by Richard Eskow | May 26, 2010 | Blog
The Campaign for America's Future (CAF), CREDO, and MoveOn have launched a petition campaign to ensure that the House/Senate deliberations on financial reform be "fully transparent." The good news? The government has the ability, the resources, and the talent to make...
by Zach Carter | May 26, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
It's been apparent for several weeks that the largest U.S. banking behemoths will remain as big and dangerous as they are today once President Barack Obama signs off on the Wall Street reform bill. But individual oversized banks are not the only problem Big Finance...
by Robert Borosage | May 26, 2010 | Blog
Congress is about to pass an additional $32 billion to pay for the war In Afghanistan. It will have overwhelming bipartisan support, with legislators eager to display their fealty to the troops in an election year. At the same time, the Congress is struggling with a...
by Dave Johnson | May 26, 2010 | Blog
Astroturf is the term for manufacturing an artificial appearance of grassroots concern about an issue. The idea is to pump a bunch of money into a PR campaign that makes it look like there is public support for something, to either make politicians think the public...
by Robert Borosage | May 26, 2010 | Blog
Ben Bernanke Thinks We Are Idiots Or that we have the attention span of a tadpole. Or he mistakenly read a speech written in 2006 when Alan Greenspan was still the Maestro. In a speech in Tokyo yesterday, Federal Reserve Chair Bernanke warned that central banks must...
by Dave Johnson | May 26, 2010 | Blog, Economy
Some say that "government can't create jobs." Others respond "unemployed people can't create votes." Meanwhile, conservatives, whose policies put so many people out of work, now say unemployed people are lazy and should not be collecting unemployment benefits....
by Bill Scher | May 26, 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. Not Enough Votes In Senate To...
by Terrance Heath | May 25, 2010 | Blog, Economy
The change agenda at America's Future NOW!
by Dave Johnson | May 25, 2010 | Blog, China Currency Showdown, Making it in America
The US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue has concluded. It is remarkable for two countries to engage in a dialog such as this, and efforts like this to constructively manage differences can both help keep conflict from arising and help both countries achieve...
by Richard Eskow | May 25, 2010 | Blog
If you have a yellow "Support Our Troops" sticker on your car - or even if you don't - you should know the name of the Senators who just traded in our troops, their families, and our military readiness for the easy cash offered by auto dealers. There's no rational...
by Bill Scher | May 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. Jobs Bill Vote Delayed As Leaders...
by Dave Johnson | May 24, 2010 | Blog, Making it in America
Today I was able to conduct a short webcam interview with Scott Paul, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. The occasion is this week's Us-China Strategic and Economic Dialog taking place in Beijing. This dialog is a series of meetings between...
by Dave Johnson | May 24, 2010 | Blog
Are you still unemployed? Obviously it is because you are lazy. At least, many members of Congress think so, anyway. And besides, cutting the deficit -- caused by tax cuts for the rich and massive military spending increases -- is much more important than paychecks...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 24, 2010 | Blog
The Senate is starting debate this week on a $60 billion supplemental spending bill that includes additional money for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as money for disaster relief....
by Bill Scher | May 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. Action On Jobs Face Resistance This...
by Sara Robinson | May 24, 2010 | Blog
America has this long tradition of twisted, odd, widely beloved and yet darkly dangerous right-wing cultural impresarios that pop up out of our landscape like cultural tornadoes, leaving huge swaths of derangement and destruction in their wake. Aimee Semple McPherson....
by Mary Bottari | May 23, 2010 | Blog
This week, the U.S. Senate passed a financial reform bill that was far stronger that what had been proposed by the Obama administration and passed by the House. Now it's time to hold President Obama's feet to the fire to ensure the strongest possible bill. Not long...
by Sara Robinson | May 23, 2010 | Blog
The change agenda at America's Future NOW!Alexander Zaitchik will be featured on a panel entitled "Tea Parties, Beck, Bachman and Blarney"REGISTER NOWfor AFN 2010America has this long tradition of twisted, odd, widely beloved and yet darkly dangerous right-wing...
by Richard Eskow | May 22, 2010 | Blog
Momentum is building for putting a historic conference between the House and Senate online and on live television, as they debate the future of financial reform. This is the time to contact Senators and Representatives to support this critical step toward open...
by Leo Gerard | May 21, 2010 | Blog
BP, Massey Energy and Tesoro all have hauled out plaques celebrating safety achievements to deflect allegations of corporate recklessness in the aftermath of explosions in April that killed 47 of their workers. Though each of these corporations accepted awards for...
