by Scott Klinger | Oct 14, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Progressive Vision
Life was different in the 1990s. Back in ‘93, a lucky few used dial-up Internet to access one of 800 websites available worldwide. Smart phones were a distant dream. The TV dinosaur Barney had just started “edutaining” America’s children. And gas cost about $1.30 a...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 14, 2015 | Blog, Tax Reform
How MANY times have we heard corporate-funded conservatives and "centrists" whine about "deficits" and demand cuts in the things government does to make people's lives better? How many times? "We're broke." "Taxpayers can't afford these ... (pensions, health programs,...
by Bill Scher | Oct 14, 2015 | Uncategorized
Debate Sharpens Contrasts Clinton, Sander spar over Wall Street reform. The Hill: "'Going to Wall Street and saying "please stop" is very naive,' Sanders told Clinton during a heated exchange about their regulatory policies ... Clinton, in contrast, argued that...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 14, 2015 | Blog, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
The first Democratic debate showed the country what it is like to have adults on a stage. It doesn't matter who "won." The candidates showed they all are concerned about governing the country and proposing actual policies that will help actual people have better...
by Nancy Altman | Oct 13, 2015 | Retirement Security
The Social Security Administration on Thursday will announce some news that will be distressing to more than one in four households: there will be no Social Security cost of living adjustment ("COLA") for 2016. This is no small matter. The purpose of the annual...
by Bill Scher | Oct 13, 2015 | Blog
The House Republicans have a problem. The approximately 50-member strong Freedom Caucus won't let them govern. Speaker John Boehner decided it was preferable to abandon his post instead of standing up to them. Rep. Kevin McCarthy chose to run away from the Speaker's...
by Eric Lotke | Oct 13, 2015 | Blog, Current Issues, Progressive Vision
Private prisons are a cancer. Private prisons make money by locking people up, and the more people they lock up for more time, the more money they make. Private prisons are morally distasteful, they don't save money, and they have historic performance problems. But...
by Leo Gerard | Oct 13, 2015 | Blog, Current Issues, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Some terms of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the 12-nation trade proposal completed last week, are so repulsive that the New Zealand trade minister who helped negotiate the scheme described accepting them as swallowing dead rats. Here’s what New Zealand Minister...
by Bill Scher | Oct 13, 2015 | Uncategorized
Dem Debate Tonight 9 PM ET on CNN Debate tonight is "Bernie's Big Moment" says The Hill: "If the two-hour encounter goes well for Sanders, it could create more momentum ... On the other hand, a misfire could place a ceiling on his hopes..." Sanders gets second...
by Robert Borosage | Oct 13, 2015 | Blog, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
Will a policy discussion break out in the Democratic presidential debate tonight? Not if CNN’s moderators can help it. Already the pundits are dreading an exchange focused on ideas rather than insults. No Donald Trump to bait and goad. No Carly Fiorina to provoke....
by Dave Johnson | Oct 9, 2015 | Blog, Health
You may have heard about the "Cadillac tax" health insurance thing. As with so much else involved with the health care/insurance discussion, policymakers have chosen wording that causes most people to tune out. Terms like "Cadillac tax" have little meaning to regular...
by Terrance Heath | Oct 9, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
House Speaker John Boehner has a recurring nightmare about being stuck, unable to move. The complete implosion of the race for his successor this week might mean Boehner’s nightmare is coming true. It was going to be a smooth exit. Figuring that meeting the Pope was...
by Bill Scher | Oct 9, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
For Politico Magazine, I analyzed the recent shift in position by Hillary Clinton on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Here's an excerpt: While Hillary Clinton is probably lying about her newfound opposition to President Barack Obama’s trade deal, that doesn’t tell us...
by Bill Scher | Oct 9, 2015 | Uncategorized
Animal House House GOP in chaos as Rep. Kevin McCarthy drops Speaker bid. W. Post: "Less than a year after a sweeping electoral triumph, Republicans are on the verge of ceasing to function as a national political party ... Their contempt for compromise has also...
by Robert Borosage | Oct 9, 2015 | Blog, Election 2016, Populism2015, Progressive Vision
When Hillary Clinton expressed doubts about the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and then issued a call for new Wall Street reforms, reporters suggested she was trying to mute her differences with Bernie Sanders in the run-up to the first Democratic presidential...
by Hedrick Smith | Oct 8, 2015 | Conservatism
It’s already clear that the next House speaker will face crippling mutinies by the 45 Republican rebels who knocked off John Boehner and intimidated Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. And that’s because the insurgents know they can defy their party leadership without...
by Terrance Heath | Oct 8, 2015 | Blog, Current Issues, Election 2016, This Is The GOP
I’ve experience one shooting in my life. I know that no one truly knows what they would do when suddenly faced with their mortality. Ben Carson had a gun pointed at him once. He should know better. On October 1, Christopher Sean Harper-Mercer shot and killed nine...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 8, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Hillary Clinton gave a big boost to opponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership when, in an interview on the PBS NewsHour Wednesday, she voiced her opposition to the just-completed "trade" treaty. Clinton joins fellow Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders...
by Bill Scher | Oct 8, 2015 | Uncategorized
Hillary Turns Against TPP... Clinton says TPP falls short, in PBS interview: "I’m worried about currency manipulation not being part of the agreement ... I’m worried that the pharmaceutical companies may have gotten more benefits and patients and consumers — fewer ......
