an election. A new poll shows that the President and his party risk political suicide if they join in the...
by Richard Eskow | Jul 1, 2010 | Blog
Archon Fung recently wrote a piece in the Huffington Post entitled "The Left Should Learn to Trust Americans," which mocked Dean Baker and me for criticizing AmericaSpeaks and the "national town meeting on the deficit." We both felt the presentation was skewed toward...
by Zach Carter | Jul 1, 2010 | Blog
Today, Goldman Sachs sent its second-highest-ranking officer to Washington, D.C. to tell the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission that his company is staffed and managed by complete idiots. In an effort to evade investigation, Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer...
by Leo Gerard | Jul 1, 2010 | Blog, Making it in America
In the film, “Monte Python and the Holy Grail,” King Arthur severs both of the Black Knight’s arms during a sword fight, but the Black Knight attempts to battle on. The king admonishes him: “You’ve got no arms left.” The knight refutes that: “Yes I have.” “Look,” at...
by Zach Carter | Jul 1, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., is defending his decision to vote against the Wall Street reform bill on the grounds that it is simply too weak to prevent future crises, and Tim Fernholz is crying foul. On policy substance, Feingold is undoubtedly correct. From Feingold:...
by Dave Johnson | Jul 1, 2010 | Blog
This was in today's Progressive Breakfast, which of course you all read (sign up here), but I want to break it out for attention: W. Post's Harold Meyerson argues China and Germany are handling recession better because of manufacturing: "Most Americans, I suspect,...
by Bill Scher | Jul 1, 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. House Passes Wall St. Reform, While...
by Robert Borosage | Jun 30, 2010 | Blog
Obama went to town meeting in Racine. Full transcript here: http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?S=12735210 He finally did contrast with conservative ideas that failed. On economy, on jobs, on Wall Street, on energy. Gloves not off, but at least mixing it up....
by Roger Hickey | Jun 30, 2010 | Blog
I support smart economic policies to reduce the structural deficit over time. However, I want to share three major concerns. 1. We are in danger of killing or weakening needed growth in the name of reducing deficits. My organization is a member of the Jobs for America...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 30, 2010 | Blog, Economy, Making it in America
China is cheating again. Yawn... China is subsidizing its paper industry ($33 billion 2002-09) and has tripled their production, and now is the largest producer of paper and paper products. Yawn. This has cost jobs and approximately 400,000 remaining American jobs are...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 30, 2010 | Blog
The President was right to call out John Boehner today for describing our economic catastrophe as "ant" that didn't deserve a "nuclear" response. That "ant," as the President pointed out, "led to the loss of nearly eight million jobs" and "cost people their homes and...
by Bill Scher | Jun 30, 2010 | Blog
Yesterday House leaders formally proposed spending $10 billion to help recession-bruised, fiscally distressed states prevent layoffs of hundreds of thousands of teachers The proposal saves teaching jobs without increasing the budget deficit by cutting other stimulus...
by Bill Scher | Jun 30, 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. Teacher Funding, Jobless Aid Remain...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 29, 2010 | Blog, Economy
It appears that the Senate, which shamed itself last week by refusing to take action on a jobs and tax fairness bill, will have an opportunity to redeem itself somewhat with a vote on extended unemployment benefits. The House attempted to pass by voice vote this...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 29, 2010 | Blog
Peace activists and progressives are the only people that I've heard connect war spending in Afghanistan and Pakistan with our financial security at home - until now, that is. Yesterday House Minority Leader made the connection explicit, telling reporters and editors...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 29, 2010 | Blog, Economy
The real deficit is jobs. That is one more of those things that everyone can see in front of their faces, but we're told it isn't what it is. There aren't enough jobs, and we're being told this is our fault because we wanted pensions and good wages and vacations and...
by Robert Borosage | Jun 29, 2010 | Blog
Republican House leader John Boehner laid out the Republcan world view in an interview with a friendly reporter at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Boehner defended the big banks from reform, arguing that the finanical reform bill was like "killing an ant with a nuclear...
by Bill Scher | Jun 29, 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. Can Obama Find Common Ground On...
by Sara Robinson | Jun 28, 2010 | Blog
Brad Johnson at The Wonk Room calls out the "Climate Peacocks" in Congress who are ostentatiously shaking their tailfeathers in mock outrage over the very idea that the Environmental Protection Agency might actually act as agents of environmental protection: Earlier...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 28, 2010 | Blog
After much hype and buildup, the AmericaSpeaks "national town meeting" on cutting the deficit was held on Saturday. I watched the proceedings via webcast for much of the morning, knowing that Digby was liveblogging it and David Dayen was on the scene here in Southern...
by Bill Scher | Jun 28, 2010 | Blog
10 years ago, Sen. Robert Byrd blocked a move to end the use of coal at the Capitol Hill Power Plant. Just this month, he voted in support of the EPA"s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. The evolution in his environmental views is another example of Sen. Byrd's...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 28, 2010 | Blog
I was on Hannah-Beth Jackson's radio show this Saturday discussing two topics: Social Security and the "AmericaSpeaks" events, and the financial reform bill. Here's Part I of the discussion, on Social Security. I'll get the financial reform piece up...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 28, 2010 | Blog
I'm a big Dylan Ratigan fan, and I'm glad we have his voice on the airwaves. That's why it was unexpected to find myself presented as the voice of accommodation in contrast to his angrier tone, when The Huffington Post placed his post on the financial reform bill back...
by Bill Scher | Jun 28, 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. "America Speaks," Demands Tax Hike...
by Roger Hickey | Jun 27, 2010 | Blog
On Saturday, the group known as America Speaks (funded by Wall Street mogul Peter G. Peterson and two other foundations) brought together several thousand people in meetings in 60 cities. They gave participants misleading background information about the Federal...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jun 27, 2010 | Blog
Progressives in the U.S. Senate have introduced a potent package of estate tax reforms that would, if enacted, start seriously trimming America's most super-sized hoards of private wealth. Back a hundred summers ago in 1910, former President Theodore Roosevelt —...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 26, 2010 | Blog
A letter-writer in my local paper today reaches the wrongest possible conclusion: Public, private workers live in different worlds The current issue of Time magazine includes a cover story on the increasing numbers of nearly bankrupt states and municipalities across...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 25, 2010 | Blog
The organizers of AmericaSpeaks, tomorrow's "town hall meeting"/media event designed to focus attention on budget-cutting, have issued a document called "Myths & Facts About AmericaSpeaks: Our Budget, Our Economy." A number of excellent pieces have already been...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 25, 2010 | Blog
The House and Senate have reached a deal and we have a financial reform deal. That means we will see significant improvements over the status quo as it existed yesterday. It also means we still haven't addressed the gravest risks to the economy. Most of all it means...
by Zach Carter | Jun 25, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
Members of Congress finished ironing out their differences on Wall Street reform last night, and the resulting bill deserves unequivocal support from progressives and conservatives alike. But while the final package is a necessary first step to overhauling the...
by Bill Scher | Jun 25, 2010 | Blog
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell claimed the conservative filibuster of the latest jobs and jobless aid bill was because they oppose any increase of the national debt: "The principle Democrats are defending is that they will not pass a bill unless it adds to the...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 25, 2010 | Blog
As today's Progressive Breakfast points out, NYT news reports suggests move is for real, part of fundamental change in Chinese economy: "For years, Chinese leaders looked to the millions of poor workers from the country’s interior as the engine of a roaring export...
