by William K. Black | Sep 11, 2015 | Financial Reform
By issuing its new memorandum Thursday, the Justice Department is tacitly admitting that its experiment in refusing to prosecute the senior bankers that led the fraud epidemics that caused our economic crisis failed. The result was the death of accountability, of...
by Bill Scher | Sep 11, 2015 | Uncategorized
Biden Moves Up In CNN Poll Dem race tightens in national CNN poll: "The new poll finds Clinton with 37% support among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, down 10 points since August, followed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at 27% and Vice President Joe Biden at...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 11, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
Study after study, report after report, and of course common sense and our own eyes are telling us that unions help people and the economy do better. It's obvious. But the billionaires and big corporations want to keep pay and benefits low, and pay politicians to keep...
by Danny Feingold | Sep 11, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
When California Governor Pat Brown helped create the modern University of California system in the early 1960s, he envisioned many things: a world-class structure of higher education, universal access to students from every background, a gateway to middle-class...
by Robert Reich | Sep 10, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Jobs and Growth
At a time many Republican presidential candidates and state legislators are furiously focusing on private morality – what people do in their bedrooms, contraception, abortion, gay marriage – America is experiencing a far more significant crisis in public morality....
by Jeff Bryant | Sep 10, 2015 | Blog, Education
The recent ruling by the supreme court of Washington state that charter schools are unconstitutional because they aren’t really public schools has sent advocates for these schools into a fit. But their often over-the-top criticisms of the decision are reflective of...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2015 | Blog
For a moment in the spring, it seemed like Republicans quietly grasped the reality of the Iran deal. As I have explained previously, President Obama doesn't need fresh congressional approval to hold up his end of the Iran deal and waive sanctions because both parties...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2015 | Uncategorized
Bernie The Frontrunner? Sen. Bernie Sanders edges ahead in Quinnipiac Iowa poll. Time: "The Vermont senator is favorite among 41% of Iowa likely Democratic participants, compared with 40% supporting the former Secretary of State ... 'Sanders has seized the momentum by...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 10, 2015 | Conservatism, Tax Reform
Voodoo economics are back with a vengeance. It was George Bush the elder who coined the term as a slander against Ronald Reagan's economic policies, but his son George W. Bush embraced the mysticism of tax cuts that magically increase economic growth and increase...
by Emily Schwartz Greco | Sep 9, 2015 | Blog, Climate, Progressive Vision
Battles are raging over whether local government officials have a religious right to refuse to marry same-sex couples. And the federal government may shut down over a dispute concerning funding for Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion reproductive health services. As if...
by Jeff Bryant | Sep 9, 2015 | Blog, Education
As schools across Pennsylvania open their doors for the new school year, there’s one district in the state where teachers will be hard at work even though they’re not likely to get paid. The teachers are actually already on the job, having reported for work a week...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 9, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, seemed set to become a full-fledged right-wing martyr/saint. Then a funny thing happened on the way to her canonization. Last week, Davis was jailed for contempt of court....
by Bill Scher | Sep 9, 2015 | Uncategorized
Final Push as Obama Nears Victory On Iran MoveOn.org and others plan vigils supporting Iran deal on Thursday: "On the evening of September 10, just two days after Congress reconvenes, MoveOn members will gather at hundreds of congressional offices and other public...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 8, 2015 | Tax Reform
A campaign launched today by a coalition that includes the Campaign for America's Future, Americans for Tax Fairness and Daily Kos calls on the online retailer Etsy to stop using a tax evasion tactic that besmirches its claim to be a progressive-minded business. As we...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 8, 2015 | Blog, Climate
While the world warms, the climate deniers are out in force, trying not only to sabotage American efforts to fight climate change but also to undermine international talks. We are witnessing a spectacle of corruption, and the stakes literally could not be higher. It...
by Larry Cohen | Sep 8, 2015 | Blog
On a hot Iowa Labor Day weekend everyone was feeling the Bern! Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders himself set the pace on Friday and Saturday as he met with Native Americans on their reservation, and walked a picket line at Ingredion in Cedar Rapids. It...
by Leo Gerard | Sep 8, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, Progressive Vision
Instead of picnicking, Steelworkers in six states spent this Labor Day picketing the gates of a dozen Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) specialty mills. These 2,200 Steelworkers are not on strike. They never even took a strike vote to threaten a walkout. ATI locked...
by Bill Scher | Sep 8, 2015 | Uncategorized
Union Vote In Play Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders angle for AFSCME endorsement. NYT: "Mrs. Clinton presented herself as a proven bulwark against [Republican anti-union] efforts and also promised to crack down on wage theft ... Mr. Sanders said he possessed 'maybe...
by Bill Scher | Sep 8, 2015 | Blog
The Republican-controlled Congress returns from August recess today, having put off its homework for as long as it possibly could. Republicans have 22 days to come up with a plan to keep the government open for the next fiscal year, and they have not even begun to...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 4, 2015 | Blog, Conservatism, This Is The GOP
This week, President Obama gave a national landmark its name back. Wingnuts tried to make a mountain out of that molehill. President Obama made a historic trip to Alaska this week. What made it historic? Well, while there the president announced that he would restore...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 4, 2015 | Democracy
Rick Smith hosts a daily radio talk show based in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which bills itself as the place “where working people come to talk.” Smith makes it his business to know the pulse of the labor movement. But he admits to one area where his knowledge was...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 4, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
The National Law Journal this week posted an article that declared that unions received "an early Labor Day present" from the National Labor Relations Board: a memorandum from the board's general counsel that set standards for how union organizers could use online...
