by Bill Scher | Nov 4, 2015 | Awards Gala 2015, Blog, Progressive Vision
[fve]https://youtu.be/V-KecXkNC7E[/fve] Scott Wallace, Co-Chair of the Wallace Global Fund, accepted the "Progressive Champion" award at the annual 2015 Awards Gala Celebrating America's Future with a thought-provoking speech honoring his grandfather Henry Wallace....
by Richard Kirsch | Nov 4, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Paul Ryan paints himself as a champion of “the people” over “Washington.” But the “people” the new House speaker defends are corporations. And the “Washington” he attacks is the one that does deliver for real people. For the past five years, Ryan has authored the...
by Dave Johnson | Nov 4, 2015 | Blog, Trade
The U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday that the September goods and services trade deficit was an enormous, humongous $40.8 billion. This is down 15 percent from August's enormous, humongous $40.8 (revised) billion trade deficit, (which was up 15.6 percent from...
by Bill Scher | Nov 4, 2015 | Uncategorized
House Takes On Transportation House aims to pass three-year transportation bill tomorrow. The Hill: "The amendments include ... a controversial reauthorization of the Export--Import Bank. The House hopes to complete its work by Thursday to set up a potential...
by Dave Johnson | Nov 4, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been completed. The agreement is a big deal. It is said it writes the rules for doing business in the 21st century and covers 40 percent of the world's economy. The agreement will determine whether the giant corporations will...
by Robert Borosage | Nov 3, 2015 | Blog, Education
[fve]https://youtu.be/2zMbspRhqJc[/fve] Turns out the teachers got it right. The wheels are falling off the so-called “education reform” project which dismissed the voices of teachers – and particularly their unions – with no little vitriol. Reformers offered clear,...
by Robert Reich | Nov 3, 2015 | Blog, Financial Reform
Much of the national debate about widening inequality focuses on whether and how much to tax the rich and redistribute their income downward. But this debate ignores the upward redistributions going on every day, from the rest of us to the rich. These redistributions...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Nov 3, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
If you are concerned about the cost of funding social programs for the poor, then you should support a living wage for workers. That’s the message supporters of the Responsible Business Act are sending employers in Chicago. The bill would charge Cook County businesses...
by Terrance Heath | Nov 3, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Democracy, Progressive Vision
Ohioans are voting Tuesday on a constitutional amendment to ban gerrymandering that could cure much of what ails our government and fix our broken political process. Ohio residents are voting on Issue One, which passed the Ohio General Assembly as HJR 12 last year,...
by Bill Scher | Nov 3, 2015 | Uncategorized
Watch The 2015 Awards Gala Celebrating America's Future See the powerful speeches from award winners Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Lily Eskelsen García, Scott Wallace and National People's Action on our 2015 Awards Gala page. Stiglitz Lays Out Economic Vision New book from...
by Leo Gerard | Nov 3, 2015 | Blog, Retirement Security
Workers received a terrifying message last week, one far more bone-chilling than Halloween ghouls or Freddie Krueger. It was this: Retirement security is only for CEOs, not for workers. Two sources delivered this frightening news. One was a dozen Republican...
by Bill Scher | Nov 3, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Election 2016
In last week's debate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio had a point. He's not the first presidential candidate to miss Senate votes. It's impossible to run for president and have a perfect attendance record. What Rubio really missed in the Senate was the chance to prove he...
by Terrance Heath | Nov 2, 2015 | Blog, Democracy, Progressive Vision
In Seattle, Washington, a ballot initiative that could wrest power away from corporate interests and big money donors and change the way we do democracy comes up for a vote. On Tuesday, Seattle residents will vote on Initiative 122. The ballot initiative is the...
by Dave Johnson | Nov 2, 2015 | Blog, Election 2016
The Republican party has cancelled a planned NBC/Telemundo presidential candidate debate because candidates were asked substantive questions and their answers were challenged by moderators in last week's CNBC debate. Republican candidates are demanding easier and more...
by Terrance Heath | Nov 2, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Progressive Vision, This Is The GOP
The right-wing backlash against the #BlackLivesMatter movement has intensified in recent weeks. There are two primary reasons for this: (1) black Americans are telling the truth about their lives, and (2) it’s working. New Jersey governor and GOP presidential...
by Bill Scher | Nov 2, 2015 | Uncategorized
Ryan's First Week First test for Speaker Ryan is highway bill. Roll Call: "The House starts working through a six-year highway bill Monday in anticipation of going to conference with the Senate ... Ryan will have to decide just how far he wants to go in living up to...
by Richard Eskow | Nov 2, 2015 | Blog
A new study from the International Monetary Fund concludes that unions reduce inequality and foster a healthier economy for everyone, mainly by preventing the wealthiest among us from keeping the fruits of a collaboratively created prosperity for themselves. The IMF...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 30, 2015 | Blog, Education
Because of all the big money behind current education policies, it’s difficult to see any real break in the status quo, but anyone who believes that cracking down harder on neighborhood schools and pushing for privately operated charters are the necessary “reforms”...
by Terrance Heath | Oct 30, 2015 | Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Jeb Bush says his campaign is not on life support, and he’s right. It’s long past that point. Bush’s campaign is more like “the walking dead”; lifeless, but lumbering along just this side of the grave. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. When former Florida governor...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 30, 2015 | Blog, Climate, Election 2016
Former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton this week joined with fellow Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley in asking for a federal investigation into charges that Exxon knew as early as the 1970s that climate change was...
