by Terrance Heath | Sep 18, 2009 | Blog
"I don't understand you Americans. You blow billions on a useless war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and billions more to bail out banks that nearly bankrupted the world economy, but you don't ensure healthcare for your own people. Even Obama can't make a difference. It's...
by Bill Scher | Sep 18, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Dems & Snowe Prepare (Some) Changes To Baucus Bill Snowe, right-leaning Dem Senators release statement supportive of Baucus bill but short of endorsement....
by Dave Johnson | Sep 18, 2009 | Blog, Minimum Wage
“Protectionism” is a very powerful word. In fact, simply evoking the word is capable of ending debate on any subject related to trade. Invoking the magic words, “You can’t do that, it would be protectionist,” settles all arguments. Why, exactly, is protectionism so...
by Bill Scher | Sep 17, 2009 | Blog
Senate Finance Committee member Maria Cantwell said she won't vote for a bill without a public option, such as the Baucus bill. She said to McClatchy Newspapers, "I wouldn't vote for a bill that doesn't have Medicare reform and the public option. What would I tell the...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 17, 2009 | Blog
Today the new Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, modeled after the New Deal-era Pecora Commission, begins its investigation into possible misconduct by the financial sector causing last year's market meltdown. Campaign for America's Future co-director Robert...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 17, 2009 | Blog
In their first meeting Wednesday, members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission—often characterized as the second coming of the Pecora Commission that investigated the causes of the Great Depression—clarified how they see their mission and what we can expect....
by Bill Scher | Sep 17, 2009 | Blog
The Congressional Budget Office gave Sen. Max Baucus' bill the best scoring yet for a health care bill. But his removal of a public health insurance option in favor of seed money for non-profit co-ops has nothing to do with it. Baucus' bill costs less in the eyes of...
by Bill Scher | Sep 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
Stingy Baucus Bill Repels Senators, Relieves Special Interests Obama holds health care rally in Maryland today. Balt. Sun: "...his latest appeal in what is quickly becoming the most extensive presidential selling job in years." Salon.com: "The whole point of the...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 16, 2009 | Blog
In the previous post, I included a quote from Franklin Roosevelt's Second Inaugural Address. We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country's interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders...
by Leo Gerard | Sep 16, 2009 | Blog, Minimum Wage
Let's go back, just for a minute, to a time before screaming teabaggers, before Republicans decided to kill health insurance reform as a means to politically destroy this country's first African-American president. Try and remember what it was like before discussion...
by Bill Scher | Sep 16, 2009 | Blog
Conservatives who loved citing the Congressional Budget Office when it was being hard on health care legislation keep on ignoring it when it comes to climate legislation. Today conservatives tried once again to mislead the media into reporting the costs of...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 16, 2009 | Blog
"We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country's interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of...
by Bill Scher | Sep 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Rockefeller Leads Dem Opposition To Baucus Bill Baucus bill greeted with Dem criticism and no GOP support. Bloomberg: "Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max...
by Bill Scher | Sep 15, 2009 | Blog
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chair of the health subcommittee in the Senate Finance Committee, just announced on a media conference call with the Institute for America's Future, that there is "no way" he will vote for the new bill drafted by Sen. Max Baucus. At the top of...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 15, 2009 | Blog
Last night, on a 83-7 vote, the Senate voted to bar ACORN from receiving any funds in the fiscal 2010 Transportation and HUD appropriations bills. If the House follows suit, that would effectively end several housing assistance and advocacy programs that ACORN has...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 15, 2009 | Blog
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, ....The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand -- William Butler Yeats President Obama traveled to Wall Street on...
by Bill Scher | Sep 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Baucus Plan Appears To Make No One Happy Democrats unhappy with effort to make coverage affordable. W. Post: "Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) declared himself...
by Brian Dockstader | Sep 14, 2009 | Blog
So I went to check out Glenn Beck's little 9/12 Project teabagger rally in front of the Capitol on Saturday and saw a great cross-section of what "real" Americans supposedly look like. First, a little background for those of you who aren't familiar with the premise of...
by Leo Gerard | Sep 14, 2009 | Blog, Making it in America, Minimum Wage
Barack Obama proved Friday he's got grit. He enforced trade laws. These are special trade safeguard rules called "Section 421" that the Chinese had agreed to obey to gain entrance to the World Trade Organization (WTO). They are, however, laws that had gone unenforced...
by Bill Scher | Sep 14, 2009 | Blog
ABC News' polling director Gary Langer makes a notable observation about the W. Post/ABC health care polls from today and June: "[Our] June poll found that support for a public option drops dramatically if it would put many private insurers out of business, as critics...
