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Robert Reich

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Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, has a new film, "Inequality for All," to be released September 27. He blogs at www.robertreich.org.

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New York District Attorney just cornered Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 16, 2019
Trump Cornered In Trump's mind, congressional investigations that could cause him shame and humiliation, and quite possibly result in a prison sentence, will be countered by forces loyal to him: the police, the military, and vigilante groups like Bikers for Trump.
(18 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The Republican's Big Lies About Jobs (And Why Obama Must Repudiate Them) To his credit, President Obama argued against Republican demands for extending the Bush tax cut for those making more than a quarter million. But as soon as Republicans pushed back he caved. And the President hasn't even mentioned that the $61 billion Republicans are demanding in budget cuts this fiscal year is what richer Americans would have paid in taxes had he not caved.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Paul Ryan Still Doesn't Get It The Ryan plan has put Republicans in a corner. Some, like Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown and, briefly, presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, are rejecting the plan altogether. Most, though, are holding on and holding their breath. After all, House Republicans approved it -- and voters don't especially like flip-floppers.
From ImagesAttr
(16 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 21, 2012
What Mitt Romney Really Represents Mitt Romney is not a traitor to his class. He is a sponsor of his class. He wants to cut their taxes by $3.7 trillion over the next decade, and hasn't even specified what "loopholes" he'd close to make up for this gigantic giveaway. And he wants to cut benefits that almost everyone else relies on -- Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance, and housing assistance.
Pfizer, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 7, 2015
What to Do About Disloyal Corporations By deserting America, Pfizer relinquishes its right to influence American politics. If Pfizer or any other American corporation wants to leave America to avoid U.S. taxes, that's their business. But they should no longer get any of the benefits of American citizenship -- because they've stopped paying for them.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Gas Wars Nothing drives voter sentiment like the price of gas -- now averaging $3.56 a gallon, up 30 cents from the start of the year. It's already hit $4 in some places. The last time gas topped $4 was 2008. And nothing energizes Republicans like rising energy prices. Last week House Speaker John Boehner told Republicans to take advantage of voters' looming anger over prices at the pump.
From ImagesAttr
(10 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 15, 2013
The Minimum Wage, Guns, Healthcare, and the Meaning of a Decent Society Every society must necessarily decide for itself what decency requires. That's the very meaning of a "society." The questions we face -- whether to raise the minimum wage, restrict the availability of guns, expand healthcare coverage, and countless other decisions -- inevitably require us to define what we mean by a decent society.
(15 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 10, 2011
Why the Right-Wing Bullies Will Hold The Nation Hostage Again and Again Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress refuse to refute the Republicans' big lie -- that spending cuts will lead to more jobs. In fact, spending cuts now will lead to fewer jobs. They'll slow down an already anemic recovery. That will cause immense and unnecessary suffering for millions of Americans.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Decline of the Public Good Wall Street's entitlement is the biggest offered by the federal government, even though it doesn't show up in the budget. And it's not even a public good. It's just private gain. We have private goods available to the very rich, supported by the rest of us. Even Lady Thatcher would have been appalled.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 8, 2012
The Wall Street Scandal of all Scandals Just when you thought the Street had hit bottom, an even deeper level of public-be-damned greed and corruption is revealed. Fatigue and cynicism are self-fulfilling; nothing will be done if we succumb to them. The question is whether the unfolding Libor scandal will provide enough ammunition and energy to finally get the job done.
CNW RR Train Wreck, From FlickrPhotos
(55 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 25, 2018
Not Enough to Impeach Trump -- Entire Presidency Should Be Annulled Trump's presidency is not authorized under the United States Constitution. The only way I see the end of Trump is if there's overwhelming evidence he rigged the 2016 election. In which case impeachment isn't an adequate remedy. His presidency should be annulled.Let me explain.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 28, 2018
6 Reasons For Hope In Trump Times Donald Trump has been a giant wake-up call that we can't take democracy for granted. The young people of America get this. I've been teaching for 40 years and I don't recall a generation as committed to social justice, reforming this country, and making it work for all and not just a few.
(15 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 4, 2011
Why We Must Raise Taxes on the Rich Some of the super rich will move their money to the Cayman Islands and other tax shelters. But paying taxes is a central obligation of citizenship, and those who take their money abroad in an effort to avoid paying American taxes should lose their American citizenship.
The Democratic National Committee is ready to boost Bloomberg into the top tier, From InText
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 9, 2020
Michael Bloomberg is trying to buy the presidency - that should set off alarms The heart of Bloomberg's campaign message is that he has enough money to blow Trump out of the water. As if to demonstrate this, Bloomberg bought a $10m Super Bowl ad that slammed Trump in the middle of the big game.
From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 29, 2012
How Romney Keeps Lying Through His Big White Teeth The Romney campaign has decided it won't be dictated by fact-checkers. But a society without trusted arbiters of what is true and what is false is vulnerable to every lie imaginable. Democracy cannot thrive in such a place. To the contrary, history teaches that this is where demagogues take root.
Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 24, 2019
"You're fired!" America has already terminated Trump When the public fires a president before election day, as it did Jimmy Carter, Nixon and Herbert Hoover, they don't send him a letter telling him he's fired. They just make him irrelevant. Politics happens around him, despite him. He's not literally gone but he might as well be. It's happened to Trump. The courts and House Democrats are moving against him. Senate Republicans are quietly subverting him. He's fired.
Independence Hall Philadelphia. Where the Declaration of Independence was signed., From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(15 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 1, 2022
The Battle to Protect American Democracy Is the Most Important Battle of Our Lifetimes Not holding a former president accountable for gross acts of criminality will invite ever more criminality from future presidents and lawmakers.
Trump False Fake?, From GoogleImages
(18 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 21, 2018
Is Trump A Traitor? Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki was a betrayal of the nation he has a sworn duty to protect. Never before has a President of the United States so brazenly sided with a ruthless dictator intent on destroying American democracy. If this is not treason, what is it?
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Two Stories of This Terrible Economy, Yet Obama and the Dems Won't Tell Theirs Big business has used the Great Recession as an opportunity to slash payrolls and cut wages and is now sitting on a $1.8 trillion mountain of cash it refuses to use to create new jobs. We're in this mess because of big business and Wall Street. Government is needed to get us out of it.
From flickr.com: Donald Trump - Caricature, From Images
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 11, 2018
What We Can Do About Trump's Escalating Lies Trump doesn't hold press conferences. He doesn't meet in public with anyone who disagrees with him. He denigrates the mainstream press. And he shuns experts. Instead, his lies go out to tens of millions of Americans every day unmediated. Over 50 million Americans receive his daily tweets, which are also brimming with lies.
(10 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The Truth About the American Economy The fundamental economic challenge ahead is to restore the vast American middle class. That requires resurrecting the basic bargain linking wages to overall gains, and providing the middle class a share of economic gains sufficient to allow them to purchase more of what the economy can produce.
Trump False Fake, From GoogleImages
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 4, 2018
How To Prevent Future Trumps If America doesn't respond to the calamity that's befallen the working class, we will have Trumps as far as the eye can see. A few Democrats are getting the message -- pushing ambitious ideas like government-guaranteed full employment, single-payer health care, industry-wide collective bargaining, and a universal basic income.
Jared Kushner loses top-level security clearance, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 3, 2018
Kushner's Unconscionable Conflicts Kushner is such an easy mark that officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways to manipulate him with financial deals, according to U.S. intelligence. Kushner is doing his own bit to destroy American democracy -- actions almost as treasonous as if he colluded with Russians to make his father-in-law president.
Trumpism resurging, From FlickrPhotos
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 16, 2019
Dictator Trump Trump's current attack on American democracy through his assertion of a fake national emergency is intended to distract from this larger attack on America. No matter. Both threaten the essence of the nation. There is only one answer: Donald Trump must be removed from office. Impeachment should start immediately.
From flickr.com: The Fart Of The Deal, From Images
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 6, 2018
What are we going to do? The GOP itself is no longer a political party. It is now little more than Donald Trump, Fox News, a handful of billionaire funders and right-wing Christians who oppose a woman's right to choose, gay marriage and the Constitution's separation of church and state.
Tax cuts for the rich and tax hikes for everyone else are dangerously close to becoming law., From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 16, 2017
A Guide to Why the Trump-Republican Tax Plan is a Disgrace (When you Confront Republican Uncle Bob During the Holidays) At a time when the richest 1 percent already have 40 percent of all the wealth in the country, it's immoral to give them even more -- especially when financed partly by 13 million low-income Americans who will lose their health coverage as a result of this tax plan.
From youtube.com: Crazy Is At It Again!!!!! -, From Images
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 18, 2017
The Backlash Against the Bullies Sexual assault is one obvious assertion of dominance. Other forms include economic bullying and the stoking of bigotry to gain political power. Trump epitomizes it all. The revolt against Trump is a backlash against bullying in all its forms. Powerful and wealthy men who have felt free to impose their will on others, regardless of the pain they cause, may be in for a rude awakening.
Widening Inequality, From ImagesAttr
(31 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 2, 2015
The Political Roots of Widening Inequality Corporate executives and Wall Street managers and traders have done everything possible to prevent the wages of most workers from rising in tandem with productivity gains, in order that more of the gains go instead toward corporate profits. Higher corporate profits have meant higher returns for shareholders and for the executives and bankers themselves.
From ImagesAttr
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 22, 2012
Why You Shouldn't Shop at Walmart on Friday What happens at Walmart will have consequences extending far beyond the company. Other big box retailers are watching carefully. Walmart is their major competitor. Its pay scale and working conditions set the standard. The widening inequality reflected in the gap between the pay of Walmart workers and the returns to Walmart investors, including the Walton fammily, haunts the American economy.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 8, 2011
The Wall Street Occupiers and the Democratic Party The modern Democratic Party is not likely to embrace left-wing populism the way the GOP has embraced -- or, more accurately, been forced to embrace -- right-wing populism. Just follow the money, and remember history.
From flickr.com: Donald Trump - Caricature, From Images
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 12, 2018
Trump And The Art Of The No Deal Donald Trump promised to be America's dealmaker-in-chief, touting his "extraordinary" ability to negotiate. But so far, Trump has shown he can't make a deal. Trump can't make deals. He can only pull out of deals already made, or pretend he's made deals that soon evaporate, or give away the store. He's perfected the art of the no deal.
(23 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 6, 2011
Why S&P Has No Business Downgrading the U.S. Pardon me for asking, but who gave Standard & Poor's the authority to tell America how much debt it has to shed, and how? If we pay our bills, we're a good credit risk. If we don't, or aren't likely to, we're a bad credit risk. When, how, and by how much we bring down the long term debt--or, more accurately, the ratio of debt to GDP--is none of S&P's business.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 12, 2011
Why Obama Isn't Fighting the Budget Battle Obama's challenge in 2012 has nothing to do with Bill Clinton's in 1996. He must fight the Republican plans to cut the budget deficit this year and next, and explain to the public why he's doing so. And he must convince Americans that public spending during the next few years is necessary to get the economy moving, reduce the long-term debt as a portion of the total economy, and get jobs back.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 12, 2011
The Oddness of the President's Upcoming Deficit-Reduction Plan If the President wants to show his creds on deficit reduction, at least put in a trigger that begins to lower the deficit only when unemployment falls to 6 percent. Our national crisis is joblessness and low wages, not the deficit.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Mr. President: Why Medicare Isn't the Problem, It's the Solution Estimates of how much would be saved by extending Medicare to cover the entire population range from $58-billion to $400-billion a year. More Americans would get quality health care, and the long-term budget crisis would be sharply reduced. Medicare isn't the problem. It's the solution.
Trump caricature, From YouTubeVideos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 28, 2018
America's Megalomaniac Trump got excited about a summit with Kim when he thought it might win him praise, even possibly a Nobel Peace Prize. He got cold feet when he feared Kim might be setting him up for humiliating failure. Now he's back to dreaming about the Prize. The delicate balance in Trump's brain between glorification and mortification can tip either way at any moment, depending on his hunches.
From commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Obamacare.jpg: Obamacare, From Images
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 6, 2017
The Three Big Reasons Republicans Can't Replace Obamacare The only practical answer to these three dilemmas is Medicare for all -- a single payer system. But Republicans would never go for it. So without Obamacare, Republicans are left with nothing. Zilch. Nada. Except the prospect of more than 20 million people losing their health insurance, and a huge redistribution from the working class to the very rich.
Trump, From ImagesAttr
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 25, 2018
The US is on the edge of the economic precipice -- Trump may push it over The shutdown is stoking fears that Trump could do something even more alarming. He might fail to authorize an increase in government borrowing before the federal debt reaches the current limit, which Congress extended to 2 March. A default by the US on its obligations would be more calamitous than a government shutdown.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 17, 2011
The Republican Strategy The Republican strategy is to split the vast middle and working class -- pitting unionized workers against non-unionized, public-sector workers against non-public, older workers within sight of Medicare and Social Security against younger workers who don't believe these programs will be there for them, and the poor against the working middle class.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Follow the Money: Behind Europe's Debt Crisis Lurks Another Giant Bailout of Wall Street Regulators still don't know what's happening on the Street. They have no clear picture of the derivatives exposure of giant U.S. financial institutions. Which is why Washington officials are terrified -- and why Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner keeps begging European officials to bail out Greece and the other deeply-indebted European nations.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Newt's Tax Plan, and Why His Polls Rise the More Outrageous He Becomes Most forecasts of the budget deficit cover 10 years. The elusive goal of the White House and many on both sides of the aisle in Congress is to reduce that 10-year deficit by 3 to 4 trillion dollars. Newt goes in the other direction, with gusto. Increasing the deficit by $850 billion in a single year is beyond the wildest imaginings of the least responsible budget mavens within a radius of three thousand miles from Washington.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on President Trump's tax reform plan., From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 25, 2017
Fools or Knaves? There are two kinds of liars -- fools and knaves. Fools lie because they don't know the truth. Knaves lie because they intend to mislead. Trump is both, because he doesn't even care enough about the truth to find out what it is. He'll say whatever he thinks will get people to believe what he wants them to believe.
Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 26, 2019
Trump's wrecking ball assaults American government. Luckily, it is strongly built Americans have sharply different views about what government should do, whether on abortion, guns, immigration or any number of hot-button issues. But we broadly agree about how government should go about resolving our differences. This distinction between what we disagree about and how we settle those disagreements is crucial.
Donald Trump, Make liars great again, From FlickrPhotos
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Donald Trump lies like most people breathe. The swamp was there before Trump got to Washington. One of the first tasks of the next president must be to drain the swamp and make sure our government works for the people, not corporations and special interests.
A Message from the Banks, From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 9, 2015
The Conundrum of Corporation and Nation Most big American corporations have no particular allegiance to America. They don't want Americans to have better wages. Their only allegiance and responsibility to their shareholders -- which often requires lower wages to fuel larger profits and higher share prices.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 11, 2011
THE SEVEN BIGGEST ECONOMIC LIES Demagogues through history have known that big lies, repeated often enough, start being believed -- unless they're rebutted. These seven economic whoppers are just plain wrong. Make sure you know the truth -- and spread it on.
(24 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 25, 2016
The Endgame of 2016's Anti-Establishment Politics Anyone who assumes a wholesale transfer of loyalty from Sanders's supporters to Clinton, or from Trump's to another Republican standard-bearer, may be in for a surprise. The anti-establishment fury in the election of 2016 may prove greater than supposed.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 28, 2011
The Republican Death Wish Let the GOP go after Medicare. That will do more to elect Democrats in 2012 than anything else. But it would be wise and politically astute for Democrats to go beyond just defending Medicare. Strengthen and build upon it. Use it to reform American health care and, not incidentally, rescue the federal budget.
Tweet from Twitter User GreenBiotechie, From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 31, 2015
The Rise of the Working Poor and the Non-Working Rich The specter of an entire generation doing nothing for their money other than speed-dialing their wealth management advisers is not particularly attractive. It puts more and more responsibility for investing a substantial portion of the nation's assets into the hands of people who have never worked. It also endangers our democracy, as dynastic wealth inevitably and invariably accumulates political influence and power.
From ImagesAttr
(17 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 19, 2012
How Obama Can Smoke Out Mitt: Call for Breaking Up the Biggest Banks, and Resurrecting Glass-Steagall The President should counter Romney's extraordinary solicitude toward the Street with a proposal to cap the size of the nation's biggest banks so that no bank is ever again too big to fail. And to resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act, which once separated commercial from investment banking. This would smoke out Mitt Romney -- revealing clearly and decisively he's not on the side of most Americans.
From youtube.com: Donald J. Trump: Liar, From Images
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 13, 2018
Straight Talk About the Shithole President Normal presidents may exaggerate; some occasionally lie. But Trump has taken lying to an entirely new level. He lies like other people breath. Almost nothing that comes out of his mouth can assumed to be true. For Trump, lying is part of his overall strategy, his MO, and his pathology. Not to call them lies, or to deem him a liar, is itself misleading.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 3, 2010
Slouching Toward a Double Dip or a Lousy Recovery at Best The bank bailout, the stimulus, and the Fed brought us back from the brink just enough to dampen zeal for anything more. As a result, we are now slouching toward a tepid recovery that could just as well fall into a double dip recession, while a large portion of our population suffers immensely.
TRUMP COIN, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 19, 2020
Trump is on trial for abuse of power -- the Davos elites should be in the dock too As the Senate debates Donald Trump's future, chief executives, financiers and politicians will descend on Davos in the Swiss Alps for their annual self-congratulatory defense of global capitalism
From Uploaded
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 17, 2021
The General Strike of 2021 the Labor Department reported that some 4.3 million people had quit their jobs in August. That comes to about 2.9 percent of the workforce -- up from the previous record set in April, of about 4 million people quitting. All told, about 4 million American workers have been leaving their jobs every month since last spring.
From whitehouse.gov: Photos from President Donald J. Trump's Visit to North Dakota , From GoogleImages
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 15, 2018
The Truth About the Trump Economy Trump slashed taxes on the wealthy and promised everyone else a $4,000 wage boost. But the boost never happened. That's a big reason why Republicans aren't campaigning on their tax cut, which is just about their only legislative accomplishment.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 16, 2012
Why Romney and Ryan are Going Down Romney, Ryan, and the GOP don't seem to know how to satisfy their middle-aged white male base without at the same time turning off everyone who's not white, male, straight, or middle-aged. Unfortunately for Romney and Ryan, the people they're turning off are the majority.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 30, 2010
New Year Predictions: The Tea Party Strategy and U.S. Economy in 2011 Tea Party conservatives wouldn't mind a government shutdown over the health-care mandate. What will happen to the US economy in 2011? If you're referring to profits of big corporations and Wall Street, next year is likely to be a good one. But if you're referring to average American workers, far from good.
Trump Vs. Tillerson, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 6, 2017
Memo to Tillerson about the Moron Let Trump fire you. That would reveal what a moron he is. If you really want to serve the best interests of this nation, you might want to consider meeting with Mattis, Kelly, and Vice President Pence. Come up with a plan for getting most of the cabinet to join in a letter to Congress saying Trump is unable to discharge the duties of his office. Under the 25th Amendment, that would mean Trump is fired.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 12, 2020
5 Ways Donald Trump Has Not Drained the Swamp In order to truly stop the corruption of our democracy, we have to fix what's broken. We must get big money out of politics, end the flow of lobbyists in and out of government, and strengthen ethics laws.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 23, 2019
The Myth of Voter Fraud -- And the Truth About What's Threatening Our Elections Donald Trump and his enablers have been making claims of widespread voter fraud, alleging millions of people are voting illegally in order to rig our elections.
Donald Trump - Caricature, From FlickrPhotos
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 17, 2018
The Fog Of Truth Trump uses 5 tactics to create a fog of confusion and bewilderment, so we don't pay attention to the real damage he's doing -- undermining our democracy; rewarding the rich and hurting the working class, middle class, and the poor; stoking hatefulness; and undercutting America's standing in the world.
Trump the idiot, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 1, 2017
The Growing Irrelevance of President Trump Trump is still a dangerous showman and conman -- tweeting condemnations of critics and ranting before friendly crowds at his never-ending campaign rallies. He continues to fuel bigotry and meanness. He has reduced America's standing in the world. His outbursts could start a nuclear war. But when it comes to the actual work of governing America, Trump is becoming utterly and completely irrelevant.
Image created from image crediting, From ImagesAttr
(22 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 31, 2018
America's New Year's resolution: impeach Trump and remove him At least twice in the past month he has reportedly raged against his acting attorney general for allowing federal prosecutors to reference him in the crimes his former bagman Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to committing. This is potentially the most direct obstruction of justice yet.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 14, 2011
An Offer to the President So here's the deal: We'll reelect you. We'll stand behind you. We'll give you a mandate to do all this -- and more -- in your second term. As long as you stand behind us.
Why Poverty?, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 26, 2015
Why So Many Americans Feel So Powerless Our economy and society depend on most people feeling the system is working for them. But a growing sense of powerlessness in all aspects of our lives -- as workers, consumers, and voters -- is convincing most people the system is working only for those at the top.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg Congressional hearing., From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 29, 2019
The biggest business con of 2019: fleecing workers while bosses get rich American corporations are sacrificing workers and communities as never before, in order to further boost record profits and unprecedented CEO pay.
From thewrap.com: Donald Trump, From Images
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 4, 2017
The Unnerving Reasons for Trump's Rant Whatever the reason for Trump's rant, America is in deep trouble. We have a president who is either a dangerous paranoid, or is making judgments based on right-wing crackpots, or has in all likelihood committed treason. Each of these possibilities is as worrying as the other.
(18 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 29, 2018
Is Trump The Worst President In American History? A president's most fundamental legal and moral responsibility is to uphold and protect our system of government. Donald Trump has degraded that system. Donald Trump is degrading the core institutions and values of our democracy. But America is fighting back. In the face of the worst president in history, we are at our best when striving to strengthen our democracy.
I am here because Donald Trump is a very dangerous and unpleasant man., From WikimediaPhotos
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 4, 2018
A Second American Civil War? Trump's immediate goal is to discredit Robert Mueller's investigation. But his strategy appears to go beyond that. In tweets and on Fox News, Trump's overall mission is repeatedly described as a "war on the deep state." The way Trump and his defenders are behaving, it's not absurd to imagine serious social unrest. That's how low he's taken us.
Mitch McConnell Destroys The Senate So Trump Can Destroy The Judiciary, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 6, 2019
Mitch McConnell is destroying the Senate -- and American government McConnell doesn't give a fig about the Senate, or about democracy. He cares only about winning. On the eve of the 2010 midterm elections he famously declared that his top priority was for Barack Obama "to be a one-term president."
National Economic Council director Gary Cohn, From YouTubeVideos
(10 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 17, 2017
The Growing Danger of Dynastic Wealth Maybe Gary Cohn is correct that only morons pay the estate tax. But if he and his boss were smart and they cared about America's future, they'd raise taxes on great wealth. Roosevelt's fear of an American dynasty is more applicable today than ever before.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 24, 2019
Trump's impeachment shows US officials at their best and his allies at their worst As a candidate in 2015, Donald Trump said he would surround himself "only with the best and most serious people." Not quite.
From flickr.com: Donald Trump, the Snake Oil Salesman who Conned America, From Images
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 29, 2017
Trump's Big Loss Trump doesn't want his base to perceive him as a loser. So be prepared for scorched-earth politics from the Oval Office, including more savage verbal attacks on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, more baseless charges of voter fraud in the 2016 election, and further escalation of the culture wars. Donald Trump has never been committed to the rule of law. For him, it's all about winning.
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, From YouTubeVideos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 10, 2019
Billionaires fear Warren and Sanders -- but they should fear us all If unearned income were treated the same as earned income under the tax code, America's non-working rich wouldn't be billionaires. And if capital gains weren't eliminated at death, their heirs wouldn't be, either.
Donald Trump, From GoogleImages
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 29, 2018
How To Stop Trump... If America doesn't respond to the calamity that's befallen the working class, we'll have Trumps as far as the eye can see. A few Democrats are getting the message -- pushing ambitious ideas like government-guaranteed full employment, single-payer health care, industry-wide collective bargaining, and a universal basic income.
From ImagesAttr
(15 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The Two Major Views About Why Romney is Losing, and Why the Second is More Convincing Romney's failing isn't that he's a bad candidate. To the contrary, he's giving this GOP exactly what it wants in a candidate. And that's exactly the problem for Romney -- as it is for every other Republican candidate -- because what the GOP wants is not at all what the rest of America wants.
From youtube.com: Crazy Donald, From Images
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 4, 2017
Trump's Most Damning Legacy In a series of tweets Friday morning, Trump directly called on the Justice Department and the FBI to "do what is right and proper" by launching criminal probes of Hillary Clinton. Trump's obvious aim was to deflect attention from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of his campaign, and of the indictments issued against his campaign aides.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 1, 2011
The Rebirth of Social Darwinism Social Darwinism offered a moral justification for the wild inequities and social cruelties of the late nineteenth century. If one of the current crop of Republican hopefuls becomes president, and if regressive Republicans take over the House or Senate, or both, Social Darwinism is back.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Tell The FCC Not To End Net Neutrality! Since its creation, the internet has been an open exchange of ideas and information, free from corporate control and influence. But corporations could soon have tremendous power over what we can access and share online, ending the internet as we know it.
From ImagesAttr
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 5, 2012
We the People, and the New American Civil War So we come to the end of a bitter election feeling as if we're two nations rather than one. The challenge -- not only for our president and representatives in Washington but for all of us -- is to rediscover the public good.
The 6 Ways Millennials Are Changing America Robert Reich explains how the next generation will fundamentally change America., From YouTubeVideos
(17 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 14, 2018
6 Ways Millennials Will Clean Up The Mess Boomers Left Them A strong majority of Millennials think the country is on the wrong track. Most disapprove of both the Republican Party and the Democratic party. Virtually no Millennials -- only 6 percent -- strongly approve of Donald Trump, compared to 63 percent who disapprove. A strong majority -- 71 percent -- want a third major party to compete with Democrats and Republicans.
A Nightmare on Any Street!, From WikimediaPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 23, 2019
Trump's Threats Grow More Ominous by the Day Throughout his campaign and presidency, Trump has given cover to some of the most vile bigots in America. As he grows more desperate, he is giving them encouragement. It is our job and the job of all senators and representatives in Congress, regardless of party, and of military leaders to condemn hatred and violence in all its forms, even when the president of the United States makes excuses for it.
Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, From YouTubeVideos
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 26, 2016
The Volcanic Core Fueling the 2016 Election I've known Hillary Clinton since she was 19 years old, and have nothing but respect for her. In my view, she's the most qualified candidate for president of the political system we now have. But Bernie Sanders is the most qualified candidate to create the political system we should have, because he's leading a political movement for change.
President Trump's White House Scandals (Thus Far), From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 27, 2019
The Real Trump Scandal Was Never Collusion The essence of Trump's failure is that he has sacrificed the processes and institutions of American democracy to achieve his goals. By saying and doing whatever it takes to win, he has abused the trust we place in a president to preserve and protect the nation's capacity for self-government. Controversy over the Mueller report must not obscure this basic reality.
Hillary Clinton, From ImagesAttr
(19 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 10, 2015
The Defining Moment, and Hillary Rodham Clinton Hillary Clinton should make the moral case about power: for taking it out of the hands of those with great wealth and putting it back into the hands of average working people. In these times, such a voice and message make sense politically. The 2016 election will be decided by turnout, and turnout will depend on enthusiasm.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 17, 2011
The Election of 2012: Why the Most Important Issues May Be Off the Table (But Should Be On It) The presidential race isn't the only one occurring in 2012. More than a third of Senate seats and every House seat will be decided on, as well as numerous governorships and state races. Making a ruckus about these issues could push some candidates in this direction -- particularly since, as polls show, much of the public agrees.
Trickle-Down Economics, From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 3, 2015
Trans Pacific Trickle-Down Economics The Trans Pacific Partnership is being sold as a way to boost the U.S. economy, expand exports, and contain China's widening economic influence. In fact, it's just more trickle-down economics. The biggest beneficiaries would be giant American-based global corporations, along with their executives and major shareholders. What we should have learned about trickle-down economics is that nothing trickles down.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 2, 2012
Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age The biggest players in this system have, like Romney, made their profits placing big bets with other people's money. If the bets go well, the players make out like bandits. If they go badly, the burden lands on average workers and taxpayers. Connect the dots of casino capitalism, and you get Mitt Romney.
Donald Trump, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(21 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 8, 2021
The Delta Variant and the Trumper Blame Game With increasing vehemence, Trump Republicans are falling back on their old game of deflecting attention by blaming immigrants crossing the southern border for U.S. COVID.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 8, 2010
The Secret Big-Money Takeover of America Not only is income and wealth in America more concentrated in fewer hands than it's been in 80 years, but those hands are buying our democracy as never before -" and they're doing it behind closed doors.
From youtube.com: Is Trump Dumb or a Liar?, From Images
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 7, 2018
Seriously, How Dumb is Trump? Trump is a great political conman. He conned 62,979,879 Americans to vote for him in November 2016 by getting them to believe his lies about Mexicans, Muslims, African-Americans, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and all the "wonderful," "beautiful" things he'd do for the people who'd support him. And he's still conning most of them.
2017.02.25 Rally in Support of Affordable Care Act #ACA Washington, DC USA 01295, From FlickrPhotos
(20 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 15, 2017
The 10 Steps to Impeach a President Only two presidents so far have been impeached by the House and had that impeachment go to the Senate for trial. The first was Andrew Johnson, in 1868, when the Senate came one vote short of convicting him. The next was 131 years later, in 1999, when Bill Clinton's impeachment went to the Senate. Fifty Senators voted to convict Clinton, 17 votes short of what was needed.
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Great Decoupling of Corporate Profits from Jobs Higher corporate profits no longer lead to higher employment. We're witnessing a great decoupling of company profits from jobs. The next supply-side economist who tells you companies need more incentive (i.e. lower taxes) before they'll hire is living on another planet.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 30, 2013
A New Year's Message Despite do-nothing congressional Republicans, we ARE making progress around the country because Americans are organizing and mobilizing. Together we can make 2014 the year we turn the tide on economic inequality.
Billionaires fight back about Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax, From YouTubeVideos
(19 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 17, 2019
Warren doesn't just frighten billionaires -- she scares the whole establishment Warren has repeatedly argued that taxing the super rich is the fairest and most efficient way to pay for critical needs. It would enable more parents to work, young people to become better educated, green technologies to take root, more access to healthcare, and the nation's infrastructure to be upgraded, would improve productivity.
From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 5, 2012
The Big-Lie Coup d'Etat Obama isn't adding to the debt every day. The debt is growing because of obligations entered into long ago, many under George W. Bush -- including two giant tax cuts that went mostly to the very wealthy that were supposed to be temporary and which are still going, courtesy of Republican blackmail over raising the debt limit.
Michael Bloomberg, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Mike Bloomberg Takes The Debate So far Bloomberg has spent more than $300 million on campaign advertising. That's more than Hillary Clinton spent on advertising during her entire presidential run. It's multiples of what all other Democratic candidates have spent, including billionaire Tom Steyer. Bloomberg has already spent more on Facebook ads than Trump, and more than Biden, Warren, Sanders and Buttigieg combined.
From Uploaded
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 7, 2022
The ideology of Christian nationalism The Republican Party: God, guns, forced birth, and strongmen The ideology of Christian nationalism
(35 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 12, 2017
The Art of the (Trump and Putin) Deal Say you're Vladimir Putin, and you did a deal with Trump last year. Whether there was such a deal is being investigated. But if you are Putin and you did do a deal, what might Trump have agreed to do for you?
Trump supporter yells at anti-Trump protesters, From FlickrPhotos
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 27, 2017
Making America Meaner A president contributes to setting the norms of our society. Trump is setting them at a new low.
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 22, 2011
The Flat-Tax Fraud, And The Necessity Of A Truly Progressive Tax Regressives are pushing the flat tax as a smokescreen. They'd rather not have anyone talk about the unfairness and fiscal absurdity of the current system. Rather than merely oppose the flat tax, sensible people should push for a truly progressive tax -- starting with a top rate of 70 percent on that portion of anyone's income exceeding $5 million, from whatever source.
(32 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Why the New Healthcare Law Should Have Been Based on Medicare (And What Democrats Should Have Learned By Now) What do Obama and the Democrats do if the individual mandate in the new health-care law gets struck down by the Supreme Court? Immediately propose what they should have proposed right from the start -- universal health care based on Medicare for all, financed by payroll taxes. The public will be behind them, as will the courts.
Bernie Sanders, From FlickrPhotos
(57 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 31, 2016
Why The Major Media Marginalize Bernie It's understandable, even if unjustifiable, that the major media haven't noticed how determined Americans are to reverse the increasing concentration of wealth and political power that have been eroding our economy and democracy. And it's understandable, even if unjustifiable, that they continue to marginalize Bernie Sanders.
Wall Street, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 12, 2021
We need to talk about the real reason behind US inflation Corporate giants are raising prices even as they rake in record profits. How can this be? Because of their unchecked power
Uber Glowing Banner, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 2, 2019
The gig is up: America's booming economy is built on hollow promises About half of New York's Uber drivers are supporting families with children, yet 40% depend on Medicaid and another 18% on food stamps. It's similar elsewhere in the new American economy. Last week, the New York Times reported that fewer than half of Google workers are full-time employees. Most are temps and contractors receiving a fraction of the wages and benefits of full-time Googlers, with no job security.
Nancy Pelosi, From FlickrPhotos
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 1, 2019
Trump won't lose his job -- but the impeachment inquiry is still essential Not even overwhelming evidence that Trump sought to bribe a foreign power to dig up dirt on his leading political opponent in 2020 and did so with American taxpayer dollars, while compromising American foreign policy will cause Trump to be removed from office.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 1, 2012
Organizing McDonalds and Walmart, and Why Austerity Economics Hurts Low-Wage Workers the Most Job growth must be the nation's number one priority. Not deficit reduction. Yet neither side in the current "fiscal cliff" negotiations is talking about America's low-wage workers. They're invisible in official Washington. There's no national association of low-wage workers. They don't contribute much to political campaigns. They have no Super-PAC.
The “Affordable Care Act,” the measure to expand health insurance for millions of Americans is considered Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement., From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 23, 2013
How the Republican Tempest Over the Affordable Care Act Diverts Attention from Three Large Truths Republicans are hell-bent on destroying the Affordable Care Act in Americans' minds. The idea is to make the Act so detestable it becomes the fearsome centerpiece of the midterm elections of 2014 -- putting enough Democrats on the defensive they join in seeking its repeal or at least in amending it in ways that gut it.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 26, 2019
Trump's Economy Revealed Donald Trump and his enablers are hoping that a strong economy will help the American people look past the damage they are doing to the country. That's why Trump is constantly crowing about job numbers and the stock market in order to paint a rosy picture of the economy. But when you look closer, the numbers reveal a very different story about Trump's economy.
.Chopper Talk. Replaces The White House Press Briefing, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 5, 2019
Trump is the kid with his hand in the cookie jar -- and Republicans know it It's still unlikely Trump will be pushed out of office before the 2020 election but the odds are rising by the day. And Trump knows it, which is causing him to behave more like a wild child who deserves to be impeached.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The Biggest Risk to the Economy in 2012, and What's the Economy For Anyway? onsumers and investers are doing increasingly well but job insecurity is on the rise, inequality is widening, communities are becoming less stable, and climate change is worsening. None of this is sustainable over the long term.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 28, 2020
The Biggest Political Party in America You've Never Heard Of If I asked you to name the biggest political party in the United States, what would be your answer? You probably have two guesses that come to mind: the Democratic party or the Republican party. Well, it's neither. It's the party of Non-Voters.
Bernie Sanders, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 28, 2020
The Democratic Establishment is Freaking Out About Bernie. It should Calm Down. As wealth and power have moved to the top and the middle class has shrunk, more Americans feel politically dis-empowered and economically insecure. Today's main divide isn't right versus left. It's establishment versus anti-establishment.
Donald Trump and Richard Nixon, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 16, 2020
In his assault on justice, Trump has out-Nixoned Nixon What occurred under Nixon is happening again. Trump neither understands nor cares about justice. He cares about nothing but himself. Like Nixon, he has usurped the independence of the Department of Justice for his own ends.
College for everyone?, From ImagesAttr
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 23, 2015
Why College Isn't (and Shouldn't Have to be) for Everyone Not every young person is suited to four years of college. They may be bright and ambitious but they won't get much out of it. They'd rather be doing something else, like making money or painting murals. They feel compelled to go to college because they've been told over and over that a college degree is necessary. Yet if they start college and then drop out, they feel like total failures.