by Larry Cohen | Sep 4, 2015 | Current Issues, Progressive Vision
Joining 100 marchers of many faiths and backgrounds while walking 15 miles on Highway 401 was intense, often fun, and inspirational. Beginning on August 1, the NAACP Journey has now covered 700 miles as it approaches the Virginia border, and prepares to march into...
by Bill Scher | Sep 4, 2015 | Uncategorized
Republicans Roiled By Controversies "Republican Presidential Contenders Largely Back Kentucky Clerk" reports Time: "Most of the candidates have strongly backed Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed Thursday after defying a U.S. District judge’s order to issue...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 4, 2015 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
Today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics job report – 173,000 jobs created in August with headline unemployment edging down to 5.1 percent – is strong enough to stoke the noisy debate over whether the Federal Reserve should begin to raise interest rates despite the turmoil...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 3, 2015 | Blog, Trade
The U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday that the July goods and services trade deficit was an enormous, humongous $41.9 billion. This is down from a revised $45.2 billion in June. This is an increase from May's enormous, humongous $40.9 billion trade deficit. We had...
by Jim Hightower | Sep 3, 2015 | Blog, Economy, Financial Reform
Some days, I get an irresistible compulsion to tear out my hair. My latest outbreak was triggered by a New York Times opinion piece by Peter Georgescu, the former chairman of the giant PR outfit Young & Rubicam. He issued a clarion call for his corporate peers to...
by Jeff Bryant | Sep 3, 2015 | Blog
Jitu Brown is a mountain of a man, tall and broad shouldered – the kind of person whose presence you notice when he walks into a room and whose deep, resonate voice commands your attention. When you shake his hand, you can't help notice your palm completely disappears...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 3, 2015 | Blog, Progressive Vision
Sixty years after Emmett Till was killed for daring to assert his humanity, African Americans are still being killed for doing the same. Charles M. Blow hears echoes of Emmett Till’s killing in the cycle so often repeated in the news today: “Young lives are lost, the...
by Bill Scher | Sep 3, 2015 | Uncategorized
Graham Brings Back Simpson-Bowles Sen. Lindsey Graham tries to resurrect Simpson-Bowles. USA Today: "... the group’s final product — a politically toxic combination of tax increases, spending cuts and reforms to entitlement programs like Social Security — is the...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 3, 2015 | Blog
This week, Sen. Bernie Sanders took on Big PhRMA, the all-powerful prescription drug company lobby, by demanding an end to the Great American Drug Heist. Americans pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world – even though taxpayer money supports much of...
by Emily Schwartz Greco | Sep 2, 2015 | Blog, Climate, Economy, Jobs and Growth
Oil permeates the whole economy. Even if you telework in a solar-powered home and tote your groceries home by bicycle, the price of petroleum affects what you spend on goods and services. This impact, of course, is uneven. The collapse from $105 per barrel last summer...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 2, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
Today's positive economic news that worker productivity in the second quarter of 2015 was better than expected – up at an annual rate of 3.3 percent – underscores a fundamental question about today's economy: If workers are increasingly productive, why aren't they...
by Bill Scher | Sep 2, 2015 | Blog
The Iran deal will not be scuttled by Congress, now that President Obama has secured the support of enough Senate Democrats to sustain any veto of any attempt to strip Obama of his authority to waive sanctions. It's a historic win for peace and diplomacy. Unlike...
by Bill Scher | Sep 2, 2015 | Uncategorized
What Trump Doesn't Know About Immigration Trump doesn't understand that immigration levels are down. NYT's Eduardo Porter: "Since the housing bubble burst and construction jobs dried up, more unauthorized immigrants have left the United States than have come in ......
by Richard Eskow | Sep 2, 2015 | Blog, Health
According to new projections from the Kaiser Family Foundation, one in four employers will be hit with the Affordable Care Act's insurance excise tax when it takes effect in 2018. The tax, sometimes called the “Cadillac” or "Cadillac plan" tax, could affect as many as...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 1, 2015 | Jobs and Growth
This is the final week that the Labor Department is accepting comments on a proposed rule that would make some 5 million additional workers eligible for overtime pay for working more than 40 hours a week. A last-ditch effort to give businesses more time to campaign to...
by Bill Scher | Sep 1, 2015 | Blog
Before conservatives became unhinged over Planned Parenthood, the odds on another government shutdown by the end of September were decent. In February, President Obama proposed a budget that increased military and non-military domestic spending. In the spring,...
by Bernie Horn | Sep 1, 2015 | Blog, Education
A few states have now released results from the Common Core standardized tests administered to students last spring. The Associated Press recently published a story about them, and over the next couple of months we can expect a flood of press releases, news articles...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 1, 2015 | Blog, Economy
White House hopeful Bernie Sanders has been doing his best lately to place America’s “billionaire class” right at the center of the nation’s political discourse. But Phoenix-based attorney Bob Lord would like to see the nation start contemplating the next chapter in...
