by Roger Hickey | Dec 13, 2009 | Blog
On Monday morning, wealthy hedge fund mogul Peter Peterson and his Commission on Budget Reform will hold a press conference to issue a "Call to Action to Stem the Mounting Federal Debt." Their scary promotional material declares, "The ever-growing federal debt is...
by Sam Pizzigati | Dec 13, 2009 | Blog, Economy
AOL and Time Warner split, Comcast and NBC join. The merger merry-go-round continues to spin. Investment bankers and corporate execs get the brass ring. The rest of us get pink slips and higher prices. What may be the dumbest corporate merger of all time — the...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 12, 2009 | Blog
Recently the Senate passed Sen. Barbara Mikulski's Women's Health Amendment, which requires health insurance companies to provide free mammograms and other preventive health services for women. This was lauded by many, since women's health needs have traditionally...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 11, 2009 | Blog
Opponents of financial reform, after huddling with banking lobbyists, are now circulating a story that the reform bills are nothing more than more bailouts for the big banks. In fact the bills do the opposite, and have a mechanism for shutting banks down instead of...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 11, 2009 | Blog
Bernie Sanders, Al Franken, and Sherrod Brown have introduced a bill in the Senate that would replace the excise tax on higher-cost health plans with a tax on very high-earners. This amendment would put the Senate's proposal in line with the House bill, removing one...
by Eric Lotke | Dec 11, 2009 | Blog, Economy
Conservatives are using the economic crisis to push through their favorite tricks. The latest trick is a commission to cut the budget and cut the debt without the inconvenience of the democratic process. It’s a strange distraction from the real problem. The real...
by Bill Scher | Dec 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day Medicare Buy-In Proposal Roils Congress Sens. Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman start to hedge on deal. Politico: "Lieberman indicated that he was growing...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 11, 2009 | Blog
The other day I posted Green Revolution - Ideology Holding America Back The world understands that "green energy" is the next big industry that will drive the world economy. Actually, the rest of the world has understood this for some time and has been investing and...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 10, 2009 | Blog
Matt Yglesias is right to skewer a truly terrible idea from Sen. Tom Carper. Sen. Carper wants a health tax based on the rate of increase a health plan experiences over time, and Yglesias does a good job pointing out the flaws in this notion. But in mustering his...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 10, 2009 | Blog
A recent poll released today provided the first comprehensive look at the political popularity of the excise tax on higher-cost health plans, and the results should raise grave political concerns for the tax's supporters. The poll, which concentrated on battleground...
by Bill Scher | Dec 10, 2009 | Blog
Today's Politico headline from Copenhagen is: "Climategate distracts at Copenhagen." This seems based on a very low bar for what constitutes a distraction. Is the international summit torn now between resolutions saying global warming is a moral imperative or a...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Dec 10, 2009 | Blog
A chart buried in the Congressional Oversight Panel report released Tuesday explains one of the reasons why a compromise on a financial regulatory reform bill struck by the White House, the House Democratic leadership and a group of conservative Democrats is so...
by Bill Scher | Dec 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day Health Care Deal In Hands of CBO Sen. Landrieu says CBO analysis will dictate terms of deal. Politico quotes "There was a lot of agreement to send a package,...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 9, 2009 | Blog
We're summarized some of our content on DailyKos. Stop on by if you have any comments to add. As we told the Kossacks: A lot of folks in Washington like to pretend there are mythical union people out there somewhere savoring the fruits of their lavish health plans,...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 9, 2009 | Blog
Two new papers published today in Health Affairs could help turn opinion against the excise tax, especially from an academic perspective. Using a combination of analysis and interpretation, six researchers reached essentially the same conclusion: The excise tax would...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 9, 2009 | Blog
American competitiveness is severely hobbled by our "free market" and anti-government attitudes. One way our competitors hold us back is by encouraging this outdated ideology. Result: other countries have national economic/industrial strategies and we don't. So we...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 9, 2009 | Blog
"We're finding that about half of the large employers we work with will be at or above the (excise tax threshold) limits." Senior Health Benefits Consultant We promised yesterday to write a series of posts about the "amazing facts" contained in a recent Kaiser Health...
by Bill Scher | Dec 9, 2009 | Blog
LIberal and right-leaning Democrats reportedly have reached a compromise that replaces Senator Harry Reid's version of a national public health insurance option, which states could decide not to offer, for giving workers between the ages of 55-65 the option of buying...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 9, 2009 | Blog
The AFL-CIO has sent out an email blast in support of the campaign to overturn the excise tax on health benefits. The letter is addressed to constituents of Rep. Jerrold Nadler, praising him for his work in opposition to the tax and suggesting they encourage him to...
by Robert Borosage | Dec 9, 2009 | Blog, Economy
President Obama is sensibly focused on jobs, unveiling a new initiative Tuesday in the wake of last week's White House jobs summit. Elements included everything from new infrastructure spending to "cash for caulkers," tax breaks for weatherizing homes, as...