Trump Calls Impeachment Inquiry the .Greatest Hoax,. Says Schiff Should Resign, From YouTubeVideos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Trump is Selling Out America in Syria and Beyond Donald Trump is a xenophobe in public and international mobster in private. He has brazenly sought private gain from foreign governments at the expense of the American people. This is shameful and criminal. At the very least, it is impeachable.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 22, 2017
The Big Picture Of How We Got Into This Mess And How We Get Out Of It There's too much yelling these days, so we made this a silent video. Hope you find it helpful. Best wishes for a 2018 that's better for America than 2017 was.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 8, 2012
Why John Boehner May Have More Leverage over the Tea Partiers in Congess Tuesday wasn't exactly a repudiation of the Tea Party, and the public's rejection of Tea Party extremism on social issues doesn't automatically translate into rejection of its doctrinaire economics. But the election may have been enough of a slap in the face to cause Tea Partiers to rethink their overall strategy of intransigence.
Tyranny Ahead, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 3, 2017
The 15 Warnings Signs of Impending Tyranny Signs that we are in danger of being controlled by tyrants.
Why Elon Musk Became Twitter's Largest Shareholder Update: He's now on the board. Elon Musk becoming the largest shareholder in Twitter certainly raises some eyebrows, but what ..., From YouTubeVideos
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 14, 2022
Why Elon Musk has blocked me on Twitter (and now owns the joint) Listen now (8 min) | This isn't about freedom of speech. It's about power.
Occupy Wall Street Protest, From FlickrPhotos
(19 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 4, 2015
What Happened to the Moral Center of American Capitalism? The Dodd-Frank bill was an attempt to rein in Wall Street, but Wall Street lobbyists have almost eviscerated that act and have been mercilessly attacking the regulations issued. Republicans have not even appropriated sufficient money to enforce the shards of the act that remain. The Glass-Steagall Act must be resurrected. There has to be a limit on the size of big banks.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 2, 2018
Trump's 30 Broken Promises He said he'd use his business experience to whip the White House into shape. You bought it. But he has created the most dysfunctional, back-stabbing White House in modern history, and has already fired and replaced so many assistants that people there barely know who's in charge of what.
From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 16, 2020
A Perfect Recipe For Tyranny The system we now have featuring a president who lies through his teeth and two giant uncritical conveyors of those lies invites tyranny.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 3, 2018
20 broken promises of Donald Trump Trump said he'd use his business experience to whip the White House into shape. But he has created the most dysfunctional, back-stabbing White House in modern history, and has already fired and replaced so many assistants (one of them hired and fired in a little more than a week) that people there barely know who's in charge of what.
TPP Grants Banks Terrifying Secret Powers, From YouTubeVideos
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 14, 2016
The New Truth About Free Trade Proponents say giant deals like the TPP are good for the growth of the United States economy. But that argument begs the question of whose growth they're talking about. Almost all the growth goes to the richest 1 percent. The rest of us can buy some products cheaper than before, but most of those gains would are offset by wage losses.
Trump Hugs American Flag at CPAC, From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 8, 2019
Trump is the natural consequence of our anti-democracy decade A second Trump term could make the anti-democracy decade a mere prelude to the wholesale destruction of American democracy.
Sanders and Warren in US Democratic debate, From YouTubeVideos
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Who Should Be The Next President? Our odds of defeating Trump are best with either Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, as is our chance to make America the nation it should and can be.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 30, 2015
The Worst Trade Deal You Never Heard Of The Trans-Pacific Partnership, now headed to Congress, is a product of big corporations and Wall Street, seeking to circumvent regulations protecting workers, consumers, and the environment.
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 6, 2011
The Most Important Economic Speech of His Presidency Here, finally, is the Barack Obama many of us thought we had elected in 2008. Hopefully Obama will carry this message through 2012 -- and in his second term will take on the growing inequities and game-rigging practices that have been undermining the American economy and American democracy for years.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 2, 2012
The Three Biggest Democratic Takeaways from Election 2012 The overall lesson is simple, and Democrats used to know it. As Harry Truman put it in 1948, we need a government "that will work in the interests of the common people and not in the interests of the men who have all the money." That lesson needs to be relearned.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 21, 2020
How Democrats Clean Up the Messes Left By Republicans For decades, Democratic administrations have been cleaning up economic messes left to them by Republican administrations. Thanks to Donald Trump, they'll have to do so again.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 18, 2011
Taxing the Rich, the Obama Way When the President refers to his new initiative to raise taxes on millionaires as the "Buffett rule" we might expect he'd start the bargaining from a tough position. But this is Barack Obama, whose idea of negotiating is to give away half the house before he's even asked the other side for the bathroom sink.
From youtube.com: Is Trump Dumb or a Liar?, From Images
(20 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 7, 2017
Night Thoughts on Trump and America With Donald Trump away vacationing at one of his golf resorts, the rest of us may have a chance to relax. But in truth it's more like a short break in a continuing nightmare. Just enough time to turn on the light, look at the clock and ponder where we are, before the nightmare envelopes us again.
Trump -- The Most Dangerous Person in the World, From WikimediaPhotos
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 18, 2019
Trump is cornered, with violence on his mind. We must be on red alert Throughout his campaign and presidency, Trump has given cover to some of the most vile bigots in America. As he grows more desperate, he is giving them encouragement. It is our job -- and the job of all senators and representatives in Congress, regardless of party, and of military leaders -- to condemn hatred and violence in all its forms, even when the president of the United States makes excuses for it.
Winning Temperament, From FlickrPhotos
(24 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 19, 2017
Remove Him Now We have endured Donald Trump for seven months. Although he has had few legislative victories, he has almost single-handedly destroyed the moral authority of the presidency of the United States at home and abroad, brought us to the brink of a nuclear war without consulting anyone, and sown division and hatred. How can this nation endure another 41 months of this man?
Income Inequality, From ImagesAttr
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 24, 2014
The Government Problem The size of government isn't the problem. That's a canard used to hide the far larger problem. The larger problem is that much of government is no longer working for the vast majority it's intended to serve. It's working instead for a small minority at the top. If government were responding to the public's interest instead of the moneyed interests, it would be smaller and more efficient.
From ImagesAttr
(36 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 10, 2013
Debt Ceiling and Guns: Using Presidential Authority to the Fullest It's a fair argument that when the nation is jeopardized -- whether in danger of defaulting on its debts or succumbing to mass violence -- a president is justified in using his authority to the fullest. Republicans have not shied away from using whatever means available to them to get their way. The President should not be reluctant to play hardball, either.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 31, 2019
Nine Ways to Stay Sane During the Primaries As the presidential primaries get underway, it's easy to get burnt out or overwhelmed by all the candidates and their platforms. Here are nine ways to stay sane through the madness of the presidential primaries.
The Importance Of Independent Media, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 2, 2019
Facts are under siege. Now, more than ever, we need to invest in journalism If enough people start to trust Trump's words more than the media's, he can get away with saying and doing anything. Guarding the independence of the press is essential to maintaining truth as a common good. And truth is essential to democracy.
Single Payer Healthcare Would SAVE Money, From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 6, 2015
The Choice Ahead: A Private Health-Insurance Monopoly or a Single Payer We'll soon have a health insurance system dominated by two or three mammoth for-profit corporations capable of squeezing employees and consumers for all they're worth -- and handing over the profits to their shareholders and executives. The alternative is a government-run single payer system -- such as is in place in almost every other advanced economy -- dedicated to lower premiums and better care.
Ayn Rand Quote, From GoogleImages
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 5, 2018
Trump's Brand is Ayn Rand Who is Ayn Rand and why does she matter? Ayn Rand -- best known for two highly-popular novels still widely read today -- "The Fountainhead," published in 1943, and "Atlas Shrugged," in 1957 -- didn't believe there was a common good. She wrote that selfishness is a virtue, and altruism is an evil that destroys nations. This utter selfishness, contempt for the public, this win-at-any-cost mentality is eroding American life.
From Images
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 15, 2011
Can Obama Pull a Clinton on the GOP? Will Barack Obama pull a Bill Clinton? His real problem is one Mr. Clinton didn't have to contend with: a continuing terrible economy. The recession in 1991-92 was relatively mild, and by the spring of 1995, the economy was averaging 200,000 new jobs per month. By early 1996, it was roaring--with 434,000 new jobs added in February alone.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Free Enterprise on Trial Obama and the Democrats shouldn't allow Romney and the Republicans to act as defenders of risk-taking free enterprise. Americans need to know the truth. The only way the economy can thrive is if we have more risk-taking at the top, and more economic security below.
Donald Trump's coronavirus statement branded .incoherent., From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 1, 2020
Trump's Coronavirus Calamity A new and especially virulent contagious virus is bad enough. That it is spreading at a time when the US government is headed by an incompetent and vindictive paranoid who denies it, blames his opponents for it, and dismantles what's left of the institutions that could contain it, makes the danger far worse.
From queenmobs.com/2015/08/birther-control-or-donald-trump-and-ol-clementine-and-got-some-questions-about-the-presidents, From Images
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 9, 2016
The Real Threat to American Sovereignty Donald Trump is right to worry about American sovereignty. But the real threat to our sovereignty isn't imports or immigrants. It's global money influencing our politics. Protecting our democracy requires two steps that Trump and his leading supporters oppose: First, enforce our laws against soliciting or receiving foreign money in our election campaigns. Second, reverse "Citizens United."
Neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, VA, degenerated into violence, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 13, 2017
A National Calamity in the Making Donald Trump responded to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, by condemning hatred "on many sides." His refusal to call it what it is, and condemn the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and KKK members who perpetrated this violence, is a dangerous lie that fuels more hatred and violence.
GM WORKERS WALKOUT, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 22, 2019
Donald Trump is no hero of the working class. And the GM strikers know it Donald Trump pretends to be a tribune of the working class, standing up for American jobs. Last week nearly 50,000 General Motors workers went on strike to get what they see as their fair share of its profits and stop further layoffs. Trump's response? A shrug.
#BigBabyTrump, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 1, 2019
Trump's Remorse (on April 1) Nearly breaking down, Mr. Trump expressed remorse "for sowing hate and division... in America." He said "I have put a cloud over this presidency and disgraced this great country, for which I will feel ashamed for the rest of my life." He then announced he was resigning the presidency effective immediately.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 17, 2012
Manufacturing Illusions In the 1950s, more than a third of American workers were represented by a union. Now, fewer than 7 percent of private-sector workers have a union behind them. If there's a single reason why the median wage has dropped dramatically for non-college workers over the past three and a half decades, it's the decline of unions.
President Obama will deliver Remarks at Nike World Headquarters Live from Beaverton, Oregon., From ImagesAttr
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 7, 2015
Why Nike Is the Problem, Not the Solution Americans made only 1 percent of the products that generated Nike's $27.8 billion revenue last year. And Nike is moving ever more of its production abroad. Last year, a third of Nike's remaining 13,922 American production workers were laid off. Trade agreements like the Trans Pacific Partnership protect corporate investors but lead to even more off-shoring of American jobs.
Facebook, From PixabayPhotos
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 22, 2018
Break Up Facebook (and, While We're At It, Google, Apple, and Amazon) Facebook and Google dominate advertising. They're the first stops for many Americans seeking news. Apple dominates smartphones and laptop computers. Amazon is now the first stop for a third of all American consumers seeking to buy anything.
Trumpism resurging, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 3, 2020
Donald Trump's four-step plan to reopen the US economy -- and why it will be lethal Donald Trump is trying to force the economy to reopen in order to boost his electoral chances this November, and he's selling out Americans' health to seal the deal. This is beyond contemptible.
Image from Twitter User RodolfoLemoss, From TwitterPhotos
(13 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 20, 2019
It's Warren, Sanders or Biden vs Trump -- all the other Democrats are irrelevant Americans deserve a full opportunity to assess these three candidates and decide which should take on Trump. It's not too late for the DNC to tighten the rules for who gets to debate next. The stakes could not be higher. This will be the most important election in modern American history. We, not just Democrats but all Americans, cannot afford to blow it.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 25, 2019
5 Ways to Stop Corporations From Ruining the Future of Work Tackling big ambitious goals like transitioning to clean energy can encourage collaboration between different sectors of the economy. Backed by the right technologies, they can also be sources of the good jobs of the future.
President Trump 'rankled' by criticism of 'racist' tweet, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 21, 2019
Of course Donald Trump is a racist -- and his Wall Street enablers know it Wall Street is delighted with what Trump and Senate Republicans are giving it: tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks. Last year it saved JP Morgan and the other big banks $21bn. The result has been vastly more money for the Street. Last year's bonus pool totaled $27.5bn more than three times the combined incomes of the approximately 600,000 Americans earning the minimum wage.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 30, 2020
Presidential Primaries: What You Need to Know Every four years, our country holds a general election to decide who will be our next president. Before that happens, though, each party must choose its candidate through primary elections. But our system of primaries can be a bit confusing.
New York Stock Exchange Trader, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 23, 2019
Forget China -- it's America's own economic system that's broken The American economic system is focused on maximizing shareholder returns. And it's achieving that goal: on Friday, the S&P 500 notched a new all-time high. But average Americans have seen no significant gains in their incomes for four decades, adjusted for inflation.
From flickr.com: Donald Trump, the Snake Oil Salesman who Conned America, From Images
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 9, 2017
Trump's Policy Catastrophe Trump decisions other than DACA -- banning transgender people from military service, siding in court with a businessman who doesn't want to sell his services to gay couples, weakening the standard for responding to sexual violence in universities, demanding money for his "wall," banning Syrian refugees and reducing by half the number of refugees admitted to the United States.
Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 29, 2020
Donald Trump's re-election playbook: 25 ways he'll lie, cheat and abuse his power Beware Trump's playbook. Spread the truth. Stay vigilant. Fight for our democracy.
COVID-19, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 21, 2021
Why Strongmen are Losing the Fight Against COVID One big lesson from the COVID crisis: lying makes it worse.
From flickr.com/photos/47422005@N04/25482718311/: Donald Trump - The DON, From Images
(33 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 10, 2016
Trump's Creeping Tyranny Trump doesn't take kindly to anyone criticizing him -- not journalists (whom he refers to as "dishonest," "disgusting" and "scum" when they take him on), not corporate executives, not entertainers who satirize him, not local labor leaders, not a college student, no one. We must join together to condemn these acts. Has Trump no decency?
America's Problem, From YouTubeVideos
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 17, 2018
The Real Meaning of America We are not a race. We are not a creed. We are a conviction -- that all people are created equal, that people should be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, and that government should be of the people, by the people, and for the people. Yet the common good seems to have disappeared. The phrase is rarely uttered today, not even by commencement speakers and politicians.
Cancellation Riots broke out during a demonstration at UC Berkeley over the planned appearance by controversial political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos., From YouTubeVideos
(20 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 4, 2017
A Yinnopoulos, Bannon, Trump Plot to Control American Universities? The events at Berkeley Wednesday night have been a boon to Milos Yiannopoulos, of Breitbart News, and to Steve Bannon, formerly head of Breitbart News and now Trump's consigliere. According to a promotional Breitbart story that ran before the event, Yiannopoulos was going to "call for the withdrawal of federal grants and the prosecution of university officials who endanger their students with their policies."
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 21, 2020
Who's Really Looting America? Every year, American employers steal a combined $15 billion in income from their workers, whether white, black or brown. Corporations in America are also looting billions in taxes through loopholes, write-offs, and special exemptions they've successfully lobbied for.
Elizabeth Warren rises in the polls ahead of next debate, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 27, 2019
No wonder Wall Street fears Warren and Sanders -- they speak for the people The only way Democrats win is with an agenda of fundamental democratic and economic reform, such as provided by Warren and also by Sanders. Unless Democrats stand squarely on the side of democracy against oligarchy, the risk on election day is that too many Americans will either stand with Trump or stay home.
Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 22, 2019
How Trump has betrayed the working class Democrats have an historic chance to do what they should have done years ago: create a multi-racial coalition of the working class, middle class, and poor, dedicated to reclaiming the economy for the vast majority and making democracy work for all.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Why the Republican Crackup is Bad For America America has had a long history of white Southern radicals who will stop at nothing to get their way -- seceding from the Union in 1861, refusing to obey Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s, shutting the government in 1995, and risking the full faith and credit of the United States in 2010. Gingrich's recent assertion that public officials aren't bound to follow the decisions of federal courts derives from the same tradition.
Will Hillary Clinton Get Tough On The Banks? Probably Not., From ImagesAttr
(18 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Hillary Clinton's Glass-Steagall people who believe Hillary Clinton is still too close to Wall Street will not be reassured by her position on Glass-Steagall. Many will recall that her husband led the way to repealing Glass Steagall in 1999 at the request of the big Wall Street banks. It's a big mistake economically because the repeal of Glass-Steagall led directly to the 2008 Wall Street crash, and without it we're in danger of another one.
Donald Trump Meets With Republican Leaders, From YouTubeVideos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 10, 2020
Under Trump, American exceptionalism means poverty, misery and death America has the tragic distinction of accounting for about 30% of pandemic deaths so far. And it is the only advanced nation where the death rate is still climbing. Three thousand deaths per day are anticipated by 1 June. No other nation has loosened lock-downs and other social-distancing measures while deaths are increasing, as the US is now doing.
Money Bull, From PixabayPhotos
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 1, 2018
Why the Only Answer is to Break Up the Biggest Wall Street Banks The real reason Wall Street has spent huge sums trying to water down the Volcker Rule is that far vaster sums can be made if the Rule is out of the way. If you took the greed out of Wall Street all you'd have left is pavement.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Why Corporate Tax Deserters Shouldn't Get The Benefits Of Being American Corporations Corporations are deserting America by hiding their profits abroad or even shifting their corporate headquarters to another nation because they want lower taxes abroad. And some politicians say the only way to stop these desertions is to reduce corporate tax rates in the U.S. so they won't leave.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 15, 2012
Two Cheers for the Fed: At Least It's Not Obsessing About the Budget Deficit Hello? Can we please stop obsessing about the federal budget deficit? Repeat after me: America's #1 economic problem is unemployment. Our #1 goal should be to restore job growth. Period. The Federal Reserve Board understands this. And at least it's trying. But it can't succeed on its own. Global lenders are giving us a way out. Let's take advantage of the opportunity.
From Images
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Why the Republican War on Workers' Rights Undermines the American Economy Republicans in Congress are taking aim at the National Labor Relations Board, which issued a relatively minor proposed rule change allowing workers to vote on whether to unionize soon after a union has been proposed, rather than allowing employers to delay the vote for years. Many employers have used the delaying tactics to retaliate against workers who try to organize, and intimidate others into rejecting a union.
Why are wages stagnating while job growth is increasing?, From ImagesAttr
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Corporations Taking USA Back to the 19th Century Now we seem to be heading back to nineteenth century. Corporations are shifting full-time work onto temps, free-lancers, and contract workers who fall outside the labor protections established decades ago. The nation's biggest corporations and Wall Street banks are larger and more potent than ever. And labor union membership has shrunk to fewer than 7 percent of private-sector workers.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 3, 2017
7 Reasons Why Trump's Corporate Tax Cut is completely Nuts Donald Trump wants to cut the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, in order to "make the United States more competitive." This is nonsense, for 7 reasons:
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 27, 2019
The Real Reason For Impeachment An impeachment inquiry in the House is unlikely to send Trump packing before Election Day 2020 because Senate Republicans won't convict him. And it's impossible to know whether an impeachment inquiry will hurt or help Trump's chances of being reelected. Does this mean impeachment should be off the table? No.
Who will challenge Donald Trump in 2020?, From YouTubeVideos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 7, 2019
There is no "right" v "left": it is Trump and the oligarchs against the rest The oligarchs know politicians won't bite the hands that feed them. So as long as they control the money, they can be confident there will be no meaningful response to stagnant pay, climate change, military bloat or the soaring costs of health insurance, pharmaceuticals, college and housing. The only way to overcome the oligarchy and Trump's divide-and-conquer strategy is for us to join together and win America back.
Hillary Clinton, From YouTubeVideos
(21 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 16, 2016
Trustworthy Hillary The near tie is particularly astonishing given that Trump has no experience and offers no coherent set of policies or practical ideas but only venomous bigotry and mindless xenophobia, while Hillary Clinton has a boatload of experience, a storehouse of carefully-crafted policies, and a deep understanding of what the nation must do in order to come together and lead the world.
The Rule of Law Pushes Back, From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 23, 2018
The Rule of Law Democracies depend on what's known as the "rule of law." No person is above the law, not even a president. Which means a president cannot stop an investigation into his alleged illegal acts. A president cannot prosecute political opponents or critics. Yet Trump has repeatedly pushed the Justice Department to bring charges against Hillary Clinton.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 11, 2011
The Remarkable Political Stupidity of the Street Wall Street is its own worst enemy. It should have welcomed new financial regulation as a means of restoring public trust. Instead, it's busily shredding new regulations and making the public more distrustful than ever.
Interest Rates, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(10 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Psst: You want to know what's really driving inflation? (Not what the Fed thinks it is) The underlying problem is not inflation. It's lack of competition. Corporations are using the excuse of inflation to raise prices and make fatter profits.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 21, 2017
The Case for Obstruction of Justice Against Trump A decision to support an "inquiry of impeachment" resolution in the House -- to start an impeachment investigation -- doesn't depend on sufficient evidence to convict a person of obstruction of justice, but simply probable cause to believe a president may have obstructed justice. There's already more than enough evidence of probable cause to begin that impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 25, 2011
This Labor Day We Need Protest Marches Rather than Parades Washington is paralyzed, the President seems unwilling or unable to take on labor-bashing Republicans, and several Republican governors are mounting direct assaults on organized labor. So let's bag the picnics and parades this Labor Day. American workers should march in protest. They're getting the worst deal they've had since before Labor Day was invented -- and the economy is suffering as a result.
Wall Street greed, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 26, 2015
Wall Street's Threat to the American Middle Class Do we really need reminding about what happened six years ago? The financial collapse crippled the middle class and poor -- consuming the savings of millions of average Americans, and causing 23 million to lose their jobs, 9.3 million to lose their health insurance, and some 1 million to lose their homes.
Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 1, 2019
The Real Lesson of Ukraine-gate: Trump Will Do Anything To Win in 2020 Trump has shown himself willing to trample any aspect of our democracy that gets in his way attacking the media, using the presidency for personal profit, packing the federal courts, verbally attacking judges, blasting the head of the Federal Reserve, spending money in ways Congress did not authorize, and subverting the separation of powers.
Democratic Donkey - Caricature, From FlickrPhotos
(23 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 18, 2016
The Democratic Party Lost Its Soul. It's Time to Win it Back. Many vested interests don't want the Democratic party to change. Most of the money it raises ends up in the pockets of political consultants, pollsters, strategists, lawyers, advertising consultants and advertisers themselves, many of whom have become rich off the current arrangement. They naturally want to keep it.
Trump on Apprenticeship and Workforce Initiatives, From YouTubeVideos
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Trump is the kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar The American workforce is hobbled by deteriorating schools, unaffordable college tuitions, decaying infrastructure, soaring healthcare costs and diminishing basic research.
Epidemic, From PixabayPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 17, 2020
America has no real public health system -- coronavirus has a clear run The system would be failing even under a halfway competent president. The dirty little secret, which will soon become apparent to all, is that there is no real public health system in the United States.
Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 2, 2020
The Real Reason America Is Divided The Great Divider knows how to pit native-born Americans against immigrants, the working class against the poor, whites against blacks and Latinos, evangelicals against secularists, keeping almost everyone stirred up by vilifying, disparaging, denouncing, defaming and accusing others of the worst. Trump thrives off disruption and division.
(10 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 24, 2011
Why We Shouldn't Be Selling The Right To Live In America Rather than have the big banks carry all those non-performing mortgage loans on their books or be forced to write them down, we'll just goose the housing market by selling off the right to live in America. And the measure wouldn't allow in the world's riff-raff, because buyers would have to be rich enough to pay cash, and live here six months a year without working.
Hillary Clinton having trouble attracting Bernie Sanders supporters, From GoogleImages
(25 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 19, 2016
Why You Really Must Get Behind Hillary, Now The movement Bernie energized must not and will not end. But Donald Trump, were he to become president, would set back the cause for decades. There are just over seven weeks until Election Day. My request to those of you who still don't want to vote for Hillary Clinton: Please reconsider. It is no exaggeration to say the fate of the nation and the world are at stake.
Student Loan Debts, From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 2, 2014
Work and Worth What's the worth to society of social workers who put in long and difficult hours dealing with patients suffering from mental illness or substance abuse? Probably higher than their average pay of $18.14 an hour, which translates into less than $38,000 a year.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Truth About the American Economy - Part 2 Washington's paralysis in the face of a stalled recovery is bad news - not just for average Americans but for the world. Ironically, it also worsens America's future budget crisis because it postpones the day when the debt begins to shrink as a proportion of the GDP. Yet as the 2012 election season looms, the prospects for sensible policy seem to decrease by the day.
Bernie Sanders, From WikimediaPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 8, 2020
Why Young Voters Still Love Bernie When middle-aged and older people feel unsafe, they run to the familiar and reliable, even if it's deadly dull. Younger people who feel threatened are more likely to take risks in hopes of finding something better.
Robert Reich: 3 Easy Fixes for Social Security &  Medicare Robert Reich explains how we can strengthen the so-called .entitlement. programs Republicans want to cut. Watch More: The Fight for Social Security, Medicare ..., From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 19, 2018
Three Easy Fixes to Social Security and Medicare that Republicans Don't Want You to Know About The basic reason why Social Security and Medicare are running out of money is the American population continues to age and live longer -- leaving a relatively smaller working population to pay into Social Security and Medicare.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 5, 2014
The Year of the Great Redistribution The stock market ended 2013 at an all-time high -- giving stockholders their biggest annual gain in almost two decades. Most Americans didn't share in those gains, however, because most people haven't been able to save enough to invest in the stock market. More than two-thirds of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck.
Mitch McConnell, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 27, 2019
The Darth Vader of Washington As the walls close in around his Dear Leader next year, McConnell will only become more bold in subverting the will of the people to protect Trump's interests.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Mitch McConnell's Do-Nothing Republicans. America used to have a Senate that served the people. But under Mitch McConnell's leadership, what was once the world's greatest deliberative body has become a partisan circus. He and his Republican colleagues have done nothing to benefit the American people, ignoring the voices of their constituents in order to serve the will of Donald Trump and Republican fat cats.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 12, 2012
The Ryan Choice In Ryan's views and policy judgments we find the true ideologue. More than any other politician today, Paul Ryan exemplifies the social Darwinism at the core of today's Republican Party: Reward the rich, penalize the poor, let everyone else fend for themselves. Dog eat dog.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 20, 2019
The Real Deal with Medicare for All Medicare for All is better than our present system, because it's based on the simple and proven idea that we shouldn't be paying private for-profit corporate insurers boatloads of money to get the insurance we need.
Michael Bloomberg, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 15, 2020
Buying the Presidency Big money inevitably engulfs politics, which is why a handful of extremely rich people like Bloomberg have more influence than any comparable group since the robber barons of the early 20th century.
Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 1, 2020
Fire, pestilence and a country at war with itself: the Trump presidency is over You'd be forgiven if you hadn't noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States.
Donald Trump unleashes fury over impeachment inquiry, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 13, 2019
Donald Trump: xenophobe in public, international mobster in private Donald Trump is a xenophobe in public and international mobster in private. He has brazenly sought private gain from foreign governments at the expense of the American people. This is shameful and criminal. At the very least, it is impeachable.
From youtube.com: Is Trump Dumb or a Liar?, From Images
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 26, 2017
A Year With Trump America has had its share of crooks (Warren G. Harding, Richard Nixon), bigots (Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan), and incompetents (Andrew Johnson, George W. Bush). But never before Donald Trump have we had a president who combined all these nefarious qualities. In less than a year, he has degraded the core institutions and values of our democracy.
Donald Trump and Richard Nixon, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 29, 2019
Trump can do more damage than Nixon. His impeachment is imperative Regardless of how the impeachment turns out, Trump's predation can be constrained as long as his presidency can be ended with the 2020 election. If that election is distorted, and if this man is re-elected, all bets are off.
From ImagesAttr
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 6, 2012
The Politics of the Jobs Report Romney says we're not doing well enough, and he's right. But the prescriptions he's offering, the cuts he proposes in public investments like education and infrastructure, and safety nets like Medicare and Medicaid, will take money out of the pockets of people who not only desperately need it but whose spending is necessary to keep the tepid recovery going.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 5, 2012
How Not to Get Big Pharma to Change Its Ways There's no good reason why doctors should be allowed to accept any perks at all from companies whose drugs they write prescriptions for. It's an inherent conflict of interest. Codes of ethics that are supposed to limit such gifts obviously don't work. All perks should be banned, and doctors that accept them should be subject to potential loss of their licenses to practice.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 19, 2017
6-Month Update for Trump Voters He said he'd clean the Washington swamp. You bought it. But he's brought into his administration more billionaires, CEOs, and Wall Street moguls than in any administration in history, to make laws that will enrich their businesses, along with former lobbyists, lawyers and consultants who are crafting new policies for the same industries they recently worked for.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 16, 2012
Why Republicans Aren't Mentioning the Real Cause of Rising Prices at the Gas Pump Wall Street is betting on higher oil prices in the future -- and that betting is causing prices to rise. The Street is laying odds that unrest in Syria will spill over into other countries or that tensions with Iran will affect the Persian Gulf, and that global demand will pick up as American consumers bounce back to life.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 1, 2020
The Sham of Corporate Social Responsibility American corporations are sacrificing workers and communities as never before, in order to further boost record profits and unprecedented CEO pay.
Money In Politics -- Top Donors Invest in Politicians., From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 7, 2015
The Big Chill: How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism of Big Money This isn't a matter of ideology. Wealthy progressives can exert as much quiet influence over the agendas of nonprofits as wealthy conservatives. Philanthropy is noble. But when it's mostly in the hands of a few super-rich and giant corporations, and is the only game available, it can easily be abused. Our democracy is directly threatened when the rich buy off politicians.
Immigration Marches, Los Angeles, From ImagesAttr
(23 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 30, 2014
Patrolling the Boundaries Inside America parents are intent on policing the boundaries, lest a child whose parents haven't paid the "tuition" reap the same advantages as their own child. Hell hath no fury like an upscale parent who thinks another kid is getting an unfair advantage by sneaking in under the fence.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 26, 2019
Trump's Emoluments Mess Trump's violation of the emoluments clause should be added to the likely grounds for impeachment already being investigated, seeking the help of a foreign power in an election, and obstruction of justice.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 23, 2011
Why Medicare Is the Solution -- Not the Problem Americans spend more on health care per person than any other advanced nation and get less for our money. Yearly public and private healthcare spending is $7,538 per person. That's almost two and a half times the average of other advanced nations. Medical costs are soaring because our health-care system is totally screwed up.
The Big Short -- Screwed 2015, From YouTubeVideos
(17 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 12, 2016
"The Big Short" and Bernie's Plan to Bust Up Wall Street The only way to contain the Street's excesses is by taking on its economic and political power directly -- with reforms so big, bold, and public they can't be watered down. Starting with busting up the biggest banks, as Bernie Sanders proposes. Unless they're broken up and Glass-Steagall resurrected, we face substantial risk of another near-meltdown.
Reality Leigh Winner, From TwitterPhotos
(22 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 7, 2017
The Real Leaky Problem The arrest of Reality Leigh Winner, a 25-year-old federal contractor from Atlanta, Georgia, for leaking a National Security Agency report describing in far more detail than previously known Russian efforts to intrude in the 2016 election on behalf of Trump, comes in the midst of a deluge of Trump tweets and leaks.
Monsanto: The Company that Owns the World's Food Supply, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 31, 2019
Corporations are endangering Americans. Trump doesn't care Big money has had an inhibiting effect on regulators in several previous administrations. What's unique under Trump is the blatancy of it all, and the shameless willingness of Trump appointees to turn a blind eye to corporate wrongdoing.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Trump's Trojan Horse Tax Cut The goal of Trump and the Republican leaders is to pull off a giant redistribution of over $1 trillion from the middle-class, working-class, and poor to the rich, who are already richer than ever. Republicans have just passed a budget that would cut nearly $1.5 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid to pay for these tax cuts.
From Uploaded
(34 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 12, 2022
The six things Putin and Trump convinced me I was wrong about They were all about the inevitability of progress. But the people of Ukraine are teaching all of us lessons we thought we knew I used to believe several things about the twenty-first century that Putin's invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump's election in 2016 have shown me are false.
Robert Reich, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Trump's Theft Is Impeachable on Its Own Trump has been funneling government dollars into his own pockets ever since he was elected. The Doral deal was just too much even for his Republican enablers to stomach. Since he's been president, Trump has spent almost a third of his time at one or another of his resorts or commercial properties, costing taxpayers a bundle but giving those resorts incomparable publicity.
Robert Reich, From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 14, 2015
Ten Ideas to Save the Economy #3: Expand Social Security Social Security will be there for you in your retirement. The problem is it won't pay you enough. That's why it's important to expand Social Security -- not cut Social Security benefits. How? We can afford to increase Social Security benefits, as well as help ensure the solvency of Social Security, by eliminating the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes.
From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 11, 2013
The Tea Party Republicans' Biggest Mistake: Confusing Government with Our System of Government Americans distrust big government, and always will. There's ample reason -- especially given the huge sums now bankrolling politicians, coming from a relative handful of billionaires, big corporations, and Wall Street. But we love our system of government. That's what must be strengthened. The Tea Partiers have overplayed their hand. If they don't stop their recklessness, they'll be out of the game.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 20, 2017
The New Poll Tax In nine states, Republican legislators have enacted laws that disenfranchise anyone with outstanding legal fees or court fines. For example, in Alabama more than 100,000 people who owe money -- roughly 3 percent of the state's voting-age population -- have been struck from voting rolls.
Trump's Endless Barrage Of Evil And Incompetence Is Exhausting, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 20, 2019
Trump is a Clear and Present Danger to America and the World We have to face the truth that no one seems to want to admit. This is no longer a case of excessive narcissism or grandiosity. We're not simply dealing with an unusually large ego. The president of the United States is seriously, frighteningly, dangerously unstable. And he's getting worse by the day. Such a person in the Oval Office can do serious damage.
Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Trump leaves Defense Department in disarray Surrounded by inexperienced "yes men" who cannot, or will not, control his worst impulses, Trump has brashly brought us to the brink of an international crisis.
Donald Trump- Caricature, From GoogleImages
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 20, 2017
How to Remove Trump Inside the administration, there are moves to contain and isolate the manchild. On foreign policy, the Axis of Adults -- Chief of staff General John Kelly, national security advisor General H.R. McMaster, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson -- are asserting tighter control, especially after Trump's tweetstorm over North Korea.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 21, 2019
The 5-Step CEO Pay Scam We must stop CEOs from corrupting American politics with big money. Get big money out of our democracy. Fight for campaign finance reform. Grossly widening inequalities of income and wealth cannot be separated from grossly widening inequalities of political power in America. This corruption must end.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 22, 2020
How Trump Manufactured the Hunter Biden-Ukraine Scandal For months, Trump and his Republican enablers have been selling a counter-narrative, to distract from Trump's effort to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, and Russia's attempt in 2016 to help Trump win the election.
Old money v New - oligarch yacht seen from the Rothschild villa on Cap Ferrat 2018, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 7, 2022
What's the difference between Russian and American oligarchs? Actually, not all that much. Which means it's really hard for sanctions to stick
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The Fanatical GOP Although the GOP crackup may bode well for Democrats this coming Election Day, it bodes ill for America. The capture of one of our great parties by fanatics is nothing to celebrate. A democracy needs at least two sane political parties.
Kamala Harris answers post-debate questions in the Spin Room California Senator Kamala Harris tackles reporters' questions inside of the Spin Room following the Democratic presidential debate in Miami on June 28, 2019., From YouTubeVideos
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 30, 2019
Democrats must just bring down Trump -- for the sake of the world Imagine an opposition political party in a land being taken over by an oligarchy, headed by a would-be tyrant. The opposition party will soon face another election in which it could possibly depose the tyrant and overcome the oligarchy. But at the rate they are consolidating power over the courts, politics and the media this could be the opposition's last chance.
Sanders and Warren in US Democratic debate, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 16, 2019
Donald Trump fears only one Democrat: Warren Sanders If the backers of both Sanders and Warren come together behind one of them, they'll have the votes to take the White House and even flip the Senate.
US economy loses 20.5 million jobs in April., From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 28, 2020
Layoffs While millions of Americans have lost their jobs during this pandemic, America's billionaires have grown their wealth by more than $500 billion. It's never been more clear: Profit-sharing needs to make a comeback.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Budget Baloney (1): Why Social Security Isn't a Problem for 26 Years, and the Best Way to Fix It Permanently Social Security isn't responsible for the federal deficit. Just the opposite. Until last year Social Security took in more payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits. It lent the surpluses to the rest of the government.
