by Dave Johnson | Jun 17, 2010 | Blog
Before you read on, yes this is for real. Yes, Democrats are joining with Republicans to fight help for the long-term unemployed. Yes, members of Congress are blaming the unemployed, calling them names, and proposing that the unemployed be publicly humiliated. And...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 16, 2010 | Blog, Economy
Oh, the irony. As Defense Secretary Robert Gates was on Capitol Hill today telling a Senate appropriations subcommittee that Congress has to approve a $33 billion supplemental war funding request by July 4 or else "we begin to have to do stupid things," the Senate did...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 16, 2010 | Blog
It was a fight to the finish between two heavyweight contenders. In this corner, representing the big Wall Street interests and wearing green trunks the color of money, Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts. And in this corner, representing common sense and the...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 16, 2010 | Blog
The headline of my local paper today is Obama: Act on clean energy. (But a different headline online - do they do that just to mess up bloggers?) In the speech the President paid homage to President Carter's efforts to change America's energy policies, saying, For...
by Terrance Heath | Jun 16, 2010 | Blog, Economy
In his column concerning last month's jobs number, George Will does a nearly "Noonan-eque" job of spreading disorientation and doubt about what government should do— if anything — about chronic unemployment, delivering a simple-but-subtle...
by Bill Scher | Jun 16, 2010 | Blog
As you can see in today's Progressive Breakfast, interpretations of the President's speech ranged widely. Carbon cap is dead. Or alive. Serious push for other clean energy standards and investments. Or desire to take anything they can get. Pragmatic. Or cop-out. The...
by Bill Scher | Jun 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. Prospects Brighter For Energy Bill,...
by Bill Scher | Jun 15, 2010 | Blog
Hours before the President will address the nation about the need to end our dependence on fossil fuels, two new studies bolstered the case for the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act, the comprehensive climate protection and clean energy jobs bill. The Environmental...
by Bill Scher | Jun 15, 2010 | Blog
It is rare for a President to deliver an Oval Office address on a subject that is not related to war. When a President does so, he signals to the nation that the problem at hand is not only of the utmost importance, but requires the nation to come together to fix it....
by Dave Johnson | Jun 15, 2010 | Blog
"The moral equivalent of war." Tonight President Obama will talk about the Gulf oil catastrophe, and, hopefully, overall energy and climate policy. A look back at President Carter's fight over energy brings some context to this situation. On April 18, 1977, 33 years...
by Zach Carter | Jun 15, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
5:15 It is generally bad news that Barney Frank is backing this effort to gut the Franken amendment. That's the only serious reform effort on the table today, and for Frank to be coming out against it implies that he's much more willing to do Wall Street's dirty work...
by Alan Jenkins | Jun 15, 2010 | Blog
By and large, mayors are pragmatists. They've got snow to remove and potholes to fill, schools to run and crime to fight. Literally and figuratively, they must keep the trains running on time, or hear loudly and decisively from voters and constituents. That pragmatic...
by Bill Scher | Jun 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. Will Obama Go Big On Climate...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 15, 2010 | Blog
It can be hard to grasp all the details of Section 716, the Senate provision that would force big banks to spin off their swap desks, but the principle isn't that complicated: Banks that get access to discounted money from the Federal Reserve, or federally-guaranteed...
by Leo Gerard | Jun 14, 2010 | Blog
As oil mucked the Gulf of Mexico and families mourned 11 dead rig workers, BP officials proclaimed that the corporation’s priority always was safety. This tracked the tack taken by Massey Energy, whose officials also declared safety was paramount after an explosion in...
by Eric Lotke | Jun 14, 2010 | Blog
It’s 2010, census year. The headcount was in April and the results will be released in December. Next spring the action begins: redistricting. If you thought the November elections mattered for control of Congress, the forward momentum of the progressive movement or...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 14, 2010 | Blog
Today the country is looking for ways to cut spending and borrowing. Yet military spending, the biggest spending item in the budget, is barely part of the discussion -- obviously because of the amount of campaign and lobbying dollars it generates. The corrupting...
by Bill Scher | Jun 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. Presidential Address Follows...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jun 13, 2010 | Blog
An emergency 1 percent 'wealth tax' on the nation's richest 1 percent could raise enough revenue to keep all our teachers on the job and libraries open. But our dysfunctional political system can't even raise that possibility. Last year may have been the worst year,...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 11, 2010 | Blog
Feel free to read Dana Milbank if that sort of thing appeals to you, but don't imagine for a minute that you're learning anything. That would be like studying the French Revolution by reading Marie Antoinette's cake recipes. The Milbank school of journalism - which at...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 11, 2010 | Blog
After all this time China is still manipulating its currency, the Obama administration is still not able to get them to change, their exports are still rising relative to the rest of the world, global imbalances are still bubbling out of control, jobs are still being...
