by Terrance Heath | Sep 29, 2009 | Blog
Tonight, I'm going to the Washington, DC premiere of Micheal Moore's new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story. I know there are people who can't stand Moore, but I've seen just about all of his movies.
by Brian Dockstader | Sep 29, 2009 | Blog
For six years the Campaign for America's Future organized the annual Take Back America conference, the largest annual gathering of progressives in the country. At the conference progressives came together to discuss how to improve the country, through goals like...
by Bill Scher | Sep 29, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Senate Finance Committee Vote on Public Option Expected Today C-Span covering Senate Finance debate and vote today. Public option backers not expecting to win...
by Bill Scher | Sep 28, 2009 | Blog
D-Day is tired of the kabuki dance of leaking the end of the public option then denying it publicly, the latest incarnation coming from the Senate Majority Leader's office: Harry Reid pulled the yo-yo trick today. First some anonymous staffers were quoted in the NYT...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 28, 2009 | Blog
A conservative world leader and two world-famous economists who challenge conservative world leaders have joined up to call for a totally new global economic yardstick. And they want that yardstick to measure inequality. Sometime early this fall, new statistics are...
by Bill Scher | Sep 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Public Option Vote Expected Tomorrow in Senate Finance Cmte NYT reports Sen. Reid won't include public option in bill presented to full Senate: "Democratic...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 27, 2009 | Blog
Here is a wrap-up on the G20 Summit. On the ground: The thing that stands out in my mind from actually being in Pittsburgh while the summit took place is the way the city reacted. The city was literally deserted, buildings were barricaded as if the Chinese or Russian...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog
"The fundamental truth about health care in every country is that national values, national character, determine how each system works." Prof. Uwe Reinhardt, Princeton Professor & Health Care Economist "I think health care is a privilege. I wouldn't call it a right."...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog
The big "Bail Out The People" demonstration marched through Pittsburgh. There were somewhere between 3-5,000 people. They were peaceful. There was a contingent of anarchists, wearing masks of various types, shouting with raised fists which needless to say made the...
by Alex Lawson | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog
Senator Rockefeller summed up the state of health reform when he said, "There is no alternative to the public health insurance option, the only alternative is the status quo." But, we know that the status quo and its lackeys in Congress are going to fight tooth and...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog
Note - I was working on this post when I saw the news – if accurate – that Obama’s advisor on financial firm compensation Kenneth Feinberg is not going to cap pay or reveal any names. The G20 countries are said to be coming up with agreements on limiting banker pay....
by Leo Gerard | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog, Minimum Wage
My union, the United Steelworkers (USW), and three paper manufacturers will have free traders and editorial boards across the nation sputtering, spitting and name calling again this week. They started labeling us “protectionist” last week when President Obama made...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog
This story just hit the news: "Pay czar" will not cap compensation, reveal names. (Apologies for using the idiotic Glenn Beck term "Czar" to describe an adviser to the President, but Reuters felt it was appropriate to use Glenn Beck's framing, so I have to in order to...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog
The facts, as Wall Street insider-turned-investigative journalist Nomi Prins laid them out Thursday in her talk at the Economic Policy Institute, are a damning indictment of the performance of our politicians. One year after a frenzy of financial industry bailout...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog
Today the world leaders attending the G-20 Summit get down to business. The main issues are economic restructuring to prevent another collapse, addressing trade imbalances, and discussions of climate change solutions. But the overriding issue for all of us boils down...
by Bill Scher | Sep 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Public Option Vote Soon in Senate Finance Committee Public option vote in Senate Finance Cmte was predicted to happen today by Sens. Rockefeller and Schumer,...
by Eric Lotke | Sep 25, 2009 | Blog, Minimum Wage
The G-20 Summit is wrapping up today. We can compare its performance to promises made in advance. Leaders discussed financial markets, of course, but they also made promises about jobs and work. Some highlights: “3. We must promote employment through structural...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 24, 2009 | Blog
A while back I read a blog post by Kim Cranston, of Transparent Democracy, Humanity's Greatest Challenge and Its Solution. That post stuck with me. Kim wrote, Climate change is not humanity's greatest challenge… Neither are pandemics, nuclear proliferation, water...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 24, 2009 | Blog
I took a walk across town to the United Steelworkers building, which turned out to be pretty much deserted. I walked down the main streets where the businesses were largely closed, the sidewalks were ... deserted. Except for lots of cops. The office buildings are...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 24, 2009 | Blog
I am in Pittsburgh for the G20. The big issues here are, Economic restructuring to prevent another collapse, including regulation of banks, with banker pay a key component of what other countries are identifying as a problem, Trade imbalances, Climate, Jobs, and Jobs....