From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Romney's Latest Lie, His Former Lies, and Why We Must Not Put Liars in the White House Anyone who tells or countenances lies such as Romney tells cannot be trusted to hold the highest office in our land, because he has no compunctions about feeding false information to the public. In recent memory we've had a president who told us there were "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq, when in fact there were none. We dare not risk another George W. Bush.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 24, 2011
Why Governor LePage Can't Erase History, and Why We Need a Fighter in the White House Pro-business goals are breaking out all over. Governors across America are slashing corporate taxes as they slash state budgets. House and Senate Republicans are intent on deregulating, privatizing, and cutting spending and taxes so their corporate and Wall Street patrons will do even better. But most Americans are still in desperate trouble. Few if any of the economic gains are trickling down.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 10, 2012
Erasing W The GOP is counting on America's notoriously short-term memory to blot out the last time the nation put a Republican into the Oval Office, on the reasonable assumption that such a memory might cause voters to avoid making the same mistake twice. As whoever-it-was once said, "fool me once ..." (and then mangled the rest).
From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 31, 2012
Labor Day 2012 and the Election of 2012: It's Inequality, Stupid The most troubling economic trend facing America this Labor Day weekend is the increasing concentration of income, wealth, and political power at the very top -- among a handful of extraordinarily wealthy people -- and the steady decline of the great American middle class.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 11, 2015
The 3 Biggest Myths Blinding Us to the Economic Truth We should worry most about the size of government. Wrong. We should worry about who government is for. When big money from giant corporations and Wall Street inundate our politics, all decisions relating to creating jobs and the choice between the "free market" or "government" become rigged against average working Americans.
Fairness, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 2, 2017
The True Path to Prosperity The only way to grow the economy is by investing in the education, healthcare, and infrastructure that average Americans need in order to be more productive. Growth doesn't "trickle down." It rises up.
From Uploaded
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Case Closed. There's No Question the Founding Fathers Would Impeach Trump Trump's entire presidency has been shadowed by questions of foreign interference favoring him. Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation documented extensive contacts between Trump's associates and Russian figures -- concluding that the Kremlin sought specifically to help Trump get elected, and that Trump's campaign welcomed Russia's help.
Donald Trump, From GoogleImages
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 7, 2018
America Rejects Trumpism The nation has repudiated Trump, but do not believe for a moment that our national nightmare is over. Trump still occupies the White House and in all likelihood will be there for two more years. The Republican Party remains in control of the Senate.
Robert Reich: Moderates and Centrists Are No Safe BetFormer Secretary of Labor Robert Reich., From InText
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 4, 2019
Moderates and Centrists Are No Safe Bet The country has been taken over by undocumented immigrants, Latinos, African-Americans, and a "deep state" of coastal liberals, intelligence agencies, and mainstream media. This is rubbish, of course, but the tyrant is masterful at telling big lies, and he is backed by the oligarchy's big money.
A Twitter Card, From
(28 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 28, 2022
The Putin-Trump Axis Putin's neo-fascism has rooted itself in America. What can we do? The world is currently and frighteningly locked in a battle to the death between democracy and authoritarianism. Yesterday, Vladimir Putin issued a new threat to the West - telling his defense minister and his top military commander to place Russia's nuclear forces on alert. It is a new cold war.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 26, 2012
Why No Responsible Democrat Should Want Newt Gingrich to Get the GOP Nomination Republicans are worried sick about Newt Gingrich's ascendance, while Democrats are tickled pink. Yet no responsible Democrat should be pleased at the prospect that Gingrich could get the GOP nomination. The future of America is too important to accept even a small risk of a Gingrich presidency.
2016 ELECTIONS, From ImagesAttr
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Will the Democratic Nominee for 2016 Take on the Moneyed Interests? The big unknown is whether the Democratic nominee will also take on the moneyed interests -- the large Wall Street banks, big corporations, and richest Americans -- which have been responsible for the largest upward redistribution of income and wealth in modern American history. Failure to take on the moneyed interests sacrifices the potential enthusiasm of millions of voters.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 20, 2011
Stock Tip: Be Worried. Workers are Consumers. We're slouching toward a double dip, and the stock market is imploding, because consumers -- whose spending is 70 percent of the economy -- have reached their limit.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 1, 2013
Why Washington Is Cutting Safety Nets When Most Americans Are Still in the Great Recession It's easy to blame Republicans and the right-wing billionaires that bankroll them, and their unceasing demonization of "big government" as well as deficits. But Democrats in Washington bear some of the responsibility. In last year's fiscal cliff debate neither party pushed to extend the payroll tax holiday or find other ways to help the working middle class and poor.
The Truth About Obamacare, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 22, 2014
The Real Truth About ObamaCare Remedies could evolve. States might use their state-run exchanges to funnel so many applicants to a single, low-cost insurer that the insurer becomes, in effect, a single payer. Vermont is already moving in this direction. In this way, the Affordable Care Act could become a back door to a single-payer system -- every conservative's worst nightmare.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Who is Worse: Donald Trump or Mitch McConnell? As to the question of who is worse, Trump or McConnell, the answer is that it's too close to call. The two of them have degraded and corrupted American democracy. We need them both out.
Donald Trump, From PixabayPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 17, 2017
Government Of, By, and For Trump The horrifying reality is that in Trumpworld, there is no real "public" role. It's all about protecting and benefiting Trump. When loyalty trumps integrity, we no longer have a government of laws. We have a government by and for Trump.
Hillary Clinton, From GoogleImages
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 1, 2016
The Real Reckoning Hillary Clinton said in her acceptance speech, "I believe that our economy isn't working the way it should because our democracy isn't working the way it should." She's correct, but she didn't finish the logic. Democracy is not working the way it should because it's being corrupted by big money. That big money is altering the rules of the game to generate even bigger money.
IRS, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 16, 2022
You are being lied to about the IRS The 1% have an incentive to keep the IRS hobbled and unable to excavate their hidden wealth.
From pinterest.com/wepartypatriots/political-cartoons/: Low Wages, From Images
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 5, 2016
A Message to Working People on Labor Day from a former labor secretary Your typical wage is below what it was in the late 1970s, in terms of what it can buy. Two-thirds of you are living paycheck to paycheck. Almost 30 percent of you don't have steady employment: You're working part-time or on contract, with none of the labor protections created over the last 80 years. Yet the American economy is twice as large as it was in the late 1970s.
Robert Reich, From InText
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 2, 2019
Democrats Reject Oligarchy or Else In the conventional view of American politics, Joe Biden is a moderate while Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are on the left and Donald Trump is on the right. This conventional view is rubbish. Today's great divide is not between left and right. It's between democracy and oligarchy.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 9, 2017
Why Making American Corporations More Competitive Doesn't Help Most Americans Most American corporations -- especially big ones that would get most of the planned corporate tax cuts -- have no particular allegiance to America. Their only allegiance is to their shareholders. So restoring their "competitive edge" has little or nothing to do with helping American workers.
Facebook and Twitter, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 10, 2019
Power and Lies Facebook and Twitter aren't just participants in the information marketplace. They're quickly becoming the information marketplace. Antitrust law was designed to check the power of giant commercial entities. Its purpose wasn't just to hold down consumer prices but also to protect democracy. Antitrust should be used against Facebook and Twitter. They should be broken up.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 2, 2017
A Summer Survival Guide For The Trump Era See what resources you yourselves can offer to your community. Start a tool collective or teach a class in a library or out of someone's house. Tangible change can come from your hands, not only your votes. Remember, resistance works best when people come together and work together.
Deep in the Stupid Swamp, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 17, 2021
Whatever Happened to the Republican Party that Stood for Limited Government? Today's Republican Party, while still claiming to stand for limited government, is practicing just the opposite: government intrusion everywhere.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Aetna Shows Why We Need a Single Payer The problem isn't Obamacare per se. It's in the structure of private markets for health insurance -- which creates powerful incentives to avoid sick people and attract healthy ones. Obamacare is just making the structural problem more obvious. Insurers that take in too many sick and too few healthy people are driven out of business.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 25, 2020
5 Ways William Barr is Turning America into a Dictatorship William Barr was installed as Attorney General specifically to turn the Department of Justice into an arm of the Trump Coverup. And we've seen him do exactly that. Barr has corrupted and politicized the Department of Justice, working hand in hand with Donald Trump to bend federal law enforcement to the president's will.
Thom Hartmann explains there are only two things that can stand up to billionaires and big corporations -- government and unions., From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 31, 2015
10 Ways To Make The Economy Work For The Many, Not The Few: #7, Strengthen Unions, Pre-empt State "Right To Work" Laws American workers need a union to bargain on their behalf. Low-wage workers in big-box retail stores and fast-food chains need a union even more. If we want average Americans to get a fair share of the gains from economic growth, they need to be able to unionize.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Should We Abolish Billionaires? America now has more billionaires than at any time in history, while most Americans are struggling to make ends meet. With such staggering inequality, it's fair to ask: should we abolish billionaires? Billionaires themselves aren't the problem. The real failure is in how our economy is organized.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Trump's Obstruction Of Justice Obstruction of justice was among the articles of impeachment drafted against both Presidents Nixon and Clinton. The parallel between Nixon and Trump is almost exact. White House tapes revealed Nixon giving instructions to pressure the acting FBI director into halting the Watergate investigation.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Why 2020 Won't Be Won By Centrists Beating Donald Trump requires getting out the vote. And in order to get people to turn out and vote, a presidential candidate has to be inspiring. Which means big ideas, a vision of an America that could become a reality if we all got behind it, a sense of where we need to be heading.
Insane Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 18, 2018
Trump -- The Mad King Narcissists are dangerous because they think only about themselves. Megalomaniacs are dangerous because they think only about their power and invincibility. A narcissistic megalomaniac who's unconstrained -- and who's also president of the United States -- is about as dangerous as they come. World leaders are now taking Trump's braggadocio and ignorance for granted, acting as if America has no president.
From flickr.com: The Unraveling President, From Images
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 13, 2017
Is Trump Unraveling? Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair, who wrote that the situation has gotten so out of control that Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis have discussed ways to stop Trump should he order a nuclear attack. Kelly has tried to keep Trump focused by intercepting outside phone calls to the White House and restricting access to the Oval Office.
Elon Musk at Tesla Factory, From WikimediaPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 11, 2020
American firms aren't beholden to America -- but that's news to Trump Even when it comes to technologies linked to national security, American firms have no particular allegiance to America. They'll make and sell anything, anywhere, unless US law stops them.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 3, 2012
Romneyism Despite its contradictions and ellipses, Romneyism has an internal coherence. It is different from conservatism, because it does not intend to conserve or protect any particular institutions or values. It is also distinct from Republicanism, in that it is not rooted in traditional small-town American values, nationalism, or states' rights.
Bernie Sanders, From WikimediaPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 9, 2020
Dear Bernie Robert Reich thanks Bernie Sanders for all that he has done for this nation.
Here comes Bernie!, From YouTubeVideos
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 17, 2016
Six Responses to Bernie Skeptics Bernie is the strongest Democratic candidate in the general election, defeating both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in hypothetical matchups. (The latest Real Clear Politics averages of all polls shows Bernie beating Trump by a larger margin than Hillary beats Trump, and Bernie beating Cruz while Hillary loses to Cruz.)
Climate emergency, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 23, 2020
The Real Cost of Doing Nothing We can no longer pretend that climate change, a wildly dysfunctional healthcare system and a yawning deficit in public investment pose insignificant challenges. Doing nothing or doing too little will make them far worse. Obsessing about the cost of addressing them without acknowledging the cost of failing to address them is dangerously irresponsible.
Elizabeth Warren, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 9, 2019
Elizabeth Warren's economic nationalism vision shows there's a better way Elizabeth Warren's new Plan for Economic Patriotism, unveiled on Tuesday, marks a stunningly ambitious version of American industrial policy. Industrial policy centers on a social contract between the public and business: corporations get extra resources to grow bigger and more innovative. In return, those corporations create high-paying jobs in the nation, and focus on sectors promising the greatest social returns.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 19, 2020
7 Ways 2020 Has Exposed America We can no longer accept piecemeal reforms of our broken systems. We need to reimagine a political and economic system that values humanity and builds prosperity for every American. Let's get to work.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Four Reasons Why Millennials Don't Have Any Money Millennials aren't teenagers anymore. They're working hard, starting families and trying to build wealth. But as a generation, they're way behind. They're deeper in debt, only half as likely to own a home, and more likely to live in poverty than their parents.
President Trump Coronavirus (COVID-19) Briefing, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Ignore the bankers -- the Trump economy is not worth more coronavirus deaths Donald Trump is concerned that a prolonged lockdown might harm his chances of re-election. "We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem," the president said last week, announcing that America would be "open for business" by Easter.
Shocking Redistribution of Wealth in the US, From ImagesAttr
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 17, 2015
The "iEverything" and the Redistributional Imperative Most of us will have less and less money to buy the dazzling array of products and services spawned by blockbuster technologies -- because those same technologies will be supplanting our jobs and driving down our pay. We need a new economic model.
'Pharma bro' Martin Shkreli, From YouTubeVideos
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 10, 2018
America's Shkreli Problem Shkreli will do whatever it takes to win, regardless of the consequences for anyone else. He believes that the norms other people live by don't apply to him. His attitude toward the law is that anything he wants to do is okay unless it is clearly illegal -- and even if illegal, it's okay if he can get away with it. He is utterly shameless.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 24, 2012
Romney's Lying Machine Every campaign is guilty of exaggerations, embellishments, distortions, and half-truths. But this is another thing altogether. I've been directly involved in seven presidential campaigns, and I don't recall a presidential candidate lying with such audacity, over and over again. Why does Romney do it, and how can he get away with it?
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 23, 2010
The Attack on American Education Have we gone collectively out of our minds? Our young people -- their capacities to think, understand, investigate, and innovate -- are America's future. In the name of fiscal prudence we're endangering that future.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 22, 2015
Why We're All Becoming Independent Contractors Any corporation that accounts for at least 80 percent of the work someone does, or receives at least 20 percent of his or her earnings, should be presumed to be that person's "employer." Congress doesn't have to pass a new law to make this the test of employment. The Labor Department and the IRS have the power to do this on their own, through their rule making authority. They should do so. Now.
Joe Biden - Caricature, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 25, 2022
The Billionaire Bombardment of Democracy This billionaire bombardment gives Biden and the Democrats an opportunity to tell America whose side they're on and whose side they're not on, in effect, to declare class war on the class warriors.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Austerity Death-Trap The only way out of this vicious cycle is for the government -- the spender of last resort -- to boost the economy. The regressives are all calling for the opposite. And if you think 2011 is bad, you ain't seen nothin' yet.
economy, From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 11, 2012
How J.P. Morgan Chase Has Made the Case for Breaking Up The Big Banks and Resurrecting Glass-Steagall Let's also stop hoping Wall Street will mend itself. What just happened at J.P. Morgan -- along with its leader's cavalier dismissal followed by lame reassurance -- reveals how fragile and opaque the banking system continues to be, why Glass-Steagall must be resurrected, and why the Dallas Fed's recent recommendation that Wall Street's giant banks be broken up should be heeded.
Insane Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 26, 2018
The Megalomaniac and the Stock Market All modern economies depend on public confidence that politicians can't lower interest rates to serve their own purposes, such as getting short-term growth at the expense of long-term inflation and instability. (Which is exactly what Trump wants to do.)
Donald Trump, From GoogleImages
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 5, 2018
Trump's Divide-and-Conquer Strategy Trump has forced all of us to take sides, and to despise those on the other. There's no middle ground. The Republican Party used to stand for fiscal responsibility, state's rights, free trade, and a hard line against Russian aggression. Now it just stands for Trump.
From ImagesAttr
(14 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 24, 2014
The New Tribalism and the Decline of the Nation State The world's "melting pot" is changing color. Between the 2000 and 2010 census, the share of the U.S. population calling itself white dropped from 69 to 64 percent, and more than half of the nation's population growth came from Hispanics. It's also becoming more divided by economic class. Increasingly, the rich seem to inhabit a different country than the rest.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 23, 2020
The solutions to the climate crisis no one is talking about Both our economy and the environment are in crisis. The climate crisis is worsening inequality, as those who are most economically vulnerable bear the brunt of flooding, fires, and disruptions of supplies of food, water, and power.
From flickr.com: Trump a dangerous mind, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 30, 2017
Trump's Fog Machine It may not matter what the FBI or the other intelligence agencies dredge up about Trump and his aides colluding with Russia because the public will be lost in that fog. If it turns out that Trump and his advisers colluded with Russia to hand him the presidency, Trump's administration will be shipwrecked on the shoals of American democracy. And he'll go down with the ship.
Millennials have a unique form of activism Now more than ever, it seems young people are speaking out about issues they are passionate about and advocating for., From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 9, 2019
It may feel like the world's ending -- but America has reason to hope The oligarchs and plutocrats would like nothing better than for the rest of us to give up and drop out. That way, they get it all. But we never have, and we never will. Preserving and expanding democracy has been America's central project since its founding. It's an unending fight. And no matter how bleak it may look, we will never stop fighting.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 31, 2011
The Truth About the Economy Nobody In Washington Or On Wall Street Will Admit: We're Heading Back Toward a Double Dip There's no possibility government will make up for the coming shortfall in consumer spending. To the contrary, government is worsening the situation. State and local governments are slashing their budgets by roughly $110-billion this year. The federal stimulus is ending, and the federal government will end up cutting some $30-billion from this year's budget.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 14, 2010
America's Biggest Jobs Program -- the U.S. Military Wouldn't it be better to have a jobs program that created things we really need -- like light-rail trains, better school facilities, public parks, water and sewer systems, and non-carbon energy sources -- than things we don't, like obsolete weapons systems?
Republican Elephant & Democratic Donkey, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 14, 2016
A Citizen's Guide to the Upcoming Conventions Our two major political parties no longer nominate people to be president. Candidates choose themselves, they run in primaries, and the winners of the primaries become the parties' nominees. The parties have instead become giant machines for producing infomercials, raising big money and rewarding top sales reps with big bashes every four years.
David Brooks, From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 18, 2014
David Brooks' Utter Ignorance About Inequality Not only is there less money for good schools, job training, and social services, but the poor face a difficult challenge moving upward because the income ladder is longer than it used to be and its middle rungs have disappeared. That David Brooks, one of the most thoughtful of conservative pundits, doesn't see or acknowledge this is a sign of how far the right has moved away from the reality most Americans live in every day.
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Jamie Dimon, spare us your crocodile tears about inequality If Dimon and the others were serious about helping most American workers whose real wages have been going nowhere for decades and job security is dwindling, they could use their outsized political influence to push for laws requiring CEOs to consider all their stakeholders, not just shareholders.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Should the Supreme Court Be Reformed? In recent years the legitimacy of the Supreme Court has come under question as Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Senate Republicans have bent the nomination process for their own political gain.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Brace Yourself for Trump's Great Recession The wave of evictions and foreclosures in the next two months will be unlike anything America has experienced since the Great Depression. And unless Congress extends extra unemployment benefits beyond July 31, we're also going to have unparalleled hunger.
Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(10 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 21, 2019
Trump's moral squalor, not impeachment, will remove him from power Let's be real. Trump will not be removed by impeachment. No president has been. With a Republican Senate controlled by the most irresponsible political hack ever to be majority leader, the chances are nil. Which means Trump will have to be removed the old-fashioned way by voters in an election 19 months away.
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Corporations Don't Need a Tax Cut, So Why Is Obama Proposing One? he federal budget deficit is ballooning, and in less than a year, major cuts are scheduled to slice everything from prenatal care to Medicare. So this would seem to be the ideal time to raise corporate taxes -- or at the very least close corporate tax loopholes without lowering corporate rates.
Aides Alarmed By Erratic President Donald Trump Behavior, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 7, 2020
Trump's use of the military backfired -- but will it back him if he refuses to go? This past week, Donald Trump bet his political future on repression. Much of the rest of America, on the other hand, wants to liberate black people from police brutality and centuries of systemic racism. It looks like Trump is losing and America winning, but the contest is hardly over.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 1, 2019
Where your tax dollars really go If Trump and Republicans in Congress aren't going to cut discretionary spending especially on the military the only places they can look to make way for more tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations are Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That's been their goal all along.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 31, 2019
6 Ways Trump Has Sold Out America One of Donald Trump's main campaign promises was to put "America First" and defend American interests above all else. It was a theme that riled up his base at rallies across the country, but this has turned out to be yet another big lie.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 28, 2019
Trump's Secret Tax on Ordinary Americans When the U.S. imposes tariffs on a country, like China, that raises costs for companies doing business there. And then those companies pass on their increased costs to you in the form of higher prices, as even Trump's own economic adviser Larry Kudlow acknowledged.
Inflation, From FlickrPhotos
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 29, 2022
Debunking Four Myths About Inflation Higher prices are not being driven by wage increases. They were not driven by federal assistance to people during the pandemic. And Democrats aren't to blame.
Make America Hate Again Puppet, From FlickrPhotos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Make America Hate Again A smaller version of the civil war extends even into the White House, where Bannon and his proteges are doing battle with leveler heads. Let's hope the leveler heads win the civil war in the White House. Let's pray the leveler heads in our society prevent the civil war Trump and Bannon want to instigate in America.
Political Parties, From YouTubeVideos
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 26, 2017
America Now Has Six Political Parties The old Democratic and Republican parties are exploding. When you take a closer look, America actually has six political parties right now. Whoever can put together elements of a governing coalition among these six parties will win future elections.
Tucker Carlson, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 9, 2020
The deadly Fox News-Trump syndicate Trump spouts a shocking amount of misinformation from his bully pulpit, but it's Fox News' equally misleading coverage of the dual crises that closes the lethal circuit of lies.
Parkland Shooting Survivor David Hogg Won't Accept Laura Ingraham's Apology, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 31, 2018
Dollars for Decency Companies are spending huge amounts seeking to connect their goods to consumers' values. They know more about those values than anyone. Which suggests that Americans may have had enough cruelty -- coming from Laura Ingraham, from Fox News, from Donald Trump, from the Harvey Weinsteins of the land, from whomever.
Reich: Trump's cabinet has no idea how working people live, From YouTubeVideos
(16 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 22, 2018
A Time for Integrity What is America to do? We will exercise our right to vote on November 6. But by that time our system may be compromised. The President must be constrained, now. Putin's aggression must be stopped, now. Elected lawmakers did not pledge their souls to their Parties, but to America. Now is the time to deliver on that pledge.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 8, 2020
Everyone got Super Tuesday wrong. The three biggest surprises: Neither Biden nor Bernie is a perfect candidate. Bernie's personality grates on some, while Biden's policy history turns off some. In the coming contest between Bernie and Biden, younger and older Democrats have very different ideas about who can best defeat Trump.
President Trump shows utter disdain for law, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 5, 2020
Trump's lawless thuggery is corrupting justice in America Impartial justice is the keystone of a democracy. Even if the Senate fails to remove Trump for impeachable offenses, American voters must do so next November.
Donald Trump's Gaudy White-House, From FlickrPhotos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 20, 2016
The First 100 Day Resistance Agenda rump's First 100 Day agenda includes repealing environmental regulations, Obamacare, and the Dodd-Frank Act, giving the rich a huge tax cut, and much worse. Here's the First 100 Day resistance agenda. We need investigative journalists to dig into the backgrounds of all of Trump's appointees, in the White House, the Cabinet, Ambassadors and judges.
Trickle Down Economics, From GoogleImages
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 15, 2017
Everything You've Always Wanted to Know about the Trump-Republican Tax Plan there's no Trump tax plan and no Republican tax plan? All they've come up with so far is a bunch of platitudes about how nice it would be to cut taxes, simplify the tax code, and spur economic growth. Corporate and Wall Street Republicans -- along with Donald Trump -- are most interested in cutting taxes on corporations and the wealthy. They have the backing the GOP's big business donors who will make a bundle off tax cuts.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Don't believe corporate America's "labor shortage" bullshit. This is an unofficial general strike For the first time in years, American workers have enough bargaining leverage to demand better working conditions and higher wages -- and are refusing to work until they get them.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 14, 2020
Corporate America's performative activism Systemic injustices can be remedied only when power is redistributed. And power will be redistributed only when the vast majority - white, Black and brown - join together to make it so.
Confederate Reenactors -- Boonsboro (MD) Civil War Reenactment, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(12 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 8, 2022
Will America Have a Second Civil War? Even short of war, can red and blue America continue to inhabit the same nation?
From Uploaded
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 21, 2022
Why Democrats will retain control of the House and Senate next year And even gain additional seats Happy Presidents Day. It's a good day to contemplate whether Joe Biden has a prayer of keeping a Democratic House and Senate next year. Call me a hopeless optimist, but I think he does.
Record number of ballot boxes audited in a single day, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 5, 2022
The Democrats 'Secret Sauce' for Winning the Midterms Democrats scoring some additional victories for average Americans and Trump and others doing everything possible to recollect his viciousness that could well reverse conventional wisdom about midterms and keep Democrats in control.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Why Anyone Should Care that Bill O'Reilly Calls Me A Communist Debate all over America is disappearing. All we're left with is a nasty residue. Democrats and Republicans no longer even talk. They just vent charges and counter-charges. Across the nation, conservatives right-wingers and liberal or progressive lefties have stopped debating their respective views, or even listening to anyone they disagree with. They just find broadcasters and bloggers who confirm their views.
Ronald Reagan, center, shown here shaking hands with a pre-politics Donald Trump, often rhapsodized about the
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 11, 2018
Trump's Big Buyback Bamboozle Buybacks used to be illegal. The Securities and Exchange considered them unlawful means of manipulating stock prices, in violation of the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934. But under Ronald Reagan, who rhapsodized about the "magic of the market," the SEC legalized buybacks. After that, buybacks took off.
Donald Trump says impeachment .subverts democracy.., From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 26, 2020
Trump impeachment trial: what you need to know Trump will claim that his forthcoming acquittal by the Senate clears him of all charges, just as he claimed attorney general William Barr's whitewash of the Mueller report absolved him of charges that he sought Russian help in 2016. He'll use both as "proof" that Democrats fabricated a plot to remove him from office.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 27, 2015
Why The Sharing Economy Is Harming Workers -- And What Must Be Done Already two-thirds of American workers are living paycheck to paycheck. This trend shifts all economic risks onto workers. A downturn in demand, or sudden change in consumer needs, or a personal injury or sickness, can make it impossible to pay the bills. It eliminates labor protections such as the minimum wage, worker safety, family and medical leave, and overtime.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 22, 2017
My Visit to Trump's Washington Republicans (and their patrons in big business) no longer believe Trump will give them cover to do what they want to do. They're becoming afraid Trump is genuinely nuts, and he'll pull the party down with him.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 21, 2011
The Coming Shutdowns and Showdowns: What's Really at Stake America is the richest nation in the world, and "we've" never been richer. There's no reason for us to turn on our teachers, our unionized workers, our poor and needy, and our elderly. The notion that "we" can no longer afford it is claptrap.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 28, 2012
George W. Bush as Hurricane Isaac We're still living with George W. Bush's legacy -- the last Republican to occupy the White House -- which is a truth that Romney is desperate to put out of our minds. He wants to blame the bad economy, and most of everything else, on Obama.
Rally To Oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Deal, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 5, 2015
Why the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is a Pending Disaster The TPP is a Trojan horse in a global race to the bottom, giving big corporations and Wall Street banks a way to eliminate any and all laws and regulations that get in the way of their profits. The Trans Pacific Partnership is the wrong remedy to the wrong problem. Any way you look at it, it's just plain wrong.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 6, 2017
The Moral Travesty of Trumpcare Shame on every one of the 217 Republicans who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, and substitute basically nothing. Trumpcare isn't a replacement of the Affordable Care Act. It's a transfer from the sick and poor to the rich and healthy.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Dear Trump Voter... Trump administration is rigging the system for the extremely wealthy from the inside. They want to make it easier for banks to once again gamble with your money and repeat our financial crisis. They want to cut health care for millions of you. They want to lower taxes on corporations and the rich. They want to get rid of rules that stop corporations from harming your health or safety.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 19, 2011
The Defining Issue: Not Government's Size, but Who It's For If we want to get our democracy back we've got to get big money out of politics. We need real campaign finance reform. And a constitutional amendment reversing the Supreme Court's bizarre rulings that under the First Amendment money is speech and corporations are people.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 5, 2019
The 5 Biggest Corporate Lies about Unions Wealthy corporations and their enablers have spread five big lies about unions in order to stop workers from organizing and to protect their own bottom-lines. Know the truth and spread the truth.
From Uploaded
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 2, 2023
(18) Globaloney: Why the Democrats' love affair with "free trade" is over And why that's a good thing. this veteran of the Clinton administration is delighted by what Biden is doing.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 8, 2019
The Myth of the Rugged Individual Why is America still perpetuating the fallacy of the self-made individual? Because those in power want you to believe it. If everyone thinks they're on their own, it's easier for the powerful to dismantle unions, unravel safety nets, and slash taxes for the wealthy.
File For Unemployment Benefits, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 29, 2020
Listen To Doctors, Not Bankers When billionaires and corporate executives recommend Americans get back to work for the sake of the "economy," they're really urging that other people get sick, and possibly die, for the sake of their own stock portfolios.
Donald Trump coup, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 5, 2021
How Trump's Attempted Coup Could Still Succeed TrumpThe former president's rupattempted coup is not stopping. He still refuses to concede and continues to rile up supporters with his bogus claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Tens of millions of Americans believe him.
From Uploaded
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 31, 2022
The pending death of the Supreme Court And what John Roberts must do to save it. Public trust is now eroding - faster and more dangerously for the Court's future than at any time in its history. The Supreme Court confronts a profound crisis of legitimacy.
Trump vs. The RNC, From GoogleImages
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Hill Republicans: Trump is Fritzing Out Twenty-fifth amendment! Read it! A Cabinet can get rid of a president who's nuts. Trump thinks they've been preparing a palace coup. So one by one, he's firing them. Trump is fritzing out. Having manic delusions. He's actually going nuts.
Trump vs The .Deep State., From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Trump's "Deep State" is Trump's Corrupt State Not since Warren G. Harding's sordid administration have as many grifters, crooks and cronies occupied high positions in Washington. Trump has installed a Star Wars Cantina of former lobbyists and con artists, including several whose exploits have already forced them to resign, such as Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke, Tom Price, and Michael Flynn. Many others remain.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Why a Single-Payer Healthcare System is Inevitable Insurers that take in too many sick and too few healthy people are driven out of business. If insurers had no idea who'd be sick and who'd be healthy when they sign up for insurance (and keep them insured at the same price even after they become sick), this wouldn't be a problem. But they do know -- and they're developing more and more sophisticated ways of finding out.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 9, 2013
JP Morgan Chase, the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act, and the Corruption of America Never before has so much U.S. corporate and Wall-Street money poured into our nation's capital, as well as into our state capitals. Never before have so many Washington officials taken jobs in corporations, lobbying firms, trade associations, and on the Street immediately after leaving office. Our democracy is drowning in big money. Corruption is corruption, bribery is bribery, in whatever country or language it's transacted.
Donald Trump- Caricature, From GoogleImages
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 16, 2017
The Trump Standard Much ink has been spilled over the last six months documenting Trump's tin ear when it comes to all matters ethical: His refusal to put his business into a blind trust, as every one of his predecessors in recent memory has done. His refusal to reveal his tax returns, like his predecessors. The never-ending stream of lies that he continues to spew even after they're proven to be lies.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 1, 2011
The American Jobs Depression, and How to Get Out of It Any long-term strategy for rescuing the American economy must therefore seek to reverse the widening gap in income and wealth. It would be better for President Obama to assume that he will get no Republican support this year and next, and build his 2012 election campaign around a bold plan to revive jobs and the American middle class -- and end the American Jobs Depression.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 15, 2018
The Truth About Privatization Privatization too often only boosts corporate bottom lines. Private for-profit corporations can do certain tasks very efficiently. And some privatization has worked. But the goal of corporations is to maximize profits for shareholders, not to serve the public interest.
US Supreme Court, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 24, 2021
The Supreme Court Should Be Ashamed of Itself In an appalling ruling the Supreme Court's conservative majority rolled back restrictions on sentencing juveniles to life without parole. It's both legally and morally heinous.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 23, 2020
America is Exceptional in All the Wrong Ways It's decades of America's failure to provide its people the basic support they need, decades of putting corporations' bottom lines ahead of workers' paychecks, decades of letting the rich and powerful pull the strings as the rest of us barely get by.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 30, 2016
Why We'll Need a Universal Basic Income In recent years, evidence has shown that giving people cash as a way to address poverty actually works. In study after study, people don't stop working and they don't drink it away. As new technologies replace work, the question for the future is how best to provide economic security for all. A universal basic income will almost certainly be part of the answer.
Trump: Anyone who wants virus test can get a test, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Why America Can't Respond to the Current Crisis The system would be failing even under a halfway competent president. The dirty little secret, which will soon become apparent to all, is that there is no real public health system in the United States.
More And More Americans Say We Have To Impeach Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 15, 2019
The House Now Has A Constitutional Duty to Impeach Trump Trump surely appears to be usurping the powers of the other branches. Under these circumstances, the Constitution mandates that the House undertake an impeachment inquiry and present evidence to the Senate. This may not be the practical political thing to do. But it is the right thing to do.
Mike Pence, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 16, 2016
Mike Pence for vice president Mike Pence -- Donald Trump's pick for vice president -- is one of the most extreme right-wing officials in America.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 27, 2017
How to Make the Electoral College Irrelevant Article II of the Constitution says states can award their electors any way they want. So all that's needed in order to make the Electoral College irrelevant is for states with a total of at least 270 electors to agree to award all their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote.
Right-Wing Republicans vs. Corporate Democrats vs. Progressive Populists, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 2, 2022
How Corporations Are Using Inflation to Take Your Money Unless we address this growing imbalance, corporations will continue siphoning off the economy's gains into their CEOs' and shareholders' pockets while everyday Americans get shafted.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 11, 2010
Why Democrats Should Not Join In Economic Scapegoating Our jobs crisis is due to the collapse of demand in the U.S. after the housing bubble burst. No longer able to borrow against the rising value of their homes, the vast American middle and working class can no longer spend enough to keep the economy going.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 11, 2011
The Stalled Recovery, Smoke and Mirrors, and the Carnage on the Street Insiders on the Street are always the first to bail when they sense they've been overselling, as they started to do a few weeks ago. This gives them a second opportunity to make money off small investors -- by selling short.
Donald Trump, From TwitterPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 6, 2016
The Art of the Autocrat This isn't public policy making. It's not about changing market incentives. It has nothing to do with lawmaking. It's a drop in the bucket in terms of jobs. In reality, it's the arbitrary and capricious use of personal power -- hitting stock prices and turning public opinion against companies Trump doesn't like, and raising stock prices and public opinion toward companies Trump does like.
Amazon announces new headquarters in New York City, Virginia, From GoogleImages
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 16, 2018
What Amazon HQ2 tells us about America's great divide Amazon could easily have decided to locate its second headquarters in, say, Indianapolis, Indiana. After all, Indianapolis was one of the finalists in Amazon's search for a second headquarters, and the city vigorously courted the firm. Not incidentally, Indianapolis is a Republican city in a bright red Republican state.
Harm to U.S. economy brought on by tariffs, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 19, 2019
The Trump economy is hurting most Americans. Statistics won't fool voters Trump is the least popular president to run for re-election in the history of polling but Mulvaney thinks Americans will vote for him anyway because unemployment has hit a 50-year low, wages are rising and economic growth exceeds 3%. A CNN poll released in early May shows 56% of Americans approve Trump's handling of the economy.
Joe Biden, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 16, 2021
Report card: Six months into Biden's presidency Biden's failure to make the right to vote his highest priority -- make it his own personal cause, and go on the road to take that cause to the American people -- is not only bad policy for the nation. It's also bad politics.
Is Donald Trump likely to be impeached?, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 11, 2019
There are many reasons not to impeach Trump. The House should do it anyway By directing the attorney general, the justice department, the FBI, and the secretary of the treasury to act in his own personal interest rather than in the interests of the American people, Trump is saying that a president can run the government on his own. Adios, constitution. Impeachment may not be the practical political thing to do. But it is the right thing to do.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 17, 2016
Trump's Yuge Bamboozle Trickle-down economics has proven itself a cruel hoax. It's cruel because it rewards people at the top who least need it and hurts those below who are in greatest need. It's a hoax because nothing trickles down. Trump's "yuge" trickle-down economics would be an even bigger bamboozle.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 4, 2012
The First Presidential Debate In Wednesday night's debate, Romney won on style while Obama won on substance. Romney sounded as if he had conviction, which means he's either convinced himself that the lies he tells are true or he's a fabulous actor.
