by Bill Scher | Dec 3, 2009 | Blog
Ezra Klein on the Washington Post recently argued that progressives should bargain away the current version of the public option in pending health care legislation in exchange for other reforms such as bigger subsidies, tougher rules on demographic discrimination and...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Dec 3, 2009 | Blog
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke employed his characteristic smoothness and conciliatory nature as he navigated the questioning at today's confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, helped by the largely gentle questioning by Democrats on the...
by Bill Scher | Dec 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day Job Ideas Abound In Advance of Today's WH Summit House leaders looking at TARP funding for jobs. Politico: "...House Democratic leaders are floating the idea of...
by Robert Borosage | Dec 2, 2009 | Blog
Senator Bernie Sanders has announced he will put a hold on the Bernanke nomination. Sanders wants the Finance Committee to hold serious hearings probing Bernanke's actions leading up to the financial collapse, and the emergency measures he took, committing literally...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Dec 2, 2009 | Blog
House of Representatives staffers who take the District's subway system to work are now confronted with a host of scary images as they exit the station: A forlorn Uncle Sam panhandling to pay off a $12 trillion debt; a stopwatch with the message that it would take...
by Robert Borosage | Dec 2, 2009 | Blog
by Bill Scher | Dec 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day Afghan Address Receives Tepid Response Some Dems pledge to try to block plan. USA Today: "...Obama [is] facing a potential mutiny on this issue among liberal...
by Terrance Heath | Dec 2, 2009 | Blog
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." ~ Thomas Jefferson "Keep the faith," Sarah Palin says to Canadian conservatives. "Your health care system could be worse. But only if you work hard...
by Robert Borosage | Dec 2, 2009 | Blog
..."[O]ur troop commitment in Afghanistan cannot be open-ended -- because the nation that I am most interested in building is our own."—President Obama But Afghanistan comes first? President Obama made the best possible case for dispatching more troops to...
by Dave Johnson | Dec 2, 2009 | Blog, Economy
The “Jobs Summit” is Thursday. Are they going to try to get things back to normal? I hope not! “Normal” isn’t an option anymore, because it is what led to where we are. The financial sector bailout is based on the idea that things will get back to “normal” if the...
by Alan Jenkins | Dec 1, 2009 | Blog
On issue after issue, President Obama is locked in a struggle for the hearts and minds of the American people. At issue—transcending health care reform, economic stimulus, the bailout of banks and automakers, and beyond—is the role of government in our society. The...
by Sara Robinson | Dec 1, 2009 | Blog
I've lived in Canada for very nearly six years now. I've loved it here. I love the people, the health care system, the bigness of the place, and the fact that the Canadian Charter of Rights includes an Equal Rights Amendment. I own a home, pay taxes, and am learning...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Dec 1, 2009 | Blog, Economy
A federal program of direct job funding, even at a time when unemployment is expected to exceed 10 percent for the next several months, is the third rail of any discussion about reducing unemployment. But to say that the government should not, to borrow a phrase from...
by Terrance Heath | Dec 1, 2009 | Blog
Today is World AIDS Day, and while I'd like to write something about it, I can't come up with anything better than a post I wrote a few years ago. That's because so much has changed since then, for better and for worse. The numbers are more encouraging now than they...
by Bill Scher | Dec 1, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. More Troops To Afghanistan President to announce new Afghanistan strategy tonight. NYT: "President Obama has decided to expedite the deployment of 30,000...
by Steven Capozzola | Dec 1, 2009 | Blog
Recently, China has dumped a flood of subsidized OCTG (Oil Country Tubular Goods) steel pipe into the U.S. market. Known as OCTG pipe because it is used for the extraction of oil and gas, this pipe has flooded the U.S. market and, from 2006 to 2008 alone, the volume...
by Dave Johnson | Nov 30, 2009 | Blog, Economy
In September, President Obama Enforces Trade Law In China Tire Case! President Obama signaled a new direction in America's trade policies by deciding to enforce the ITC's recommendation to impose tariffs on Chinese tire imports. In November, Findlay's Cooper Tire will...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Nov 30, 2009 | Blog
In the states represented by the four senators in the Democratic caucus who are threatening progress on health care reform, there are almost 2 million people without health insurance, according to state-by-state health care reform impact reports released by the...
by Terrance Heath | Nov 30, 2009 | Blog
I know this seems like low hanging fruit. But Sarah Palin is back, and along with her mindless blather has returned the chorus of "do not under estimate Palin" and/or "Sarah must be taken seriously." Seriously? We're supposed to take seriously someone who just days...
by Bill Scher | Nov 30, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Weeks-Long Senate Health Care Debate Begins At 3 PM ET AP offers pessimistic preview, emphasizing lack of Dem consensus on final bill: " The 60 votes aren't...
by Eric Lotke | Nov 30, 2009 | Blog
Thursday December 3 is the date of both the President’s Jobs Summit and the reconfirmation hearing of Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke. We should seize the opportunity to examine the statute that creates the Federal Reserve: The Board of Governors of the Federal...
