by Sara Robinson | Mar 6, 2009 | Blog
My fictitious conservative uncle—let's call him Uncle Con—is at it again. "Americans don't need socialized medicine!" he bellows, doing his very best Rush Limbaugh impression—which pretty much lets you know where this particular set of talking points came from. (When...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Mar 6, 2009 | Blog, Economy
Anti-labor forces this week are reprising an old argument about the Employee Free Choice Act: Making it easier for employees to join unions will cost employees their jobs. The latest entry in this fusillade of propaganda comes from something called the Alliance to...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 6, 2009 | Blog
Ever since President Obama announced his plan to forestall foreclosures, many of those lucky enough to have burned their mortgages have angrily suggested that less frugal homeowners get the Creep of the Week award. While acknowledging such...
by Bill Scher | Mar 6, 2009 | Blog
The Washington Post had an interesting lead sentence for its coverage of the White House health care summit: "...President Obama yesterday reiterated his pledge to enact comprehensive legislation this year, an ambitious undertaking many say is further complicated by...
by Bill Scher | Mar 6, 2009 | Uncategorized
Unemployment Jumps To 8.1% Bureau of Labor Statistics this AM reports big jump in unemployment: "The sharp and widespread contraction in the labor market continued in February. Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 651,000, following declines of 681,000 in December and...
by Bill Scher | Mar 5, 2009 | Uncategorized
Health Care Summit Today Reuters: "President Barack Obama takes on healthcare reform at a White House forum on Thursday, seeking to design an overhaul of a costly and inefficient system he believes is threatening the U.S. economy ... The president has not presented a...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 4, 2009 | Blog
They're at it again. Conservatives, in concert with the health insurance industry, are desperately reaching for relevance on health care. But what they call CPR is really DNR — a "do not resuscitate" order for a health care system in critical condition. "Conservatives...
by Leo Gerard | Mar 4, 2009 | Blog
Leo W. Gerard: Economist James K. Galbraith, the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations at the University of Texas, recently told Deborah Solomon of the New York Times that you are “the person with the most serious claim” for predicting the...
by Bill Scher | Mar 4, 2009 | Uncategorized
Shovels Hit Ground CNN reports on release of transportation stimulus funds: [President] Obama and [Transportation Sec. Ray] LaHood on Tuesday announced the release of $27 billion in funds from the stimulus package "to help states create a 21st-century infrastructure."...
by Robert Borosage | Mar 4, 2009 | Blog
It ain't easy. No use jokin'. Everything's broken."-Bob Dylan We can't go back to the old economy. That economy -- marked by booms and busts, Gilded Age inequality, declining wages, growing household debts, and unsustainable trade deficits -- didn't work very well for...
by Terrance Heath | Mar 3, 2009 | Blog
Far be it from me to criticize anyone in government. (Yeah. Right.) But there's something that's been on my mind ever since people started piling on the auto industry, and this comment from Rahm Emmanuel brought it back to mind. The president's chief of staff...
by Bill Scher | Mar 3, 2009 | Blog
The SEIU has a brilliant new video skewering corporate executives and lobbyists pathetically trying to stoke panic around the Employee Free Choice Act, which will simply give employees the power to decide how to approach the question of unionization: be it ballot...
by Bill Scher | Mar 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Stock Market Is Not The Economy Useful reminder from Dean Baker: "The Washington Post told readers that 'Stock Sell-Off Spurs Fears That Slump Will Worsen.' Among whom did it raise such fears? Anyone who bases their expectations for the economy on the stock market...
by Bill Scher | Mar 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
Budget Battle Begins White House vs. Right-Wingers, The Sequel. W. Post reports: White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel portrayed the president's budget -- which envisions huge investments in alternative energy, education and health care while raising taxes on top...
by Bill Scher | Feb 27, 2009 | Uncategorized
Ready For Resistance WH signals it's ready to fight obstructionists for critical needs. W. Post: Obama will face increasing partisan opposition to major elements of his plan, even as he attempts to change the tone of political debate in Washington. But he may run into...
by Sara Robinson | Feb 26, 2009 | Blog
by Bill Scher | Feb 26, 2009 | Blog
Today's presidential budget proposal if enacted would be the second step, following the new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in turning the ship of state away from the cliffs of conservatism and on the path of active progressive government. At least on the...