Trans-Pacific Partnership = Government Corruption At It's Finest, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 17, 2014
The Coin of the Realm: How Inside Traders Are Rigging America If a CEO tells his golf buddy that his company is being taken over, and his buddy makes a killing on that information, no problem. If his buddy leaks the information to a hedge-fund manager like Chiasson, and doesn't tell Chiasson where it comes from, Chiasson can also use the information to make a bundle.
From flickr.com: Donald Trump - Caricature, From Images
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 28, 2017
Trump's Labor Day In his first seven months as president, Trump has done nothing for American workers. In fact, his attempt to undermine the Affordable Care Act, his retreat from Labor Department regulations boosting overtime pay, and his proposed tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations will make most workers worse off. But he is in office because of their anger and distrust, and he's still feeding off it.
Medicare for All, From FlickrPhotos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 13, 2017
It's Now Time for Medicare for All Why is health care so much cheaper in other nations? Partly because their governments negotiate lower rates with health care providers. In France, the average cost of a magnetic resonance imaging exam is $363. In the United States, it's $1,121. There, an appendectomy costs $4,463. Here, it's $13,851. Medicare for all would avoid all these problems and get lower prices and better care.
Texas Army National Guard responds to flooding across the state., From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 1, 2015
State of Disaster Texans have elected people who seem not to have a clue. Indeed, Texas has done more in recent years to institutionalize irrationality than almost anywhere else in America -- thereby imposing a huge burden on its citizens. How many natural disasters will it take for the Lone Star State to wake up to the disaster of its elected officials?
NRA, exploiting a tragedy, From GoogleImages
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 8, 2018
Five Reasons The NRA Is Wrong The NRA is a special interest group with a stranglehold on the Republican Party. In 2016, the group spent a record $55 million on elections. Their real goal is to protect a few big gun manufacturers who want to enlarge their profits. America is better than the NRA. America is the young people from Parkland, Florida, who are telling legislators to act like adults. It's time all of us to listen.
Viewpoints: What the World Thinks About Clinton vs. Trump ..., From GoogleImages
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 27, 2016
A Landslide "What about all the people who'll be voting for Trump?" "What about them?" he asked, cautiously. "After Trump loses, they'll still be out there, right?" "Of course." "And they'll be madder than hell, poisoned with Trump's venom. They'll be a ready-made constituency for the next demagogue..."
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 11, 2018
How Blue States Help Red States he Trump administration is proposing to lump many social programs under a new agency with the word "welfare" in its title. A recent White House report on imposing work requirements, for example, put Medicaid, food assistance, and housing aid into a rebranded program called "noncash welfare."
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 22, 2020
No bailout for Big Oil Both our economy and the environment are in crisis. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few while the majority of Americans struggle to get by. The climate crisis is worsening inequality, as those who are most economically vulnerable bear the brunt of flooding, fires, and disruptions to supplies of food, water, and power.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 1, 2017
My New Year's Wish for Donald Trump The man who is about to become President of the United States continues to exhibit a mean-spirited, thin-skinned, narcissistic and vindictive character. Trump sees the world in terms of personal wins or losses, enemies or friends, supporters or critics.
Trump Is 'Not At All Surprised' About Harvey Weinstein Allegations, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 9, 2017
Trump and Weinstein At least 15 women have publicly accused Trump of sexual harassment and assault. Trump and Weinstein are both sexual harassers and predators. But Trump is also president of the United States. That makes him even more dangerous to women.
Greedo, Star Wars., From WikimediaPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 15, 2019
Welcome to Trump's Corrupt State -- the Star Wars cantina of world politics Trump and his Republican enablers are magicians who distract us by shouting "look here!" at the paranoid fantasy of a Deep State, while creating a Corrupt State under our noses. But it's not a party trick. It's the dirtiest trick of our time, enabled by the most corrupt party in living memory.
Trumpism resurging, From FlickrPhotos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 30, 2021
COVID is Resurging. So is Trumpian Politics.. Republican politicizing of public health will get worse if the Delta variant continues to surge. Vaccines will have to be mandated because being inoculated is not solely a matter of personal choice. Herd immunity is a common good. If infections mount, that common good can only be achieved if nearly everyone is vaccinated.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 19, 2018
Trump's Stock Buyback Bamboozle Trump and Republicans branded their huge corporate tax cut as a way to make American corporations more profitable so they'd invest in more and better jobs. But they're buying back their stock instead. Now that the new corporate tax cut is pumping up profits, buybacks are on track to hit a record $800 billion this year.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Corporate Hypocrisy on Racism Wall Street banks and corporate executives have wasted no time trying to establish themselves as allies of the Black Lives Matter movement, professing support for the historic protests against police killings of Black people.
Joe Biden, From FlickrPhotos
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 30, 2021
Why Aren't Biden and the Democrats Going All Out for Democracy? While Biden and Democratic leaders are openly negotiating with holdout senators for Biden's stimulus and infrastructure proposals, they aren't exerting similar pressure when it comes to voting rights and elections. In fact, Biden now says he won't take on the filibuster, which stands firmly in the way.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 7, 2017
Why We Should Abolish The Debt Ceiling Today's debt is about 77 percent of our total national product. The reason it's a problem is it's growing faster than the economy is growing, so it's on the way to becoming larger and larger in proportion. This is what we ought to be focusing on. Fighting over whether or not to raise the debt ceiling is a meaningless and dangerous distraction. So abolish it.
Being Rich VS Being Poor, From ImagesAttr
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Practical Choice: Not American Capitalism or "Welfare State Socialism" but an Economy That's Working for a Few or Many The fact is, we're falling behind. While median per capita income in the United States has stagnated since 2000, it's up significantly in Canada and Northern Europe. Their typical worker's income is now higher than ours, and their disposable income -- after taxes -- higher still.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 2, 2016
Focus on Trump Shouldn't Give Other Republicans a Free Pass A singular focus on Trump poses risks for what happens after Hillary wins. It reduces her presidential coattails that might otherwise help Democratic candidates now running for the Senate and House. Portraying Trump as an aberration from normal Republicanism gives their Republican opponents a free pass. All they have to do is distance themselves from him.
From flickr.com: Trump Pinocchio, From Images
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 29, 2017
New Year's Update for Trump Voters Trump said he'd use his business experience to whip the White House into shape. But he has created the most dysfunctional, back-stabbing White House in modern history, and has already fired and replaced so many assistants (one of them hired and fired in a little more than a week) that people there barely know who's in charge of what.
Twitter and Facebook, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 3, 2019
Facebook and Twitter spread Trump's lies, so we must break them up Donald Trump lies like most people breathe. As he's been cornered, his lies have grown more vicious and dangerous. This would be hard enough for a democracy to handle without Facebook sending Trump's unfiltered lies to the 45% of Americans for whom it is the main source of news. Twitter sends them to 66 million users every day.
From flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/8566717881/: Donald Trump, From Images
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 14, 2017
Six Reasons Why Trump's Wall is Even Dumber Than Most of Trump's Other Ideas At his turbulent his news event last Wednesday (I won't dignify it by calling it a news conference), Trump reiterated that he will build a wall along the Mexican border. "It's not a fence. It's a wall," he said, and "Mexico will pay for the wall." Trump's wall is an even dumber idea than most of his others.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 23, 2019
The "Center" of American Politics Is on the Left Just remember: the "center" is not halfway between what most Americans want and what big corporations, Wall Street, and the super-wealthy want. The "center" is what the vast majority of Americans want.
From Uploaded
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Really? A billionaire tax? Now? Are you kidding me? Why it's still a real possibility. So if you want to tax billionaires, you have to go after their wealth.
From ImagesAttr
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 20, 2013
Detroit, and the Bankruptcy of America's Social Contract Unemployment is staggeringly high. One out of three residents is in poverty; more than half of all children in the city are impoverished. Between 2000 and 2010, Detroit lost a quarter of its population as the middle-class and whites fled to the suburbs. That left it with depressed property values, abandoned neighborhoods, empty buildings, lousy schools, high crime, and a dramatically-shrinking tax base.
The Oval Office, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 24, 2017
First 100 Days: Trump and the Degradation of the Presidency Trump's failure to accomplish little or any of his agenda during his first 100 days is striking. But we should not forget the vast harm he has done in this comparatively short time -- especially his degradation of the presidency.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 26, 2012
Why is the White House's Council of Economic Advisers Helping the Republicans? If the President's strategy is to hold his ground and demand from Republicans tax increases on the wealthy, presumably his strongest bargaining position would be to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire on schedule come January -- causing taxes to rise automatically, especially on the wealthy.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 3, 2016
The Reality of Free Trade Deals Winners don't compensate the losers. Most of the losers from trade, the millions whose good jobs have been lost, don't even have access to unemployment insurance. Trade adjustment assistance is a joke. America invests less in jobs training as a percent of our economy than almost any other advanced nation.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 28, 2016
My Wishes for Obama's Parting Shots President-elect Donald Trump is accusing President Obama of putting up "roadblocks" to a smooth transition. In reality, I think President Obama has been too cooperative with Trump.
President Trump said he would Make America Great Again, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 11, 2019
Trump is using the government as a bargaining chip -- like a dictator would Trump's entire presidency to date has sacrificed the means of democracy to preserve his personal power, and the shutdown over the border is no different. Democracy is about means, not ends. If we all agreed on the ends (such as whether to build a wall along the Mexican border) there'd be no need for democracy.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 1, 2021
Is Billionaire Philanthropy a Sham? The truth about billionaire philanthropy is it isn't charity. It's public relations, often used to cover up their exploitative business practices, and shield their wealth deflect attention from all they money they pour into lobbying and campaign contributions to assure that their taxes remain historically low.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 22, 2011
The First Amendment Upside Down. Why We Must Occupy Democracy When the freedom of speech goes to the highest bidder, moneyed interests have a disproportionate say. Now more than ever, the First Amendment needs to be put right side up. Nothing less than the future of our democracy is at stake.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Stop Starving Public Universities and Shrinking the Middle Class Over just the last year, 41 states have cut spending for public higher education. That's on top of deep cuts in 2009 and 2010. Some public universities have lost over 40 percent of their state funding; the University of Washington, 26 percent; Florida's public university system, 25 percent. The children of middle and lower-income families are hardest hit.
Coronavirus fears are sinking markets., From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 10, 2020
How to Respond to the National Emergency CEOs of the major Wall Street banks have been summoned to the White House to discuss the coronavirus its economic fallout. I'm told the Trump administration is considering more corporate tax cuts, tax cuts targeted to the airlines and hospitality industries, and a temporary payroll tax cut.
From Uploaded
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Is America becoming a theocracy? An increasing number of Republicans are openly pushing to turn America into a theocracy. What can be done to stop it?
From ImagesAttr
(15 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 25, 2012
If You Succumb to Cynicism, The Regressives Win it All Cynicism is understandable. But cynicism is a self-fulfilling prophesy. If you succumb to it, the regressives who want to take this nation back to the 19th century win it all.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 17, 2016
Hillary Clinton, Paul Ryan, and the Crisis of American Capitalism While the Clinton-Ryan years won't be marked by the same kind of petulant gridlock we've witnessed over the last eight, the ascendance of Ryan and Clinton will mark a win for big business and Wall Street over the strongest anti-establishment surge America has witnessed since Great Depression.
Statue of Liberty, From FlickrPhotos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 29, 2018
Trump's America: Open to Global Capital, Not People Global capital wants just one thing: A high return on its investment. Global capital doesn't care how it gets a high return. If it can get it by slashing wages, outsourcing to contract workers, polluting air and water, defrauding investors, or destroying communities, it will.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 20, 2011
A Good Fight The President has vowed to veto any plan to tame the debt that doesn't increase taxes on the rich. The Republicans have vowed to oppose any tax increases on the rich. It's a good fight to have.
Resistance, From GoogleImages
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 30, 2018
What Must We Do Now? Only 27 percent of Americans are Republican, and the vast majority of Americans disapprove of Trump. The GOP itself is now little more than Trump, Fox News, a handful of billionaire funders, and evangelicals who oppose a woman's right to choose, gay marriage, and the Constitution's separation of church and state.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 3, 2021
A Trump Bombshell Quietly Dropped Last Week. And It Should Shock Us All. We've become so inured to Donald Trump's proto-fascism that we barely blink an eye when we learn that he tried to manipulate the 2020 election. Yet the most recent revelation should frighten every American to their core.
Robert Reich, From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 6, 2015
Making The Economy Work For The Many, Not The Few: #8 Raise The Estate Tax On The Very Rich Today the estate tax reaches only the richest two-tenths of one percent, and applies only to dollars in excess of $10.86 million for married couples or $5.43 million for individuals. That means if a couple leaves to their heirs $10,860,001, they now pay the estate tax on $1. The current estate tax rate is 40%, so that would be 40 cents. Yet according to these members of Congress, that's still too much.
Cannabis Plant., From WikimediaPhotos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Why we must legalize marijuana Donald Trump and his administration are trying to turn back the clock. They've even formed a task force to weaken public support for legalization and help spread misinformation about so-called "marijuana threats." It's time to legalize marijuana.
President Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 7, 2020
Donald Trump Is Getting Nervous Internal polls show Trump losing in November unless the economy comes roaring back. But much of the economy remains closed because of the pandemic. The number of infections and deaths continue to climb. So what is Trump's re-election strategy? Reopen the economy anyway, despite the risks.
(14 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 20, 2018
A Third Party? How Not To Settle For The Lesser Of Two Evils If a party establishment has a chokehold on the primaries -- the answer isn't to go with a third party and end up with the worse of two evils, but to organize and mobilize inside the party to break that chokehold, as some would say the Tea Party has done in the GOP.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 1, 2018
The Two Kinds of Trump Lies Trump is ramping up both kinds of lies -- lies about the facts, and lies about those who are reporting the truth. Both categories of lies are dangerous to a democracy. The first misleads the public. The second undermines the capacity of the public to discover they are being misled.
Democrats Cave...Trump Wants More, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 29, 2019
Dems Cave on the Border While attention has been focused on the Democratic debate in which most contenders are pushing progressive policies, congressional Democrats have moved in the opposite direction. They caved on an emergency border supplemental appropriation that can now be used by Trump to make the border situation worse, not better.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 20, 2020
CEOs, not the unemployed, are America's real "moral hazard" By saving the backsides of big corporations and their CEOs, the bailouts have rewarded corporate America's obsession with short-term profits regardless of longer-term risks to the corporation, its employees, and the overall economy.
Why should the Rich get a Tax Cut?, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 24, 2017
Why We Must Raise Taxes on Corporations and the Wealthy, Not Lower Them When Barack Obama was president, congressional Republicans were deficit hawks. They opposed almost everything Obama wanted to do by arguing it would increase the federal budget deficit. But now that Republicans are planning giant tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, they've stopped worrying about deficits.
Donald Trump refuses to wear face mask, From YouTubeVideos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 12, 2020
The Deathly Tragedy of American Exceptionalism No other nation has endured as much death from Covid-19 nor nearly as a high a death rate as has the United States. And it is the only advanced nation where the death rate is still climbing. Three thousand deaths per day are anticipated by June 1st.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 15, 2017
The End of Trump The question is no longer whether there are grounds to impeach Donald Trump. It is when enough Republicans will put their loyalty to America ahead of their loyalty to their party.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Seven Lessons We Need to Learn From Covid-19 The combined wealth of America's 657 billionaires grew by $1.3 trillion -- or 44.6% -- during the pandemic. Yet billionaire Wealthy Americans today pay one-sixth the rate of taxes. To afford what the nation needs, raise taxes at the top.
From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 28, 2012
Roberts' Switch As Alexander Hamilton pointed out when the Constitution was being written, the Supreme Court is the "least dangerous branch" of government. It has only the trust and confidence of average citizens. If it is viewed as politically partisan, that trust is in jeopardy. As Chief Justice, Roberts has a particular responsibility to maintain and enhance that trust.
General Motors hits the gas with a decision to cut production and jobs at several North American plants., From YouTubeVideos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Trump Takes on General Motors (And Guess Who Wins?) The real challenge is to make American workers great again. They don't just need any job. They need good jobs, akin to those that GM's unionized workers had a half-century ago. Most Americans haven't had a raise in decades, considering inflation.
Donald Trump Portrait, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 18, 2017
The Triumph of the Oligarchs By passing the tax plan, Republican donors will save billions -- paying a lower top tax rate, doubling the amount their heirs can receive tax-free, and treating themselves as "pass-through" businesses able to deduct 20 percent of their income (effectively allowing Trump to cut his tax rate in half, if and when he pays taxes).
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 15, 2018
The Next Crash The combination of stagnant wages with most economic gains going to the top is once again endangering the economy. Most Americans are still living in the shadow of the Great Recession that started in December 2007 and officially ended in June 2009. More have jobs, to be sure. But they haven't seen any rise in their wages, adjusted for inflation.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Why we need to break up big tech The combined wealth of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Google's Sergey Brin, and Larry Page is larger than the combined wealth of the bottom half of the American population. They are the leaders of a second Gilded Age ushered in by semiconductors, software and the internet which has spawned a handful of hi-tech behemoths and crushed competition.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 7, 2012
The Downward Mobility of the American Middle Class, and Why Mitt Romney Doesn't Know Romney and other Republicans have cause and effect backwards. The reason for the rise in benefits is Americans got clobbered in 2008 and many are still sinking. They and their families need whatever help they can get.
obama, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 17, 2012
The Dog That Didn't Bark: Obama on JPMorgan The dog that didn't bark this week, let alone bite, was the President's response to JP Morgan Chase's bombshell admission of losing more than $2 billion in risky derivative trades that should never have been made. Twenty years ago, the 10 largest banks on the Street held 10 percent of America's total bank assets. Now they hold over 70 percent.
From flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/5440392565/: Donald Trump, From Images
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Google, Trump, and the Arrogance of Power Google and Trump are wildly different, of course, but they've been playing much the same game. They've used their clout to stifle criticism, paid members of Congress to pull their punches, and bought fake or at least questionable facts to support of their goals. Such abuse of power is morally wrong.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 13, 2020
Betsy DeVos' Deadly Plan to Reopen Schools Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos is heading the administration's effort to force schools to reopen in the fall for in-person instruction. What's her plan to reopen safely? She doesn't have one.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Paul Ryan's Plan, the Coming Shutdown, and What's Really at Stake The President needs to remind us that as members of the same society we have obligations to one another -- that the wealthiest among us must pay their fair share of taxes, that any of us who loses our jobs or homes or gets terribly sick can count on the rest of us, and that we have collective obligations to our elderly, our children, and the rest of the planet.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 17, 2012
If You Took the Greed Out of Wall Street, All You'd Have Left Is Pavement: Why Greg Smith's Critique is Way Too Narrow If Mr. Smith believes his experience at Goldman is something new, he doesn't know history. In 1928, Goldman Sachs and Company created the Goldman Sachs Trading Corporation, which promptly went on a speculative binge, luring innocent investors along the way. In the Great Crash of 1929, Goldman's investors lost their shirts but Goldman kept its hefty fees.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 17, 2019
How Corporate Welfare Hurts You When corporations get special handouts from the government, it costs the rest of us. So the next time you hear conservatives railing against welfare handouts for the poor, remind them that we should really be cutting corporate welfare unnecessary and unwarranted aid for dependent corporations.
Merrick Garland - Caricature, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 14, 2022
The Criminal Case Against Donald J Trump Has Been Established But Will the Garland Act? The Committee's work "- it's investigation and it's public hearings "- have played a part in persuading Garland to move forward with a criminal case against Trump
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 13, 2014
Harvard Business School's Role in Widening Inequality Starting in the late 1970s, a new vision of the corporation and the role of CEOs emerged -- prodded by corporate "raiders," hostile takeovers, junk bonds, and leveraged buyouts. Shareholders began to predominate over other stakeholders. And CEOs began to view their primary role as driving up share prices. To do this, they had to cut costs -- especially payrolls, which constituted their largest expense.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 22, 2017
Trump's Two-Step Strategy To Take Over the Truth Trump's strategy is to denigrate and disparage the press in the public's mind -- seeking to convince the public that the press is engaged in a conspiracy against him. And he wants to use his tweets, rallies, and videos to make himself the only credible source of public information about what is happening and what he's doing.
From Uploaded
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 18, 2022
Could you possibly invent a more expensive and less effective healthcare system than what we have in the US? American spending on healthcare per person is more than twice the average in the world's other thirty-five advanced nations. Yet the United States ranks near the bottom among advanced nations for life span and infant mortality. Americans are sicker, our lives are shorter, and we have more chronic illnesses.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 29, 2011
The Moral Question We're in the worst economy since the Great Depression -- with lower-income families and kids are bearing the worst of it -- and what are Republicans doing? Cutting programs Americans desperately need to get through it.
Orange Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 15, 2019
Trump is seriously, frighteningly unstable -- the world is in danger We have to face the truth that no one seems to want to admit. This is no longer a case of excessive narcissism or grandiosity. We're not simply dealing with an unusually large ego. The president of the United States is seriously, frighteningly, dangerously unstable. And he's getting worse by the day.
Kodak Will Help Make Drugs to Fight Covid, Says Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Trump and Kodak The White House is distributing billions in subsidies and loans to select corporations -- enabling CEOs and boards to load up on stocks and stock options just before deals are announced, then rake in fat profits after stock prices surge.
From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Why There's a Bull Market for Stocks And Bear Market for Workers We are a long way from economic health. Rarely before in American history have public policies so blatantly helped the most fortunate among us, so cruelly harmed the least fortunate, and exposed so many average working Americans to such widespread insecurity.
Fires burn across California, causing evacuations and road closures., From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 23, 2020
Amid fire and pestilence, floods and storms, the personal is political: Trump must go Americans face existential challenges. The president has done nothing to help and much to make things worse.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 29, 2017
Six Reasons Why American Corporations Shouldn't Get a Tax Cut Corporate tax receipts are the lowest percentage of the economy since just after World War II. If corporate taxes are cut, you will have to pay even more in taxes in order to make up the difference. A corporate tax cut is the wrong solution to the wrong problem. We need higher corporate taxes, not lower.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 3, 2016
The Five Principles of Patriotism patriots don't pander to divisiveness. They don't fuel racist or religious or ethnic divisions. They aren't homophobic or sexist or racist. To the contrary, true patriots seek to confirm and strengthen and celebrate the "we" in "we the people of the United States."
From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 3, 2013
Sequestration Nation, and Remembering Robert Kennedy The issue is still social justice. In the months (or years) ahead, federal money will be reduced for poor schools, child nutrition, preschools, and mental-health services. Some 3.8 million who have been unemployed for more than six months will see their jobless benefits cut. Some 600,000 low-income women and children will no longer benefit from the federal nutrition program for women and toddlers.
The Billionaire Class Is Scared., From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 12, 2020
Billionaires Won't Save Us We are the outlier among the world's advanced nations in subjecting our citizens to perpetual insecurity. We are also the outlier in possessing a billionaire class that, in controlling much of our politics, has kept such proposals off the public agenda.
CVS, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 12, 2018
Living in a New Gilded Age Unless government un-rigs the market through bold antitrust action to restore competition, the hidden upward distributions from consumers and workers to corporate chieftains and major investors will grow even larger. If Democrats ever get back in power, one of the first things they need to do is revive antitrust.
NAZIS TAKE BABY STEPS AT FIRST --, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 19, 2017
Talking With My Friend About Trump "I can't take it any more," my friend Tom said about Trump. "I don't need this. He's a selfish, greedy, narcissistic, fascistic, unhinged, bigot. And to think he's running this great country makes me want to puke."
Donald Trump - Angry Oompa Loompa, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 31, 2021
The Real Lesson of January 6 Is That Trump-World's Coup Effort Is Far From Over The Republican Party is close to becoming a cult whose central animating idea is that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 7, 2012
Why We Have To Raise Taxes On The Rich And End The Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthy (And Bill Clinton Agrees) Romney and the Republicans are pushing a reverse-Robin Hood plan that takes from the middle class and the poor while rewarding the rich. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Romney's tax plan would boost the incomes of people earning more than $1 million a year by an average of $295,874 annually.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 29, 2019
What does oligarchy mean? Even a system that calls itself a democracy can become an oligarchy if power becomes concentrated in the hands of a few very wealthy people a corporate and financial elite. Their power and wealth increase over time as they make laws that favor themselves, manipulate financial markets to their advantage, and create or exploit economic monopolies that put even more wealth into their pockets.
Robert Reich, From GoogleImages
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 11, 2016
Why a Tax on Wall Street Trades is an Even Better Idea Than You Know Why aren't politicians of all stripes supporting a tax on financial transactions? Because the financial transactions tax directly threatens a major source of Wall Street's revenue. And if you hadn't noticed, the Street uses a portion of its vast revenues to gain political clout. Which may be one of the best reasons for enacting it.
Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 25, 2020
No, Donald Trump, Americans are not dying to work -- work may cause them to die The pressure to reopen the economy is coming from businesses that want to return to profitability, and from Trump, who wants to run for re-election in an economy that appears to be recovering. Neither is reason enough.
DNC, From GoogleImages
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Why the Shake-up at the Democratic National Committee Is Doomed The Democratic National Committee -- like the Republican National Committee -- has become little more than a giant machine designed to suck up big money from wealthy individuals, lobbyists bundlers, and corporate and Wall Street PACs. The DNC has to turn itself -- and the Democratic Party -- into a grass-roots membership organization.
(13 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 29, 2017
What Do Democrats Stand For? If Democrats stand for one thing, it must be overcoming this unprecedented economic imbalance and creating a multi-racial, multi-ethnic coalition of the bottom 90 percent, to take back our economy and politics.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 13, 2020
Trump's Chaotic Response to Coronavirus and What's Next for Democrats The coronavirus outbreak has officially been labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization, potentially grinding the global economy to a halt. Yet every step of the way, the Trump administration's response has been to deny, blame, obfuscate, and generally cover up.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 27, 2012
The GOP's Death Wish: Why Republicans Can't Stop Pissing Off Hispanics, Women, and Young People How can a political party be so dumb as to piss off Hispanics, women, and young people? Because the core of its base is middle-aged white men -- and it doesn't seem to know how to satisfy its base without at the same time turning off everyone who's not white, male, and middle-aged.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 24, 2017
The Secret Republican Plan to Unravel Medicaid Bad enough that the Republican Senate bill would repeal much of the Affordable Care Act. Even worse, it unravels the Medicaid Act of 1965 -- which, even before Obamacare, provided health insurance to millions of poor households and elderly.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 22, 2013
Why Customers are Disappearing, Higher Unemployment, Many in Washington Don't Have Half A Brain Unless Republicans and Democrats reach a budget agreement before next Friday, another $85 billion of spending cuts go into effect this year. They'll begin almost immediately. With consumers and government both spending less, businesses won't hire more workers; they'll fire more workers. Anyone with half a brain should be able to understand all this. But apparently many in Washington don't have half a brain.
Supreme Court upholds broad housing discrimination claims, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 28, 2015
Why We Must Fight Economic Apartheid in America Americans are segregating ever more by income in terms of where we live. Because a disproportionate number of the nation's poor are black or Latino, that means we're experiencing racial segregation on a much larger geographical scale than ever before -- a kind of economic apartheid.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 17, 2017
Trump's Most Shameful Act So Far What do we do when we have a president and White House surrogates, along with enablers in the right-wing media, who continuously lie about something as fundamental to our democracy as whether we've got massive voter fraud? The answer is we find the truth. We spread the truth. We continue to speak the truth. And we demand that big lies like this be corrected.
Pelosi tears up Trump's state of the union address, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 5, 2020
The Real State of the Union The Trump-Republican tax cut has been a huge failure. Nothing has trickled down to average workers. To the contrary, If fully implemented the 2017 tax cut will result in tax increases for most households in the bottom 80 percent.
Lockheed Martin CEO. Lockheed Used Taxpayer Dollars to Lobby for more Taxpayer Dollars, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 4, 2015
Why We Shouldn't Pay for the Political Spending of Federal Contractors When government contractors do the spending, American taxpayers foot the bill twice over. Our tax dollars are spent on their lobbying and campaign contributions. And if their lobbying and contributing is successful, our tax dollars are spent on federal contracts we often don't need.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 16, 2021
Does trickle-down economics actually work? Making big corporations and the rich even richer through tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks doesn't make the rest of us better off.
Trump Gone Wild!, From GoogleImages
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 6, 2017
The Old Trump is Back. In Fact, He Never Left The old Trump has been there all along, and he will always be there. He's unhinged and dangerous. The sooner congressional Republicans accept this, and take action to remove him -- whether through impeachment or the 25th Amendment -- the better for all of us.
Donald Trump Caricature by DonkeyHotey, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 3, 2017
Trump's Escalating Assault on the Press Trump began his presidency attacking the press for "fake news." Then he called the networks and publications that criticized him "enemies of the people." His new attacks seem to be going a step farther -- mobilizing his supporters against media personalities and executives that are critical of him.
Calls For Richard Burr To Resign, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 23, 2020
It's morally repulsive how corporations are exploiting this crisis. Workers will suffer Walmart, the largest employer in America, doesn't give its employees paid sick leave, and limits its 500,000 part-time workers to 48 hours paid time off per year. This Burring policy is now threatening countless lives. (On one survey, 88% of Walmart employees report sometimes coming to work when sick.)
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Safety on the Cheap Profit-making corporations have every incentive to underestimate these probabilities and low-ball the likely harms. This is why it's necessary to have such things as government regulators, why regulators must be independent of the industries they regulate, and why regulators need enough resources to enforce the regulations.
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un - Caricatures, From GoogleImages
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 9, 2018
Trump's Art of the No Deal (revised and updated) Trump promised to be America's deal-maker in chief. "That's what I do, is deals," he said in May. "I know deals, I think, better than anybody knows deals." All he really knows is how to bully friends, stage photo ops with enemies, and claim victory.
Will the Mueller report be made public?, From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 24, 2019
It's Mueller time but don't forget: Trump has undermined the very idea of America Trump has sacrificed the processes and institutions of American democracy to achieve his goals. By saying and doing whatever it takes to win, he has abused the trust we place in a president to preserve and protect the nation's capacity for self-government.
Image crediting created from images table, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 30, 2013
Why Obama and the Democrats Shouldn't Negotiate with Extortionists We don't repeal laws by holding hostage the entire US government. The bullies are a faction inside the Republican Party--extremists who are threatening more reasonable Republicans with primary challenges if they don't go along. And where are the Tea Party extremists getting their dough? From even bigger bullies--a handful of hugely wealthy Americans who are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into this extortion racket.
Donald Trump refuses to wear face mask despite CDC recommending., From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 6, 2020
To Donald Trump, coronavirus is just one more chance for a power grab Trump has told governors to find life-saving equipment on their own. He refuses to create a central bargaining agent, arguing the federal government is "not a shipping clerk." This has left states and cities bidding against each other, driving up prices.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Three Terrifying Reasons for Trump's Latest Rant We have a president who is either a dangerous paranoid who's making judgments based on right-wing crackpots, or has in all likelihood committed treason, or is willing to sacrifice public trust in our basic institutions to further his selfish goals. Each of these possible reasons is as terrifying as the other.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 9, 2011
Why the President Must Come Up With Demand-Side Solutions, And Not Go Over to the Supply Side In seeking Republican votes, Obama is putting forth Republican supply-side ideas -- lowering the employer costs of hiring, cutting corporate taxes -- that have nothing to do with this demand-side crisis. He may attract some Republican votes for these, but what's the point if they're irrelevant to the real problem?
Donald Trump, From PixabayPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Why Trump's Private Transactions are Terrifying As we enter the third year of his presidency, Trump's utter blindness to the public interest is a terrifying possibility. At least a scoundrel knows when he is doing bad things. A megalomaniac who only sees the art of the deal, doesn't.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 31, 2020
The Trump recession is coming Last week, corporations got a $500 billion windfall of taxpayer money as part of the $2 trillion coronavirus emergency relief package. Meanwhile, working Americans got a measly one-time $1,200 check to get them through this months-long crisis.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Trump's War on the Courts, the Press, and the States For Trump, evidence is irrelevant. California needs to be taught a lesson -- just as do Judge Robart and other members of the federal judiciary who defy him, just as do journalists and media outlets that criticize him. And what is that lesson? That they dare not cross Trump.
President Trump Says Coronavirus Will .Get Worse Before It Gets Better.., From YouTubeVideos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 26, 2020
Trump can't shift public attention from coronavirus to the streets of America The president shows no leadership on public health but wants to be a strongman on law and order. Voters won't buy it.
(15 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The Choice in 2012: Social Darwinism or a Decent Society The Republican budget plan is the most radical reverse-Robin Hood proposal propounded by any political party in modern America. It would save millionaires at least $150,000 a year in taxes while gutting Medicaid, Medicare, Food Stamps, transportation, child nutrition, college aid, and almost everything else average and lower-income Americans depend on.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 10, 2012
The Biggest Economic Challenge of Obama's Second Term The wealthy don't create jobs, and giving them additional tax cuts won't bring unemployment down. America's rich are already garnering a bigger share of American income than they have in 80 years. They're using much of it to speculate in the stock market. All this has done is drive stock prices higher.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 15, 2014
America's "We" Problem Being rich in today's America means not having to come across anyone who isn't. Exclusive prep schools, elite colleges, private jets, gated communities, tony resorts, symphony halls and opera houses, and vacation homes in the Hamptons and other exclusive vacation sites all insulate them from the rabble.
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump arrived in London on horseback for Paddy Power, London, UK, 13th March 2017(satire image), From FlickrPhotos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 1, 2017
The Art of the Putin-Trump Deal Say you're Vladimir Putin, and you did a deal with Trump last year. I'm not suggesting there was any such deal, mind you. But if you are Putin and you did do a deal, what did Trump agree to do?
Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 8, 2017
A Year Without a President A president who's governing doesn't leave the top departments and agencies empty for almost a year. He doesn't publicly tell his Secretary of State he's wasting time trying to open relations with North Korea. Any president with the slightest interest in governing would already know and approve of what his Secretary of State was doing. He doesn't fire half his key White House staff in the first nine months, creating chaos.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 17, 2012
Why BP Isn't a Criminal The perfidious notion that corporations are people can lead to even more bizarre results. If corporations are people and they're headquartered in the United States, then presumably corporations are citizens. That means they have a right to vote as well. I'll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one.
From ImagesAttr
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 16, 2016
The Death of the Republican Party Without a Party, anyone runs who's able to raise (or already possesses) the requisite money -- even if he happens to be a pathological narcissist who has never before held public office, even if he's a knave detested by all his Republican colleagues. Without a Republican Party, it's just us and them. And one of them could even become the next President of the United States.
Donald Trump |, From GoogleImages
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 5, 2017
The World According to Trump Trump is now the single most powerful person on the planet, with the ability to order the destruction of the world in just over four minutes. It is necessary to get him out of the White House, peacefully and legally, as quickly as possible.
Honk, From FlickrPhotos
(20 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 9, 2017
Impeach Him Now Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) is already drafting articles of impeachment related to Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey, believing there's enough evidence of Trump's obstruction of justice to begin an impeachment inquiry (not to mention Trump's blatant violation of the Constitutions emoluments clause by profiting off his presidency, and much else). But Democratic leaders are pushing back
Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Trump's Personal Gain Trumps All Trump called his impeachment a "hoax" and initially called the coronavirus a "hoax." But the real hoax is his commitment to America. In reality he will do anything -- anything -- to hold on to power.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Trump's "Law and Order" Campaign is a Distraction Trump has refused to act to contain the coronavirus, opting to sit on the sidelines as the pandemic ravages the country. But when it comes to waging violence against his own people, he's quickly risen to the occasion.
Bernie Sanders, From WikimediaPhotos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Bernie's Seven Legacies If it doesn't act on these critical issues that Bernie Sanders has provided, the Democratic Party will become irrelevant to the future of America, and a third party will emerge to address them. Bernie, we thank you for your courage, your inspiration, your tireless dedication, and your vision. And we will continue the fight.
Bill Clinton, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 8, 2016
There's One Big Unfinished Promise By Bill Clinton that Hillary Should Put to Bed When Bill Clinton first proposed his plan, compensation for CEOs at America's 350 largest corporations averaged $4.9 million. By the end of the Clinton administration, it had ballooned to $20.3 million. Since then, it's gone into the stratosphere. And because corporations can deduct all this from their corporate income taxes, you and I and other taxpayers have been subsidizing this growing bonanza.
From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 8, 2013
TARP is Over, But the Bailouts Will Continue Until the Big Banks are Broken Up -- And Washington Knows It It's necessary to limit the size of the banks and break up the biggest. The timing is right. The oven is ready. All we need is another multi-billion dollar banking loss -- like JP Morgan Chase's last year -- and the biggest banks are cooked.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 14, 2019
The Yuge Republican Lie About The Deficit Trump and Republicans in Congress claimed that their tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations would pay for themselves by boosting economic growth. It's the same trickle-down fairy tale they've been telling for decades. But according to the Congressional Budget Office, they haven't paid for themselves, and the deficit continues to balloon.