by Eric Lotke | Nov 30, 2009 | Blog, Economy
How ironic that President Obama’s jobs summit should be scheduled on the same date (Thursday, December 3) that the Senate Banking Committee has scheduled the reconfirmation hearing of Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke. Our economy is in a hole. Bernanke is “waist...
by Sam Pizzigati | Nov 29, 2009 | Blog
But Wall Street's mainstream critics still can't bring themselves to challenge the top executive 'right' to reap enormous riches. Great minds have been searching, ever since last fall’s financial sector meltdown, for an antidote to the wildly excessive Wall...
by Dave Johnson | Nov 29, 2009 | Blog
Symbolism is very powerful, and great Presidents use it to set the tone of their Presidency. It is the "Bully Pulpit" because Presidents tell the people "this is the way it is now," then repeat the message and they act in ways that consistently reinforce it, until the...
by Dave Johnson | Nov 28, 2009 | Blog
Since the Reagan-era changes in the country's tax and regulation policies more and more of the wealth and income generated by our economy has been flowing upward to fewer and fewer people. We have now reached the point where wealth is at least as concentrated as it...
by Dave Johnson | Nov 27, 2009 | Blog
Reps. Ron Paul and Alan Grayson are trying to get the Federal Reserve audited. Last week the House Financial Services Committee passed an amendment to their financial regulatory reform bill that would mandate an audit. The Audit the Fed Coalition is trying to get HR...
by Robert Borosage | Nov 25, 2009 | Blog
Will the Senate vote another term for Ben Bernanke as head of the Federal Reserve? Should it? Two months ago, Bernanke looked like a lock. But now unemployment is over 10 percent and rising, while Wall Street bankers are stocking up on vintage champagne, ready to...
by Bill Scher | Nov 25, 2009 | Blog
President Obama announced today that he will attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, raising the stakes for himself and all participating nations. The initial goal for Copenhagen was to forge a binding treaty. But that ambitious goal has...
by Bill Scher | Nov 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Fed Paints Gloomy Jobs Picture Krugman says Fed analysis supports "piling on, not looking for the exit.": "...the Fed expects unemployment to come down only...
by Dave Johnson | Nov 24, 2009 | Blog
Ten years ago the World Trade Organization (WTO) met in Seattle at the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999. To this day, when talking about trade and protests, many just use a shorthand and say things along the lines of "since Seattle." Seattle made it clear that there...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Nov 24, 2009 | Blog
The banking industry renewed its extortion threat against Congress today: If you create an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency that is not beholden to the banking industry, we'll make American consumers pay. That's precisely the threat contained in a...
by Bill Scher | Nov 24, 2009 | Blog
On a conference call today with economists who blog and folks who blog on the economy, Speaker Pelosi sought to bridge the gap between progressive proponents of public investment to create jobs, and right-leaning Democrats touting austerity for immediate deficit...
by Bill Scher | Nov 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Obama Will Announce Emission Target To Boost Chances Of Climate Agreement Obama to announce carbon emissions target in advance of Copenhagen. NYT: "The United...
by Alex Lawson | Nov 23, 2009 | Blog
Without the Koch money and buses,The Tea Partiers were able to muster about 30 people to rail against things. The Billionaires for Wealthcare joined the Tea Partiers in what was otherwise a disappointing day for them. Over at StarkReports.com, Mike Stark has some...
by Terrance Heath | Nov 23, 2009 | Blog
We'd talked about it earlier in the week, but hadn't really made a definite decision to go. Then, Sunday morning I came downstairs to find this Washington Post story on the computer monitor. On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 6-year-old Heaven Skyler Wilson dragged herself off the...
by Eric Lotke | Nov 23, 2009 | Blog
A really smart student intern I’ve had the privilege of working with (Jonathan Flack, GWU 2010) asked a really stupid question. “Why,” he asked, “Do we give China everything it wants? Why don’t we challenge them?” This intern knows what’s going on. He knows about our...
by Steven Capozzola | Nov 23, 2009 | Blog, Making it in America
The Associated Press reports that China has criticized last week's U.S.-China Commission (USCC) report for asserting that Chinese spies are aggressively stealing U.S. secrets. Beijing warns that the report is "full of prejudice" and that it could damage U.S.-China...
by Bill Scher | Nov 23, 2009 | Blog
When Sen. Joe Lieberman first announced he would filibuster any health care bill with a public option, I noted that he lied, falsely calling the public option an "entitlement program" that would be "trouble ... for the national debt." In fact, the public option is an...
by Bill Scher | Nov 23, 2009 | Blog
Today, President Obama meets with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with the Copenhagen climate summit two weeks away and their two nations very far apart on any climate agreement. Any international agreement will require the US, India and China to find some...
by Bill Scher | Nov 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day Talk Of Public Option Compromise After Initial Senate Vote CQ sizes up the state of play on public option: "Four senators — independent Joseph I. Lieberman of...