by Bill Scher | Sep 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Prez Heads To Wall Street To Recharge Reform Effort LA Times previews financial reform speech: "The momentum for those reforms has been weakening recently as...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 14, 2009 | Blog
During Take Back America 2008, I spent part of a day running around with a camera and a microphone asking people which issue was most important to them in the upcoming election. Just when I thought I was done, the camera turned to me and I was faced with the same...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 14, 2009 | Blog
President Obama has decided to enforce our trade laws and imposed a 3-year tariff on Chinese tires. I suspect the country is about to witness a corporate hissy fit that will surely rival any righteous teabagger’s demands to see the President’s birth certificate. Here...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 13, 2009 | Blog
All the big banks in the Netherlands, pressed on by the Dutch finance minister, have agreed on a serious plan to restrain banker bonuses. And now the Dutch want the rest of the world to sign on. Remember that fabled Dutch boy who stuck his finger in a dike and saved...
by Alex Lawson | Sep 12, 2009 | Blog
It was a lovely day in DC as the Billionaires for Wealthcare gathered to survey our investments. After a few of our beautiful heiresses took proper tea at the Ladies Tea Party held by Americans for Prosperity, our gilded heroes headed off to greet the marchers with...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 12, 2009 | Blog
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. NY Times: U.S. Adds Punitive Tariffs on Chinese Tires In a break with the trade policies of his predecessor,...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 11, 2009 | Blog
Clyde Prestowitz op-ed in the Financial Times, Obama can help free trade with tariffs: Not to accept the tariff recommendation would be a severe blow to open trade and globalisation as well as to America’s future economic health. Prestowitz argues a tariff would be...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 11, 2009 | Blog
Thursday's U.S. Census Bureau report on poverty and income, which showed the poverty rate increasing from 12.5 percent in 2007 to 13.2 percent 2008 and the median household income falling during that period by an historic 3.6 percent, was a devastating indictment of...
by Bill Scher | Sep 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Prez Speech Reverberates On Capitol Hill As Talks Continue Another poll shows bounce for reform. CBS: "Last week, just 40 percent of these adults approved of...
by Sara Robinson | Sep 10, 2009 | Blog
True confessions: I missed the health care speech. While the whole lefty blogosphere was watching and blogging and tweeting, I was sacked out in my attic bedroom high on a mountainside in Vancouver, sleeping off a narcotic haze and the exhausting aftermath of a long...
by Brian Dockstader | Sep 10, 2009 | Blog, Economy
The reviews of President Obama's health care speech before a joint session of Congress have been fairly glowing. Most agree that the President made a strong case for health insurance reform and did a good job of explaining why the public option is important, even if...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2009 | Blog
Earlier today on WHMP's Bill Dwight Show, I offered my analysis of President Obama's speech. The segment starts about five minutes in. Terrance Heath made the point earlier today that apparently we now need a grownup's table and a kid's table for Presidential...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 10, 2009 | Blog
I didn't see the president's speech on health care reform last night, because it fell right in the middle of the kids' bedtime. I read about it afterwards. But I couldn't believe this until I'd seen it myself. It happened at 8:40 pm, just after the president vowed to...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2009 | Blog
After last night speech, I have no idea what President Obama's legislative strategy is regarding a public health insurance option. But I know he's made a public option more possible. And I know what needs to happen to get it done. Some pundits are looking at the...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 10, 2009 | Blog
The President gives a great speech. He offers reason against hysteria. He summons us to our better angels. He challenges politicians and Americans to do "great things," because that is "who we are." He claims the center by defining himself against...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Public Opinion Jumps After Presidential Address Speech a hit with audience. CNN: "About one in seven people who watched the speech changed their minds on...
by Sara Robinson | Sep 9, 2009 | Blog
As of today, Glenn Beck has lost 62 advertisers and counting due to Color of Change's campaign. And FOX is still asserting that this doesn't really hurt the network as a whole, because the advertisers are simply re-directing their ad buys to other shows. A lot of...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 9, 2009 | Blog, Making it in America
President Obama faces a tough decision soon that will signal how his administration will tackle the problem of balancing our trade policies. This is the upcoming "Section 421 Tire Case" decision. Summary: American has been importing more and more tires from China...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 9, 2009 | Blog
At a delightful dinner party the other night, our host, a cosmopolitan man with interests ranging from water in California to Sufism in India, punctuated a brief complaint about the economy by noting, "And of course, I'm a nut on trade" (meaning an ardent...
by Bill Scher | Sep 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day. Trigger Proposal Floated By Numerous Dems, Including Speaker The Treatment's Suzy Khimm speculates what Sen. Snowe's version of a trigger may look like:...