Medicare For All, From GoogleImages
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 28, 2017
It's Time for Medicare for All American spending on healthcare per person is more than twice the average in the world's 35 advanced economies. Yet Americans are sicker, our lives are shorter, and we have more chronic illnesses than in any other advanced nation. That's because medical care is so expensive for the typical American that many put off seeing a doctor until their health has seriously deteriorated.
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 6, 2020
The painful truth about COVID and the economy -- Trump is to blame Pesky facts have never stopped Trump. Having lied for five months about the coronavirus, he's now filling social media and the airwaves with untruths about the economy so he can dupe his way to election day.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 22, 2013
American Bile Most people are on a downward escalator. Although jobs are slowly returning, pay is not. Most jobs created since the start of the recovery in 2009, pay less than the jobs that were lost during the Great Recession. This means many people are working harder than ever, but still getting nowhere. They're increasingly pessimistic about their chances of ever doing better.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 23, 2021
The Secret Tax Loophole Making the Rich Even Richer Unless the stepped-up basis loophole is closed, we will soon have a large class of hugely rich people who have never worked a day in their lives.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 8, 2012
Why the Public's Growing Disdain for the Supreme Court May Help Obamacare The latest New York Times CBS Poll shows just 44 percent of Americans approve the job the Supreme Court is doing. Fully three-quarters say justices' decisions are sometimes influenced by their personal political views. The trend is clearly downward. Approval of the Court reached 66 percent in the late 1980s, and by 2000 had slipped to around 50 percent.
From flickr.com: Mitch McConnell, From Images
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 26, 2017
The Secret Healthcare Bill The Senate's bill is not a healthcare bill. It's a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, paid for by a dramatic reduction in healthcare funding for approximately 23 million poor, disabled, and working middle class Americans. If enacted, it would be the largest single transfer of wealth to the rich from the middle class and poor in American history.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 28, 2012
The Final Days, the Biggest Issue, and the Clearest Choice The top tax rate is now only 35 percent and the tax on capital gains (increases in the value of investments) is only 15 percent. Since so much of what they earn is from capital gains, many of the super-rich, like Mitt Romney himself, pay 14 percent or less. That's a lower tax rate than many middle-class Americans pay.
Rally to Save the American Dream, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 27, 2022
How Amazon, Starbucks, and other companies fight unions Big corporations are fighting dirty to keep their workers from organizing and they're still losing.
From Uploaded
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 18, 2019
The Secret GOP Plan to Keep Power As demographics change and America becomes more diverse and more liberal the GOP has responded by implementing policies that will take away power from the American people. Rather than changing with the times, they've got another plan: minority rule by them.
The market has been organized to serve the wealthy., From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 26, 2020
The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It The coronavirus has starkly revealed what most of us already knew: The concentration of wealth in America has created a a health care system in which the wealthy can buy care others can't.
Wells Fargo CEO Grilled At Hearing On Fraudulent Accounts, From GoogleImages
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 25, 2016
Time for Congress to Stop Hollering at CEOs and Take Action Shaming before congressional committees tends to reassure the public Congress is taking action. But -- especially with Republicans in charge -- Congress is doing nothing to prevent the wrongdoing from recurring. Can we be clear? CEOs have only one goal in mind -- making money. If they can make more money by misleading or price gouging, they'll continue to do so until it's no longer as profitable.
Donald Trump says he has an infrastructure plan, but really it's an infrastructure scam., From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 10, 2017
Trump's Infrastructure Investment Scam We shouldn't have to pay twice over for the wrong infrastructure. To really make America great again we need the correct infrastructure in the right places -- infrastructure that's for the public, not for big developers and investors.
We Are Pawns, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 13, 2022
Big Donors - Small Donors - and the Fight for Democracy Small donors are ramping up their giving to Democrats because they're aware of how nuts the Republican Party has become on issues ranging from abortion to democracy.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 8, 2013
The Quiet Closing of Washington Conservative Republicans in our nation's capital have managed to accomplish something they only dreamed of when Tea Partiers streamed into Congress at the start of 2011: They've basically shut Congress down. No jobs agenda. No budget. No grand bargain on the deficit. No background checks on guns. Nothing on climate change. No tax reform. No hike in the minimum wage. Nothing so far on immigration reform.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 21, 2015
How the New Flexible Economy is Making Workers' Lives Hell Employers assign workers tentative shifts, and then notify them a half-hour or 10 minutes before the shift is scheduled to begin whether they're actually needed. Some even require workers to check in by phone, email, or text shortly before the shift starts.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 21, 2017
7 Signs of Tyranny As tyrants take control, they exaggerate their mandate to govern... turn the public against journalists or media outlets that criticize them...repeatedly lie to the public...blame economic stresses on immigrants or racial or religious minorities...attack the motives of anyone who opposes them, including judges...appoint family members to high positions of authority...keep their personal finances secret. Sound familiar?
From youtube.com: Does Robert Mueller have the goods on Donald Trump?, From Images
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 21, 2018
Can Trump Fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller? Justice Department regulations issued in 1999, in the wake of Kenneth Starr's investigation of Bill Clinton, say that only an Attorney General can remove a special counsel, and not just for any reason. Such a removal must be based on a finding that the special counsel was guilty of "misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies."
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 29, 2012
Break Up The Big Banks, Says the Dallas Fed As Republicans make the repeal of "Obamacare" their primary objective (and Alito, Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and perhaps Kennedy sharpen their knives) another drama is taking place at the Fed. The question is whether Bernanke and company in Washington will heed the warnings coming from its Dallas branch, and amplify the message.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 31, 2013
Economic Storm Clouds Ahead The main reason stock prices have risen is corporate profits have soared. But that's largely because corporations have slashed their payrolls and keep them low. Which brings us full circle, back to the fundamental fact that wages that are going nowhere for most people.
President Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Why CEOs are Turning on Trump Trump's unwillingness to strongly condemn the neo-Nazi's and white supremacists in Charlottesville caused business leaders to stampede off his advisory councils. Now Trump's cruel plan to end DACA, the Obama-era program that allows unauthorized immigrants who arrived in America as children to remain here, is mobilizing CEOs to make the program permanent.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 23, 2018
Why the Common Good Disappeared (And How We Get it Back) We have never been a perfect union; our finest moments have been when we sought to become more perfect than we had been. We can help restore the common good by striving for it and showing others it's worth the effort.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Trump's Infrastructure Scam Rather than taxing the wealthy and then using the money to fix our dangerously outdated roads, bridges, airports, water systems, Trump wants to give rich developers and Wall Street investors tax credits to encourage them to do it That means that for every dollar they put into a project, they'd actually pay only 18 cents and we would contribute the other 82 cents through our tax dollars.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 6, 2013
One Answer to Low-Wage Work: Redistributing the Gains without some redistribution, America's growing army of low-wage workers may fall prey to demagogues on the right or left who offer convenient scapegoats for their frustrations. In other words, we can finance much of this redistribution to the working poor by ending unnecessary redistributions to the wealthy.
Trump and the Destruction of Democracy, From GoogleImages
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 27, 2016
Trump's Seven Techniques to Control the Media Responsible media hold the powerful accountable by asking them hard questions and reporting on what they do. Apparently Trump wants to eliminate such intermediaries. Historically, these seven techniques have been used by demagogues to erode the freedom and independence of the press. Even before he's sworn in, Trump seems intent on doing exactly this.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 13, 2014
The Three Biggest Right-Wing Lies About Poverty The share of Americans in poverty remains around 15 percent. That's even higher than it was in the early 1970s. How can the economy have grown so much while most people's wages go nowhere and the poor remain poor? Because almost all the gains have gone to the top.
Donald Trump, From ArchivedPhotos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 22, 2016
Why Trump Might Win That most Americans don't particularly like Trump is irrelevant. As one Midwesterner told me a few weeks ago, "He may be a jerk, but he's our jerk." By the same token, in this era of anti-politics, any candidate who appears to be the political establishment is at a strong disadvantage. This may be Hillary Clinton's biggest handicap.
Bernie Sanders, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 4, 2016
It's Not Over Until It's Over The goals Bernie has enunciated in his campaign are essential to our future: big money out of politics and reversing widening inequality; a single-payer healthcare system and free tuition at public universities (both financed by higher taxes on the richest Americans and on Wall Street); a $15 minimum wage; decriminalization of marijuana and an end to mass incarceration; a new voting rights act; immigration and a carbon tax.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 8, 2017
Why We Need Sanctuary States A dragnet aimed at finding and deporting all of America's 11 million unauthorized immigrants is cruel, costly, and contemptible. It turns this country into more of a police state, breaks up families, and hurts the economy.
Dangerous Donald Trump, From GoogleImages
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 22, 2018
How Trump is Destroying the GOP America has never had a president as deeply unpopular at this stage of his presidency, or one who has sucked up more political oxygen. This isn't good news for the Republican Party this November or in the future, because, after a year with the raving man-child who now occupies the White House, the GOP has sold its soul to Trump.
IMG_3608a, From FlickrPhotos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 24, 2022
Republicans Won't Stop at Roe The Republican majority on the Supreme Court is giving states the green light to invade everyone's privacy in ever more egregious ways
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 7, 2012
A Question of Timing: What America Can Learn from the Revolt in Europe The first priority in America and in Europe must be growth and jobs. That means rejecting austerity economics for now, while at the same time demanding that corporations and the rich pay their fair share of the cost of keeping everyone else afloat. The proper sequence is for government to keep spending until jobs and growth are restored, and only then to take out the budget axe.
From ImagesAttr
(13 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 10, 2012
As Washington Fiddles over the Fiscal Cliff, the Real Battle Over Inequality Is Happening in the Heartland With a shrinking share of total income and wealth, the middle class and poor simply don't have the purchasing power to get the economy back on solid footing. Consumer spending -- fully 70 percent of economic activity -- isn't up to the task of keeping the economy going. This puts greater pressure on government to be purchaser of last resort.
Sick Orange Bastard Tyrant, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 18, 2022
Why it must happen soon: The United States vs. Donald J. Trump Merrick Garland must do it now, before it's too late. Trump's indictment and conviction must occur as quickly as possible. The upcoming midterm elections won't simply be a battle between Republicans and Democrats. They will be a battle between Trump acolytes and fair election supporters over protecting the integrity of our elections and our democracy.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Political Jujitsu: Now's The Time For Medicare For All As Republicans in Congress move to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Democrats are moving toward Medicare for All -- a single-payer plan that builds on Medicare and would cover everyone at far lower cost. Most House Democrats are already supporting a Medicare for All bill.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 20, 2012
Four Reasons Why Romney Might Still Win The GOP is encouraging what can only be termed "voter vigilante" groups to "monitor polling stations to prevent fraud" -- which means intimidating minorities who have every right to vote. We can't know at this point how successful these efforts may be but it's a dangerous wildcard. And what about those Diebold voting machines? So don't for a moment believe "Romney's dead," and don't be complacent.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 16, 2011
The Republican Weapon of Mass Cynicism The GOP has pioneered new ways to circumvent campaign finance laws, blocked all attempts at reform, and appointed and confirmed Supreme Court justices who believe corporations have First Amendment rights to spend whatever they want to corrupt our politics.
Jimmy Carter says America no longer has a functioning democracy, From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 18, 2014
The Disease of American Democracy If we give up on politics, we're done for. Powerlessness is a self-fulfilling prophesy. The only way back toward a democracy and economy that work for the majority is for most of us to get politically active once again, becoming organized and mobilized. We need to do what we can do best -- use our voices, our vigor, and our votes.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Trump Is America's Most Dangerous Export As in the 1930s, economic strains are fueling the rise of demagogues who direct anger and resentment toward scapegoats such as immigrants and minorities - lying about them with impunity.
Moderna Q2 revenue rises as it works on COVID-19 vaccine, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 9, 2020
Trump has no problem letting billionaires profit off the pandemic Since the start of the pandemic, American billionaires have been cleaning up. Trump has no problem letting billionaires illegally profit off the pandemic. He thinks that as long as they buoy the stock market, they're helping the American economy.
The Pandemic, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Workers matter and government works: eight lessons from the Covid pandemic Maybe it's wishful thinking to declare the pandemic over in the US, and presumptuous to conclude what lessons we've learned.
Donald Trump Press Conference - January 11 2017, From GoogleImages
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 12, 2017
Five Ways Trump's "News Conference" Wasn't a News Conference In his news conference, Trump continued calling the media "dishonest." This is part of his continuing effort to discredit the press and to reduce public confidence in it. He condemned individual news outlets. Trump criticized CNN for dispensing "fake news," called Buzzfeed "a pile of garbage," and sarcastically called the BBC "another beauty."
$15 Minimum Wage Passed in Seattle!, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 5, 2014
The Four Biggest Right-Wing Lies About Inequality At the least, the rich must pay higher taxes in order to pay for better-quality education for kids from poor and middle-class families. Labor unions must be strengthened, especially in lower-wage occupations, in order to give workers the bargaining power they need to get better pay. And the minimum wage must be raised. Don't listen to the right-wing lies about inequality. Know the truth, and act on it.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 27, 2014
Break The Koch Machine The Koch political machine would be troubling in any circumstance. But it's especially dangerous in present-day America, where wealth is more concentrated than it's been in over a century and the Supreme Court has opened the floodgates to big money.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 20, 2020
The Privileged and Powerful in the Pandemic Those in power must stop viewing the pandemic as an obstacle to personal ambition. Over 300,000 people around the world have lost their lives in just four months, including more than 90,000 Americans.
From opednews.com: Healthcare.gov website, From Images
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 26, 2017
Why Trumpcare is Giving Senate Republicans... Very soon Senate Republicans will have to decide what to do about Trumpcare. Their choice is severely limited.
From flickr.com: Donald Trump - Caricature, From Images
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 28, 2017
Trump's Unconstitutional Assault on the Judiciary) One way dictators take over democracies is by threatening the independence of a nation's courts. Donald Trump is doing just this. Connect the following dots:
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 1, 2022
What the Biden administration should actually do about inflation Relying on the Fed to bring down prices is like treating someone's fever by putting them a freezer. It doesn't treat the underlying disease, and could make things far worse.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 15, 2012
Why a Fair Economy is Not Incompatible with Growth but Essential to It What we should have learned over the last half century is that growth doesn't trickle down from the top. It percolates upward from working people who are adequately educated, healthy, sufficiently rewarded, and who feel they have a fair chance to make it in America. Fairness isn't incompatible with growth. It's necessary for it.
President Trump Postlaunch Remarks (NHQ202005300077), From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 16, 2022
Trump's Latest Threat Is a Doozy and Requires Four Responses WE are dealing with a sociopathic narcissist who wants nothing more than to divide the nation over himself.
Donald Trump and Fox News, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 26, 2018
The Real Uses of Trump's Fanatics Now that Trump is being pushed into a corner, he's reorganizing his team for an epic marketing battle. This requires purging naysayers from his Cabinet and White House staff because naysayers are terrible at marketing, and replacing them with tried-and-true salespeople, like Bolton and Kudlow. Fox News -- Trump's propaganda arm -- is being reorganized for the same battle.
Trump Twitter Freak, From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 20, 2018
The Three Choices When it Comes to Trump This coming November 6, 34 senate seats, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and 36 governorships will be up for election or re-election. Support primary candidates who will resist Trump. Mobilize to get out the vote. Organize so that November 6 becomes a total repudiation of Donald Trump and all he stands for.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Wall Street Is Still Out Of Control, And Why Obama Should Call For Glass-Steagall And A Breakup Of Big Banks I doubt the President will be condemning the Street's antics, or calling for a resurrection of Glass-Steagall and a breakup of the biggest banks. Democrats are still too dependent on the Street's campaign money. That's too bad. You don't have to be an occupier of Wall Street to conclude the Street is still out of control. And that's dangerous for all of us.
Corporations Ready For ANOTHER Tax Cut As Wages For Employees Fall, From YouTubeVideos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 30, 2018
Why Wages Are Going Nowhere The federal minimum wage has not been increased since 2009, and is now about where it was in 1950 when adjusted for inflation. Trump's labor department is busily repealing many rules and regulations designed to protect workers.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 17, 2021
The truth about the US border-industrial complex Congress should expand legal avenues of immigration, along with a roadmap to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already here -- a policy with broad public support.
Donald Trump, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 9, 2021
Trump to the Barricades We need to commit to real patriotism. It's not easy, but it's the necessary hard work we must undertake to make this country better for everyone.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Why We Should Raise Taxes on the Super-Rich and Lower Them on the Middle Class Some critics worry that if the marginal tax is raised too high, the very rich will simply take their money to a more hospitable jurisdiction. That's surely possible. Some already do. But paying taxes is a central obligation of citizenship. Those who take their money abroad in an effort to avoid paying American taxes should lose their American citizenship.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 31, 2011
The Occupiers' Responsive Chord A combination of police crackdowns and bad weather are testing the young Occupy movement. But rumors of its demise are premature, to say the least. Although numbers are hard to come by, anecdotal evidence suggests the movement is growing. As importantly, the movement has already changed the public debate in America.
Time, From PixabayPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Democrats are Running Out of Time The political window of opportunity for Joe Biden and Democrats to deliver on their promises to the American people and pass the legislation the country needs, could close at any time.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 27, 2020
My Advice to the Class of 2020 Here's my message to the Class of 2020: I'm not going to beat around the bush. These are hard times. You're graduating into the worst economy in 80 years, and we don't have any idea when or how the economy will recover. Much depends on the course of this tragic pandemic.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 23, 2016
The Trust Destroyers There is a vicious cycle of public distrust. Our economic and political systems appear to be rigged, because, to an increasing extent, they are. Which makes the public ever more cynical -- and, ironically, more willing to believe half-baked conspiracy theories such as Trump's bizarre claim that the upcoming election is rigged.
Steve Bannon and Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 17, 2017
Trump's Civil War Trump even tweeted a video clip of himself in a WWE professional wrestling match slamming a CNN avatar to the ground and pounding him with punches and elbows to the head. Hateful violence is hardly new to America. But never before has a president licensed it as a political strategy or considered haters part of his political base.
Reporters Grill Josh Earnest on White House Evacuation, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 16, 2017
Trump's Plan to Neuter the White House Press Corps, and Neuter Our Democracy The incoming Trump administration is considering evicting the White House press corps from the press room inside the White House and moving them -- and news conferences -- to a conference center or to the Old Executive Office Building. The Trump administration is intent on neutering the White House press corps. If it happens it will be another step toward neutering our democracy.
From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 8, 2021
This Week's Worst Influential American People in public life need to be accountable for whatever damage they're doing to public life.
Democratic Donkey & Republican Elephant - Caricatures, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 29, 2022
The real reason Congress gets nothing done Republicans are blocking crucial legislation so they can point to Democrats supposed inability to get anything done.
Google, Logos, From GoogleImages
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 1, 2017
When Big Money Buys Off Criticism of Big Money According to the New York Times, one of New America's initiatives called Open Markets has been critical of the market power of tech giants like Google. Recently, the researcher who heads that initiative posted a statement on the New America Foundation website praising the European Union's penalty against Google.
From youtube.com: Donald Trump caricature, From Images
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Trump's Art of the No Deal Trump promised to be America's dealmaker in chief, touting his "extraordinary" ability to negotiate. But so far -- whether he's dealing with foreign governments or with Congress -- Trump has shown that he can't make a deal. He only pretends he's made deals that soon evaporate. He's perfected the art of the no deal.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 8, 2011
The Corporate Pledge of Allegiance By flooding our democracy with their shareholders' money, big corporations are violating their shareholders' First Amendment rights because shareholders aren't consulted. They're simultaneously suppressing the First Amendment rights of the rest of us because, given how much money they're throwing around, we don't have enough money to be heard.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 8, 2022
Let's Be Clear - The Battle Before Us Is Democracy vs. Autocracy America needs a national pro-democracy movement to stop the anti-democracy movement now underway.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 4, 2011
Why Inequality is the Real Cause of Our Ongoing Terrible Economy The rich are now being bitten by their own success. Those at the top would be better off with a smaller share of a rapidly growing economy than a large share of one that's almost dead in the water.
From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 9, 2023
With McCarthy, the Trump coalition of MAGAs and oligarchs lives on It remains the most powerful force in the GOP. Trump continues to be the central force pulling together this coalition of economic oligarchs and MAGA culture warriors.
From wtkr.com/2016/07/12/how-the-clinton-sanders-unity-summit-came-together-and-what-it-means-for-democrats/: Bernie San, From Images
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 15, 2016
Why President Hillary Clinton Will Need Bernie's "Political Revolution" to Get Anything Done Hillary Clinton has been relying on big money to finance her presidential campaign, but she's always been a pragmatist about governing. Which means that once she enters the Oval Office, she'll need the countervailing power of a progressive movement -- ironically, much like the one her primary opponent championed.
Don't let them scare you with words like
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 10, 2019
The Same Old Scare Tactic About Socialism If we don't want to live in a survival-of-the-fittest society in which only the richest and most powerful can endure, government has to do three basic things: regulate corporations, provide social insurance against unforeseen hardships, and support public investments such as schools and public transportation.
Trump's Mishandling of the COVID-19 Virus, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 6, 2020
Trump Rushed to Reopen America. Now Covid is Closing in on Him Donald Trump said last Thursday's jobs report, which showed an uptick in June, proves the economy is "roaring back." What's roaring back is Covid-19. Until it's tamed, the economy doesn't stand a chance.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 27, 2022
Warning: The Fed is aiming a battering ram at the American economy The Fed's rate hikes won't remedy inflation. They will do the opposite. Since World War II, most Fed rate hikes have resulted in recession.
Corporate Tax Evaders, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 28, 2014
The Increasing Irrelevance of Corporate Nationality Since 2000, almost every big American multi-national corporation has created more jobs outside the United States than inside. If you add in their foreign sub-contractors, the foreign total is even higher. Let's stop worrying about whether big global corporations are "American." We can't win that game. Focus instead on what we want global corporations of whatever nationality to do in America, and how we can get them to do it.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the largest--and worst--trade deal you've never heard of., From ImagesAttr
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 14, 2015
Why the Trans Pacific Partnership is Nearly Dead America's real-life distributional game is analogous, as a few at the top gain increasing political power to alter the rules of the game to their advantage. If the American economy continues to create a few big winners and many who feel like losers by comparison, opposition to free trade won't be the only casualty. Losers are likely to find many other ways to say "no deal."
From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Mitch McConnell's GOP Is Destroying America Senate Republicans' shameful priorities are on full display as the nation continues to grapple with an unprecedented health and economic crisis.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 28, 2012
No Longer Home Sweet Home: The Ongoing Housing Crisis and the End of an Era The biggest continuing problem for most Americans is their homes. Houses are the major assets of the American middle class. Most Americans are therefore far poorer than they were six years ago. Almost one out of three homeowners with a mortgage is now "underwater," owing more to the banks than their homes are worth on the market.
(10 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 5, 2011
The Republican's Double-Dip, and What Must Be Done We need a bold jobs bill to restart the economy. Give employers tax credits for net new jobs. Extend unemployment insurance. Provide partial unemployment benefits to people who have lost part-time jobs. Start an infrastructure bank. The jobs bill should be number one on the nation's agenda. It should have been all along.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 30, 2012
The Terrible Economy and the Anti-Election of 2012 Polls give Obama a slight edge in the critical eight or so battleground states, so, the thinking goes in the Obama camp, why say anything that might give Romney and the GOP a target? Besides, polls also show Romney isn't well-liked by the electorate. So Obama has decided to campaign as the anti-Romney.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Where Trump Sees Foreign Danger The attribute we must hold most secure because it defines who we are and what we strive for -- is a system of government "of the people, by the people, for the people," as Lincoln put it. Trump cares more about unauthorized immigrants and Chinese imports than about the sanctity of our democracy. This is a tragic mistake.
Elephant Walking animated., From WikimediaPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 2, 2021
The Greatest Danger to American Democracy The greatest danger to American democracy right now is not coming from Russia, China, or North Korea. It is coming from the Republican Party.
Walmart campaign Jobs with Justice Rally held in Graham Washington, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 17, 2013
What Walmart Could Learn from Henry Ford Walmart isn't your average mom-and-pop operation. It's the largest employer in America. As such, it's the trendsetter for millions of other employers of low-wage workers. As long as Walmart keeps its wages at or near the bottom, other low-wage employers keep wages there, too. All they need do is offer $8.85 an hour to have their pick.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 20, 2017
Why We Must All Fight for the Dream Act These kids grew up in America. To enter the DACA program they already had to step forward and show that they were contributing to their communities and then prove it again every two years to stay in the program. It is immoral to now put them in the crosshairs of deportation. The DACA fight is my fight, and I stand with the dreamers -- and I hope you will too.
Shopping at Amazon Go in San Francisco, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 11, 2018
Amazon, and America's Real Divide Amazon's business isn't just selling stuff over the Internet. It's getting consumers anything they want, faster and better. To do so, it depends on a continuous flow of great new ideas.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 28, 2011
The Oil Company Gusher Let's not fool ourselves--or be fooled. There's no reason to continue to give giant oil companies a $4 billion a year tax windfall. Nor any reason to expand drilling on federal lands or on our seashores. But there are strong reasons to invest in renewable energy--even in a time of budget austerity. Use the $4 billion this way. Why not a windfall profits tax to the oil companies, to be used for renewable energy?
Money In Politics, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 8, 2015
Anticipatory Bribery Former government officials, including members of Congress, shouldn't be able to lobby or take jobs in industries over which they had some oversight, for at least three years after leaving office. Once they declare, even their spouses should desist from collecting big bucks that could look like anticipatory bribes.
Steve Bannon shapes Trump's policies, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 30, 2017
Trump and Bannon's "America First" Trump is unhinged and ignorant. Bannon is nuts and malicious. If not supervised by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, their decisions could endanger the world. In Trump's and Bannon's view, foreign relations is a zero-sum game. If another nation gains, we lose. Unsupervised by people who know what they're doing, Trump and Bannon could bring the world closer to a nuclear holocaust.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 6, 2018
The Unconstitutional Census Power Grab It's no secret that immigrants with the right to vote tend to vote for Democrats. So undercounting neighborhoods that are heavily Latino or Asian would mean fewer Democratic members of Congress. This is nothing but a Republican power grab orchestrated by the White House.
From Uploaded
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 25, 2022
When billionaires talk about freedom, watch your wallets Behind Elon Musk's blather about free markets, free speech, and free choice is his goal to be free from accountability
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 19, 2020
What's Missing From the Coronavirus Bill Corporate tax cuts won't save us. The coronavirus doesn't distinguish between rich and poor. We are in this imminent health and economic emergency together, and our own health and well-being are dependent on the health and well-being of everyone else.
Unequal Wealth, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Why So Much Wealth at the Top Threatens the US Economy In a very practical sense, the U.S. economy depends on the spending of most Americans who don't have much to spend. That spells trouble ahead.
Donald Trump, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 27, 2020
Trump's Vilest Legacy Most of the 74,222,957 Americans who voted to reelect Donald Trump -- 46.8 percent of the votes cast in the 2020 presidential election -- don't hold Trump accountable for what he's done to America. Their acceptance of Trump's behavior will be his vilest legacy.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Republican Shakedown You can't fight something with nothing. But as long as Democrats refuse to talk about the almost unprecedented buildup of income, wealth, and power at the top -- and the refusal of the super-rich to pay their fair share of the nation's bills -- Republicans will convince people it's all about government and unions.
Republican Tax Scam, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 19, 2018
Trump's Shareholder Bonanza The expectation of a big corporate tax cut have caused shares to soar. Because the richest 1 percent of Americans owns 40 percent of all shares of stock, and the richest fifth owns 80 percent, this is great news for the wealthy. It's not great news for anyone else.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 31, 2018
The Next Big Fight Fresh off passing massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, Trump and congressional Republicans want to use the deficit they've created to justify huge cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Medicaid is also a vital lifeline for America's elderly and the poor. Yet the Trump administration has already started whittling it away by encouraging states to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients.
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 8, 2018
The Financial Hardships of Trump's Friends In contrast to their argument that the poor need less help in order to work harder, Trump and his enablers justify regulatory and tax handouts to Carl Icahn and his ilk by arguing the rich need more in order to work harder. Trumponomics is a thin veneer of an excuse for giving America's rich -- already richer than ever -- whatever they want, while sticking it to everyone else.
Coronavirus Spreading Through Homeless Population, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 27, 2020
Covid-19 pandemic shines a light on a new kind of class divide and its inequalities If the Forgotten remain forgotten, no one is secure. Covid-19 will continue to spread sickness and death for months, if not years to come.
From flickr.com: Homeless, From Images
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 25, 2017
Trump's Cruel and Deviant Budget For years, conservatives warned that liberals were "defining deviancy downward." They said that by tolerating bad social behavior, liberals in effect lowered what was deemed acceptable behavior overall -- allowing social norms to decline. There was never a lot of evidence for that view, but there's little question that Donald Trump is actively defining deviancy downward for the nation as a whole
Democrats Vs Republicans 2020 - Let's Get Ready to RUMBLE!!, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 17, 2020
Voters can replace a party that knows how to fight with one that knows how to govern The Democratic party is basically a governing party, organized around developing and implementing public policies. The Republican party has become an attack party, organized around developing and implementing political vitriol.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 7, 2013
The Hoax of Entitlement Reform Taming future deficits requires three steps having nothing to do with entitlements: Limiting the growth of overall healthcare costs, cutting our bloated military, and ending corporate welfare (tax breaks and subsidies targeted to particular firms and industries). Obsessing about "entitlement reform" only serves to distract us from these more important endeavors.
Robert Reich, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 19, 2015
The Revolt of Small Business Republicans Big corporations have extended their dominance over large swaths of the economy. They've expanded their intellectual property, merged with or acquired other companies in the same industry, and gained control over networks and platforms that have become industry standards.
Howard Schultz, former Starbucks CEO, From InText
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 18, 2019
Why is the media showering Howard Schultz with free airtime? It's not clear if Bloomberg will run. If he does, he'll run as a Democrat. But Schultz is planning to run as an independent, so he won't even have to go through the gauntlet of primary battles. Which means Schultz could deliver the 2020 election to Trump by siphoning off votes from the Democratic candidate.
Biden Stands up to Elon Musk, From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Another reason to detest Musk And distrust the New York Times. Last Friday "- after Elon Musk said he planned to cut thousands of jobs at Tesla and also expressed worry over the economy "- Joe Biden dismissed him with a zinger: "Lots of luck on his trip to the moon." There's no love lost between them.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 6, 2010
The Wealthy Have Enough Money -- It's Time to Put Some Cash in Your Pocket This crisis began decades ago when a new wave of technology -- things like satellite communications, container ships, computers and eventually the Internet -- made it cheaper for American employers to use low-wage labor abroad or labor-replacing software here at home than to continue paying the typical worker a middle-class wage.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 5, 2021
The Unchecked Power of Police Unions Police unions abuse collective bargaining to shield their members from accountability for the killings of unarmed Black people and other heinous misconduct. No progress can be made without reining in the unchecked power of police unions.
Donald Trump makes an idiot of himself, From GoogleImages
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 11, 2017
Who Lacks Respect for the Office of the President? Donald Trump lacks respect for and recognition of the dignity of the office of the president. Trump continues to rake in money from his businesses that benefit from his being president. Every day that goes by, Trump further disgraces the office he holds. His lack of respect for the presidency knows no bounds.
Senator Manchin %28cropped 2%29., From WikimediaPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 14, 2021
It's No Mystery - Joe Manchin Represents the Monied Interests and nobody else Joe Manchin, Republicans, and the Supreme Court, are shafting working Americans.
'Trump Fears Next Election Will Be Decided by Americans', From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 24, 2022
Why the Window To Prosecute Trump is closing Donald Trump is not above the law. He must be prosecuted to preserve what's left of our democracy.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Fraud on the Street While financial reform is needed, there's no reason to wait for it. Sarbanes-Oxley is already there. It's not the law, but the will to enforce it that we lack.
stall, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 4, 2012
The Stall Has Arrived We've still got a terrible cyclical problem -- we can't get out of the gravitational pull of the Great Recession. There's no way to put the mask back on. We've got to face the truth. Obama and the Democrats have to explain to the American people why inequality isn't just unfair; it's also economically unsustainable.
Hillary Clinton, From WikimediaPhotos
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 24, 2016
Does Hillary Get It? Hillary Clinton doesn't need to move toward the "middle." In fact, such a move could hurt her if it's perceived to be compromising the stances she took in the primaries in order to be more acceptable to Democratic movers and shakers. She must make clear the best way to end crony capitalism and make America work for the many is to strengthen American democracy.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 2, 2013
The Sequester and the Tea Party Plot The President should let the public see the Tea Partiers for who they are -- a small, radical minority intent on dismantling the government of the United States. As long as they are allowed to dictate the terms of public debate they will continue to hold the rest of us hostage to their extremism.
From wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1875: Democratic Party, From Images
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 11, 2016
Why We Need a New Democratic Party We need a people's party -- a party capable of organizing and mobilizing Americans in opposition to Donald Trump's Republican party, which is about to take over all three branches of the U.S. government. We need a New Democratic Party that will fight against intolerance and widening inequality.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 21, 2020
The Real Choice: Social Control or Social Investment Social-control societies put substantial resources into police, prisons, surveillance, immigration enforcement, and the military. Social-investment societies put more resources into healthcare, education, affordable housing, jobless benefits, and children.
Jeff Bezos, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 28, 2021
Why Is Amazon Abusing Its Workers? Because It Can The most dramatic change in American capitalism over the last half century has been the emergence of corporate behemoths like Amazon and the simultaneous shrinkage of organized labor.
Amazon workers protest, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 13, 2021
Why the PRO Act Is Critical According to the Labor Department, Amazon warehouse workers sustained nearly double the rate of serious injury incidents last year as did workers in non-Amazon warehouses.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 1, 2018
What's A Subpoena -- And Should Trump Fear It? A subpoena is a legal command from a court or from one or both houses of Congress to do something -- like testify or present information. The term "subpoena" literally means "under penalty." Someone who receives a subpoena but doesn't comply with it may be subject to civil or criminal penalties.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 26, 2010
Republican Economics as Social Darwinism Republicans have wanted to destroy Social Security since it was invented in 1935 by my predecessor as labor secretary, the great Frances Perkins. Remember George W. Bush's proposal to privatize it? Had America agreed with him, millions of retirees would have been impoverished in 2008 when the stock market imploded.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The Biggest Republican Lie Republicans who say the budget deficit is responsible for this are living on another planet. Consumers still don't have the jobs and wages, nor ability to borrow, they had before the recession. So their belts are still tight. To make matters worse, the temporary cut in Social Security taxes ended January 1, subtracting an additional $1,000 from the typical American paycheck.
From InText
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 26, 2020
More Bailout Money for Corporations Than for Hospitals Corporate welfare is bad enough in normal times. Now, in a national emergency, it's morally repugnant. We must stop bailing out corporations. It's time we bail out people.
Hillary Clinton, From FlickrPhotos
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 19, 2016
A Big Idea for Hillary Will Hillary Clinton make restoring democracy her big idea? When she announced her candidacy she said "the deck is stacked in favor of those at the top" and that she wants to be the "champion" of "everyday Americans." The best way to ensure everyday Americans get a fair deal is to make our democracy work again.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 24, 2020
A Tale of Two Pandemics No description of the coronavirus is more misleading than calling it "the great equalizer." The horrific truth is that Native Americans, Latinos, and African-Americans are dying at much higher rates than white people -- and we don't know the half of it.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 30, 2020
5 Key Demands for the New Coronavirus Bill Congress has just days left to pass legislation that will keep struggling Americans afloat and stave off economic catastrophe.
Donald Trump - Caricature, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 21, 2022
We're running out of time to hold Donald Trump accountable Trump's indictment and conviction must occur as quickly as possible.
Trump Plaza, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 28, 2015
Donald Trump Proves What's Wrong With Bankruptcy Laws in America In America, people with lots of money can easily avoid the consequences of bad bets and big losses by cashing out at the first sign of trouble. Bankruptcy laws protect them. But workers who move to a place like Atlantic City for a job, invest in a home there, and build their skills have no such protection.
