by Robert Borosage | Jan 13, 2016 | Blog, Progressive Vision
President Obama transformed his last State of the Union speech last night into his first farewell address. From his opening twitting legislators for being “antsy” to get back to Iowa, the president acknowledged that in an election year, with a bitterly obstructionist...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 12, 2016 | Election 2016, Progressive Vision
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Tuesday won the endorsement of MoveOn.org Political Action, in what executive director Ilya Sherman described as a "record setting 78.6 percent" of the vote over challenger Hillary Clinton. In an email to supporters,...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 12, 2016 | Economy, Populist Majority, Progressive Vision
At first glance, a poll released this week by USA Today and Rock the Vote, done by Ipsos, seems to confound our narrative that a majority of millennials identify more with progressives than conservatives. In fact, when asked that question point-blank when it comes to...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 12, 2016 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
President Obama gives his last State of the Union speech tonight. Will he provide a positive, progressive message for the future, or will he continue to push the wildly unpopular, corporate/Wall Street-written Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)? TPP Unpopular Last week...
by Robert Reich | Jan 12, 2016 | Blog, Financial Reform
If you haven’t yet seen “The Big Short” – directed and co-written by Adam McKay, based on the non-fiction prize-winning book by Michael Lewis about the housing and credit bubble that triggered the Great Recession — I recommend you do so. Not only is the movie an...
by Leo Gerard | Jan 12, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, Health, This Is The GOP
The grandest and most majestic first act of 2016 by the Republican majority in Congress was to take a meat clever and sever 17 million Americans from their Affordable Care Act health insurance. No chemo for you, cancer patients, the GOP declared. No plaster or slings...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 12, 2016 | Uncategorized
Public Sector Unions Face the Supreme Court DailyKos' Laura Clawson sees the Supreme Court readying "another blow against unions." But there's one ray of hope: "Friedrichs is expected to come down to a 5-4 vote, but the expected swing vote comes from an unexpected...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 11, 2016 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
After a decades-long effort to place ideologically committed "movement" members in the judicial branch of government, funded by extremely wealthy individuals and their corporations, it looks like the resulting corporate/conservative wing of the Supreme Court is ready...
by Sam Pizzigati | Jan 11, 2016 | Blog
Back in America’s original Gilded Age, in the decades right after the Civil War, no American spoke and wrote more compellingly against the nation’s growing inequality than Henry George, a Philadelphia-born journalist whose writing career initially took off in San...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 11, 2016 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has provisions that allow corporations to sue governments for laws and regulations that limit profits. The cases bypass national court systems and are heard by "corporate courts" with the governments allowed no appeal. These...
by Jeff Bryant | Jan 11, 2016 | Blog
2015 will forever be remembered as the year the political establishment was shaken by the populist-driven presidential candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. But it should also be remembered as the year another established order was forever altered by change,...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 11, 2016 | Uncategorized
State of the Union Obama to focus on future in his final State of the Union speech. CNN: “It was tempting for the President to follow the lead of his predecessors, take a victory lap and mainly tout his administration’s achievements. But Obama’s instruction to his...
by Liz Ryan Murray | Jan 11, 2016 | Blog, Economy, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
In South Carolina on Saturday, the Republican candidates for president got together to discuss what they would do to address poverty in America. If you missed it, they promised that if elected they would do everything in their power to make things worse by cutting...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 8, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
When President Obama introduced his executive actions on gun control, he wept as he talked about Sandy Hook Elementary. Wingnuts couldn’t understand why he would still cry over 20 dead first graders. It took a long time. It took over 20 mass shootings since Barack...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 8, 2016 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Thursday's post, "Why You Should Pay Attention To The ‘Friedrichs’ Supreme Court Case," looked at the issues in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case: This time it is a case involving the rights of public-employee unions to charge employees a fee for...
by Bill Scher | Jan 8, 2016 | Uncategorized
Progressive Presidential Forum Tomorrow "Saturday: Watch Live Video of the Iowa People’s Presidential Forum" urges OurFuture.org's Roger Hickey: "Since the Democratic National Committee seems to sponsor Democratic presidential debates only once in a blue moon,...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 8, 2016 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
Amid the clamorous tumult of global stock markets, the December Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report offers reassuring stability – 292,000 new jobs with the headline unemployment rate steady at 5 percent. The U.S. has now enjoyed a record 70 months of private sector...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Jan 8, 2016 | Conservatism, Economy, Election 2016
Republican leaders, including six of the GOP presidential candidates, on Saturday will engage in one of their occasional displays of "compassionate conservatism," in which they seek to convince voters that they actually do care about people struggling to climb out of...
by Roger Hickey | Jan 8, 2016 | Blog, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
Since the Democratic National Committee seems to sponsor Democratic presidential debates only once in a blue moon, progressive activists in Iowa have organized their own presidential forum in Des Moines – "Putting Families First" – on Saturday. If you can make it to...
by Hedrick Smith | Jan 7, 2016 | Democracy
If the mean spirit of this year’s campaign upsets you or you’re worried about the lava of dark corporate and billionaire money corrupting our elections, consider one more New Year’s resolution: To get involved in civic action to rebuild government of, by and for the...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 7, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, Jobs and Growth, Progressive Vision
The Supreme Court has once again decided to reconsider "settled law." This time it is a case involving the rights of public-employee unions to charge employees a fee for the services the unions are required by law to provide to all employees – even those who are not...