by Bill Scher | Oct 30, 2015 | Uncategorized
Budget Deal Passes Senate clears budget deal. The Hill: "The deal was approved in a 64-35 vote after 3 a.m. after a late speech by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who criticized the legislation as a blank check for President Obama ... Thirty-five Republicans opposed the deal,...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 30, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
Thursday's bad news: Third-quarter GDP lands with thud: just 1.5 percent growth. That is down from 3.9 percent growth the previous quarter. The economy appears to be slowing, partly because of the drag effect of our trade deficit and partly because of the drag on the...
by Bill Scher | Oct 29, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Election 2016
Sen. Marco Rubio has been christened the winner of the last debate by many pundits after staring down Jeb Bush's attack on his senatorial attendance record. But what did he actually say about his ideas and policies? Is there any reason for Republican voters to believe...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 29, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Almost a month ago, the United States and 11 other countries announced final agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But the final text of TPP is still secret. We still don't get to know what was agreed to. Today, members of Congress brought out a new weapon...
by Bill Scher | Oct 29, 2015 | Uncategorized
BREAKING: Growth Slows GDP growths slows in 3rd quarter. BEA: "[GDP] increased at an annual rate of 1.5 percent ... In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.9 percent ... The deceleration in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected a downturn in private...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 29, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
U.S. senators and their staff only have to go to the Senate cafeteria to see what is wrong with the low-wage economy, with the workers who serve their meals earning near-poverty wages paid by the subsidiary of a multinational corporation that has blocked efforts by...
by Robert Borosage | Oct 29, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Election 2016
The CNBC Republican presidential debate last night opened with a startling bolt of straight talk: “We are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job,” said Ohio Governor John Kasich, ignoring the inane moderator request that the candidates begin...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 28, 2015 | Awards Gala 2015, Progressive Vision
[fve]https://youtu.be/uI_WV7WaS10[/fve]WATCH: Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks at the Campaign for America’s Future Awards Gala Tuesday night after receiving its Progressive Champion Award from organization co-director Robert Borosage. Sen. Elizabeth Warren...
by Bill Moyers | Oct 28, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship Only in a world where Cosmopolitan magazine can declare the Kardashians “America’s First Family” and the multi-billionaire loose cannon Donald Trump is perceived by millions as the potential steward of our nuclear arsenal could...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 28, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism
The House voted Tuesday to reauthorize the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank. The vote was an overwhelming 313-118, with 127 Republicans voting to reauthorize. On September 30 the House passed a "clean" continuing budget resolution to keep the government in operation through...
by Nancy Altman | Oct 28, 2015 | Blog
Monday night, the Republican leadership agreed to release their hostages: the need to raise the debt limit, the need to keep the government operating, and the need to ensure that all Social Security disability benefits can continue to be paid in full and on time...
by Bill Scher | Oct 28, 2015 | Uncategorized
Budget Deal Expected To Pass Budget deal poised to pass Congress. The Hill: "Two House Freedom Caucus members told The Hill as many as 100 House Republicans could ultimately vote for the deal." How will Rep. Paul Ryan vote? The Hill: "Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a...
by Bill Scher | Oct 28, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Economy
If one of the Republican candidates has the guts at tonight's debate, he or she will slam Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for letting President Obama win the budget battle. Two months ago I warned conservatives that "Cruz's Planned Parenthood Strategy Will Backfire." The math was...
by Robert Reich | Oct 27, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Among the current crop of candidates for president of the United States, who exhibits leadership and who doesn’t? Leadership isn’t just the ability to attract followers. Otherwise some of the worst tyrants in history would be considered great leaders. They weren’t...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 27, 2015 | Blog, Election 2016, This Is The GOP, Trade
The US has an enormous, humongous and continuing trade deficit, caused by our trade policies. The trade deficit measures the loss of jobs, factories, industries and wealth from our economy. A continuing trade deficit also measures the loss of the "ecosystem" for...
by Lynne Stuart Parramore | Oct 27, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Progressive Vision
Mariana Mazzucato is a professor in the Economics of Innovation program at the Science Policy Research Unit of the University of Sussex. Her widely acclaimed book, The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths, reveals the critical role that we,...
by Leo Gerard | Oct 27, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
As Vice President Joe Biden announced his decision last week not to run for President, he talked about dreams denied, possibilities foreclosed. He wasn’t speaking of his own aspirations, though. He conveyed absolutely no bitterness about relinquishing the potential to...
by Bill Scher | Oct 27, 2015 | Uncategorized
Two-Year Bipartisan Budget Deal Struck Budget deal linked to debt limit hike. AP: "The deal would also take budget showdowns and government shutdown fights off the table until after the 2016 presidential election ... The measure under discussion would suspend the...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 26, 2015 | Awards Gala 2015, Blog, Education
In 2004, Democrats were enraged when Rod Paige, U.S. Secretary of Education under George W. Bush, called teachers unions “terrorist organizations.” According to accounts written at the time, Paige made the remark “in a private White House meeting with governors while...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 26, 2015 | Blog, Trade
In addition to the notorious Trans-Pacific Partnership, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is negotiating another secret trade deal. This one is a trade, investment, and governance agreement with the European Union (EU) called the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment...
