by People's Action | Jun 30, 2016 | Breakfast
Groundbreaking Report On Student Debt Consumer Reports and the nonprofit Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting have partnered to produce a special report series examining the nation’s growing student debt crisis, in which some 42 million people owe $1.3...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 30, 2016 | Blog, Economy
“Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair …” If Tony Blair’s op-ed on Brexit is mournful and even elegiac in tone, that’s understandable. Great Britain’s vote to leave the European Union was, after all, a repudiation of his legacy as prime minister. And if it isn’t as...
by Jim Hightower | Jun 29, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Attention people, there’s big news out of Washington: Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House, has announced that he has an idea! This is news because the GOP leadership hasn’t offered a new idea in years. Instead, they’ve simply been the party of no, opposing...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 29, 2016 | Education
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has gotten some well-deserved rebukes for the limited college-debt relief plan she unveiled Tuesday in Denver for graduates who start new businesses. "If Clinton wants to give away money to people who will eventually...
by Bill Scher | Jun 29, 2016 | Blog, Progressive Vision
For Politico Magazine, I conducted an informal survey of Bernie Sanders supporters to gauge reaction to a possible vice-presidential nomination of Sen. Tim Kaine. The reaction was not good. His support for fast-track trade authority, spending cuts, offshore drilling...
by People's Action | Jun 29, 2016 | Breakfast
Trump Stakes Ground On Trade Trump promises to withdraw from trade deals in PA speech. NYT: "He threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and pledged to label China a currency manipulator and impose punitive tariffs on Chinese goods ......
by Bill Scher | Jun 29, 2016 | Blog, Trade
Whenever you listen to Donald Trump speak about trade, as he did Tuesday in Pittsburgh, always keep in front of your mind that he is peddling a con. He slams recent trade agreements by "the politicians," and promises to negotiate "great deals," but he never explains...
by Burning Issues Video | Jun 29, 2016 | Burning Issues, Defense/Foreign Policy
[fve]https://youtu.be/kDwlgxayM0Y[/fve] Be wary of rhetoric coming from Pentagon leaders championing an escalation of military pressure against China, says Lawrence Korb, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, in this Burning Issues video. "There are a...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 28, 2016 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
A Canadian corporation is suing the us because we wouldn't let them build a pipeline across our country (seizing people's property along the way) so they could sell oil to China. They can do this because we signed a trade agreement that places corporate rights above...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 28, 2016 | Jobs and Growth
One of the unheralded victories in the Democratic Party platform victories puts the party officially on the side of workers in a big, concrete way. The platform draft that is now on its way to the full platform committee, which votes on it at a meeting in Orlando,...
by Leo Gerard | Jun 28, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, Jobs and Growth, This Is The GOP
After mouthing off in ways that had the effect of repeatedly shooting himself in the foot, Donald Trump tried to recover last week by puffing himself up as the jobs candidate. “When I see the crumbling roads and bridges, or the dilapidated airports, or the factories...
by People's Action | Jun 28, 2016 | Breakfast
McKibben, Cohen Pound Platform Democratic platform drafting committee member Bill McKibben slams draft platform in Politico Magazine oped: "Amendments against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement and backing Medicare for all failed, with all the Clinton...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 27, 2016 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Democratic party's elites must not think that trade and jobs will be big issues in the coming election. Apparently, they've never listened to a Donald Trump speech, and didn't notice that working-class people in the United Kingdom just voted to "brexit" from the...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jun 27, 2016 | Jobs and Growth
While national pizza chains like Domino's and Papa John's have been targeted by Fight for 15 protests around the country because of their low wages and allegations of wage theft, a Washington, D.C.-based pizza entrepreneur has made his chain a champion of the...
by Terrance Heath | Jun 27, 2016 | Blog, Economy, Progressive Vision
Earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau revealed new rules to rein in payday lenders and their outrageous fees. Now, the CFPB needs to take the next step to protect Americans from these corporate loan sharks. People’s Action is calling on the CFPB...
by Thomas Palley | Jun 27, 2016 | Blog, Economy, Trade
In years to come, the Brexit referendum may come to be seen as the day we entered the eye of the maelstrom that now promises enormous destruction. The immediate consequence looks to be a possible financial crisis, but even if that is avoided the other costs of Brexit...
by People's Action | Jun 27, 2016 | Breakfast
Clinton and Warren Head to Ohio Clinton and Warren stump together today in Ohio. NYT: "The joint Ohio event comes as the campaign enters the final stretch before the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, where Mr. Sanders has vowed to take his liberal agenda to the...
by Burning Issues Video | Jun 27, 2016 | Burning Issues, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
[fve]https://youtu.be/UmFUThcbSJY[/fve] The 2016 political races are being buffeted by "a transpartisan, nationwide trade revolt" against trade deals that have been rigged to benefit wealthy corporations at the expense of the rest of us, says Lori Wallach, director of...
by Jim Hightower | Jun 24, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
This year’s freakish presidential election has now devolved into an ethnic brouhaha between two foreigners: A Mexican and a German. The “Mexican” is Gonzalo Curiel, a U.S. federal judge who was born, raised, and educated in Indiana. The “German” is Donald Drumpf —...
by Terrance Heath | Jun 24, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
The tragedy in Orlando reveals that the three issues that once made up the Republican’s “winning formula” may have finally ripened into political poison for the GOP. In 1994, James Inhofe told Oklahoma voters that the senate race could be summed up in “the three Gs —...