End Child Poverty -- Keep The Promise, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 19, 2021
The Anti-Family Party Last Thursday, 39 million American parents began receiving a monthly child allowance ($300 per child under six, and $250 per child from six through 17). It's the biggest helping hand to American families in more than 85 years. Every Republican in both the House and Senate voted against it.
tax-the-rich, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 2, 2022
The 'Carried Interest' Loophole in the 'Age of Manchinema' If there's one thing Sinema loves more than Wall Street dollars it's national media attention.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Mitt One of my regrets in life is losing the chance to debate Mitt Romney and whip his ass. Mitt Romney's great strength is he looks, sounds, and acts presidential. Mitt Romney is the perfect candidate for people uncomfortable that their president is black. Mitt is their great white hope.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 13, 2013
Why Giving Republican Bullies a Bloody Nose Isn't Enough Now is the time to lance the boil of Republican extremism once and for all. Since Barack Obama became president, the extremists who have taken over the Republican Party have escalated their demands every time he's caved, using the entire government of the United States as their bargaining chit.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 25, 2017
Boycotting Trump Both Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, among other retailers, have dropped Trump brands, both Ivanka's and her father's. Their decisions came amid calls for a boycott against retailers that carry Trump products.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Socialism for the Rich, Capitalism for the Rest To the conservative mind, the specter of socialism conjures up a society in which no one is held accountable, and no one has to work for what they receive. Yet, that's exactly the society Trump and the Republicans are promoting for the rich. Meanwhile, most Americans are subject to an increasingly harsh and arbitrary capitalism.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 12, 2022
The Most Important Strike in Higher Education You Might Not Even Know About A total of 48,000 are on strike, making this the largest and most important strike in the history of American higher education.
From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 21, 2022
How global corporations are using white Christian nationalism What do congressional Republicans, Joe Manchin, and Hungary's Viktor Orban have in common? They all oppose the Biden administration's proposed global minimum corporate tax "- designed to stop corporations from playing one country against another in a worldwide race to the tax bottom.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 7, 2020
How CEOs Are Ruining America CEOs are in business to make a profit and maximize their share prices, not to serve America. And yet these CEOs dominate American politics and essentially run the system.
Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 3, 2016
The Real Scandal of Trump Paying No Taxes Bankruptcy is also easy to utilize, if you're wealthy enough to find a good bankruptcy lawyer who can use the bankruptcy code repeatedly to shelter your fortune and avoid paying your debts. Trump has used bankruptcy to stiff his creditors at least four times. The real scandal here is that Trump and other hugely wealthy people can get away with this, and do so all the time.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Why The Republican Tax Plan Is More Failed Trickle-Down Economics* Trump and conservatives in Congress are planning a big tax cut for millionaires and billionaires. To justify it they're using the oldest song in their playbook, claiming tax cuts on the rich will trickle down to working families in the form of stronger economic growth. Baloney. Trickle-down economics is a cruel joke.
Enjoy a Happy 4th of July, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 5, 2021
Real Patriotism on this July 4th Many people believe that celebrating America means waving the flag or standing for the national anthem or shouting "America First." But that's not what real patriotism is. Real patriotism means sacrificing to keep America going.
From youtube.com: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 14, 2018
7 Truths About Immigration Trump's claim that undocumented immigrants generate more crime is dead wrong. Both legal and undocumented immigrants are significantly less likely to commit crimes than people born in the United States. Violent crime rates in America are actually at historical lows, with the homicide rate back to its level from the early 1960s.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Trump's Failed Coronavirus Response Trump's priority was never public health. It was about making the virus seem like less of a nuisance so that the "numbers" would "look good" for his reelection.
Medicare birthday, From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 25, 2015
Happy Birthday Medicare Medicare turns 50 next week. It was signed into law July 30, 1965 -- the crowning achievement of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. It's more popular than ever. Yet Medicare continues to be blamed for America's present and future budget problems. That's baloney. Medicare isn't the problem. In fact, it's the solution.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 2, 2021
Why Your Chipotle Burrito Costs More Republican lawmakers say the GOP is the "party of the working class." If that's the case, it ought to celebrate when hourly workers get a raise instead of howling about it.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The Bain of Capitalism None of these Republican candidates has exactly distinguished himself with new ideas for giving Americans more economic security. To the contrary -- until the assault on Romney and Bain Capital -- every one of them has been a cheerleader for financial capitalism of the most brutal sort.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Why We Need Rise-Up Economics, Not Trickle-Down In the three decades following World War II, we made huge investments in education, health, and infrastructure. The result was rising median incomes. Since then, public investments have lagged, and median incomes have stagnated. Meanwhile, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush's tax cuts on the top didn't raise incomes, and neither will Donald Trump's. Trickle-down economics is a hoax.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 23, 2017
How to End Crony Capitalism Big money is buying giant tax cuts, allowing Russia to interfere in future elections, and killing Americans. That's just the tip of the corrupt iceberg that's sinking our democracy. Republicans may be taking more big money, but both parties have been raking it in.
Donald Trump - Caricature, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Cancel Perks for the Worst President in History How should the nation respond to an ex-president who has incited an insurrection, brought our democracy to the brink of destruction, and left so much pain and suffering in his wake?
Whitewashed!, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 7, 2021
The Monstrous Predicament Trump Left Behind This week's Senate trial is unlikely to convict Donald Trump of inciting sedition against the United States. At least 17 Republican senators are needed for conviction, but only five have signaled they'll go along.
United States Flag, From FlickrPhotos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 16, 2019
Reasons for Optimism The arc of American history reveals an unmistakable pattern. Whenever privilege and power conspire to pull us backward, we eventually rally and move forward.
WTC 9/11, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 12, 2021
What We Do With Tragic Anniversaries Most young people today, will continue to remember 1/6/21, when a president of the United States instigated a deadly attack on the Capitol. But we need more consideration of what America has become as a result -- war-prone, fearful, and deeply divided.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tax Jujitsu: Why Democrats Should Propose a "People's Tax Cut" Republicans are calling the Democrat's proposal to end the Bush tax cuts on the richest 3 percent a "tax increase." This is baloney. Democrats should call it the People's Tax Cut, and let Republicans explain why they're against it.
President Theodore Roosevelt, From GoogleImages
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Will Hillary Clinton Get America Back on Track? Bernie Sanders -- the unlikeliest of presidential candidates -- won 22 states and 46 percent of the pledged delegates in the Democratic primaries, and pushed Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party to adopt many of his proposals. If Donald Trump is elected next week, all bets are off. But if Hillary Clinton assumes the presidency, could she become another Teddy or Franklin D. Roosevelt?
Trickle down economics, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 19, 2015
The New Compassionate Conservatism and Trickle-Down Economics When Jeb Bush admits that the income gap is real but that "only conservative principles can solve it," one has to wonder what principles he's talking about if not these. And when Mitt Romney promises to run a different campaign than he did in 2012 and focus on "opportunity for all people," the real question is whether he'll run on different economic principles.
Donald Trump rally, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 3, 2022
Trump and his enablers unwittingly offer Democrats their best hope in the midterms The best hope for Democrats in the midterms lies with Trump, Gingrich and others who loudly and repeatedly remind the public how utterly contemptible the Republican party has become.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 13, 2012
The Wrong Way to Save Money on Health Care The profits are largely due to lower corporate costs, especially when it comes to their payrolls. Employer-provided health and pension contributions are shrinking, and the real median wage continues to drop. High unemployment has given companies more bargaining leverage over their workers, who have to accept lower real pay and benefits or risk losing their jobs.
From ImagesAttr
(17 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 20, 2012
Cliff Hanger: The President's Unnecessary and Unwise Concessions The President is offering to continue Bush tax cuts for people earning between $250,000 and $400,000, and cut Social Security by reducing cost-of-living adjustments. These concessions aren't necessary. If the nation goes over the so-called "fiscal cliff" and tax rates return to what they were under Clinton, Democrats can then introduce a tax cut for everyone earning under $250,000, retroactive to the start of the year.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 18, 2010
The Perfect Storm We're back to the late 19th century when the lackeys of robber barons literally deposited sacks of cash on the desks of friendly legislators. The public never knew who was bribing whom. Most Americans are in trouble. Their jobs, incomes, savings, and even homes are on the line. They need a government that's working for them, not for the privileged and the powerful.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 14, 2011
The Triumph of Dogma, and a Sad Goodbye to David Frum The Republican Party has become so extreme that it's more and more difficult for anyone to rationally "represent" its views. As Frum put in in a post on his website, FrumForum, "Under the pressure of the current crisis -- intoxicated by anti-Obama feelings and incited by talk radio and Fox -- Republicans have staked out an extreme position on the role of government."
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 16, 2018
Trump's Humongous Infrastructure Con It's the biggest Trump con since he told Americans the tax cut would help them more than the rich. He's calling for a $1.5 trillion boost in infrastructure spending -- but he's proposing just $200 billion in federal funding. So where does the rest come from? Tax hikes on the middle-class and poor, and from private investors.
sedition, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 3, 2021
Sedition Eleven Republican senators and senators-elect said today they will vote to reject President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory next Wednesday when Congress meets to formally certify it.
From youtube.com: Trump's Border Wall, From Images
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 3, 2019
Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors? A wall is being erected around the nation, an outer perimeter, separating the United States from the Third World. So far, our national wall extends along only 64 miles of the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico, but Congress has appropriated funds for lengthening it and also fortifying it.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Republicans Don't Believe In Freedom - Only Power A living wage, the right to join a union, guaranteed healthcare, the right to vote - these are the foundations of real freedom. Yet, Republicans oppose all of these.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 29, 2010
Halliburton and the Upcoming Election Halliburton has not sat out this election. Last May, as Congress began investigating its role in the disaster, its political action committee made 14 contributions -- 13 to Republicans and one to a Democrat. Halliburton isn't on the ballot next Tuesday, but it might as well be.
From flickr.com/photos/47422005@N04/5325453058/: Republican Elephant, From Images
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 9, 2017
A Good Idea, Even if It's From Republicans A group of former Republican officials (including James A. Baker, Henry Paulson, George P. Shultz, Marty Feldstein and Greg Mankiw) is proposing a carbon tax starting the tax at $40 per ton, that would gradually increase. The proceeds of the tax would be distributed to every American.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 10, 2017
SLAPP Lawsuits: The Biggest Threat To The Resistance You Never Heard Of Winning isn't necessarily the goal of SLAPP suits. Just by filing the suits, Energy Transfer Partners and Resolute are trying to drain environmental groups of time, energy, and resources they need, so they can't continue to fight to protect the environment. If the goal is to silence public-interest groups, the rest of us must speak out. Wealthy corporations must know they can't SLAPP the public into silence.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 13, 2011
Obama Shouldn't Allow Republicans to Frame the Debate as How Much Spending Should Be Cut Obama pours gas on the Republican flame by proposing a 2012 federal budget that cuts the federal deficit by $1.1 trillion over 10 years. About $400 billion of this will come from a five-year freeze on non-security discretionary spending--including all sorts of programs for poor and working-class Americans, such as heating assistance to low-income people. Most of the rest from additional spending cuts.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 12, 2013
When Charity Begins at Home (Particularly the Homes of the Wealthy) A while ago, New York's Lincoln Center held a fund-raising gala supported by the charitable contributions of hedge fund industry leaders, some of whom take home $1 billion a year. I may be missing something but this doesn't strike me as charity, either. Poor New Yorkers rarely attend concerts at Lincoln Center. Congress might consider limiting the charitable deduction to real charities.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 2, 2017
Trump's 10 Steps for Turning Lies into Half-Truths Donald Trump is the most lying president we've ever had, and he seems to get away with it. Don't let Trump's lies become near truths. Be vigilant. Know the truth, and spread it. The media should stop mincing words. Report Trump's lies as lies.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 28, 2021
How to Stop Republicans from Stealing Elections There's only one way to stop this assault on our democracy. It's called the FOR THE PEOPLE ACT, and the window for Congress to pass it is closing.
From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 21, 2022
How to end corporate welfare - Robert Reich Putting our chips on the table Today I want to explain why corporations so often get what they want while average Americans don't. It's not simply that corporations bribe legislators with campaign donations, although that's a big part of it. There's another phenomenon at work that you need to know about.
Capitalism is Over -- if you want it to be..., From FlickrPhotos
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 2, 2016
The Third Way: Share-the-Gains Capitalism The vast majority of American companies are still locked in the old hyper-capitalist model that views workers as costs to be cut rather than as partners to share in success. That's largely because Wall Street still looks unfavorably on such collaboration. The Street's analysts don't believe hourly workers have much to contribute to the bottom line.
From ImagesAttr
(13 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Beware Capitalist Tools Businesses need consumers in order to prosper and grow. Consumers are the real job creators. In the United States, 70 percent of economic activity is personal consumption. Unless the vast middle class, and everyone seeking to join it, have enough money in their pockets -- and share sufficiently in the gains from growth -- businesses cannot possibly do well. The real job creators are the middle class.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 20, 2015
Corporate Welfare In California Back in 1978, corporations paid 44 percent of all property taxes and homeowners paid 56 percent. Now, after exploiting this loophole for years, corporations pay only 28 percent of property taxes, while homeowners pick up 72 percent of the tab.
Solar Industry, From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 17, 2018
While China Picks Winners, Trump Picks Losers America has always had an industrial policy. The real question is whether it's forward-looking (the Internet, solar, zero-emissions buses) or backwards (coal). Trump wants a backwards industrial policy. That's not surprising, given that everything else he and his administration are doing is designed to take us backwards.
Democratic Donkey - Caricature, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Democrats: Don't Go High or Low. Go Big and Bold Tyrants create cults of personality. Trump is beyond that. He equates America with himself, and disloyalty to him with insufficient patriotism. In his mind, a giant "Trump" sign hangs over the nation. "We" are his supporters, acolytes, and toadies. "They" are the rest of us.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 28, 2021
The Danger of Collective Amnesia If we forget and move on from the tragedies of this past year, we're setting ourselves on a dangerous path.
From Uploaded
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 25, 2021
What should we do about the debt ceiling, and why should you care? The debt ceiling is the limit on how much the government is allowed to borrow to pay for what it already owes on bills. Congress has already agreed on and enacted not for legislation that's currently being debated. If it's not raised, the government can't pay its bills.
From Uploaded
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 29, 2021
Why I remain hopeful Many are feeling isolated - physically, politically, or otherwise. So my hope is that this newsletter becomes a space where we can re-ignite our optimism, gain solace from the views and experiences of others.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Time For Medicare For All Most Americans support expanding access to quality, affordable care through Medicare for All. Yet Trump and the Republicans continue to try to gut the Affordable Care Act and take away care from tens of millions. It's time for Medicare for All.
Joe Biden, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 19, 2021
Biden's Industrial Policy America is about to revive an idea that was left for dead decades ago. It's called industrial policy, and it's at the heart of Joe Biden's plans to restructure the U.S. economy.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 10, 2012
The Next Game of Economic Chicken: Not on the Deficit But Over Taxing the Rich Republicans would have to choose between a tax cut on the middle class or no tax cut at all. Democrats believe Republicans would have to take the deal. Even Grover Norquist would be hard-pressed to come up with an argument against it.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 8, 2017
The First 100 Days Resistance Agenda Trump's First 100 Day agenda includes repealing environmental regulations, Obamacare, and the Dodd-Frank Act, giving the rich and big corporations a huge tax cut, and putting in place a cabinet that doesn't believe in the Voting Rights Act or public schools or Medicare or the Fair Housing Act. Our 100 days of resistance begins a sustained and powerful opposition.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 18, 2020
Joe Biden's Biggest Challenge A return to "normal" would be disastrous. We can't give in to the allure of "normal" -- because normal is what got us here. Normal led to Trump.
From Uploaded
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 21, 2022
Why Trump, Putin, Xi and other dictators make disastrous decisions The inverse relationship between power and accurate feedback Here's the paradox: The higher you rise in any hierarchy, your decisions are likely to have larger and larger consequences. Yet the higher you rise, the harder it is to get accurate feedback about your decisions.
The Military Industrial Complex, From YouTubeVideos
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 15, 2018
The Military Industrial Drain Since 2001, the Pentagon budget has soared from $456 billion--in today's dollars--to $700 billion, including the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other national security expenses. When you include spending on the military and war, veterans' benefits, and homeland security, military-related spending now eats up 67 percent of all federal discretionary spending.
Trump on reopening the country amid potential COVID-19 risks, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 18, 2020
Trump Rush to Reopen America is Causing a COVID Resurgence The economy isn't roaring back. Just over half of working-age Americans have jobs now, the lowest ratio in over 70 years. What's roaring back is COVID-19.
Mnuchin: It's Very Hard Not To Give Tax Cuts To The Wealthy, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 13, 2017
Patriotism, Taxes, and Trump A slew of analyses show that the GOP plan will raise taxes on many middle-class families. It will also require cuts in government programs that middle and lower-income Americans depend on, such as Medicare and Medicaid. And the plan will almost certainly explode the national debt, eventually causing many middle class and poor families to pay higher interest.
Bernie Sanders, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 3, 2016
Why the Critics of Bernienomics Are Wrong Not a day goes by, it seems, without the mainstream media bashing Bernie Sanders's economic plan -- quoting certain economists as saying his numbers don't add up. (The New York Times did it again just yesterday.) They're wrong. You need to know the truth, and spread it.
Donald Trump, From PixabayPhotos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 5, 2018
Why We Must Vote Every Republican Out of Office Trump has made this election into a referendum on him. He is an historic anomaly -- a president who lies incessantly; who generates fear and fuels hatefulness; who viciously attacks the free press, political opponents, all who disagree with him; who uses his office for personal gain; and who cozies up to dictators while abandoning America's historic friends.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 24, 2011
When Will Wall Street Call for More Federal Spending? The crack in the Republican Party between its establishment and Tea Party wings is viewed politically as a contest between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. But in reality it's a brewing fight between economic pragmatists and right-wing ideologues.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 13, 2012
The Selling of American Democracy: The Perfect Storm Compared to what the GOP is doing this year, Democrats are conducting a high-school bake sale. The mega-selling of American democracy is a Republican invention, and Romney and the GOP are its major beneficiaries. Losers aren't just Democrats. They're the American people. Make a ruckus. Don't fall into the seductive trap of cynicism. That's what the sellers of American democracy are counting on. We give up, they win everything.
From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Why We Should Stop Subsidizing Sky-High CEO Pay Between 2007 and 2010, a total of $121.5 billion in executive compensation was deducted from corporate earnings, and roughly 55 percent of this total was for performance-based compensation. Given all the games, it's likely much of this "performance" was baloney.
From flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/5440392565/: Donald Trump, From Images
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 6, 2016
The Huckster Populist The real Donald Trump thinks U.S. wages are too high, and has fought against the unionization of his hotel employees. His businesses outsource abroad like mad. Most of the suits, ties and cuff links he peddles are made in China; his luxury line of furniture comes from Turkey; the crystal for his Trump Home line is produced in Slovenia. The real Trump isn't a populist. He's a plutocrat.
From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 23, 2022
Bombardment By The Billionaires Why Biden and the Democrats should declare war on these class warriors
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 7, 2013
Why Republicans Want to Tax Students and Not Polluters If we want less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we should tax carbon polluters. On the other hand, if we want more students from lower-income families to be able to afford college, we shouldn't put a tax on student loans. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Unfortunately, congressional Republicans are intent on doing exactly the opposite.
From flickr.com/photos/47422005@N04/16242038810/: Democratic Donkey Down, From Images
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 21, 2017
The Life of the Party: 7 Truths for Democrats The ongoing contest between the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders wings of the Democratic Party continues to divide Democrats. It's urgent Democrats stop squabbling. The future is bleak unless the Party radically reforms itself. If Republicans do well in the 2018 midterms, they'll control Congress and the Supreme Court for years. If they continue to hold most statehouses, they could entrench themselves for a generation.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 28, 2012
Romney's Goal For The Companies Bain Acquired: "Harvest Them At Significant Profit" For years, higher corporate profits have come at the expense of fewer jobs and lower wages. Business leaders and financiers have been "harvesting" like mad, leaving most Americans behind in the dirt. WFor years, higher corporate profits have come at the expense of fewer jobs and lower wages. Business leaders and financiers have been "harvesting" like mad, leaving most Americans behind in the dirt.
Capitalism, From ImagesAttr
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 27, 2015
Why Big Tech May Be Getting Too Big Economic and political power can't be separated because dominant corporations gain political influence over how markets are maintained and enforced, which enlarges their economic power further. One of the original goals of antitrust law was to prevent this.
Donald Trump - Caricature, From WikimediaPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 16, 2018
To the Press, after 18 Months of Trump Keep track of what his Cabinet is doing -- Sessions's attacks on civil rights, civil liberties, voting rights, and immigrants; DeVos's efforts to undermine public education, Pruitt's and Zinke's efforts to gut the environment; all their conflicts of interest, and the industry lobbyists they've put in high positions.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 2, 2020
From Ukraine to Coronavirus: Trump's Abuse of Power Continues As the death toll continues to climb and states are left scrambling for protective gear and crucial resources, Trump is focused on only one thing: himself. It doesn't matter that this is a global pandemic. Abusing his power for personal gain is Trump's MO.
Market Basket new shopping plaza with, From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 10, 2014
The Rebirth of Stakeholder Capitalism? In the 1980s, corporate raiders began mounting unfriendly takeovers of companies that could deliver higher returns to their shareholders -- if they abandoned their other stakeholders. You might conclude we went a bit overboard with shareholder capitalism.
What is Wrong with Detroit?, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 6, 2014
The Bankruptcy of Detroit and the Division of America Detroit is the largest city ever to seek bankruptcy protection, so its bankruptcy is seen as a potential model for other American cities now teetering on the edge. But Detroit is really a model for how wealthier and whiter Americans escape the costs of public goods they'd otherwise share with poorer and darker Americans.
Russia-gate: Donald Trump has banned Michael Flynn from the White ..., From GoogleImages
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Michael Flynn and the Six Big Questions U.S. intelligence reports show that Flynn was in touch with Russian ambassador Kislyak during the 2016 campaign, and that communications between the two continued after Nov. 8. The Russian ambassador has even confirmed having contacts with Flynn before and after the election, though he declined to say what was discussed.
Donald Trump Caricature -- Down with regulations!, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 13, 2018
How Trump's War on Regulation is Trickle-Down Economics We may not know for years the extent we're unprotected -- until the next financial collapse, next public health crisis, next upsurge in fraud, or next floods or droughts because the EPA failed to do what it could to slow and reverse climate change. Trump's attack on regulation is just another form of trickle-down economics -- where the gains go the top, and the risks and losses trickle down.
Bernie Sanders, From FlickrPhotos
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Can Bernie Sanders repeat his surprising success this time around? In recent years, the American oligarchy has returned. Sanders has done more than any other politician in modern America to sound the alarm, and mobilize the public to reclaim our democracy and economy. For that alone, we are in his enduring debt.
Billionaire Koch brothers, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 26, 2014
The New Billionaire Political Bosses In using their vast wealth to change those rules and laws in order to fit their political views, the Koch brothers are undermining our democracy. That's a betrayal of the most precious thing Americans share. The only way to stop this is through concerted political action. Yet the only large-scale political action we're witnessing is that of Charles and David Koch, and their billionaire imitators.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 30, 2020
Trump's 40 Biggest Broken Promises Trump voters. Nearly four years in, here's an updated list of Trump's 40 biggest broken promises.
From flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/8566723003/: Donald Trump, From Images
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Time After Trump This has been the strangest election year in modern history, partly because such a large swath of Americans -- Republicans, Democrats, and Independents -- have concluded the system is rigged in favor of the privileged and powerful. Trumpism will continue after Trump loses. The open question is whether anything good can be salvaged from its wreckage.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Take Back The Senate! Many Democrats on the ballot this year are progressives who have been fighting to raise the minimum wage, expand Social Security, provide paid sick leave and paid parental leave. Win five of these races and we'd have a chance for a Supreme Court that would prioritize the rights and needs of average Americans rather than big corporations and overturn Citizens United!
From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 26, 2021
A Thanksgiving Toast Diversity will be a huge source of strength as our growing diversity has strengthened us since our founding. Also,our young people are committed to improving the nation and the world.
From lynnrmitchell.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/give-me-your-tired-your-poor-your-huddled-masses/: Give me your tired, your , From Images
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 28, 2016
The Choice of Patriotism Donald Trump famously wants to ban all Muslims from coming to America, and to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep out Mexicans. Exclusive patriotism is not welcoming or generous. Since the war in Syria began in 2011, we've allowed in only 3,127 out of the more than 4 million refugees who have fled that nation.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 19, 2017
Four Takeaways from Trump's Latest Tweet Tantrum The huge corporate tax cuts and military buildup Trump is pushing will give congressional Republicans a rationale to cut Medicare and Social Security, in order to avoid bigger budget deficits. All told, Trump's tweet tantrum reveals a great deal about the man who's soon to be president of the United States. None of it inspires confidence.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 21, 2015
#10. End Mass Incarceration Now Black people are incarcerated at a rate five times that of whites, and Latinos incarcerated at a rate double that of white Americans. Instead of locking people up unjustly, and then locking them out of the economy for the rest of their lives, we need to stop wasting human talent and start opening doors of opportunity -- to everyone.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 9, 2019
The Big Economic Switcheroo The rich used to pay higher taxes to the government. Now, the government pays the rich interest on a swelling debt, caused largely by lower taxes on the rich. Which means a growing portion of everyone else's taxes are now paying the rich interest on those loans, instead of paying for government services everyone needs. The big switcheroo should be reversed.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 13, 2013
The Two Centers of Unaccountable Power in America, and Their Consequences It is rare in these harshly partisan times for the political left and right to agree on much of anything. But the reason, I think, both are worried about the encroachments of the NSA on the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, as well as the depredations of "too big to fail or jail" Wall Street banks on our economy, is fundamentally the same.
Ted Cruz, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 21, 2016
4 Reasons Ted Cruz is Even More Dangerous than Donald Trump Cruz denies the existence of man-made climate change, rejects same-sex marriage, wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, believes the 2nd amendment guarantees everyone a right to guns. He doesn't believe in a constitutional divide between church and state, favors the death penalty, rejects immigration reform, demands the repeal of Obamacare, and takes a strict "originalist" view of the meaning of the Constitution.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 10, 2016
Why Liberal States Won America's Tax Experiment Economic success depends on tax revenues that go into public investments, and regulations that protect the environment and public health. And true economic success results in high wages. The next time you hear a conservative say "low taxes, few regulations, and low wages are the keys to economic business-friendly success, just remember Kansas, Texas, and California. The conservative formula is wrong.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 2, 2021
What if we actually taxed the rich? Income and wealth are now more concentrated at the top than at any time over the last 80 years, and our unjust tax system is a big reason why.
the cost of getting that college diploma, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Why College Is Necessary But Gets You Nowhere A college degree no longer guarantees a good job. The main reason it pays better than the job of someone without a degree is the latter's wages are dropping. In fact, it's likely that new college graduates will spend some years in jobs for which they're overqualified.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 7, 2021
How Corporations Crush the Working Class The most dramatic change in the system over the last half-century has been the emergence of corporate giants like Amazon and the shrinkage of labor unions.
THE ECONOMY'S NEW CLOTHES: Milton Friedman on the New Economy, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 14, 2020
Milton Friedman, 50 Years Ago Today Largely because of the escalating surge of corporate money into politics over the last 50 years, taxes on corporations have been slashed, safety nets for the poor and middle class have begun to unravel, and public investments in education and infrastructure have waned. The "free market" has been taken over by crony capitalism, corporate bailouts, and corporate welfare.
Apple Inc Logo, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 1, 2016
Standing up to Apple For years, Washington lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have attacked big corporations for avoiding taxes by parking their profits overseas. Last week the European Union did something about it. The European Union's executive commission ordered Ireland to collect $14.5 billion in back taxes from Apple. But rather than congratulate Europe for standing up to Apple, official Washington is outraged.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 15, 2011
President Obama's Real Proposal (And Why It's Risky) The underlying problem isn't the budget deficit. It's that so much income and wealth are going to the top that most Americans don't have the purchasing power to sustain a strong recovery.
Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Donald Trump has unified America -- against him The president's assault on decency has created an emerging coalition, across boundaries of race, class and partisan politics.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 2, 2013
Before the Battles Resume in Washington: A Reminder about What's Really at Stake As wealth and income rise to the top, moreover, so does political power. This continues to squeeze public budgets, corrupt government, and undermine our democracy. The issue is not and has never been the size of our government; it's who the government is for. Government has become less responsive to the needs of most citizens and more responsive to the demands of the monied interests.
Democrats, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 10, 2014
The Choice of the Century What the President and other Democrats failed to communicate wasn't their accomplishments. It was their understanding that the economy is failing most Americans and big money is overrunning our democracy. And they failed to convey their commitment to an economy and a democracy that serve the vast majority rather than a minority at the top. Some Democrats even ran on not being Barack Obama.
Who Owns Our Politicians?, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 24, 2018
The Shameful Silence of the CEOs Big corporations and Wall Street essentially own the Republican Party. In the 2016 campaign cycle, they contributed $34 to candidates from both parties for every $1 donated by labor unions and all public interest organizations combined. If the leaders of American business remain silent about what Trump's is doing to American democracy, they will be complicit in its demise.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 5, 2019
Why We Must Get Big Money Out of Politics The most important thing we must do to save our democracy is get big money out of politics. It's a prerequisite to accomplishing everything else. Today, big money continues to corrupt American politics creating a vicious cycle that funnels more wealth and power to those at the top and eroding our democracy.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 25, 2017
No, Paul, It Wasn't Because of "Growing Pains" Apparently Ryan doesn't grasp that he put forward a terrible bill to begin with. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, it would have resulted in 24 million Americans losing health coverage over the next decade, hardly make a dent in the federal debt, and transfer over $600 billion to the wealthiest members of American society.
Robert Reich, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Everything You Need to Know About the New Economy Markets cannot exist without people constructing them. Markets depend on rules, and rules come out of legislatures, executive agencies, and courts. The biggest political change over the last four decades is the overwhelming dominance of big money in politics influencing what those rules are to be.
China isn't too worried about Trump's tariffs, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 12, 2018
China Tariffs are a Regressive Tax on Americans, and Risk a Recession "I am a Tariff Man," Trump tweeted last week. "When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so." We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs. MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN." But -- Tariffs are paid by American consumers. Trump has made Americans poorer.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 11, 2019
The Seven Biggest Failures of Trumponomics The real recipe for economic growth is to invest in Americans -- in their health, education, job training, and infrastructure. But Trumponomics has exploded the deficit, hurt ordinary Americans, and lined the pockets of the wealthy and corporations. Don't let Trump and Republicans claim otherwise.
Joe Biden, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Biden's First 100 Days and the GOP's First 100 Days Without Trump Biden's plans might be the antidote to Trumpism -- creating enough decent-paying working class jobs, along with benefits such as childcare and free community college.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 23, 2016
Trump's Attack on the Freedom of the Press The word "media" comes from "intermediate" between the powerful and the public. The media hold the powerful accountable by correcting their mis-statements, asking them hard questions, and reporting on what they do. Apparently Trump wants to eliminate such intermediaries.
Elephant in Treacherous Territory, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 18, 2022
The 'Big Lie' GOP Has Some Other Midterm Whoppers Up It's Sleeve They involve crime, inflation, and taxes. None of these three lies is as brazen and damaging as Trump's Big Lie but they're all being used by Republican candidates in these last weeks before the midterms.
From flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/25353612023/: Hillary Clinton, From Images
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Why All Progressives Must Vote For Hillary The movement Bernie Sanders energized must not and will not end. But Donald Trump, were he to become president, would set back that cause for decades. There are only a few weeks until Election Day. My request to those of you who still don't want to vote for Hillary Clinton: Please reconsider. It is no exaggeration to say the fate of the nation and the world are at stake.
From youtube.com: U.S. Constitution, From Images
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 23, 2018
We're Living A Constitutional Crisis There is no exact definition of a constitutional crisis. Presumably it's when the United States Constitution is in crisis. And it is in crisis now, today, because the president of the United States is abusing it to entrench his power. A malignant megalomaniac facing no countervailing power will continue to expand his terrain until he is stopped. He must be removed from office.
Investment Bank Goldman Sachs, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 18, 2015
How Goldman Sachs Profited from the Greek Debt Crisis Goldman Sachs and the other giant Wall Street banks are masterful at selling complex deals by exaggerating their benefits and minimizing their costs and risks. That's how they earn giant fees. When a client gets into trouble -- whether that client is an American homeowner, a US city, or Greece -- Goldman ducks and hides behind legal formalities and shareholder interests.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 10, 2017
Trump's War on the Truth Tellers The only way we're going to understand the true dimensions of problems real people face is with data about them from sources the public trusts. If the public stops believing those sources are reliable, where else can it look? Presumably, only Trump himself. Trump and his administration aren't just telling big lies. They're also waging war on the institutions we depend on as sources of truth.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 9, 2020
Monopoly Mayhem: Corporations Win, Workers Lose This is all about power. The good news is that rebalancing the power of workers and corporations can create an economy and a democracy that works for all, not just a privileged few.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 5, 2012
The Fable of the Century Imagine the candidacy of the private equity manager (and all the money he and his friends use to try to sell their lies) has the opposite effect. It awakens the citizens of the country to what is happening to their economy and their democracy. It ignites a movement among the citizens to take it all back. Just a fable, of course. But the ending is up to you.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Occupiers Occupied: The Hijacking of the First Amendment This tsunami of big money into politics is the real public nuisance. It's making it almost impossible for the voices of average Americans to be heard because most of us don't have the dough to break through.
From Uploaded
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 26, 2022
Educating for the common good 6 prerequisites for learning about one's duties to society. I think about those 19 children who were murdered in their classroom on Tuesday, and feel the need to go back to basics - to the common good
AI and automation already displacing jobs in the United States., From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 17, 2020
When Bosses Shared the Profits After the bruising crises we're now going through, it would be wonderful if we could somehow emerge a fairer nation. One possibility is to revive an old idea: sharing the profits.
Mitch McConnell, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 12, 2021
The Basic Deal Between Corporate America and the GOP is Alive and Well For four decades, the basic deal between big corporations and politicians has been simple. Corporations provide campaign funds. Politicians reciprocate by lowering corporate taxes and doing whatever else corporations need to boost profits.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 28, 2021
The Real Socialism in America Isn't What You Think Republicans in Congress rail about how the Democrats' agenda is chock-full of scary "socialist" policies. We do have socialism in this country -- but it's not Democrats' policies. The real socialism is corporate welfare.
Fed Listens: Perspectives on Maximum Employment and Price Stability: A7R09682, From FlickrPhotos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 5, 2022
It's the Corporate Greed, Stupid As American corporations report their highest profit margins the United States has seen in over seventy years, executives of leading companies are admitting on earnings calls that they're taking advantage of inflation.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 5, 2010
Greenspan, Summers, and Why the Economy Is So Out of Whack Alan Greenspan is now being interviewed. He says he bore no responsibility for the housing bubble that catapulted the nation into a financial crisis in 2008 because no one could have known about the bubble when he chaired the Fed in the years before it burst. What? If any single person is most responsible for the financial crisis, it's Alan Greenspan.
From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 6, 2013
Syria and the Reality at Home in America While attention is focused on Syria, food stamps for the nation's poor are being cut. House Republicans would eliminate food stamps for more than 800,000 Americans who now receive them but still do not get enough to eat or have only a barely adequate diet. Funds for the nation's poorest schools are being slashed. While attention is focused on Syrian, low-income housing is disappearing.
Martin Shkreli: .I Would've Raised Prices Higher., From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Of Rotten Apples and Rotten Systems Unlike most other countries, the United States doesn't control drug prices. It leaves pricing up to the market. Which enables drug companies to charge as much as the market will bear. So what, exactly, did Martin Shkreli do wrong, by the standards of today's capitalism? He played the same game many others are playing on Wall Street and in corporate suites. He was just more audacious about it.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 22, 2017
The Crisis of Governance we have as president an unhinged narcissistic child who tweets absurd lies and holds rallies to prop up his fragile ego, whose conflicts of financial interest are ubiquitous, and whose presidency is under a "gray cloud" of suspicion. He's advised by his daughter, his son-in-law, and an oddball who once ran a white supremacist fake-news outlet.
From Uploaded
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Amid talk of civil war, America is already split - Trump Nation has seceded What is America really fighting over in the upcoming election? Not any particular issue. Not even Democrats versus Republicans. The central fight is over Donald J Trump.
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(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 12, 2021
The Week Ahead: Trump redux The unofficial kickoff of the former guy's presidential campaign at a rally Saturday night in Des Moines will reverberate through American politics this week. Unfortunately for the GOP, Trump's speech focused on his Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 30, 2012
A Diabolical Mix: U.S. Wages and European Austerity Since the start of the recession, the share of total US national income going to profits has risen even as the share going to the workforce has plunged. Profits in the US corporate sector are now at a 45-year high.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 28, 2014
The Real Job Killers Progress requires creating more jobs that pay well, are safe, sustain the environment, and provide a modicum of security. If seeking to achieve a minimum level of decency ends up "killing" some jobs, then maybe those aren't the kind of jobs we ought to try to preserve in the first place. The real job killers in America are lousy jobs at lousy wages.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 23, 2016
California versus Trumpland At one end of the scale are Kansas and Texas, with among the nation's lowest taxes, least regulations, and lowest wages. At the other end is California, with among the nation's highest taxes, especially on the wealthy; toughest regulations, particularly when it comes to the environment; most ambitious healthcare system, that insures more than 12 million poor Californians, in partnership with Medicaid; and high wages.