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 8, 2015 | Blog, Education
Arne Duncan's surprise announcement to leave his post as secretary of education in December is making headlines and driving lots of commentary, but an important story lost in the media clutter happened three days before he gave notice. On that day, Duncan rattled the...
by Jim Hightower | Oct 7, 2015 | Blog, Climate, Conservatism, Economy
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, here’s one worth a thousand times that. It’s a shot of three Volkswagen board members, gathered for a press conference to announce the resignation of Martin Winterkorn. VW’s disgraced CEO was forced out after the auto giant was...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 7, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
Setting the stage for The White House Summit on Worker Voice, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) today introduced The Workplace Democracy Act. According to Sanders' office, this legislation "would make it easier for workers to join unions and...
by Bill Scher | Oct 7, 2015 | Uncategorized
Clinton, Sanders Look Left Sanders introduces pro-labor organizing bill. The Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) unveiled sweeping new legislation that will make it easier for workers to organize unions in a bid Tuesday to endear himself to the labor community ahead of...
by Bill Scher | Oct 7, 2015 | Blog, Economy
Someday, the Republican Party will accept that, if it wants to be taken seriously as a governing party, it needs to have a platform that breaks with the failed policies of President George W. Bush. Today is not that day. First, let's recall some of the key components...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 6, 2015 | Tax Reform
You've already heard, and will keep hearing incessantly as the presidential campaign heats up, the argument that U.S. multinational corporations are at a competitive disadvantage because of our high corporate tax rate. The latest takedown of that argument – and the...
by Terrance Heath | Oct 6, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Unable to govern and unwilling to be governed, the deepest dysfunctions of the House Republican conference are rising to the surface, as the party struggles to choose a new speaker. Rep. John Boehner’s resignation as House speaker was the first sign of just how bad...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 6, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, Trans-Pacific Partnership
The U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday that the August goods and services trade deficit was an enormous, humongous $48.3 billion. This is a big 15.6% increase from July's enormous, humongous $41.8 (revised) billion trade deficit. Exports dropped 2 percent and imports...
by Leo Gerard | Oct 6, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, Economy, Jobs and Growth, This Is The GOP
Republicans and the rich guys who imposed on American workers 35 years of stagnant wages now offer a prescription for easing this pain! Their solution for robber-baron-level income inequality is not the obvious: Give workers raises. They don’t want to increase the...
by Bill Scher | Oct 6, 2015 | Uncategorized
TPP Faces Tough Road In Congress Populist sentiment threatens congressional approval. Politico: "...Speaker-in-waiting Kevin McCarthy will have to tame an unruly tea party caucus to push the agreement through the House. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 6, 2015 | Blog, Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) say they have reached a deal. So here it comes. Monday morning it was announced that a "Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Deal Is Reached," presented as much as a foreign policy success as a "trade" deal. "The...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 5, 2015 | Financial Reform
Bloomberg View columnist Barry Ritholtz today outlines the latest chapter in the war against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by the banking industry and its right-wing collaborators. It's in the form of a bill innocuously called the "Financial Product Safety...
by Bill Scher | Oct 5, 2015 | Uncategorized
TPP Deal Struck Pacific rim nations agree to TPP trade deal. NYT: "The accord for the first time would require state-owned businesses like those in Vietnam and Malaysia to comply with commercial trade rules and labor and environmental standards ... Unions and human...
by Bernie Horn | Oct 5, 2015 | Blog, Populist Majority
In response to the massacre at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, President Obama said: This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loved...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 5, 2015 | Blog, Financial Reform
With corporate-conservative calls for full or partial privatization of the United States Postal Service (USPS) escalating, groups are sounding the alarm about new nominees to the USPS Board of Governors. The Senate is scheduled soon to consider the nominations of...
by Terrance Heath | Oct 2, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
This week, a bunch of Republican Congressmen made fools of themselves during their own hearing to bring down Planned Parenthood. The GOP war on Planned Parenthood continued to follow the pattern of its anti-ACORN campaign this week, as what began with deceptively...
by Robert Reich | Oct 2, 2015 | Blog, Election 2016, Progressive Vision
The Washington Post just ran an attack on Bernie Sanders that distorts not only what he’s saying and seeking but also the basic choices that lie before the nation. Sanders, writes the Post’s David Fahrenthold, “is not just a big-spending liberal. And his agenda is...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 2, 2015 | Blog
In democracies government is supposed to protect regular people from being taken advantage of or harmed by large, powerful interests. Democracies are like a big, national union – the people band together so that the power of numbers protects them and helps them do...
by Bill Scher | Oct 2, 2015 | Blog
With yet another mass shooting terrorizing the American public, some facts are in order. * Mass shootings in public places are on the rise in America over the past few years, but they still represent an infinitesimal amount -- less than one percent -- of the 33,000...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Oct 2, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
The surprisingly disappointing September unemployment report – 142,000 new jobs created compared to an expectation of more than 200,000 – should break once and for all two illusions about our ability to sustain a robust economy. The first illusion is that there is no...
by Bill Scher | Oct 2, 2015 | Uncategorized
BREAKING: Job Growth Slows 142K new jobs in September. Bloomberg: "Payrolls rose less than projected in September, wages stagnated and the jobless rate was unchanged as people left the workforce, signaling the global slowdown and financial-market turmoil are rippling...
