by Bill Scher | Feb 1, 2010 | Blog
As the details of the President's budget proposal were surfaced, the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on CNN, "Nobody thinks raising taxes in the middle of a recession is a good idea ... I think the problem is we spend too much." Put aside for a moment that...
by Trevor Davis | Feb 1, 2010 | Blog, Economy, Tax Reform
President Obama rolls out his budget today, triggering the next salvos in the debate about America’s future. The president’s budget calls for ending the destructive caps on federal spending known as the “sequester.” It would make vital investments in infrastructure,...
by Bill Scher | Feb 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. $100B Jobs Plan In New White House...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 1, 2010 | Blog
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is spending millions of dollars in an over-the-top campaign to turn small business owners against strong financial reforms in general and the creation of a consumer financial protection agency in particular, But one poll indicates that the...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jan 31, 2010 | Blog
Labor leaders at last week's Alpine assembling of global bankers and CEOs came with a simple pledge: We're going to fight to cap your pay. At Davos, the Swiss resort where global corporate and financial execs assemble every winter at a glittery “World Economic...
by Bill Scher | Jan 29, 2010 | Blog, Economy
Today's initial estimate of 5.7% annual rate of growth in the GDP for the last quarter of 2009 sure beats a kick in the teeth. And if we sustain this rate of growth, we will have a robust recovery and come near full employment. But we won't sustain this growth unless...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 29, 2010 | Blog, Economy
It's not personal, it's business. The Supreme Court recently ruled 5-4 that George Bush will be President corporations can spend unlimited amounts to support or oppose candidates. Corporations! Since there are no restrictions on the citizenship of the owners of...
by Bill Scher | Jan 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. Senate Jobs Bill May Be Less Than...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 28, 2010 | Blog
Though progressives have not succeeded in blocking Ben Bernanke's renomination as chairman of the Federal Reserve—which was always a long-shot proposition—we now have on the historical record a detailed critique of his record during the financial crisis that we might...
by Sara Robinson | Jan 28, 2010 | Blog, Rick Perlstein
As long as we're taking the measure of the country this week, let's look in on the far (and not so far) fringes of the right wing. What's up with them? And how worried should we be? For the past several months, I've been trying to get a bead on the actual numbers of...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 28, 2010 | Blog, Economy
To be thrown out of work is a crushing blow. Homes are lost. Families split. Children are terrified. Hopes are dashed. Today, nearly one in five American workers is without a job or scraping by on whatever part-time, short-term work there is. We need a real jobs bill...
by Bill Scher | Jan 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. Jobs Center Stage in SOTU President...
by Bill Scher | Jan 27, 2010 | Blog
While we at Campaign for America's Future and Open Left having been conducting our own "Bernanke Whip Count," so have the journalists at
by Bill Scher | Jan 27, 2010 | Blog
It's been 24 hours since Campaign for America's Future and Open Left launched the "Bernanke Whip Count," enlisting the grassroots to find out where Senators really stand, and help target our efforts to demand
by Robert Borosage | Jan 27, 2010 | Blog
From Politco’s Playbook: On the pending vote to confirm Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to a second term: A senior administration official, from downtown: “It's amazing that Senate Rs can barely muster a majority for a Republican who was named TIME's ‘Man of the Year’ and who...
by Bill Scher | Jan 27, 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. Few Lawmakers Embracing Spending...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 26, 2010 | Blog
by Bill Scher | Jan 26, 2010 | Blog
The progressive coalition against fiscally foolish austerity scored a significant victory today, defeating the undemocratic Conrad-Gregg deficit commission in the Senate. We've prevented the Pete Peterson scare rhetoric from making the Senate junk their own rules and...