Co-Conspirators, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 12, 2020
Trump and McConnell are the twin tribunes of America's ruin -- vote them out Fate has been unkind to the United States. The nation is grappling simultaneously with a pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 130,000; and mind-numbing police brutality, which has generated the largest outpouring of grief and anger against systemic racism in memory.
Donald Trump's Covid timeline: From denial to testing positive, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 4, 2020
Trump's Covid: Empathy for the World's Least Empathetic Person? Trump and his enablers will do anything to retain and enlarge their power. It's possible to be sympathetic toward Trump during his "battle" with COVID-19 while acknowledging that he is subjecting America to a profound moral test in the weeks and perhaps months ahead.
Donald Trump, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 9, 2021
Republicans tried to overturn the election. We can't just forget that Donald Trump lied about the results of the last election. And then 70000he tried to overturn the results. He twisted the arms of state election officials, and held a rally to stop Congress from certifying the election.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 14, 2014
The 'Paid-What-You're-Worth' Myth It's often assumed that people are paid what they're worth. According to this logic, minimum wage workers aren't worth more than the $7.25 an hour they now receive. According to this same logic, CEOs of big companies are worth their giant compensation packages, now averaging 300 times pay of the typical American worker. "Paid-what-you're-worth" is a dangerous myth.
Alaska Lawmaker Don Young Apologizes to Latino Hispanics for WETBACKS Racial Slur, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Empathy Deficit Disorder Almost two-thirds of working Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And they're worried sick about whether their kids will ever make it. They need leaders who understand their plight instead of denying it. They deserve politicians who want to fix it rather than blame it on those who have to depend on public assistance, or who need a higher minimum wage, in order to get by.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 16, 2018
How to Hold Corporations Accountable In the 1980's, the only goal of large corporations became maximizing profits and returns for shareholders. Corporate profits are now a higher share of the economy than they were for most of the past century, and workers' share of the total economy is the lowest. Corporations are now amassing huge control over our economy and fueling widening economic inequality. Corporate profits are now a higher share of the economy.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 27, 2011
The Biggest Driver in the Deficit Battle: Standard & Poor's If Standard & Poor's had been doing the job it was supposed to be doing between 2000 and 2008, the federal budget wouldn't be in a crisis -- and Standard & Poor's wouldn't be threatening the United States with a downgrade if we didn't come up with a credible plan for lopping $4 trillion off it.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 19, 2018
How To End Partisan Gerrymandering One of the biggest challenges to our democracy occurs when states draw congressional district lines with the principal goal of helping one political party and hurting the other. It's called "partisan gerrymandering." If you want your state to end gerrymandering, you're going to have to get actively involved, and demand it. After all, this is our democracy. It's up to us to make it work.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Thinking Beyond Trump: Why We Need a Federal Jobs Guarantee The federal government now spends over $150 billion a year because workers aren't earning enough to get out of poverty. Doesn't it make more sense to use this money to create guaranteed jobs at a living wage? So, let's think beyond Trump -- to what Americans need. Few things are more important than a decent job. Full employment through a federal job guarantee makes sense -- for workers, for the economy, for America.
Happy 4th of July!, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 3, 2015
On Patriotism Real patriotism is not cheap. It requires taking on a fair share of the burdens of keeping America going -- being willing to pay taxes in full rather than seeking tax loopholes and squirreling away money abroad. Patriotism is about preserving and protecting our democracy, not inundating it with big money and buying off politicians.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 16, 2013
The Myth of the 'Free Market' and How to Make the Economy Work for Us One of the most deceptive ideas continuously sounded by the Right is that the "free market" is natural and inevitable, existing outside and beyond government. So whatever inequality or insecurity it generates is beyond our control. And whatever ways we might seek to reduce inequality or insecurity -- to make the economy work for us -- are unwarranted constraints on the market's freedom, and will inevitably go wrong.
Joe Biden, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Why Republicans Won't Agree to Biden's Big Plans and Why He Should Ignore Them The multiple crises engulfing America are huge. The window of opportunity for addressing them is small. If ever there was a time for boldness, it is now.
From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Why The Economy Can't Get Out of First Gear Rarely in history has the cause of a major economic problem been so clear yet have so few been willing to see it. The answer is in front of our faces. It's because American consumers, whose spending is 70 percent of economic activity, don't have the dough to buy enough to boost the economy -- and they can no longer borrow like they could before the crash of 2008.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 27, 2013
Democrat's Health Insurance Cheaper, Simpler, More Popular (Why Enact the Republican Version and Why Are They So Upset?) There's a deep irony to all this. Had Democrats stuck to the original Democratic vision and built comprehensive health insurance on Social Security and Medicare, it would have been cheaper, simpler, and more widely accepted by the public. And Republicans would be hollering anyway.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 3, 2016
Trump's Trickle-Down Populism If Donald Trump is serious about reviving good jobs in America, he'd give workers more bargaining power by strengthening trade unions, upgrading lifelong education and training, and simultaneously making it harder for Wall Street investors to take over "underperforming" companies. But Trump won't do any of this, as is evident by his cabinet choices for key economic posts.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 17, 2012
Paul Ryan's Faux Populism Three days after being picked as Romney's running-mate -- Ryan went to Las Vegas to pay homage to Sheldon Adelson, the casino billionaire who is the poster boy for using money to become "politically connected" in Washington, and getting the "breaks" that come with it. Adelson has promised to donate up to $100 million to make sure Romney and Ryan are in the White House next year.
Being Rich VS Being Poor, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 15, 2014
The Rise of the Non-Working Rich The real non-workers are the wealthy who inherit their fortunes. And their ranks are growing. In fact, we're on the cusp of the largest inter-generational wealth transfer in history. The wealth is coming from those who over the last three decades earned huge amounts on Wall Street, in corporate boardrooms, or as high-tech entrepreneurs.
Sen. Bernie Sanders., From ImagesAttr
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 9, 2016
A Public Note to my Friend, Bernie Sanders Bernie, regardless of what you decide to do now, you have ignited a movement that will fight onward. We will fight to put more progressives into the House and Senate. We will fight at the state level. We will organize for the 2020 presidential election. We will not succumb to cynicism. We are in it for the long haul. We will never give up.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 19, 2017
The Republican Tax Sham Republicans are pushing a new corporate tax plan that will end up costing most of you a bundle. The tax plan is dressed up as a way to make America more competitive. But underneath it's just a typical Republican plan that redistributes from the poor and middle class to corporations and the wealthy.
Amazon's Jeff Bezos, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 24, 2020
How the Richest 1 Percent Came Out Big Winners in the Covid Relief Bill Republicans didn't blink twice when they handed out $6.3 billion in tax breaks to their wealthy corporate backers, but when it came to getting direct relief to struggling Americans, $600 was the best they could do.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 28, 2011
Don't Fall for the GOP Lie: There is No Budget Crisis. There's a Job and Growth Crisis The federal budget deficit has no economic relationship to the debt limit. Repeat after me: The federal deficit is not the nation's biggest problem. The anemic recovery, huge unemployment, falling wages, and declining home prices are bigger problems. We don't have a budget crisis. We have a jobs and growth crisis.
Trans-Pacific Partnership = Government Corruption At It's Finest, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 17, 2015
How Trade Deals Boost the Top 1% and Bust the Rest of us Today's "trade agreements" should really be called "global corporate agreements" because they're mostly about protecting the assets and profits of these global corporations rather than increasing American jobs and wages. The deals don't even guard against currency manipulation by other nations.
Bernie Sanders push to make public colleges and universities tuition-free., From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 22, 2015
Ten Ideas to Save the Economy #5: How to Reinvent Education We have to reinvent education because it's not working for too many of our kids -- who are either dropping out of high school because they aren't engaged, or not getting the skills they need, or paying a fortune for college and ending up with crushing student debt.
From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 12, 2012
The Billionaires' Long Game If and when they eventually win, these billionaires will clean up. Their taxes will plummet, many laws constraining their profits will disappear, and what's left of labor unions will no longer intrude on their bottom lines. And they have enough dough to keep betting until they eventually win. That's what it means to be a billionaire political investor: You're able to keep playing the odds until you get the golden ring.
Change is Coming, From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 25, 2014
Why There’s No Outcry Change is coming anyway. We cannot abide an ever-greater share of the nation's income and wealth going to the top while median household incomes continue too drop, one out of five of our children living in dire poverty, and big money taking over our democracy. Reform is less risky than revolution, but the longer we wait the more likely it will be the latter.
Republican Elephant & Democratic Donkey, From GoogleImages
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 13, 2018
10 Steps To Finding Common Ground Democracy depends on our capacity to deliberate together. Remember, the point isn't to convince them you're right and they're wrong. It's to get us thinking about what's really happening to America. It's exposing the abuses of power all around us. If we can join together around these fundamental issues, we will all win
Let Trump Try It First, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 11, 2021
We cannot afford to forget the death and damage Trump has caused Trump's big lie and all that it has provoked are still with us. If we forget what has occurred the trauma will return perhaps in even more terrifying form.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 11, 2016
8 Reasons Why Republicans Must Dump Trump Are there no principled Republicans whose loyalty to the nation is greater than their eagerness to win back the White House? No Republican leaders with the courage to stand up and say this is wrong -- that this man doesn't have the character or the temperament to be president, and his election would endanger America and everything we believe in and stand for?
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Why America's Two Economies Continue to Drift Apart, and What Washington Isn't Doing About It Wall Street is back. Bonuses on the Street are expected to rise about 5 percent this year, according to a survey by compensation consultants Johnson Associates Inc. But nothing is trickling down to the Average Worker economy. Job growth is still anemic. At October's rate of only 50,000 new private-sector jobs, unemployment won't get down to pre-recession levels for twenty years.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Trump's Banksters and the Rollback of Dodd-Frank Donald Trump has ordered a rollback of regulations over Wall Street, including the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010 to prevent another too-big-to-fail banking crisis. Perhaps Trump thinks that we've forgotten what happened when Wall Street turned the economy into a giant casino, and then -- when its bets went sour in 2008 -- needed a giant taxpayer funded bailout.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 7, 2018
What If Everyone Voted? The largest block of voters in America isn't Democrats or Republicans. It's the people who don't vote.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 7, 2018
The Monopolization of America America used to have antitrust laws that stopped corporations from monopolizing markets, and often broke up the biggest culprits. No longer. It's a hidden upward redistribution of money and power from the majority of Americans to corporate executives and wealthy shareholders.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 12, 2012
Why Biden Won Overall it was Biden's night. He not only trounced Ryan, but also, in the process, trounced Romney. Joe Biden is an average Joe solidly grounded in America's working middle class -- nothing pretentious or devious about him -- in contrast to the plutocrat who heads the Republican ticket, and the billionaires who are backing him.
Trump Thank You Tour, From WikimediaPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 18, 2016
Why President Trump Will Continue Holding Rallies Rather than shift from campaigning to governing, Trump's post-election rallies were almost identical to the rallies he held when he was a candidate -- the same format, same condemnations of the "dishonest" media, identical pledges ("We will build a great wall!"). They also elicited many of the same audience responses, such as "Lock her up! Lock her up!"
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 18, 2011
Stop the Austerity Train Wreck! The biggest question right now on Planet Washington is whether the congressional supercommittee will reach an agreement. That's the wrong question. Agreement or not, Washington is on the road to making budget cuts that will slow the economy, increase unemployment, and impose additional hardship on millions of Americans. The real question is how to stop this austerity train wreck.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Dimon in the Rough: How Wall Street Aims to Keep U.S. Regulators Out of Its Global Betting Parlor Someone should remind Dimon and Blankfein that a few years ago they and their colleagues on the Street almost eviscerated the American economy, and that of much of the rest of the world. The Street's antics required a giant taxpayer-funded bailout. Most Americans are still living with the results, as are millions of Europeans.
From gma.yahoo.com/donald-trump-tells-vladimir-putin-looking-forward-having-022222487--abc-news-topstories.html: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, From ImagesAttr
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Trump's Dark Cloud of Illegitimacy Trump has close business ties to Russian oligarchs, friends of Putin, who have financed his projects and, presumably, also lent billions of dollars to Trump's enterprises -- which may explain why Trump won't disclose his tax returns, which would show evidence of these deals. The dark cloud of illegitimacy continues to grow darker.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 22, 2021
Unrigging the GOP's Minority Rule The Republican Party is shrinking. It's lost the popular vote in seven of the past eight Presidential elections. Since Trump's attempted coup, more Americans are abandoning it every day.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 18, 2017
Trump's Nutty "America First" Economics Trump's "America First" economics is pure demagoguery. We get a first-class workforce by investing in Americans' education, training, infrastructure, and healthcare -- and rewarding them with high union wages. We don't boost the competitiveness of American workers through xenophobic grandstanding.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 9, 2021
The Filibuster is Unconstitutional here's one thing about this old Senate rule you might not know: the filibuster actually violates the Constitution.
Principles of Non-Violent Resistance, From GoogleImages
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 16, 2016
The 4 Syndromes of Passivity in the Face of Pending Tyranny Taking action -- demonstrating, resisting, objecting, demanding, speaking truth, joining with others, making a ruckus, and never ceasing to fight Trump's pending tyranny -- will empower you. And with that power you will not only to minimize the damage that is about to occur, but also get this nation and the world back on the course it must be on.
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 11, 2019
Elizabeth Warren is right -- we must break up Facebook, Google and Amazon Like the robber barons of the first Gilded Age, those of the second have amassed fortunes that gave them unparalleled influence over politicians and the economy. Monopolies aren't good for anyone except for the monopolists. In this new Gilded Age, we need to respond as forcefully as we did the first time around. Warren's ideas are a good start.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 14, 2013
Why Obama's Gamble on the Debt Ceiling Depends on the GOP Being More Sane Than It Is The 2012 election has shaken the GOP, as have the post-fiscal cliff polls. Yet, the Republican Party may not care what a majority of Americans thinks. The survival of most Republican members of Congress depends on primary victories, not general elections -- and their likely primary competitors are more to the right than they are.
President hosts the Make America Great Again Rally, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Hate Unbound Politicians and media moguls have long understood that fear and hate sell better than hope and compassion, no matter how much we might wish it otherwise. But before Trump, no president had based his office on it. And before Fox News, no major media outlet had based its ratings on it.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 26, 2020
The Post Office Crisis to Come Donald Trump will do anything to hold on to power. His latest strategy is to sabotage the United States Postal Service, courtesy of his handpicked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, July 25, 2011
Vicious Cycles: Why Washington is About to Make the Jobs Crisis Worse As more and more Americans lose faith that their government can do anything to bring back jobs and wages, they are becoming more susceptible to the Republican's oft-repeated lie that the problem is government -- that if we shrink government, jobs will return, wages will rise, and it will be morning in America again. The parallel universes are about to crash, and average Americans will be all the worse for it.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Republican Crazy Talk About the Debt Ceiling why are Republicans talking like this? Because they want to sound as if they're willing to blow up the economy if they don't get their way. A crazy person with a bomb is much scarier than someone holding a bomb who looks and acts reasonable. Sounding crazy is part of the Republican bargaining strategy.
President Donald Trump Thug, From YouTubeVideos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Trump Has Been Exposed as a Thug Trump treats his subordinates horribly. He hides things from them. He lies to them. He yells at them. He instructs them to lie. He orders them to carry out illegal acts. He's a thug. He regrets his lawyers are not as good at protecting him as was his early mentor Roy Cohn, a mob lawyer. When reports surface about the now infamous Trump Tower meeting of June 2016, Trump directs the cover-up.
Protest against Donald Trump's immigration policies, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 29, 2021
The Bigot Party The "surge" of migrants has been fabricated by Republicans in order to stoke fear -- and, not incidentally, to justify changes in laws they say are necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting.
Ties to the NRA Leave Companies Scrambling for Cover, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 27, 2018
The Moral Movement Against Violence Trump's response to the slayings in Parkland has been to urge schools to arm teachers. The proposal is not only wrongheaded -- more than 30 studies have shown that additional guns increase gun violence and homicides -- but profoundly immoral. If the only way to control gun violence is for all Americans arm themselves, we would all be living in a social Darwinist hell.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 23, 2018
10 Steps to Save American Democracy Trump isn't the only problem. As Big Money floods our political system, and some in power are intent on making it harder for certain people to vote, we need a movement to save our democracy.
Donald Trump, From ImagesAttr
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 22, 2015
The 4 Big Lies About Immigrants -- And The Truth Don't listen to the demagogues who want to blame the economic problems of the middle class and poor on new immigrants, whether here legally or illegally. The real problem is the economic game is rigged in favor of a handful at the top, who are doing the rigging.
Jamie Dimon, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Wall Street loves socialism for bankers -- but not for ordinary people Jamie Dimon chose London as the place to make highly risky derivatives trades that lost the firm some $6bn in 2012 -- proof that unless the overseas operations of Wall Street banks are covered by US regulations, giant banks like his will move more of their betting abroad, hiding their wildly-risky bets overseas so U.S. regulators can't see them.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Biden Must Get Manchin and Sinema to Fall in Line America is at a turning point on voting rights -- one that's almost as critical as the mid-1960s when the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts were passed.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 13, 2017
The Real Reason Republicans Want to Pull the Plug on Obamacare Why do Republicans want to repeal Obamacare and leave millions without insurance? Because it would mean a huge tax windfall for the wealthy. Repealing Obamacare will put an average of $33,000 of tax cuts in the hands of the richest 1 percent this year alone, and a whopping $197,000 of tax cuts into the hands of the top 0.1 percent.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 12, 2011
Who Says Republicans Have No New Ideas? Herbert Hoover said, "If you want to see pure socialism mixed with give-away programs, take a look at socialized medicine." Republicans haven't come up with a single new idea since. They haven't even come up with a new theme.
Donald Trump had better lay off Robert Mueller if he wants the GOP faithful not to attack him and try to pull him out of his political game., From ArchivedPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 30, 2017
The Huge Tax Heist The robbers are the American oligarchs who bankroll the Republican Party, and who are plotting the biggest heist in American history -- a massive tax cut estimated to be up to 5.8 trillion dollars. Around 80 percent of it will benefit the richest 1 percent, according to the Tax Policy Center.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump's fiery first debate., From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 1, 2020
10 Truths about Trump's Taxes In 11 of the 18 years examined, Trump paid no taxes at all. In his first year in office he paid the most income tax he had paid in a decade: $750. He has deducted taxes for almost everything imaginable, including $70,000 for hairstyling.
Joe Biden, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 18, 2021
Why Biden Can't Govern from the Center Fully 95% of House Republicans voted against impeaching Trump for inciting insurrection, even after his attempted coup threatened their very lives.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Bessemer and the Power Shift The most dramatic change in American capitalism over the last half century has been the emergence of corporate behemoths like Amazon and the simultaneous shrinkage of organized labor.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 7, 2014
Voting in Mississippi, 2014 and 1964 Mississippi used its new voter-identification law for the first time Tuesday -- requiring voters to show a driver's license or other government-issued photo ID at the polls. The official reason given for the new law is alleged voter fraud, although the state hasn't been able to provide any evidence that voter fraud is a problem. The real reason for the law is to suppress the votes of the poor, especially African-Americans.
Money In Politics -- Top Donors Invest in Politicians., From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Getting a Grip on Ebola The real crisis is the hysteria over Ebola that's being fed by media outlets seeking sensationalism and politicians posturing for the midterm elections. That hysteria is causing us to lose our heads. Parents have pulled their children out of a middle school after learning the school's principal had traveled to Zambia. Are we planning to quarantine Dallas next?
Republican Elephant & Democratic Donkey -- little difference, From FlickrPhotos
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Who Lost the White Working Class? The Obama administration protected Wall Street from the consequences of the Street's gambling addiction through a giant taxpayer-funded bailout, but let millions of underwater homeowners drown. Both Clinton and Obama also allowed antitrust enforcement to ossify -- with the result that large corporations have grown far larger, and major industries more concentrated
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 25, 2020
The Real Reason Trump Won't Concede Joe Biden has decisively won the presidency. There is no way for Trump to overturn the results of the election, and his campaign's post-election lawsuits have gotten dismissed left and right.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 30, 2021
The Sedition That Nobody's Talking About The sudden lurch from Trump to Biden is generating vertigo all over Washington, including the so-called fourth branch of government -- CEOs and their army of lobbyists.
From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The Only Way Left to Beat Republican Fanatics: Call Their Bluff and Go Over the Cliff I recommend going over the cliff and forcing the Republicans' hand. It's a risky strategy but it would at least expose the Republican tactic and put public pressure squarely on rank-and-file Republicans, where it belongs. The fanatics in the GOP have to be held accountable or they'll continue to hold the nation hostage to their extremism. Even if it takes until the 2014 midterms to loosen their hold, the cost is worth it.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 28, 2013
Why Politicians Are Sensitive to Public Opinion on Same-Sex Marriage, Immigration, and Guns, But Not on the Economy Politicians are exquisitely sensitive to shifts in public opinion on issues like same-sex marriage, undocumented immigrants, and guns. But they are remarkably impervious -- to public opinion concerning economic issues that might affect the fates of large fortunes. This is a distressing feature of our democracy, necessitating change.
Democrats VS. Republicans - Who's Crazier?, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 23, 2015
Why Progressives Must Stay United The Republican strategy has been to divide-and-conquer. They want to prevent the majority of Americans -- poor, working class, and middle-class, blacks, Latinos, and whites -- from uniting in common cause against the moneyed interests. We must not let them.
Joe Biden, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 14, 2021
Convicted or not, Trump is history -- it's Biden who's changing America While most of official Washington has been focused on the Senate impeachment trial, Congress is moving ahead with Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan, which expands healthcare and unemployment benefits and contains one of the most ambitious efforts to reduce child poverty since the New Deal.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 4, 2013
The Hollowing Out of Government Eroding political support is exactly what congressional Republicans want. They fear that Obamacare, once fully implemented, will be too popular to dismantle. So they're out to delay it as long as possible while keeping up a drumbeat about its flaws. Repealing laws by hollowing them out -- failing to fund their enforcement or implementation -- works because the public doesn't know it's happening.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 9, 2016
Wishful Thinking: First Hundred Days after November 8 Robert Reich lists 10 things that would make the first 100 days of a Hillary Clinton presidency successful. If only...
Donald Trump presidency horror, From GoogleImages
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 7, 2016
Trump's Three Enablers Both Clinton and Obama also allowed antitrust enforcement to ossify -- with the result that large corporations have grown far larger, and major industries more concentrated. Donald Trump has poisoned America, but he didn't do it alone. He had help from opportunists in the GOP, the media, and the Democratic Party. The pertinent question now is: What, if anything, have these enablers learned?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 21, 2018
A Message To Millennials On November 6th, you have the power to alter the course of American politics -- flipping Congress, changing the leadership of states and cities, making lawmakers act and look more like the people who are literally the nation's future. But you need to vote!
Big Money owns politics, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 7, 2019
American Democracy Seems Rigged Because It Is The most important thing we must do to save our democracy is get big money out of politics. It's a prerequisite to accomplishing everything else. Today, big money continues to corrupt American politics, creating a vicious cycle that funnels more wealth and power to those at the top and eroding our democracy.
From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 24, 2013
Why Democrats Can't be Trusted to Control Wall Street It's not entirely coincidental that the Obama Administration never put tough conditions on banks receiving bailout money, never prosecuted a single top Wall Street executive for the excesses that led to the near meltdown, and still refuses to support a tiny tax on financial transactions that would bring in tens of billions of dollars as well as discourage program trading.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 29, 2011
My Political Prediction for 2012: It's Obama-Clinton My political prediction for 2012 (based on absolutely no inside information): Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden swap places. Biden becomes Secretary of State -- a position he's apparently coveted for years. And Hillary Clinton, Vice President.
Harvard University, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 13, 2014
Why Government Spends More Per Pupil at Elite Private Universities than at Public Universities Because public universities have many more students than elite private universities, their larger percentages of Pell students represent far greater numbers of students from poor families. What justifies the high per-student government subsidies at the elite private universities, and the low per-student subsidies in public universities? There is no justification.
President Trump fought with some of America's closest allies during the G7 meeting in Canada., From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 12, 2018
An Urgent Message to Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Japan The current occupant of the White House does not represent the views of the majority of Americans. We are doing everything we can to ensure that he will not be president beyond his current term, which ends in January, 2021. It is possible he will be removed from office before then.
Trump picked Amy Coney Barrett to move the government farther to the right., From WikimediaPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Trump and Barrett's threat to abortion and LGBTQ rights is simply un-American Republicans won't tell Americans to wear masks to beat Covid, but will say what women and gay people can and cannot do
Walgreen's, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 6, 2014
The Limits of Corporate Citizenship: Why Walgreen Shouldn't Be Allowed to Influence U.S. Politics If It Becomes Swiss Since the 2010 election cycle, Walgreen's Political Action Committee has spent $991,030 on federal elections. If it becomes a Swiss corporation, it shouldn't be able to spend a penny more. Walgreen is free to become Swiss but it should no longer be free to influence U.S. politics. If it's no longer American it shouldn't be considered a citizen on Main Street.
From Uploaded
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 1, 2021
Whatever happened to the party of limited government? Republican lawmakers deny people their freedoms. The freedom to be safe from COVID. Freedom over their own bodies. The freedom to learn the truth about our history. The freedom to vote and participate in our democracy.
From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, August 18, 2012
Mitt's 13% Tax At a time when poverty is increasing, when public parks and public libraries are being closed and when public schools are shrinking their offerings and their hours, when the nation's debt is immense, and when the 400 richest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million of us put together -- Romney's 13 percent is shameful.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 16, 2014
Fear is Why Workers in Red States Vote Against Their Economic Self-Interest The best bulwark against corporate irresponsibility is a strong and growing middle class. But in order to summon the political will to achieve it, we have to overcome the timidity that flows from economic desperation. It's a diabolical chicken-and-egg conundrum at the core of American politics today.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 3, 2015
The Share-the-Scraps Economy Some economists laud on-demand work as a means of utilizing people more efficiently. But the biggest economic challenge we face isn't using people more efficiently. It's allocating work and the gains from work more decently. On this measure, the share-the-scraps economy is hurtling us backwards.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Thanking You The only good thing Trump has done is to awaken many of us to injustices that have plagued our country for centuries.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Wageless Recovery This is the worst possible time to cut public spending or reduce the money supply. America's jobless recovery is becoming a wage-less recovery. That puts the odds of another recession greater than the risk of inflation. Wall Street and its representatives in Washington don't understand -- or don't want to.
Donald Trump - Caricature, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Trump's Curious Coalition Trump's strategy for keeping power is to build up his coalition of America's white working class and the nation's ownership class. Since becoming president, Trump has sought to reward both sides of this coalition -- tossing boatloads of money to the ownership class, and red meat to the white working class.
From Uploaded
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 24, 2022
Eight Sobering Realities about Putin's Invasion The costs we must face We must do what we can to contain Vladimir Putin's aggression in Ukraine. But we also need to be clear-eyed about it, and face the costs. As I've said before, economics can't be separated from politics, and neither can be separated from history. Here are eight sobering realities:
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 28, 2013
The Truth About Immigration Reform And The Economy The economy doesn't contain a fixed number of jobs to be divided up among people who need them. As an economy grows, it creates more jobs. And what we've seen over the last 200 years is that new immigrants to America fuel that growth, and thereby create more jobs for everyone.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Why Unions Matter to You Powerful corporations and their enablers in government are trying to squash workers by pushing so-called "right to work" laws and undermining health care, workplace safety, and retirement protections. We have the power to overcome these attacks. If you want a better life for you and your children, join a union. And if you want a better America, support unions.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 22, 2011
Beware the "Middle Ground" of the Great Budget Debate To think of the "center" as roughly halfway between the President's and Paul Ryan's proposals is to ignore what Americans need and want. For our political representatives to find a "middle ground" between the two would be a travesty.
Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 9, 2015
Hillary, Bernie, and the Banks Giant Wall Street banks continue to threaten the wellbeing of millions of Americans, but what to do? Bernie Sanders says break them up and resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act that once separated investment from commercial banking. Hillary Clinton says charge them a bit more and oversee them more carefully.
Bernie Sanders, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Why Nation Owes Bernie Sanders Our Enduring Gratitude Bernie helped reveal a new and deeper political divide in America between oligarchy and democracy. He has done more than any other politician in modern America to sound the alarm, and mobilize the public to reclaim our democracy and economy. For that alone, we owe him our enduring gratitude.
Donald Trump, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 10, 2020
How can Biden heal America when Trump doesn't want it healed? Trump's cruelty, vindictiveness, non-stop lies, corruption, rejection of science, chaotic incompetence and gross narcissism brought out the worst in America. He tested the limits of American decency and democracy. He is the closest we have come to a dictator.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 31, 2018
Voter Turnout Is Everything The largest political party in America isn't the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. It's the Party of Non-Voters. Voter turnout determines who wins -- so VOTE!
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 1, 2018
The Truth About Trump's Economy The economy is growing, but very little of that growth is trickling down to average Americans. Jobs may be back but they pay squat, especially compared to the rising costs of housing, healthcare, and education. Trump slashed taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and he promised everyone else a wage boost of $4,000 but it never happened.
From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 28, 2020
The Coming Civil War Over Trump's Ego Trump came to office with no agenda except to feed his monstrous ego. He has never fueled his base. His base has fueled him. Its adoration sustains him.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Why the President Doesn't Present a Bold Plan to Create Jobs and Jumpstart the Economy he President is being badly advised. The magnitude of the current jobs and growth crisis demands a boldness and urgency that's utterly lacking. As the President continues to wallow in the quagmire of long-term debt reduction, Congress is on summer recess and the rest of Washington is asleep.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 1, 2012
The Tinder-Box Society Most of the gains from the productivity revolution are going to the owners of capital, while typical workers are either unemployed or underemployed, or else getting wages and benefits whose real value continues to drop. The portion of total income going to capital rather than labor is the highest since the 1920s. Increasingly, the world belongs to those collecting capital gains.
From flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/8566721433/: Donald Trump, From Images
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 10, 2017
The Two Resistances to Trump Resistance to tyranny must not be seen in partisan terms. We need Republicans to join in resistance to Trump's tyranny. Conservative Republicans have traditionally been vigilant against tyranny, and they must be invited to the cause and become part of the coalition.
Recession everywhere, From FlickrPhotos
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 4, 2016
The Economy in 2016: On the Edge of Recession The economy faces a deep structural problem: not enough demand for all the goods and services it's capable of producing. American consumers account for almost 70 percent of economic activity, but they won't have enough purchasing power in 2016 to keep the economy going on more than two cylinders. Blame widening inequality.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 17, 2011
As the Global Economy Trembles, Our Nation's Capital Fiddles In the past I've often wondered whether they're knaves or fools. Now I'm sure. Republicans wouldn't mind a double-dip recession between now and Election Day 2012. They figure it's the one sure way to unseat Obama. They know that when the economy is heading downward, voters always fire the boss. Call them knaves.
Most workers have seen their wages and earnings rise little or even fall since the crisis., From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Why Wages Won't Rise It's easier than ever for American employers to get the workers they need at low cost by outsourcing jobs abroad rather than hiking wages at home. Outsourcing can now be done at the click of a computer keyboard. A a whole new generation of smart technologies is taking over jobs that used to be done only by people. Rather than pay higher wages, it's cheaper for employers to install more robots.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 3, 2011
The Hostage Crisis Continues: Why Obama Can't Pivot to Jobs and Growth The radical right has not only captured the federal budget. In convincing so many Americans the problem is the size of government rather than their shrinking paychecks and growing economic insecurity, the radical right has also captured the American mind.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 17, 2013
The IRS and the Real Scandal Now, when the Supreme Court has deemed corporations "people" under the First Amendment and when income and wealth are more concentrated at the top than they've been in over a hundred years, has enabled America's financial elite to further entrench their wealth and power and thereby take over much of American democracy.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 17, 2010
The Crackpot Gap: Why It May Be A Boon To Democrats But A Danger To America We're in the midst of an ongoing economic emergency that requires clear thinking, intense work, and practical ideas. It also requires that we join together rather than be pushed apart. The loonies who are taking over the GOP pose a real and present danger.
Government Shutdown Over Planned Parenthood?, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 21, 2015
Why the Republican Assault on Planned Parenthood is Morally Wrong and Economically Stupid Last Friday, the House voted 241-187 to block Planned Parenthood's federal funds for a year. This may lead to another government shutdown. Funding for the government runs out at the end of the month, and several dozen House Republicans have said they won't vote for a funding bill that includes money for Planned Parenthood.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The Republican Myth of Obama's "Entitlement Society" One of the few things Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich agree on is that President Obama is turning America into a "European-style welfare culture." Regressive Republicans pretend they're about opportunity. In reality they're back at what they've been doing for years -- promoting Social Darwinism.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 28, 2013
Why You Shouldn't Succumb to Defeatism About the Affordable Care Act Of course there will be problems implementing the Affordable Care Act. But if we're determined to create a system that's cheaper and more effective at keeping Americans healthy than the one we have now -- and, in truth, we have no choice -- we have every chance of succeeding. We invent, experiment, and fix what has to be fixed.
Goldmann Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said that “too much of the GDP over the last generation has gone to too few of the people” CC WEF on Flickr), From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 19, 2014
Real Business Leaders Want to Save Capitalism Business leaders know the U.S. economy can't get out of first gear as long as wages are declining. And their own businesses can't succeed over the long term without a buoyant and growing middle class. Business leaders are arguing for changes in the rules of the game that would make the game fairer for everyone. They acknowledge it's now dangerously rigged in the favor of people like them.
Donald Trump coup, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 12, 2020
The End of Trump's Fifth Avenue Trump claims that mail-in ballots, made necessary by the pandemic, are rife with "fraud like you've never seen," although it's been shown that Americans are more likely to be struck by lightning than commit voter fraud.
Texas Snow Storm, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 26, 2021
The Freedom to Freeze In Texas, tycoons are the only winners from climate change. Everyone else is losing badly. Adapting to extreme weather is necessary but it's no substitute for cutting emissions, which Texas is loath to do.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Beyond Outrage: The General Election of 2012 Starts Today Nothing good happens in Washington unless good people outside Washington become mobilized, organized, and energized to make it happen. Nothing worth changing in America will actually change unless you and others like you are committed to achieving that change.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 18, 2012
The Commencement Address That Won't Be Given Outstanding student debt now totals over $1 trillion. That's more than the nation's total credit-card debt. The extraordinary rise in student debt is due to two related facts: the cost of a college education continues to increase faster than inflation, and state and local spending per college student continues to drop -- this year reaching a 25-year low.
HHS Sec. Alex Azar on Prescription Prices May 11, 2018, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, May 12, 2018
Trump's Drug Pricing Scam Big Pharma in America spends more on advertising and marketing than it does on research -- often tens of millions to promote a single drug. Besides flogging their drugs, American drug companies also spend hundreds of millions lobbying the government. Last year alone, their lobbying tab came to $171.5 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 17, 2019
The 12 Biggest Myths about Raising Taxes on the Rich Some politicians are calling for higher taxes on the rich. Naturally, these proposals have unleashed a torrent of opposition - mostly from"the rich. Here are the 12 biggest myths they're propounding...
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 25, 2020
How to Stop Trump from Stealing the Election Trump is likely to claim that mail-in ballots, made necessary by the pandemic, are rife with "fraud like you've never seen," although it's been shown that Americans are more likely to be struck by lightning than commit voter fraud.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 30, 2011
The Republican Plan with Lipstick According to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the McCaskill/Corker plan would require $800 billion of cuts in 2022 alone. That's the equivalent of eliminating Medicare entirely, or the entire Department of Defense.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The Great Switch by the Super Rich More and more of the nation's income and wealth have gone to the top. In the late 1970s, the top 1 percent took home 9 percent of total national income. Now the top 1 percent's take is more than 20 percent. Over the same period, the top one-tenth of one percent has tripled its share.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Youthful Magic of Ron Paul The young are flocking to Ron Paul because he wants to slice military spending, bring our troops home, stop government from spying on American citizens, and legalize pot.
American flag facts, etiquette and history, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Trump's Fourth of July If we are losing our national identity it is because we are losing our shared ideals: a commitment to the rule of law, to our democratic institutions, to truth, to tolerance of our differences, to equal political rights and equal opportunity, to participating in our civic life and making necessary sacrifices for these ideals we hold in common.
This Is How Politics Works...Money buys power., From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 18, 2014
And Now the Richest .01 Percent If you want to know what's happened to the American economy, follow the money. That will lead you to the richest .01 percent. And if you want to know what's happened to our democracy, follow the richest .01 percent. They'll lead you to the politicians who have been selling our democracy.