by Brian Dockstader | Sep 24, 2009 | Blog, Rick Perlstein
I have been restraining myself from writing a post about ACORN for some time now. It isn't that I haven't had plenty of thoughts about the faux scandal and the right-wing-media-led poo storm and subsequent political lynching that followed; I simply felt that there...
by Bill Scher | Sep 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Trigger and Co-Op Talk Fills The Air Pelosi soothes Blue Dogs, public option to be debated by full House. Politico: "During a breakfast with freshman Democrats...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 24, 2009 | Blog
I am in Pittsburgh for the G20. I am working out of the Climate Action Network Media Center located at the August Wilson Center downtown. The location of the G20 was switched to Pittsburgh in May, in order to showcase the city as revitalized by becoming an...
by Eric Lotke | Sep 24, 2009 | Blog
Source: BEA Today is the first day of the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. Because the G-20 nations represent 80 percent of world trade, it makes sense to look at America’s position within it. The above chart shows our trade balances with respect to the G-20 nations; the...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 23, 2009 | Blog
...[Q]uality care shouldn't depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to. This is the cause of my life. Sen. Ted Kennedy,...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 23, 2009 | Blog
The New York Times business section has this today, With a Receptive White House, Labor Begins to Line Up Battles. Oddly this "news" story incorrectly casts enforcement of trade agreements as opposing "free trade." From the story, While labor’s opposition to free...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 23, 2009 | Blog
It's always amazing to see the bald-faced capacity of the right to spew the intellectual fatuousness that whenever a president's decision aligns with the interests of unions and workers, he's caving in to political pressure, but when it aligns with the interests of...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 23, 2009 | Blog
The world economy is growing; stock markets are up; talk of recovery, not world depression, fills the business pages. As the leaders of the 20 leading economies gather in Pittsburgh this week, they might well feel the euphoria of someone who has survived a near-death...
by Bill Scher | Sep 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Pelosi Strengthens Bill While Baucus Compromises Wonk Room on Pelosi moving to include strongest possible version of public option in final House bill: "......
by Dave Johnson | Sep 22, 2009 | Blog, Economy
I am flying to Pittsburgh tomorrow and will be blogging here Thursday and Friday from the G-20 summit. The G-20 is a meeting of the Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of "systemically important industrialized and developing economies...
by Bill Scher | Sep 22, 2009 | Blog
The Senate Finance Committee began its formal drafting of its version of health care reform. And after the initial round of opening statements, we still don't know where the votes fall on the public option. We know, of course, that the initial draft from Chairman Max...
by Eric Lotke | Sep 22, 2009 | Blog, Making it in America
In the lead up to the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, mainstream media are telling half a story. Everyone seems to agree that heavy industry is a thing of the past. The London Telegraph opens with the “long-gone steel industry” and Business Week with the “rust-stained U.S....
by Alex Lawson | Sep 22, 2009 | Blog
Finally, we see some of Hollywood's A-list actors get on board this incredibly important issue. It is time we stand up and defend insurance company profits! Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell
by Bill Scher | Sep 22, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Baucus Makes Concessions Before Today's Cmte Session Baucus agrees to increase subsidies, unclear who it would help. NYT: "The changes could add $28 billion to...
by Eric Lotke | Sep 22, 2009 | Blog
New data just came in from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. In the first nine months of fiscal year 2009 the U.S. government reported 67,994 new immigration prosecutions, continuing and accelerating the surge from the Bush...
by Alex Lawson | Sep 21, 2009 | Blog
Last week the New England Journal of Medicine published a poll that showed 63 percent of doctors support giving people the choice of a public health insurance option. This morning, groups representing 500,000 doctors took out an ad urging Congress to support...
by Bill Scher | Sep 21, 2009 | Blog
Little noticed today -- why spoil a good "health care is in trouble" narrative? -- is the new Washington Post poll that shows the President's renewed push for reform is paying off in the "purple" state of Virginia. The poll was primarily about the governor's race, and...
by Bill Scher | Sep 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Senate Finance Takes Up 564 Amendments Tuesday NYT frames Senate Finance health care debate as all about Sen. Snowe: "...one Republican, Senator Olympia J....
by Eric Lotke | Sep 21, 2009 | Blog
The G-20 Summit is in Pittsburgh later this week. Leaders from the 20 countries that collectively represent two-thirds of the world’s population, 80 percent of world trade and 90 percent of global gross national product, will meet to discuss the global economy and...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 20, 2009 | Blog, Economy
Hard times, a rash of new media reports now assures us, are significantly narrowing the gap between the rich and everybody else. So why are so many super rich still smiling? Job worries have you down? Bills piling up? Nothing left in your retirement stash? You need a...