by Terrance Heath | Jun 24, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
This week, House Democrats and Republicans faced off over reasonable gun laws. Democrats held a sit-in to force a showdown with Republican leadership. Republicans blinked. If anyone in the House knows how to stand up to powerful opposition with moral strength, Rep....
by People's Action | Jun 24, 2016 | Breakfast
UK Votes "Leave," Global Economy Shaken UK votes to leave EU 52%-48%. BBC: "Prime Minister David Cameron is to step down by October ... UKIP leader Nigel Farage hailed it as the UK's 'independence day' ... Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 24, 2016 | Blog
Things are changing. A major crack has appeared in the edifice of globalization, and the neoliberal order that has dominated the world's economy since the end of World War II is now in danger. That's not necessarily a bad thing, by any means. But poisonous weeds are...
by Bill Moyers | Jun 23, 2016 | Blog, Progressive Vision
By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship This post first appeared on BillMoyers.com. On March 7, 1965, 25-year-old John Lewis, already a veteran of the Freedom Rides, Mississippi’s Freedom Summer and Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, walked ahead of 600 civil...
by Jeff Bryant | Jun 23, 2016 | Blog, Education
Recently New York Times columnist Frank Bruni lodged a complaint about college students who "have come to act as customers" in the higher education system. He argues that because many colleges now feature rich amenities – from sushi bars to water parks – and...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 23, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, Economy, Progressive Vision, This Is The GOP
When you hear people saying that "even the IMF" is recommending economic actions that might help regular people, that's a sign that something big is going down. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is known as a neoliberal organization that pushes privatization of...
by People's Action | Jun 23, 2016 | Breakfast
Election 2016 Bernie Sanders Admits ‘It Doesn’t Appear’ That He’ll Be the Nominee: New York Times: “Senator Bernie Sanders came one step closer to accepting defeat on Wednesday, telling C-SPAN in an hourlong interview that he most likely would not be the Democratic...
by Robert Borosage | Jun 23, 2016 | Blog, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday departed from the running exchange of insults with Donald Trump to present her strategy to create an economy “that works for everyone, not just those at the top.” Clinton presented herself as a...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 22, 2016 | Blog, Financial Reform
A “D” beside a politician's name doesn't necessarily mean they're fighting for the public's interests. In fact, 13 Democratic members of Congress recently joined Republicans in voting to protect private equity and hedge funds. This vote demonstrates the corrupting...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 22, 2016 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has said she opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But she has also said she will not lobby members of Congress to vote against it. Meanwhile, President Obama continues to push for a vote on TPP in the...
by Bernie Horn | Jun 22, 2016 | Blog
Political activists have a notion that there is something beyond logic and self-interest that drives the choices of average voters. We know that low-income Whites often vote against their own economic interests. We know that very religious Americans often support...
by Richard Eskow | Jun 22, 2016 | Blog, Progressive Vision
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mz1yuLegKI?start=1916&end=2599] This past weekend I spoke at "The People's Summit," a gathering of groups and individuals dedicated to building a longstanding movement out of the momentum created by the Bernie Sanders...
by People's Action | Jun 22, 2016 | Breakfast
Clinton To Detail Economic Vision Clinton to talk economy in NC speech today. Bloomberg: "'She will talk both about how we drive more growth and how we drive more fairness,' senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan said ... Clinton is not expected to unveil new policy...
by Bill Scher | Jun 22, 2016 | Blog, Economy, Progressive Vision
The Washington Post recently highlighted the economic divergence between California and Kansas. California is tied, with Oregon, for the fastest growth in the nation with 4.1 percent gross domestic product growth in 2015. Kansas was flat, at 0.2 percent, and the...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 21, 2016 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
In the United States "We the People" are supposed to have a say in how we are governed, right? So shouldn't we have a say in how we are governed? President Obama, Wall Street and the giant, multinational corporations are pushing – and pushing hard – for a vote in...
by Leo Gerard | Jun 21, 2016 | Blog, Election 2016, Jobs and Growth
Using rape-and-pillage corporate practices favored by Wall Street, Donald Trump made himself billions while swindling and bankrupting untold numbers of hourly workers and small businesses. In recounting his "deal-making" experience, Trump says the important thing is...
by People's Action | Jun 21, 2016 | Breakfast
Burning Issues: Taking On ISIS Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, says in this Burning Issues video that in order to eliminate the threat of ISIS, the United States has to support eliminating the conditions that have led people in Syria and...
by Burning Issues Video | Jun 21, 2016 | Blog, Burning Issues, Defense/Foreign Policy
[fve]https://youtu.be/3V4mFLSajK0[/fve] In order to eliminate the threat of ISIS, the United States has to support eliminating the conditions that have led people in Syria and Iraq to conclude that ISIS is the lesser of two evils, says Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the...
by Dave Johnson | Jun 21, 2016 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
Our country needs to fix its infrastructure. With every bridge collapse, train derailment and water main breakage, this just becomes more and more obvious. The media exposes reason after reason after reason to do it, on OurFuture.org we write post after post about it,...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jun 20, 2016 | Blog
In this year’s first quarter, the Federal Reserve reported last week, the total amount of wealth in the United States nudged over $88 trillion, a record high. So do you feel wealthier than ever? Probably not. Economic insecurity remains the norm for tens of millions...
