by Dave Johnson | Feb 1, 2017 | Blog
Economic growth is slow, the trade deficit is too big, and these dots are connected. First, the stalling economy. As Wonkblog recently reported on what it called "a long period of tepid expansion under the Obama administration," GDP growth has averaged about 2.1...
by People's Action | Feb 1, 2017 | Breakfast
Stop Puzder Donald Trump’s nominee for Labor Secretary—fast-food CEO Andrew Puzder—is out of touch with the needs of working people. Despite having built his business and fortune on the backs of hard working Americans, he opposes meaningful increases to the minimum...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 31, 2017 | Blog
The 45th President of the United States just handled one of his gravest responsibilities, the nomination of a Supreme Court justice, with his trademark vulgar and vaudevillian vapidity. Only 11 days into his presidency, Donald Trump's shtick has become as boring as it...
by Robert Reich | Jan 31, 2017 | Blog
Donald Trump has reorganized the National Security Council—elevating his chief political strategist Steve Bannon, and demoting the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bannon will join the NSC’s principals committee, the top...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 31, 2017 | Blog
As the CEO of the company that owns fast-food chains Carl's Jr and Hardee's, Andy Puzder has championed replacing human workers with robots and sexist advertising while racking up labor rights, health and safety violations. He's now on the brink of running a...
by People's Action | Jan 31, 2017 | Breakfast
#RESISTTRUMPTUESDAY TODAY: Join one of the hundreds of local #ResistTrumpTuesdays protests across the country hosted by People's Action, MoveOn.org and the Working Families Party. The resistance to Trump's agenda is building momentum and it's working! Come join us....
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 31, 2017 | Progressive Vision
It's now abundantly clear that the Trump administration has planted and sown the seeds of its own destruction. The evidence keeps mounting. There's the billionaire-packed cabinet that Donald Trump assembled in betrayal of his populist campaign themes. There's the...
by Jeff Bryant | Jan 30, 2017 | Blog
As protests swept the nation this weekend, you may have overlooked the wave of pushback against Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump's nominee to head the Education Department. From Los Angles to Washington, D.C., students, teachers, parents and public school...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 30, 2017 | Blog
Friday was Holocaust Remembrance Day. As you may have heard, the White house marked the occasion with this statement: It is with a heavy heart and somber mind that we remember and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust. It is impossible to fully fathom...
by Miles Mogulescu | Jan 30, 2017 | Blog
The millions of women and men who joined the Women’s March, and the tens of thousands who showed up at airports this weekend to proclaim that America is still the home of the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” demonstrate that a massive Resistance to the...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jan 30, 2017 | Blog
How rich have America’s rich become? So rich that they can squirrel away $100 million and then lose track of it. Steven Mnuchin, the Donald Trump nominee for U.S. treasury secretary, did just that earlier this month. All cabinet secretary picks have to file paperwork...
by People's Action | Jan 30, 2017 | Breakfast
Resistance Rises Protests against Trump refugee order sweep country. NYT: "Protesters amassed in public spaces and at airports to oppose the order, which they assailed as un-American ... protesters gathered by the thousands outside the front lawn of the White House...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 30, 2017 | Blog
There's compelling evidence to show that Steve Mnuchin, Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of the Treasury, lied to the Senate in both written and verbal testimony. Senate Republicans seem to be taking these offenses in stride. None of the GOP’s “independents” and...
by Chuck Collins | Jan 27, 2017 | Tax Reform
Donald Trump’s voters have high hopes that he’ll boost the economy and protect jobs for those who’ve been left behind after three decades of flat or shrinking paychecks. They didn’t vote to make the super-wealthy even wealthier. Even Steve Mnuchin, the Goldman Sachs...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 27, 2017 | Blog
Andy Puzder, CEO offast-food giant CKE Restaurants (Hardee's and Carl's Jr), is President Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Labor. As one more Ayn Rand devotee nominated to Trump's cabinet, his mission is clear: to spearhead Trump's War on Workers. December's post,...
by People's Action | Jan 27, 2017 | Breakfast
Trump Confuses On Border Tax Mixed signals from Trump on border tax. NYT: "...Trump appeared to embrace a proposal by House Republicans that would impose a 20 percent tax on all imported goods. The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, told reporters that the...
by Mehrdad Azemun | Jan 27, 2017 | Blog
Last Saturday, millions of us poured into the streets from Barrow, Alaska, to Washington, D.C., to Tallahassee, Florida at the Women’s Marches. I myself was proud to march with my family in our nation’s capitol. Our display of unity showed the world how powerful we...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 26, 2017 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
[fve]https://youtu.be/l96myiBa16Y[/fve] At the beginning of the Obama administration, Democrats had control of the Congress and passed the "stimulus." Unfortunately only a third of that was for infrastructure work. Then Republicans in Congress obstructed every...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 26, 2017 | Blog
[fve]https://youtu.be/KB2R641paiQ[/fve] Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, is a Tea Party Republican whose extremist ideology could have grave consequences for your health. That's reason enough to block his nomination. But...
by Jeff Bryant | Jan 26, 2017 | Blog
Left-leaning people everywhere got a big yuk when Betsy DeVos, during her confirmation hearing for US Secretary of Education, cited "potential grizzlies" as a reason to allow guns at schools. As evidence for her assertion, she referenced an earlier exchange she'd had...