by Bill Scher | Jan 26, 2010 | Blog
With a climate protection and clean energy jobs bill already facing stiff resistance in the Senate, I was afraid that the post-Massachusetts election fallout would bury it for the year. But fear not! Bipartisan Senate negotiations continued literally a day after the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 26, 2010 | Blog
Finance/Insurance/Real Estate 2010 election cycle so far: $$85,064,470. (2008 cycle: $476 million, 2006, $260 million) Lobbying: $336.9 million in 2009; $459,8 million in 2008. Loans Commercial banks September 2009 $6.537 trillion; September 2008, $6.942 trillion;...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 26, 2010 | Blog
Tea bags are meant to be tossed out. They are useful, at most, once or twice in their lifetimes. Beyond that, they lose flavor and strength, eventually becoming weak as water itself. If kept around beyond their usefulness, they become unpleasant and even unhealthy, as...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 26, 2010 | Blog, Economy
"Our government," wrote Justice Lewis Brandeis, "is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example." And also by what its leaders frame as important. No one has greater ability to teach than the president with what...
by Bill Scher | Jan 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. Obama Compared To Hoover After...
by Eric Lotke | Jan 25, 2010 | Blog, Economy
The White House today announced its economic initiatives for middle class families, described as a preview of the State of the Union Address. They’re all good ideas and I hope every one of them passes. But something is missing. Mostly, the new initiatives don’t create...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 25, 2010 | Blog
Prediction: In the upcoming State of the Union speech President Obama is going to talk about jobs. (Just a hunch, let’s see if I’m right.) We’re in a jam where the economy is still shedding jobs, never mind creating enough jobs to start hiring people again. The...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 25, 2010 | Blog
Let’s be realistic about our expectations for the State of the Union. We’re unlikely to see a newly-energized President trailing clouds of progressive glory, ascending the podium while the PA blares anthemic 70’s stadium-rock. That’s not his style. (If I’m wrong about...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 25, 2010 | Blog
by Robert Borosage | Jan 25, 2010 | Blog
Is your senator going to vote this week to re-appoint Ben Bernanke to run the Federal Reserve, without demanding any accountability for actions before and during the financial crisis? Let's find out today, so we know whom to target before the vote. We're asking...
by Alan Jenkins | Jan 25, 2010 | Blog
Experience from around the country shows that discussing racial inequity and promoting racial justice are particularly challenging today. Some Americans have long been skeptical about the continued existence of racial discrimination and unequal opportunity. But with...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 25, 2010 | Blog
by Bill Scher | Jan 25, 2010 | Blog
Today, Harold Ford Jr., Democratic Leadership Council president, "Morning Joe" pundit, and now early applicant for the Martha Coakley Award For Spectacular Senatorial Flameouts, laid out his 2010 vision in the New York Times ope
by Bill Scher | Jan 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. Scramble To Save Bernanke...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jan 24, 2010 | Blog
A relative handful of Americans, a key congressional panel forecasts, will take home more this year than half the nation's taxpayers combined. Americans worried about the ever-intensifying concentration of wealth at America’s economic summit have been focusing...
by Eric Lotke | Jan 23, 2010 | Blog
You know by now about the Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. FEC. Corporations are people, and corporate spending on political campaigns is the same as free speech. Here’s what Barack Obama said in Audacity of Hope, when he was halfway between a community...
by Sara Robinson | Jan 22, 2010 | Blog, Rick Perlstein
My little series on the turn of the decade (which started last week) was originally conceived as a two-parter: a look back to the past, and a look ahead to the future. That changed a bit this week, when the present rose up and made itself known in a very big way....
by Dave Johnson | Jan 22, 2010 | Blog
Mostly I'm posting this because of the cool picture. I mean, just look at this thing: Tesla Motors lands $465M loan with feds to build Palo Alto plant Tesla Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday signed a landmark $465 million loan agreement that will...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 22, 2010 | Blog
What a week. Call it the Shock Doctrine in reverse: The Massachusetts election and yesterday's Supreme Court ruling may force the Democrats to move to the left to ensure their political survival. They're now faced with a choice they clearly didn't want: forcefully...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 22, 2010 | Blog
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on PBS late Thursday said that President Obama doesn't really want to break up the banks. But one of the authors of a report that looks at the impact of increased consolidation in the banking sector says that Geithner's resistance...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 22, 2010 | Blog
The Supreme Court yesterday allowed corporate executives to tap into their company's resources and use that money to directly influence elections instead of for the profitable operation of the company. This use of company funds isn't considered bribery because the...
by Bill Scher | Jan 22, 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. Supreme Court Floods Democracy With...