by Bill Scher | Jun 11, 2010 | Blog
If you thought one of the biggest oil spills in history would automatically propel strong legislation to cap carbon emissions and avert a climate crisis, think again. Democratic Senate leaders beat back a conservative attempt to kneecap the EPA's ability to regulate...
by Bill Scher | Jun 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. Positive Notes After First Day Of...
by Eric Lotke | Jun 10, 2010 | Blog, Making it in America
The Campaign for America's Future’s America’s Future Now! conference just finished. It revealed a remarkable unity of vision, and a careful balance in troubled times. Progressives came together and credited President Obama and the Congressional Democrats for...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 10, 2010 | Blog
The United Steelworkers (USW) and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today announced a a joint ‘Framework Agreement’ to create a 'Partnership for Progress' to accelerate the development and deployment of wind energy manufacturing in the U.S. Denise Bode, CEO...
by Zach Carter | Jun 10, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
Conference Committee negotiations on Wall Street reform begin today, with several key battles still unresolved. Thanks to intense progressive pressure, those negotiations are going to be televised live. You can watch the sessions on the web right here, using a stream...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 10, 2010 | Blog, Economy
Saying that the Obama "stimulus" was not big enough, conservatives are demanding that the government massively increase deficit spending to create badly-needed jobs. Newt Gingrich, at the conservative media outlet Human Events, calls for an Economic Freedom Act that...
by Bill Scher | Jun 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. Major Climate Vote In Senate Today...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jun 9, 2010 | Blog
Britain's new Conservative Party prime minister has an idea for ending pay excess in the public sector. Should overpaid execs in the private sector — in the United States — now be starting to shudder? Conservatives politicians have always enjoyed bashing...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 9, 2010 | Blog
Where RIghts went Wrong: What Happened to the Rights Revolution? Palladian Room Breakout Nan Aron Rea Carey Adam Luna Anthony D. Romero Kierra Johnson Anthony Romero, the president of the American Civil Liberties Union, did not mince words earlier today when he...
by Bill Scher | Jun 9, 2010 | Uncategorized
AFN10 Day 3 Preview: Speaking Frankly Watch live video at www.ourfuture.org/now. Key sessions today... 8:30 AM: "Speaking Frankly" with Rep. Alan Grayson 9:10 AM: "Can Congress Work in Polarized Age?" with Sen. Tom Udall and more 9:10 AM: "Securing America" with Rep....
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 9, 2010 | Blog
Most people know Progressive Insurance from its quirky commercials, starring a character named Flo who staffs the checkout counter at an supermarket that sells insurance in neatly labeled boxes. But the leaders of the nation's leading progressive activist...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 8, 2010 | Blog
Life can only be understood backward, said Kierkegaard, but it has to be lived forward. That's the only explanation I can offer for the strange turn of events that led to me becoming an AIG executive, then a progressive writer/blogger, and to my plans to speak...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 8, 2010 | Blog, Economy
Bob Borosage introduced Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO, who said, "Saving and creating jobs is the path to reducing the deficit." Progressive tradition in America means the same today as for many years. It is the promise of a society built on what unites us not divides...
by Terrance Heath | Jun 8, 2010 | Blog
Like any parents, we want the best possible future for our children, and we're doing all we can to prepare them to attain it as our parents did for us. Being the grandson of sharecroppers and the son of 1st generation Polish immigrants, to us that means getting an...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 8, 2010 | Blog, Making it in America
This is semi-live blogging (notes corrected later) and there is a lot, so I will highlight the most important points. I attended the Making It In America breakout session at the America’s Future Now conference this morning. Scott Paul of the Alliance for American...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 8, 2010 | Blog, Economy
What if the nation's jobless crisis received the same 24-7 media attention that the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is now receiving? That is the question that comes to mind as several progressive leaders addressed the nation's unemployment catastrophe at...
by Bill Scher | Jun 8, 2010 | Blog
by Bill Scher | Jun 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
AFN Day 2 Preview: Making Change Watch live video at www.ourfuture.org/now. Key sessions today... 7:30 AM: "Breakfast and Big Banks" with Simon Johnson and Rob Johnson (Liveblog of panel from OurFuture.org's Zach Carter, for late risers) 8:30 AM: "Making Change" with...
by Zach Carter | Jun 8, 2010 | Blog
8:40 Terrific question from Mary Bottari. Everyone says they believe in higher capital requirements-- even bankers-- but so far, all of the negotiations regarding new capital requirements are leading to very small adjustments, rather than significant changes. The...