by Bill Scher | Jan 26, 2017 | Uncategorized
Executive Orders Half-Baked Trump's executive orders not well thought through. Politico: "The breakneck pace of Trump’s executive actions might please his supporters, but critics are questioning whether the documents are being rushed through without the necessary...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 26, 2017 | Blog
Donald Trump, in what's been hyped as an "unprecedented" move, has instituted a freeze on the hiring of federal employees. Hyperbole aside (it’s hardly unprecedented, since Ronald Reagan did the same thing on his first day in office), one thing is already clear: this...
by Julie Chinitz | Jan 25, 2017 | Blog
On January 13, the congressman representing my friend Paola voted to take away her health care. That day, Rep. Dan Newhouse, representing Washington state’s Yakima Valley, joined 226 other Republicans to begin repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Paola is diabetic. Rep....
by Jeff Bryant | Jan 25, 2017 | Blog
In one of the testier moments in what was the testiest ever confirmation hearing for US secretary of education, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia questioned if nominee billionaire Betsy DeVos would demand the same kind of accountability from the full range of...
by People's Action | Jan 25, 2017 | Breakfast
Trump To Begin Wall (But Can He Finish It?) Executive orders expected today. Politico: "One of the [executive] actions expected to be taken will be an executive order to direct federal funds toward the construction of the border wall ... will specify a temporary ban...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 25, 2017 | Blog
President Trump formally withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Though TPP was killed by a long progressive fight that resulted in it not having the votes to pass Congress, of course, he took credit for killing it himself. TPP was another "trade"...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 24, 2017 | Blog
When the history of Donald Trump's administration is written, people may point to the appointment of a Koch Brothers' operative to a little-known White House position as a turning point in Trump's evolution from unorthodox Republican candidate to doctrinaire corporate...
by Mark Trahant | Jan 24, 2017 | Blog
The following was originally posted at TrahantReports.com President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration weekend: Pomp and circumstance. Pettiness and chaos. Huge crowds of supporters. And even larger crowds from the Women’s March in cities and small towns around the world....
by People's Action | Jan 24, 2017 | Breakfast
BREAKING: DAKOTA, KEYSTONE BACK ON Trump to sign orders advancing Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines reports Bloomberg. Price In Trouble? Ethics concerns expected to dominate HHS nominee Tom Price hearing today. CNN: "...Senate Finance Committee staff released a...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 24, 2017 | Blog
Saturday's marches and rallies. Wow. Huge, huge crowds, even the little place, even in the heartland. Some say it was the biggest demonstration in US history. It is now estimated that between 3.3 million and 4.6 million people turned out for the Women's March...
by Libero Della Piana | Jan 24, 2017 | Progressive Vision, The Trump Swamp
The massive Women’s March in Washington last Saturday started off with a bang the resistance to the incoming administration of Donald Trump and his policies. The breadth and scale of the myriad sister marches held around the country and the globe, from big cities to...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jan 23, 2017 | Blog
The world’s richest and most powerful will go to great lengths to have a good time. They’ll even pretend they relish waxing philosophical — about humanity’s future and fate. Last week, at the annual World Economic Forum high up in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos,...
by People's Action | Jan 23, 2017 | Breakfast
AFTER THE MARCH, TAKE ACTION After this weekend's massive Women's Marches kicked off the resistance, the next step in tomorrow. Join us Tuesday, January 24, when People’s Action, MoveOn.org, and the Working Families Party are hosting rallies across the country. We are...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 23, 2017 | Blog
Donald Trump’s inaugural address stunned Washington elites. The New York Times, Washington Post and others commented on its unbridled populism, its accusatory tone. The Post’s antiquated conservative, George Will, scorned it as “the most dreadful inaugural address...
by Miles Mogulescu | Jan 23, 2017 | Blog
The Women's March (or should I say Marches) were among the most inspiring events of my lifetime. As a middle aged man who has been marching for social and economic justice since I was very young, I was proud to follow the leadership of strong women expressing not...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 20, 2017 | Blog
[fve]https://youtu.be/Kpwt_ZruQHs[/fve] More than 700 Momentive Performance Materials chemical plant workers in Waterford, NY have been on strike since November 2. The Albany Times Union explains why, in a report about the striking Waterford chemical plant, Workers...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 20, 2017 | Blog
The following was originally published in The Nation David Brock is the darling of Democratic Party millionaires and billionaires. Donald Trump’s inauguration has sparked rallies in defense of Medicare and Medicaid, women’s marches across the country, protests...
by People's Action | Jan 20, 2017 | Breakfast
TAKE ACTION Trump set to violate the Constitution The Emoluments Clause of the Constitution prohibits all government officials—including the President—from taking gifts or money from a foreign government. In December, ethics lawyers from both the Bush and Obama...
by Richard Eskow | Jan 20, 2017 | Blog
We don’t know each other. But today, on the occasion of Donald Trump’s inauguration, there were some things I wanted to say to you as one American to another. (I'm willing to listen, too.) Let's get this out of the way first: I think Donald Trump is dangerously...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 19, 2017 | Blog
The business-oriented media are loudly proclaiming that president-"elect" Donald Trump's proposed tax cuts for the rich and corporations will "boost" the economy. ● WSJ: Trump’s Proposed Tax Cuts Could Boost U.S. and Global Growth, Says World Bank ● CNBC: Trump tax...