by Dave Johnson | May 21, 2010 | Blog, Economy
On the one side there are millions of people needing jobs and millions more "underemployed," the economy is still mired in a very, very slow recovery that is a recovery only in the technical sense, an increasing wave of foreclosures that has reached into the "prime"...
by Dave Johnson | May 21, 2010 | Blog, Economy
In March I wrote about the closing of the Toyota NUMMI plant in Fremont, California.. Today there is good news! The Green Manufacturing Revolution comes to the rescue, and Toyota is teaming up with electric car maker Tesla to reopen the plant and make all-electric...
by Richard Eskow | May 21, 2010 | Blog
Here are the words they used for health care reform (or the buzzwords their consultants told them to use): "Secret"! "Backroom"! "Behind closed doors"! "Dealing"! Or, as one especially unsubtle pol put it, "secret backroom dealing"! These right-wing politicians and...
by Zach Carter | May 21, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
Thursday night's passage of Wall Street reform by the U.S. Senate is an event to be celebrated, but several key issues remain in play as the House and Senate seek to iron out differences between their respective versions of the legislation. And while the final bill...
by Bill Scher | May 21, 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. After Senate Passage, Lobbyists Eye...
by Richard Eskow | May 20, 2010 | Blog
Turning conflicts of interest into "win/win" situations can be a form of brilliance. Pretending those conflicts don't exist can be a form of indifference. That's why it was troubling to hear the President say today that financial reform "is not a zero sum game where...
by Zach Carter | May 20, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
The most courageous vote yesterday in the Senate was cast by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who refused to let the Senate sign-off on an unnecessarily weak Wall Street reform bill. Cantwell has been trying to fix a fatal loophole in the derivatives language which...
by Dave Johnson | May 20, 2010 | Blog
Monday the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) begins in Beijing. (See the Treasury Dept fact sheet on the S&ED.) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will attend, and meet with their counterparts. As I have been writing...
by Bill Scher | May 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. Senate Tries To Break Wall Street...
by Richard Eskow | May 19, 2010 | Blog
Things have been moving pretty quickly lately in the interlocking worlds of politics and financial reform. While there is a lot we don't know, here are three statements we can probably make with a high degree of certainty: 1. If the banks had been on the ballot...
by Zach Carter | May 19, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
UPDATE 1:00 P.M Dodd just tried to move on amendments by Sens. Snowe, R-Maine, Landrieau, D-La., Vitter, R-La., and Whitehouse, D-R.I., and then proceed to the cloture vote. Sen. Carl Levin objected, presumably because his amendment to implement the Volcker Rule was...
by Zach Carter | May 19, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
Few realized it at the time, but Senator Chris Dodd's political career ended on June 12, 2008. That day, Portfolio magazine published its blistering expose on Countrywide Financial's "Friends of Angelo" program, naming the Democrat from Connecticut as one of the top...
by Robert Borosage | May 19, 2010 | Blog
What was the message of Tuesday's elections? Clearly the base voters of both parties are unhappy and looking for change. Incumbents are at risk. Politics as usual is unappealing. Conservatives in both parties are spinning this as a protest vote about deficits and...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 19, 2010 | Blog
If trade expert Clyde Prestowitz’s latest book, “The Betrayal of American Prosperity,” were a television series, one segment would open with this voiceover: “This episode of ‘The Betrayal of American Prosperity’ is brought to you by Intel.” A group of Chinese workers...
by Bill Scher | May 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. Attempt To Silence Populist...
by Isaiah J. Poole | May 18, 2010 | Blog
On a day in which voters in Arkansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania are heading to the polls in what is being widely described as an anti-politician, anti-government rage, and with a particularly strident strain of conservatism portrayed as on the ascendancy, it might...
by Dave Johnson | May 18, 2010 | Blog
The stimulus is running out, millions lose health insurance in 12 days as COBRA subsidies start to run out, unemployment benefits also start running out, and unemployment is rising. Foreclosures are up. At the same time out-of-money states are laying off hundreds of...
by Terrance Heath | May 18, 2010 | Blog
So much for telling kids to "always tell the truth." It turns out, toddlers who tell lies do better as adults. Whether this is surprising news about child development, or a sad statement about the kind of society we live in depends on how you define...
by Bill Scher | May 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. Amendment Battles Still On Tap...
by Zach Carter | May 18, 2010 | Blog, Financial Reform
Some version of Wall Street reform is going to pass the Senate this week. The question now is how strong that reform will be. There are still three crucial battles to be waged, all of which would significantly change the way Wall Street does business. We will not fix...