by Jeff Bryant | Jan 7, 2016 | Blog, Education
In 2015 we witnessed historic changes in education. As education professor Sherman Dorn reviewed on his personal blog, there were at least 20 major news stories affecting the nation, including the passage of new federal legislation to replace No Child Left Behind, the...
by Bill Scher | Jan 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
Clinton, Sanders Work Grassroots... Clinton bets on Iowa ground game. The Hill: "The front-runner has spent twice as much time in Iowa as New Hampshire over the first week of 2016 — with more visits expected early next week — and is deploying top surrogates Bill...
by Bill Scher | Jan 7, 2016 | Blog, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
Republican operative Ed Rogers writes in The Washington Post that "Hillary Clinton is the most miscast character in the 2016 race" because "this is shaping up to be a change election, and nothing about a Clinton candidacy offers change." Rogers doesn't knock Clinton...
by Jim Hightower | Jan 6, 2016 | Blog, Progressive Vision, Trans-Pacific Partnership
They say that if you get up in the morning and swallow a live toad, nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day. Well, we Americans have just been fed a live toad by the World Trade Organization. Last May, the WTO — an oligarchic, autocratic governing...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 6, 2016 | Blog, Trade
The U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday that the November goods and services trade deficit was an enormous, humongous $42.4 billion. This is for just one month, not an entire year. This is down $2.2 billion – 5 percent – from October’s enormous, humongous $44.6...
by Bill Scher | Jan 6, 2016 | Uncategorized
Progressive Presidential Forum In Iowa Saturday Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement hosts 'Real People Ready for Real Solutions' Issues Summit in Des Moines Saturday morning, followed by a CCI Action “Putting Families First” Presidential Forum, "not to hear their...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 6, 2016 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
Everyone understands that our (and the world's) economy is underperforming. While U.S. unemployment is down, people are finding jobs that underpay and/or don't provide enough hours. Regular people just don't have enough to get by – never mind enough to drive consumer...
by Larry Cohen | Jan 6, 2016 | Blog, Financial Reform
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ major policy speech at Town Hall in New York City on Tuesday – in which he declared that he will “break up any banks that are too big to fail and that big bankers will not be too big to jail” – felt a lot like the last...
by Terrance Heath | Jan 5, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
The right-wing lawlessness on display in the armed standoff in Oregon must not stand. The federal government needs to get it right this time, or risk emboldening homegrown extremists. On Saturday, Ammon and Ryan Bundy — sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy — led more...
by Dave Johnson | Jan 5, 2016 | Blog, Election 2016, Financial Reform
[fve]https://youtu.be/R6e47vJ89p0[/fve] "Greed is not good. In fact, the greed of Wall Street and corporate America is destroying the very fabric of our nation." - Senator Bernie Sanders Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders pledged on Tuesday that if...
by Bill Scher | Jan 5, 2016 | Uncategorized
Sanders Brings Bank Fight to NYC Today Sanders to give tough Wall Street reform speech in NYC today. W. Post: "Sanders will announce plans to direct the secretary of the Treasury within the first 100 days of his administration to establish a 'Too-Big-To-Fail' list of...
by Roger Hickey | Jan 5, 2016 | Blog, Economy, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
The Democratic presidential campaign – unlike the Republican circus – has actually produced a debate in which each candidate’s economic agenda has gotten better and more populist. But as you can see at CandidateScorecard.net, there are also big differences. Both...
by Digby | Jan 4, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Reihan Salam made a belated but useful observation this morning on a very lively Face the Nation after Trump went on an extended tirade about well ... everything: SALAM: Well, the genius of -- the genius of Ted Cruz is also the fact that if you look at the Republican...
by Robert Reich | Jan 4, 2016 | Blog, Economy
Economic forecasters exist to make astrologers look good, but I’ll hazard a guess. I expect the U.S. economy to sputter in 2016. That’s because the economy faces a deep structural problem: not enough demand for all the goods and services it’s capable of producing....
by Dave Johnson | Jan 4, 2016 | Blog, Democracy, Election 2016
There's just no way around it: the Democrats are intentionally hiding their presidential candidates from the public. The last Democratic presidential debate was buried on a Saturday night up against the opening of Star Wars. Naturally it drew a fraction of earlier...
by Bill Scher | Jan 4, 2016 | Uncategorized
Four Weeks Until Iowa Sanders invests in Iowa grassroots operation. NYT: "The campaign has quietly assembled an extensive ground game here, with 100 paid staff members and with trained volunteer leaders for each of the state’s 1,681 caucus precincts." Fundraising...
by Robert Borosage | Jan 4, 2016 | Blog, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
Finally, after months of chasing money and striking postures, of breathless polls reporting on inattentive voters, the presidential races head toward real votes in caucuses and primaries, beginning in Iowa and New Hampshire. Already, the attack ad salvos are...
by Bill Scher | Dec 24, 2015 | Uncategorized
Clinton Has Granite State Blues Clinton team sweats NH. LAT: "In every other early voting state, Clinton has gained a comfortable lead. In this state, she has been unable to replicate the formula ... The Sanders team sees New Hampshire as its ticket to redefining the...
by Terrance Heath | Dec 24, 2015 | Blog
Are you dreading another holiday dinner with a talkative right-wing relative or two? Here’s a year’s worth of wingnuttia to shut them up. As the holiday’s approach and the year winds to a close, many of us are headed for holiday dinners with a few right-leaning family...
