26 Articles
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Health Care: Let the Majority Be Heard
(4 comments)
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Symbolic Blather: Washington's Congenital Disease
(1 comments)
The best example of this is the bill championed by Blue Dogs in the House and Senate""the conservative Democrats that the media labels "moderates"""called "paygo." Paygo is the Washington shorthand for a rule that requires the Congress to pay for any expansion of entitlements (guaranteed benefits like Social Security Medicare) or decrease in taxes. It's supposed to "discipline" the Congress on spending.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Gut Check Time on Shackling Wall St
How much the banking lobby has already won! This is what the Administration's plan has left out: Nothing real is done about compensation schemes. Exotic derivatives and credit default swaps are not banned. Rating agencies are still paid by the financial houses they rate. Banks too big to fail are to be monitored, not broken up. Oversight of the system is left to the Fed which was designed to insulate banks from democracy.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Private Muscle and the Public Option in Health Care
(1 comments)
Republicans & those dedicated to for profit, privatized health care are pulling out the stops. We have the best government money can buy, will health care reform go the same way?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wall Street Journal Throws Citi Under The Bus
"Resolving Citi--by either forcing it into a strategic partnership, if anyone will have it, or selling off its assets and breaking it up--wouldn't be cheap," the WSJ editorialist writes. But it would eliminate one of the leading "zombie" banks, end the "slow bleeding of taxpayer money.You don't have to believe in Vince Foster conspiracies to think this is a question that deserves a straight answer.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Federal Reserve Scrubs Its Image
(3 comments)
Facing congressional criticism for secreting the names of the banks that have benefited from the trillions in Fed guarantees, swaps, loans, and what have you, the Federal Reserve has decided to hire a public relations pro to scrub its image and soothe the legislators.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Making Change: Progressives in the Obama Moment
(1 comments)
Are progressives still supporting Obama or are they pushing him?
Surely the answer to that choice is "yes." Progressives are both supporting him and challenging the limits of the current debate.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Betting on Failure: The Right's Story
(1 comments)
Cheney and Gingrich are worth paying attention to - not as presidential contenders but as very sophisticated conservative political combatants. Both are brass knuckled politicians, steeped in the Lee Atwater school of anything goes wedge politics. And both are laying down clear markers for the debate to come
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Health Care Lobby: Watch What They Do
(1 comments)
The HCAN report shows that after 400 mergers involving health insurers over the last 13 years, concentration has gone up in local markets across the country. The single largest provider of small group coverage (for small businesses, for example) controlled a median market share of 47 percent in 2008.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
What's Good for General Motors Is... Never Mind
(2 comments)
Is the Obama administration saving General Motors or is it saving auto industry jobs in the U.S.? The two aren't necessarily the same. The administration and Congress need to be clear about the real objective.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Wrong Way Steny
Wrong Way Riegels became a football legend when Roy Riegels, captain of the California football team in the 1929 Rose Bowl picked up a fumble and rumbled the wrong way down the field. He was prevented from scoring a touchdown for the opposing team only when one of his own players tackled him. Now we have the political equivalent: Wrong Way Steny Hoyer could become a political legend for going the wrong way on Social Security
Friday, May 1, 2009
Obama's Grade at 100? What About Our Grade?
(4 comments)
Rather than just grading the president, I suggest we might profitably assess our own 100 days. Obama has stormed the national and world stages in his first weeks. But how have we done--particularly the progressives who have such a large stake in the success of this president--in relation to Obama? He has demonstrated remarkable mastery of the powers of the presidency to lead the country. Have we mastered the power of citizens?
Friday, April 24, 2009
Arm the COP on the Bank Beat
Cynicism is easy. The Wall Street "financial services" sector has been by far the largest contributor in every U.S. election cycle for the last 20 years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Individual and political action committee donations from Wall Street in 2007 and 2008 totaled $463.5 million, compared with $163.8 million from the health-care industry and $75.6 million from energy companies.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Taxing Matters
(1 comments)
Fox News is flogging Astroturf "tea parties" underwritten by corporate lobbyists. The Wall Street Journal editorializes about the evils of the estate tax. Ari Fleischer, Daddy Bush's old flack, complains that "redistribution of income" through the tax code "is getting out of hand." Really? Here's the grim reality.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Chris Dodd: Scourge or Casualty of Wall Street?
Democratic Senator Chris Dodd is in deep trouble. According to Stuart Rothenberg [1], Dodd is the most vulnerable Senator up for re-election in 2010. Dodd's reputation has been sullied in the financial collapse. Chair of the Senate Banking Committee, he received special treatment from lender Countrywide Financial. As Chair, Dodd also was thrown under the bus by Treasury officials in the AIG bonus brouhaha.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Time To Dog The Dogs
(1 comments)
[Editor's note: Mr Borosage is also promoting an action page for those who wish to protest]
The most treacherous opponents of the reforms vital to get us out of the deep hole we are in come from within the Democratic Party itself""so-called "Blue Dog" conservatives in the House and their cousins in the Senate who are working to block the changes that we need.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Will Everyone Grab a Bucket? This Thing is Sinking
(2 comments)
We need every major economy--particularly those like Germany, Japan and China in the best position to do so""to help boost the global economy with bold national, deficit-financed, recovery plans. We can't do this alone. Our own stimulus""about 2 percent of GDP in 2009""is too small even to lift this economy. Everyone has to grab a bucket and start bailing.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Here's How Progressives Can Ensure Obama's Success.
(1 comments)
Not since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and Ronald Reagan's conservative rollback has a president proposed anything this ambitious. If passed, it will mark a new era of progressive governance. And yet, in sad testament to how deeply we have fallen, its greatest weakness is that it is not bold enough.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Obama's Next Gauntlet: Reviving the Middle Class
(1 comments)
The old economy is finishes. Middle and working class America is on the brink. Time to rally behind Obama and build a new economy.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Progressive Government: The New Center
The man can give a speech. Confident, relaxed, bold, serious, President Obama made his case to the American people with boffo reviews from all who saw it no matter what their party allegiance.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Real Grand Bargain
Will President Obama defend Social Security from the folks who want to plunder it? That's the question Bill Grieder poses in a critically important article in the Nation Magazine.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Can't Get there From Here
Obama has made perhaps his first big mistake. It's time to bring the rest of the country up to speed.
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Country Needs Your Help
Conservatives are doing everything they can to delay and dilute the legislation. Yet quick, bold action on the economy is critical. Without positive pressure from the progressive majority, Congress will be vulnerable to right-wing obstructionist tactics, rendering the bill ineffective. Our voices are needed, now.Call Congress NOW at 1-866-544-7573, and demand immediate passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
After the Revolt Against Wall Street
The fix was in. The leadership of both parties in Congress, both major presidential candidates, media poobahs, financial statesmen from Warren Buffett to Bob Rubin, all weighing in to support giving the Treasury Secretary a $700 billion revolving fund to bail out Wall Street.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Country First? Never Mind
(2 comments)
When McCain is willing to sign away the principle derived from what is the defining moment of his life, then the question is: what core of character remains?
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Matthews and Coulter: No Shame
(1 comments)
The disservice to the country is done by those who give Ann Coulter a public stage to parade her infamies. Need a ratings boost? Focus on Paris Hilton