by Leo Gerard | Feb 26, 2009 | Blog
It would be easy in these troubled times to shrink from campaign promises, to cower from the greatness that might have been, to claim that the beast of the Bush recession had devoured the nation’s potential to achieve great goals. President Barack Obama chose instead...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 26, 2009 | Blog
All you really need to know about the so-called Great American Tea Party, the series of protests a coalition of right-wing organizations and bloggers is fanning around the country, is that they draw their inspiration from Rick Santelli, the CNBC on-air personality who...
by Bill Scher | Feb 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
Budget Released Today, 9:30 AM ET USA Today provides the overview: Even with all the savings, the cost of the $787 billion economic stimulus bill will push the deficit for this year to $1.75 trillion, a level — as a percentage of the economy — not seen since World War...
by Bill Scher | Feb 25, 2009 | Blog
President Barack Obama yesterday made a very specific demand for averting a climate crisis and transitioning to a clean energy economy when he said, "I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 25, 2009 | Blog
by Robert Borosage | Feb 25, 2009 | Blog
by Bill Scher | Feb 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
Obama Address Articulates Vision for 2009 Key domestic policy statements from last night's presidential address: Credit: "we are creating a new lending fund that represents the largest effort ever to help provide auto loans, college loans, and small business loans to...
by Bill Scher | Feb 24, 2009 | Blog
by Bill Scher | Feb 24, 2009 | Blog
When Gov. Bobby Jindal formally responds to the President tonight, and introduces himself to much of America, will he make central his bizarre crusade against increased unemployment benefits? He has already drawn attention to himself in recent days by refusing to take...
by Alan Jenkins | Feb 24, 2009 | Blog
Two weeks ago in this column I called for equal opportunity guarantees in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Ensuring equal and expanded opportunity for all, I argued, will be crucial to a broad and lasting economic recovery that upholds our nation’s values....
by Isaiah J. Poole | Feb 24, 2009 | Blog
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by Bill Scher | Feb 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
Health Care Dominates Fiscal Summit McClatchy: "President Obama will convene a White House meeting next week to address runaway health-care costs. On Monday he called it key to reining in federal spending as he tries to balance plans to spend the country out of a...
by Sam Pizzigati | Feb 23, 2009 | Blog
Every three years, researchers from the Federal Reserve Board fan out all across the United States to figure out just how well America’s families are doing financially. The researchers knock on about 4,500 doors — and conduct incredibly detailed interviews that probe...
by Bill Scher | Feb 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
Budget Week Christian Science Monitor reports on the President's budget strategy: "On Monday, Obama is expected to announce that he plans to cut the budget deficit in half by the end of his term. The White House projects that the inherited deficit of $1.3 trillion...
by Bill Scher | Feb 20, 2009 | Blog
In advance of Monday's "Fiscal Responsibility Summit" at the White House, summit participant Pete Peterson and his foundation launched a $1 million ad campaign, irresponsibly peddling false information
by Bill Scher | Feb 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
Fiscal Responsibility, Redefined Campaign for America's Future hosts media conference with Dean Baker, James Galbraith, Nancy Altman and Roger Hickey, attacking Pete Peterson's defamation of Social Security and Medicare in advance of WH "Fiscal Responsibility Summit."...
by Bill Scher | Feb 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
Wide-Ranging Reaction to Obama Housing Plan Consumer Federation of America praises: " a coordinated set of initiatives that, taken together, mark a fresh and welcome new chapter in the government’s response to this ongoing crisis ... These changes to the bankruptcy...
by Sara Robinson | Feb 18, 2009 | Blog
by Terrance Heath | Feb 18, 2009 | Blog
Well, no. But the image above was recently named World Press Photo 2008, and the judges framed it in a war context.
by Robert Borosage | Feb 18, 2009 | Blog
by Bill Scher | Feb 18, 2009 | Uncategorized
Obama Housing Plan To Be Announced Today NYT's David Leonhardt previews: ...the key to understanding that plan will be remembering that there are two different groups of homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure. The first group is made up of people who cannot afford...
by Leo Gerard | Feb 17, 2009 | Blog
The sky is falling. For the average Working Joe or Jane in America, it is anyway. Unemployment is at 7.6 percent and rising. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that there are 4.1 job seekers now for every opening. The mortgage delinquency rate set another record...
by Bill Scher | Feb 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
Economic Recovery Plan Becomes Law Today W. Post pinpoints how the new law begins to change America: The economic stimulus package dramatically ramps up spending for a broad array of social programs for needy Americans in a way not seen since the launch of the Great...