by Bill Scher | Dec 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Preliminary Health Care Deal Struck Liberal and right-leaning Dems craft new health care compromise to be scored by CBO before public release. TPMDC's Brian...
by Terrance Heath | Dec 9, 2009 | Blog
Every morning I swallow a bitter pill. Actually, the medicine itself isn't all that bitter. It's no different from any of the other medicines I take that make it possible for me to function at home and at work by controlling things like allergies and gastro esophageal...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 8, 2009 | Blog
Kaiser Health News has summarized some new findings from the Mercer consulting group that are quite compelling. We think they're so significant they should each be absorbed separately. The first impressive finding, from a study of 3,000 firms: "The excise tax ......
by Richard Eskow | Dec 8, 2009 | Blog
The following appeared at Daily Kos and elsewhere as a roundup of today's activities and posts We need to stop the excise tax on so-called "Cadillac" health plans - a tax that will affect an increasing number of middle-class workers over the next ten years. In the...
by Eric Lotke | Dec 8, 2009 | Blog
At his Brookings speech today the president outlined his economic plan. It has all the right pieces and it points in the right direction. But something is missing. Start with the good news. The President understands how bad the situation is. The greatest crisis since...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Dec 8, 2009 | Blog
Imagine that you're choosing between two health insurance plans. One has a $15 co-pay for doctor visits and says it covers hospital charges up to 80 percent of "reasonable and customary" charges. The second has a $20 co-pay and covers only 75 percent of "reasonable...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 8, 2009 | Blog
Ernst & Young has a report, "Renewable energy country attractiveness indices", that tries to measure how "attractive" different countries are for investment in renewable energy projects. According to the report, The Ernst & Young country attractiveness indices provide...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 8, 2009 | Blog
A quartet of union leaders was joined on a press conference call today by Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, to present new data which demonstrates that Federal workers covered by FEHBP would-be hard hit by the Senate's proposed excise tax on higher-cost health benefit...
by Richard Eskow | Dec 8, 2009 | Blog
Liberal/Democratic Washington policy thinkers appear close to reaching the consensus view that the Senate's excise tax on higher-cost health plans is a good idea. Here's the problem: The consensus is wrong. The so-called (and misnamed) "Cadillac tax" is unfair and...
by Bill Scher | Dec 8, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. President May Announce Plans For Unused TARP Funds Before economic speech today, President Obama suggests unused, paid back TARP can go towards deficit...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 7, 2009 | Blog
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, doesn't think it is a good idea to audit the Fed. Speaking Monday he said, ... the Fed chairman also took a moment to repeat his objections to a bill in the House to audit the Fed. Much as he said during his confirmation...
by Eric Lotke | Dec 7, 2009 | Blog, Economy
Last week’s job’s summit focused on the fierce urgency of now. And well it should, with 18 percent unemployment and underemployment. But Obama also seemed to understand how short term needs overlap with long term goals. There’s just one sticking point. The short term...
by Bill Scher | Dec 7, 2009 | Blog
The Environmental Protection Agency formally declared that greenhouse gases are a pollutant that it can regulate under the existing Clean Air Act. And the timing of the announcement was no accident. Before the President travels to the Copenhagen climate summit, the...
by Bill Scher | Dec 7, 2009 | Blog
On Friday, Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Campaign for America's Future delivered the first round of petition signatures thanking Sen. Bernie Sanders for placing a "hold" on the nomination of Ben Bernanke for another term as Chair of the Federal Reserve,...
by Bill Scher | Dec 7, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Proposal To Undercut Public Option Lambasted New compromise proposal would mean insurance exchange would only offer private plans. W. Post: "One potential...
by Sam Pizzigati | Dec 6, 2009 | Blog
The U.S. House of Reps has voted to extend the only federal tax levy on grand accumulations of private wealth. But that extension essentially keeps in place all of George W.'s tax rate cuts on billionaire bequests. Congress flipped another page in the estate tax story...
by Bill Scher | Dec 4, 2009 | Blog
On this week's edition of WHMP's The LiberalOasis Radio Show, Jo Comerford of the National Priorities Project discussed with me the fiscal ramifications of the increase of troops in Afghanistan, and expressed significant concern that the ratio of military to...
by Bill Scher | Dec 4, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day Unemployment Ticks Down 0.2 Percentage Points In Wake Of Jobs Summit Unemployment rate ticks down. BLS release this AM: "The unemployment rate edged down to...
by Bill Scher | Dec 3, 2009 | Blog, Economy
United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard sat down with OurFuture.org's Isaiah Poole to provide an inside view of the White House jobs summit. Watch it below. He noted that while there is great focus on quick action to deal with the current rise in unemployment, moving...
by Leo Gerard | Dec 3, 2009 | Blog, Economy
Can't buy me love Everybody tells me so Can't buy me love No, no, no, no From the 1964 Lennon/McCartney song, “Can’t Buy Me Love” Maybe you can’t buy love, but you can buy a job. Franklin Delano Roosevelt did it with the Works Progress Administration during the Great...