US election: Trump, Biden face off in final presidential debate | FULL U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden squared off Thursday night in their final debate, which stood as the trailing incumbent's best ..., From YouTubeVideos
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 24, 2020
The 4 Biggest Takeaways from The Final Debate Biden was more passionate and forceful than he's been in any debate so far -- including in the primary debates. But Trump's lies and bizarre outbursts were no less toxic.
Nancy Pelosi speaks after Democrats win House, From YouTubeVideos
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 4, 2019
What to Expect of House Democrats Democrats are now in control of the House of Representatives, but they are not miracle workers. Republicans still control the Senate. The House Ways and Means Committee is specifically authorized to subpoena Trump's tax returns. They might even move to impeach Trump, if Mueller reports what I expect him to.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 17, 2021
The Biggest Deficit You've Never Heard Of America has a deficit problem. But the country's biggest deficit isn't the federal budget deficit. It's the deficit in public investment.
Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 2, 2015
The Revolt Against the Ruling Class Despite the growing revolt against the ruling class, it seems likely that the nominees in 2016 will be Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton. After all, the ruling class still controls America. But the revolt against the ruling class won't end with the 2016 election, regardless. Which means the ruling class will have to change the way it rules America. Or it won't rule too much longer.
Doug Jones Wins!, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 13, 2017
The Meaning of Doug Jones's Upset Victory Today Alabama demonstrated that America is better than Trump, and better than House and Senate Republicans who have jumped into the swamp Trump has created. Congratulations, Doug Jones. Congratulations, Alabama. Congratulations, America.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The President's Jobs Plan (Not) We bailed out Wall Street so that the financial system would not crash. We stimulated the economy so that businesses would not tank. Now we must help ordinary people on the Main Streets of America -- for their own sakes, and also so that the real economy can fully mend.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 28, 2012
Cliff Hanger: Why Republicans Don't Care What the Nation Thinks The national party is in disarray. Over half of all Americans think the GOP is too extreme. The combination of a weakened national party and more intense competition in primaries is making the Republican Party relatively impervious to national opinion. This poses a large strategic problem for the Democrats. It could be an even bigger problem for the nation.
Donald Trump, From WikimediaPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 1, 2021
Why Trump's Takeover of the GOP is Great for Biden and the Democrats (but a Potential Disaster for America) Donald Trump formally anointed himself head of the Republican Party at Sunday's Conservative Political Action Conference.
Jobs crisis?, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 24, 2015
The Upsurge in Uncertain Work Whatever party -- contractor, client, customer, agent, or intermediary -- pays more than half of someone's income, or provides more than half their working hours, should be responsible for all the labor protections and insurance an employee is entitled to.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, February 21, 2019
Who Will Be The Next President? After years of Trump, voters will be especially inspired by someone with the character and temperament to lead the nation -- a person of modesty, honesty and integrity, who puts the country's interests above his or her own, and above the interests of Wall Street and big corporations. Someone who will honor and protect our democracy, who will restore America's moral authority in the world.
From Uploaded
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Office Hours: What's the Democrats' message? With midterm elections looming, Dems still don't have a clue Biden's advisers are saying that the crisis in Ukraine presents a chance for a reset - Biden's best opportunity to restore his standing before the November midterms. But what's the message for the reset?
Cliven Bundy Ignited a Hellstorm of Right Wing Hate, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 30, 2015
Why Hate Speech by Presidential Candidates is Despicable Perpetrators of hate crimes often take their cues from what they hear in the media. And the recent inclination of some politicians to use inflammatory rhetoric is contributing to a climate of hate and fear. Carly Fiorina continues to allege, for example, that Planned Parenthood is selling body parts of fetuses.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 16, 2017
An Orgy of Unnecessary Cruelty new budget comes down especially hard on the poor -- imposing unprecedented cuts in low-income housing, job training, food assistance, legal services, help to distressed rural communities, nutrition for new mothers and their infants, funds to keep poor families warm, even "meals on wheels." Why is Trump doing this? To pay for the biggest hike in military spending since the 1980s.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Extortion Politics: Why Won't American Business Stop the GOP From Threatening to Blow Up The Economy? Republicans' demands are so far beyond the pale -- turning Medicare into vouchers that funnel money to private insurance companies, turning Medicaid and food stamps into block grants that would deliver less to the poor, giving a giant tax windfall to the very rich.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 7, 2012
America's hall of mirrors recovery We'll avoid a double dip, but the most likely scenario in coming months is a continuation of the same -- an anemic jobs recovery. President Obama will claim the economy is improving -- and, technically, it is. Growth has probably slowed to around 2%, but that's still growth. The problem is that most Americans aren't feeling it in their paychecks.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, August 4, 2013
Why Republicans Want Jobs to Stay Anemic high unemployment keeps wages down. Workers who are worried about losing their jobs settle for whatever they can get -- which is why hourly earnings keep dropping. The median wage is now 4 percent lower than it was at the start of the recovery. Low wages help boost corporate profits, thereby keeping the regressives' corporate sponsors happy.
Trickle Down Economics, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 21, 2020
Trickle-Down Economics Doesn't Work but Build-Up Does -- Is Biden Listening? Politicians rarely want to raise taxes on the rich. Joe Biden promised to do so but a closely divided Congress is already balking. We would be well-served by changing the economic paradigm from trickle down to build up.
Bezos' Iconic Laugh, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 20, 2021
The Fake Heroism of Space Billionaires Long ago, people with names like John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Buzz Aldrin, and Sally Ride blasted into space. None was selected on the basis of income or wealth, but on skill and rigorous training. Their heroism symbolized America's technological prowess and egalitarianism
Thousands of Job Seekers Talk to Recruiters, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 11, 2022
As Job Gains Slow The Fed and Congress Apply the Wrong Medicine Policymakers at the Fed and in Congress continue to disregard the elephant in the room - the power of large corporations to raise prices.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 7, 2014
The Great U-Turn In seeking to repair what is broken, we don't have to emulate another nation. We have only to emulate what we once had. That we once achieved broad-based prosperity means we can achieve it again -- not exactly the same way, of course, but in a new way fit for the twenty-first century and for future generations of Americans. America's great U-turn can be reversed. It is worth the fight.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Happy Tax Day, and Why The Top 1% Pay a Much Lower Tax Rate Than You The richest 1 percent of Americans are now getting the largest percent of total national income in almost a century. So you might think they'd pay a much higher tax rate than everyone else. But you'd be wrong. Many millionaires pay a lower federal tax rate than many middle-class Americans. Some don't pay any federal taxes at all.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 19, 2012
Big Business Has Become Disconnected from the Well-Being of Most Americans Mitt Romney's Bain Capital is no different from any other global corporation -- which is exactly why Romney's so-called "business experience" is irrelevant to the real problems facing most Americans. Without a government that's focused on more and better jobs, we're left with global corporations that don't give a damn.
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 7, 2010
The (Almost) Crash of Wall Street Regardless of why it happened, it's further evidence that the nation's and the world's capital markets have become a vast out-of-control casino in which fortunes can be made or lost in an instant -- which would be fine except for the fact that most of us have put our life savings there.
Donald Trump, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 22, 2014
Why Ordinary People Bear Economic Risks and Donald Trump Doesn't In America, people with lots of money can easily avoid the consequences of bad bets and big losses by cashing out at the first sign of trouble. The laws protect them through limited liability and bankruptcy. But workers who move to a place like Atlantic City for a job, invest in a home there, and build their skills, have no such protection. Jobs vanish, skills are suddenly irrelevant, and home values plummet.
The Growing Gap Between Rich and Poor, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 7, 2019
The Myth of Meritocracy A prestigious college packed with the children of wealthy and well-connected parents is now the launching pad into the stratosphere of big money. Elite colleges are doing their parts to accelerate the trend. Inequality is lurking behind all this, and not just because the wealthy can afford it. Elite colleges are doing their parts to accelerate the trend.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 6, 2015
Reality Check Former GOP Congress member: "It's a disaster. I'm telling you, if either Carson or Trump is elected, this country is going to hell. The rest of them aren't much better. I mean, Carly Fiorina? Really? Rubio? Please. Ted Cruz? Oh my god. And the people we thought had it sewn up, who are halfway sane -- Bush and Christie -- they're sounding almost as batty as the rest."
Joe Biden, From FlickrPhotos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 9, 2021
This Is Biden's LBJ Moment America is again approaching a crucial decision-point on the most fundamental right of all in a democracy -- the right to vote.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 26, 2011
A Thanksgiving Reflection: Looking Beyond Election Day oth parties are doing remarkably little given the gravity of the continuing jobs depression and the widening gap of income and wealth. Taming the budget deficit is the only significant issue anyone in Washington seems willing to raise, yet Congress seems incapable of achieving any significant progress on this. Political elites show scant understanding of what these growing anti-establishment forces signify.
Donald Trump with supporters, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 20, 2016
My Coffee with a Trump Supporter Trump supporters seem to believe Donald Trump is a successful businessman, and that we need a successful businessman as president. But he's not a businessman. He's a Con Man.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 13, 2012
The President's Opening Bid on a Grand Bargain (II): Put a Trigger Mechanism in the Legislation Although the U.S. economy is picking up and unemployment trending downward, we're still not out of the woods. So in the foreseeable future -- the next six months to a year, at least -- the government has to continue to spend, and the vast middle class has to keep spending as well, unimpeded by any tax increase.
Bernie Sanders, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 19, 2015
4 Reasons Why The Wall Street Journal's Attack on Bernie is Bogus An article in the Wall Street Journal -- charging that Bernie Sanders's proposals would carry a "price tag" of $18 trillion over a 10-year period is entirely bogus and is designed to frighten the public. It is a giant dump on Sanders, based on misinformation and distortion.
The Shrinking Middle Class, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 14, 2015
The Revolt of the Anxious Class The anxious class feels vulnerable to forces over which they have no control. Terrible things happen for no reason. Yet government can't be counted on to protect them. Safety nets are full of holes. Most people who lose their jobs don't even qualify for unemployment insurance. Government won't protect their jobs from being outsourced to Asia or being taken by a worker here illegally.
Trump & Biden, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 25, 2021
CEO's Newfound Concern for Democracy is Bunk The sudden lurch from Trump to Biden is generating vertigo all over Washington, including the so-called fourth branch of government -- CEOs and their army of lobbyists.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 12, 2014
How to Shrink Inequality The pertinent question is not whether income and wealth inequality is good or bad. It is at what point do these inequalities become so great as to pose a serious threat to our economy, our ideal of equal opportunity and our democracy. We are near or have already reached that tipping point.
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 22, 2016
The End of the Establishment? Regardless of the political fates of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, the rebellion against the establishment will continue. Eventually, those with significant economic and political power in America will have to either commit to fundamental reform, or relinquish their power.
Employee Benefits, From GoogleImages
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 3, 2018
The Roadblock To Common Sense Pension Reform The good news is that several states -- including Oregon, California, Illinois, Connecticut, and Maryland -- now let such workers put money away in state-sponsored retirement plans that allow them to withdraw their accumulated savings, tax free, when they hit retirement. The bad news is that the investment industry is aggressively seeking to block these plans, fearing the competition.
Americans Oppose Tax Cuts for Rich, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 29, 2014
The Republican's Magical Mystery Tour (Starting Next Week) George W. Bush inherited a budget surplus from Bill Clinton but then slashed taxes, mostly on the rich. The CBO found that the Bush tax cuts reduced revenues by $3 trillion. Yet Republicans don't want to admit supply-side economics is hokum. As a result, they've never had much love for the truth-tellers at the Congressional Budget Office.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 28, 2021
The Only Way Democrats Will Get Anything Done If we have any hope of safeguarding our democracy and ushering in transformative change, Democrats must wield their power to get rid of the filibuster -- and fast.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 16, 2015
AUSTERITY 101: The Three Reasons Republican Deficit Hawks Are Wrong In every economic downturn and in every struggling recovery -- more government spending helps create jobs -- teachers, fire fighters, police officers, social workers, people to rebuild roads and bridges and parks. And the people in these jobs create far more jobs when they spend their paychecks.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 30, 2020
The Six Most Revealing Moments From the Presidential Debate The first presidential debate was as horrific as we feared it would be. We were barely able to hear a word from Joe Biden or moderator Chris Wallace thanks to Trump's incessant interruptions and nonstop insults.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, August 23, 2013
Private Gain to a Few Trumps Public Good for the Many Since the late 1970s, almost all the gains from growth have gone to the top. But as the upper-middle class and the rich began shifting to private institutions, they withdrew political support for public ones. In consequence, their marginal tax rates dropped -- setting off a vicious cycle of diminishing revenues and deteriorating quality, spurring more flight from public institutions.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 23, 2013
The House Republicans' Dangerous New Constitutional Doctrine: Repealing Laws by De-Funding Them The Affordable Care Act will prove to be enormously popular with the American public once it's fully implemented -- which is exactly why the Republicans are so intent on bulldozing it before then. If they were sincere about their objections, they'd let Americans try it out -- and then, if it didn't work, decide to repeal it.
From Uploaded
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 15, 2022
How to stop big oil from profiteering off Putin? Hit them with a windfall profits tax. This morning I filled my car with gas costing over five dollars a gallon.
Republicans Want all Americans to be Shills, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 29, 2016
An Open Letter to the Republican Establishment Republicans: as you may have noticed, most of your companies aren't growing nearly as fast as they did before the Great Recession. Your sales are sputtering, and your stock prices are fragile. That's because you forgot that your workers are also consumers. As you've pushed wages downward, you've also squeezed your customers so tight they can hardly afford to buy what you have to sell.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 10, 2016
Bernie and the Big Banks As of now, only 155 of the 398 regulations required by Dodd-Frank have been finalized. And those final versions are shot through with loopholes big enough for Wall Street's top brass to drive their Ferraris through. The biggest banks still haven't even come up with acceptable "living wills," required under Dodd-Frank to show how they'd maintain important functions while going through bankruptcy.
Bernie -- or Hillary?, From TwitterPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 28, 2016
The Most Pragmatic Way to Fix American Democracy The real choice isn't "pragmatism" or "idealism." It's either allowing these trends to worsen, or reversing them. Inequality has reached levels last seen in the era of the "robber barons" in the 1890s. The only truly pragmatic way of reversing this state of affairs is through a "political revolution" that mobilizes millions of Americans.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, October 15, 2011
The Untimely Death of Long-Term Health Insurance Why, oh why, didn't the Obama administration make life easy for itself and for Americans by choosing the simplest and most efficient system for both primary and long-term health insurance -- Medicare for all? It didn't because it wanted to get Republican votes. It got almost none. And now the Republicans are enjoying the prospect of the law being dismembered piece by piece, starting today.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Why The Three Biggest Economic Lessons Were Forgotten Wall Street was deregulated -- creating a casino capitalism that caused a near meltdown of the economy six years ago and continues to burden millions of homeowners. As the gap between America's wealthy and the middle has widened, those at the top have felt even richer by comparison. Although a rising tide would lift all boats, many of America's richest prefer a lower tide and bigger yachts.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 6, 2011
The Shameful Attack on Public Employees isn't it curious that when it comes to sacrifice, Republicans don't include the richest people in America? To the contrary, they insist the rich should sacrifice even less, enjoying even larger tax cuts that expand public-sector deficits.
Corporations are People -- Mitt Romney famously said., From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Freedom, Power, and the Conservative Mind The owners of Hobby Lobby, the plaintiffs in the case, were always free to practice their religion. The Court bestowed religious freedom on their corporation as well -- a leap of logic as absurd as giving corporations freedom of speech. Corporations aren't people. But the conservative mind has never incorporated economic power into its understanding of freedom.
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, July 11, 2021
Data, not arms, the key driver in emerging US-China cold war The most interesting conflict ahead isn't between China and the US. It's between business elites in both nations who are seeking big profits, and the political elites in both nations who want to protect their countries, and in so doing, their own centers of power.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 23, 2022
What you need to know about the anti-democracy movement Listen now (6 min) | Who's funding it, why it's inspired by Viktor Orban, and what it aims to achieve
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 18, 2012
Why We Should Stop Obsessing About The Federal Budget Deficit If there was ever a time for America to borrow more in order to put our people back to work repairing our crumbling infrastructure and rebuilding our schools, it's now. So can we please stop obsessing about future budget deficits? They're distracting our attention from what we should be obsessing about -- jobs and growth.
Classic Joe Biden, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 2, 2020
USA OK? My FAQs about Trump, Biden, the election and what happens next With luck, Biden will enact a big stimulus package, reverse the Trump Republican tax cuts for the wealthy, and distribute and administer a COVID vaccine.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 16, 2021
No Compromising with the GOP Cult There is no "center" between the reality-based world and the conspiracy-fueled, hate-filled Republican Party. The problems the country is facing cannot be solved with milquetoast, centrist solutions -- they demand immediate, bold action.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Real Mitt Revealed Romney distorts reality by purposely mixing "entitlements" with "a sense of entitlement," and lumps in all recipients of Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment benefits into his 47 percent. Even though these programs are considered "entitlement" spending, their recipients are not undeserving; they don't consider themselves entitled to handouts.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 9, 2014
Why The Republican’s Old Divide-and-Conquer Strategy -- Setting Working Class Against the Poor -- Is Backfiring Poverty is now a condition that almost anyone can fall into. In the first two years of this recovery, according to a new report from the Census Bureau, about one in three Americans dropped into poverty for at least two to six months. Half of all American children have at some point during their childhoods relied on food stamps.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 28, 2012
How to Avoid the Austerity Trap But Still Deal With the Budget Deficit If recent history is any guide, a deal will be struck at the last moment -- during a lame-duck Congress, some time in late December. And it will only be to remove the January 1 trigger. Keep everything as it is, the Bush tax cuts as well as current spending, and kick the can down the road into 2013 and beyond.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 2, 2011
The Zero Economy Why don't Republicans get it? Either they're knaves--they want the economy to stay awful through next Election Day so Obama gets the boot. Or they're fools--they've bought the lie that reducing the deficit creates more jobs. Every time you hear anyone say we're "broke" or "can't afford to spend more," tell them we'll be in worse shape if we don't. If the economy remains dead, the ratio of public debt to GDP balloons.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Why The Minimum Wage Should Really Be Raised To $15 An Hour A $15/hour minimum won't result in major job losses because it would put money in the pockets of millions of low-wage workers who will spend it -- thereby giving working families and the overall economy a boost, and creating jobs. Since Republicans will push Democrats to go even lower than $10.10, it's doubly important to be clear about what's right in the first place.
Maternity Leave, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 17, 2015
The Fraud of the New "Family-Friendly" Work Netflix just announced it's offering paid leave to new mothers and fathers for the first year after the birth or adoption of a child. Other high-tech firms are close behind. Butthese new policies apply only to a tiny group considered "talent" -- highly educated and in high demand. They're getting whatever perks firms can throw at them in order to recruit and keep them.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Trump's Business of Government Trump will name his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to run a new Office of American Innovation -- described as a SWAT team of strategic consultants staffed by former business executives, designed to infuse fresh thinking into Washington and help make government work more like a business. it's important to remember that government is not a business. The purpose of government is not to show a profit. It is to achieve the common good.
Donald Trump, From FlickrPhotos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 9, 2016
The American Fascist Viewing Donald Trump in light of the fascists of the first half of the twentieth century -- who used economic stresses to scapegoat others, created cults of personality, intimidated opponents, incited violence, glorified their nations and disregarded international law, and connected directly with the masses -- helps explain what Trump is doing and how he is succeeding.
Mitch McConnell, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 26, 2020
How Mitch McConnell's Do Nothing Republicans are Killing You The Senate adjourned and left town without even trying to pass a COVID disaster relief bill. By the time they return on November 30, based on current trends, an additional estimated 16,000 Americans will have died from COVID-19.
Joe Biden, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 7, 2020
Joe Biden's economic team beats Trump's goon squad -- but it faces a steep challenge "It's time we address the structural inequalities in our economy that the pandemic has laid bare," President-elect Joe Biden said this week, as he introduced his economic team.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 5, 2012
The Most Important Political News This Week If the rate of unemployment drops and the number of payroll jobs is as good if not better than it was in July -- President Obama's claim we're on the right track gains crucial credibility. But if these numbers are moving in the wrong direction, Romney's claim the nation needs a new start may appear more credible.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, March 3, 2019
A Bold New Idea to Boost Wages The challenges are well known: Working Americans are struggling to keep up with the increasing cost of living. Unemployment is low, but wages of most Americans have remained flat. More than three-quarters of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck. Most can't afford a $500 emergency.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 17, 2011
The Rise of the Regressive Right and the Reawakening of America The great arc of American history reveals an unmistakable pattern. Whenever privilege and power conspire to pull us backward, the nation eventually rallies and moves forward. Sometimes it takes an economic shock like the bursting of a giant speculative bubble; sometimes we just reach a tipping point where the frustrations of average Americans turn into action.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 4, 2018
April Fools... Con Mannity here. Shrink deficits! States' rights! Stand up to Russia! Free Markets! I'm a conservative from the old school, with a capital "Con." And I love Donald Trump because he's sticking to the time-tested conservative beliefs I've been pushing on this show for years.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Six Crucial Races That Will Flip the Senate Winning the White House is absolutely crucial, but it's just one piece of the fight to save our democracy and push a people's agenda. Every school board member, state representative, and congressperson you elect can be pushed to enact policies that benefit the people, not just corporate donors. This is how you build a movement that lasts.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Want To Understand Manchin and Sinema? The single biggest factor affecting almost all national politicians I've dealt with - Big egos. Manchin's and Sinema's are now among the biggest.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 16, 2012
Ponderings on the New Politics of Extremism The alliance between the energies of the new right and the money of big corporations and Wall Street is formidable, and in this early summer of our discontent, Washington can already sense the barbarians at the gates.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 24, 2019
America Has Already Fired Trump! Departments and agencies are being run by lobbyists and insiders busily carving out loopholes, cutting taxes, and slashing regulations on behalf of the wealthy and big corporations. Isolated in the White House, distrustful of aides, at odds with intelligence agencies, distant from his Cabinet heads, Trump has no system to make or implement decisions. His tweets don't create headlines as before.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 19, 2021
10 Bold Moves Biden Can Make Without Congress Biden's first task is to undo Trump's litany of cruel and disastrous executive orders. He has already announced -- he'll rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, re-enter the World Health Organization, and repeal Trump's discriminatory Muslim travel ban.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 19, 2012
Why "We're on the Right Track" Isn't Enough, and What Obama's Plan Should Be For Boosting the Economy Obama should make clear the underlying problem is widening inequality. With so much of the nation's disposable income and wealth going to the top, the vast middle class doesn't have the purchasing power it needs to fire up the economy. He should remind voters that congressional Republicans prevented him from doing all that was needed in the first term, and they must not be allowed to do so again.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 2, 2020
How Big Money Corrupts Our Politics (And How to Fix It) Corporate money is dominating our democracy. It's difficult to do anything when big money controls our politics and dictates what policies are and aren't enacted.
Donald Trump -- Caricature, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 1, 2021
Good Riddance to a Terrible Year About the only good thing that can be said about 2020 is that it's over. It was an annus horribilis.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 18, 2012
The Significance of Citigroup's Shareholder Revolt The real news here is new-found activism among institutional investors -- especially the managers of pension funds and mutual funds. They're the ones who fired the warning shot Tuesday. Institutional investors are catching on to a truth they should have understood years ago: When executive pay goes through the roof, there's less money left for everyone else who owns shares of the company.
Soaring CEO pay is a result of perverse incentives, not brilliance or competence., From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 10, 2015
The Outrageous Ascent of CEO Pay For the last 30 years almost all incentives operating on American corporations have resulted in lower pay for average workers and higher pay for CEOs and other top executives. In 1965, CEOs of America's largest corporations were paid, on average, 20 times the pay of average workers. Now, the ratio is over 300 to 1. Not only has CEO pay exploded, so has the pay of top executives just below them.
Donald Trump, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Trump's Last Attempt to Steal the Election Won't Work Normally, the loser of the race would give a gracious concession speech, and accept the results. That won't happen this time around, because Donald Trump is a pathological narcissist who will never admit defeat.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 14, 2012
President's Bid on the Grand Bargain (III): Difference Between "Broadening the Tax Base" and Raising Taxes on the Rich Capital gains are now taxed at only 15 percent (the major reason Mitt Romney pays a rate of under 14 percent on over $20 million of annual income). Capital gains should be taxed the same as ordinary income. That way, under a progressive tax system, the wealthy would pay far more -- on the way to $1.6 trillion.
Joe Biden, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 29, 2020
Beware going "back to normal" thoughts -- normal gave us Trump In an exhausted and divided America that desperately wants a return to normal, where will Biden find the energy and political will for bold changes that are imperative?
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 25, 2013
The GOP Crackup: How Obama is Unraveling Reagan Republicanism History and demographics are on the side of the Democrats, but history and demography have been on the Democrats' side for decades. What's new is the Republican crackup -- opening the way for a new Democratic coalition of socially-liberal young people, women, minorities, middle-class professionals, and what's left of the anti-corporate working class.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 23, 2020
What Election Day Revealed About Progressive Policies The people have given Biden and Congress a mandate for bold, progressive change. Now they must deliver.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 2, 2013
The Republicans of the Supreme Court Supreme Court justices are appointed for life in order to ensure their independence from politics. But when it comes to the core political strategy of the Republican Party, the five Republican appointees are, in effect, an extension of the GOP.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Why Obama Must Meet the Republican Lies Directly The White House apparently believes the best way to strengthen its hand in the upcoming "sequester" showdown is to tell Americans how awful the spending cuts will be, and blame Republicans for them. It won't work. These tactical messages are getting in the way of the larger truth, which the President must hammer home: The Republicans' austerity economics and trickle-down economics are dangerous, bald-faced lies.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 24, 2012
Obama Must Explain Why Fairness is Essential to Growth -- and Why Some Democrats Have to Stop Believing Otherwise The Street has turned a significant part of the economy into a giant casino involving mammoth bets with other peoples' money. When the bets go well, the rich owners of the casino (Wall Street executives, traders, hedge-fund managers, private-equity managers) become even richer. When the bets go sour, the rest of us bear the costs.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Obama's Political Capital and the Slippery Slope of Syria It would be one thing if a strike on Syria was critical to America's future, or even the future of the Middle East. But it is not. In fact, a strike on Syria may well cause more havoc in that tinder-box region of the world by unleashing still more hatred for America, the West, and for Israel, and more recruits to terrorism. Strikes are never surgical; civilians are inevitably killed.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Why the Anger? We've lost most living memory of an era in which we were all in it together -- the Great Depression and World War II -- when we succeeded or failed together. In those years we were palpably dependent on one another, and understood how much we owed each other as members of the same society. Make no mistake: The savage inequality America is experiencing today is deeply dangerous.
Silent Collaborators, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Profiles in Cowardice America is being subject to a stress test to see if it has enough strength to withstand Trump's treacherous campaign to discredit the 2020 presidential election.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Restore the Basic Bargain Corporate profits are up right now largely because pay is down and companies aren't hiring. But this is a losing game even for corporations over the long term. Without enough American consumers, their profitable days are numbered. The only way out of it is to put more money into the pockets of average Americans. That means extending the payroll tax cut. And extending unemployment benefits.
Trump and the Constitution, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 11, 2018
The Constitutional Crisis is Now The crux of America's current constitutional crisis is this: Our system of government was designed to constrain power, but Trump doesn't want to be constrained. Our system was conceived as a means of promoting the public interest, but Trump wants to promote only his own interest. Our system was organized to bind presidents to the Constitution, but Trump doesn't want to be bound by anything.
From Uploaded
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Bonus time on the Street: more socialism for the biggest bankers Pay packages keep exploding while they're ever more dependent on government bailouts, regulatory loopholes, subsidies, and tax breaks
Bernie Sanders, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Why Isn't Everyone In Favor of Taxing Financial Speculation? Americans are fed up with Wall Street's financial games. Excessive speculation contributed to the near meltdown of 2008 -- which cost millions of people their jobs, savings, and homes. So why is it only Bernie Sanders who's calling for a financial transactions tax? Why aren't politicians of all stripes supporting it? And why isn't it a major issue in the 2016 election?
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 1, 2021
Biden Must Not Surrender The multiple crises engulfing America are huge. The window of opportunity for addressing them is small. If ever there was a time for boldness, it is now.
How the Democrats Became the Party of Wall Street., From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 8, 2014
Wall Street's Democrats The Street donated $49.1 million to Democrats in 2010, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics. Hedge-fund managers alone accounted for $5.88 million of the total. Schumer and a few other influential Democrats were among the industry's major beneficiaries.
The Breadline, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 21, 2018
Watch Your Wallets The problem with the Fed hiking rates now is that Trump has already stressed the paychecks of most Americans. The rate hike will make matters worse. Most Americans are still living in the shadow of the Great Recession that started in December 2007 and officially ended in June 2009. More Americans have jobs, but their pay has barely risen when adjusted for inflation.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, November 4, 2011
Washington Pre-Occupied Diffident Democrats on the Supercommittee have already signaled a willingness to cut Medicare, Social Security, and much else that Americans depend on. The deal is being held up by Regressive Republicans who won't raise taxes on the rich -- not even a tiny bit.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Trump's Bonkers Budget Republicans in Congress are likely still recovering from the last recess -- dubbed appropriately "Resistance Recess." We need to take that winning spirit of resistance into the budget fight -- and the time to start is right now.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Root of Economic Fragility and Political Anger We're back to the same ominous trend as before the Great Recession: a larger and larger share of total income going to the very top while the vast middle class continues to lose ground. When most of the gains from economic growth go to a small sliver of Americans at the top, the rest don't have enough purchasing power to buy what the economy is capable of producing.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 13, 2011
Why We May Be In Store for a Passionless Presidential Race Mitt Romney will surely be the Republican presidential candidate -- and Romney inspires as little enthusiasm among Republicans as Obama does among Democrats. The GOP will support Romney because, frankly, he's the only major Republican primary candidate who does not appear to the broader public to be nuts.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 15, 2013
Why Congress's Gridlock Doesn't Paralyze Government but Gridlocks Democracy The Republican right would like nothing better than to stop the federal government from functioning. It's bizarre that a self-styled populist insurrection would end up making our government less accountable to the people. But that's exactly what it's done. What's really gridlocked now is democracy.
AG William Barr testifies on Mueller report before Senate Judiciary Committee., From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Congress Should Be Ready To Arrest Attorney General William Barr If He Defies Subpoena There is to be no congressional oversight of this administration: No questioning a Trump adviser about immigration policy. No questioning a former White House security director about issuances of security clearances. No questioning anyone about presidential tax returns. Such a blanket edict fits a dictator of a banana republic, not the president of a constitutional republic.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Trump Is Achieving His Primary Goal: Division Trump campaigned as a populist -- exploiting the public's justifiable sense that the game is rigged against them. But he hasn't done anything to fix the system. To the contrary, his divide-and-conquer strategy as president has disguised his efforts to reward his wealthy donors and funnel more wealth and power to those at the top.
Tesla Inc. Co-Founder Elon Musk is now the world's fourth-richest person., From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 14, 2020
Citizen Musk The problem isn't only that Elon Musk has a net worth of about $100 billion when tens of millions of Americans are barely getting by. It's that he's made this money while treating his workers so badly. His wealth quadrupled during the four months Tesla forced all workers to take a 10 percent pay cut.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Repackaging Mitt as a Compassionate Conservative? It's Too Late What we're seeing in Ohio isn't a new Mitt Romney. It's a newly-packaged Mitt Romney. The real Mitt Romney is the one we saw on the videotape last week. And no amount of re-taping can disguise the package's true contents.
From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 24, 2013
How To Avoid Raising Taxes on the Middle Class or Cutting Programs the Middle and Poor Depend On The richest 400 Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million of us put together. The six Walmart heirs have more wealth than the bottom 33 million American families combined. So why are we even contemplating cutting programs the middle class and poor depend on, and raising their taxes? We should tax the vast accumulations of wealth now in the hands of a relative few.
Income inequality in the United States has grown significantly, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 31, 2014
The Distributional Games Improving our schools is critically important. Making work pay by raising the minimum wage and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit would also be helpful. But these are only a start. In order to ensure that future productivity gains don't go overwhelmingly to a small sliver at the top, we'll need a mechanism to give the middle class and the poor a share in future growth.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 15, 2013
Happy Birthday Occupy Two years ago the "Occupy" movement roared into view, summoning the energies and attention of large numbers of people who felt the economic system had got out of whack and were determined to do something about it. Occupy put the issue of the nation's savage inequality on the front pages, and focused America's attention on what that inequality was doing to our democracy. To that extent, it was a stirring success.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 3, 2014
An Election Day Carol The corruption brought on by the Supreme Court's decision in "Citizen's United versus Federal Election Commission," opened the floodgates to big money in elections. Unless that horrific case is reversed, elections -- and democracy -- will fall by the wayside.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Racism is Profitable Since the first colonizers arrived in the United States to this very moment, wealthy elites have used the tools of theft, exclusion, and exploitation to expand their wealth and power at the detriment of Black, Latinx, Indigenous people, and marginalized people of color. It all boils down to this simple truth: Racism is profitable.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 14, 2020
How to Beat Republicans at Their Own Game There's nothing unfair about making our democracy fairer. There's no abuse of power in remedying blatant abuses of power.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 5, 2011
The Real News on Jobs Millions of non-union workers have accepted cuts in pay and benefits just to keep their jobs. Health benefits have been slashed, pension contributions from employers dramatically cut, wages dropped or "frozen." Millions of private-sector workers have been fired and then re-hired as contract workers to do almost exactly what they were doing before, but without any benefits or job security.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Memo to Joe, Re: Debate Be cheerfully aggressive. Take Ryan on directly and sharply but do so with a smile. Force him to take responsibility for the regressiveness of his budget and the radicalism of his ideology. Tell America the unvarnished truth: Romney and Ryan plan to do a reverse Robin Hood at a time in our nation's history when the rich have never had it so good while the rest haven't been as economically insecure since the Great Depression.
The Truth About An Untethered Trump, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 9, 2018
The Truth About an Untethered Trump Trump untethered isn't just a more petty, vindictive, and belligerent version of his former self. He's also more willing to sacrifice American democracy to his own ends. Which makes him more dangerous than ever.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 2, 2012
Turning America Into a Giant Casino In December, the Department of Justice announced it was reversing its position that all Internet gambling was illegal. That decision is about to create a boom in online gambling. Expect high-stakes poker to be available on every work desk and mobile phone.
From flickr.com/photos/9106303@N05/2257853913/: Tales of Big Pharma Horror, From Images
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 6, 2014
Why We Allow Big Pharma to Rip Us Off Big Pharma is spending more on advertising and marketing than on research and development -- often tens of millions to promote a single drug. And, it's spending heavily on political campaigns. In 2012, it shelled out over $36 million, making it the biggest political contributor of all American industries.
Jon  Ossoff, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 19, 2020
Georgia Runoffs: How You Can Help Flip the Senate The battle for the Senate is far from over. 's Senate races are going into runoffs, as no candidate in either race received more than 50 percent of the vote.
Corporations Are Swimming in Cash. So Why Are We All Drowning?, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Labor Day 2020: The Power Shift Large corporations, Wall Street banks and a relative handful of exceedingly rich individuals have gained enough political power to game the system.
Gap Between Rich and Poor, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 3, 2016
At Stake in 2016: Ending the Vicious Cycle of Wealth and Power As the reformers of the Progressive Era understood more than a century ago, no single president or any other politician can accomplish what's needed because a system caught in the spiral of wealth and power cannot be reformed from within. It can be changed only by a mass movement of citizens pushing from the outside. this is the only way the vicious cycle of wealth and power can be reversed.
The Stock Market is Not the Economy | Robert Reich Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich explains why the stock market doesn't reflect the real economy. Watch More: The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It ..., From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 30, 2020
The Stock Market is Not the Economy Since the late 1980s, the main way corporations get profits and stock prices up has been to keep payrolls down. Corporations have done whatever they can to increase profits by cutting jobs and wages.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 6, 2012
Mitt, Son of "Citizen's United" Romney and Citizens United were made for each other. Other candidates have quietly set up Super PACs of their own, and President Obama has his Super PAC already busily tapping into whatever reservoirs of big money it can find. But Mitt's unique ties to the biggest money pits enable him to take unique advantage of the Court's scurrilous invitation.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The Showdown On Tax Cuts for the Rich In political terms, a strong stand enables the President to clearly demonstrate whose side he's on (the working and middle class that's still bearing the brunt of this lousy economy) and whose side the Republicans are on (the powerful and privileged who brought much of this on, and who are now doing just fine).
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 3, 2010
The American Jobs Emergency Requires Action Republicans won't even vote to extend unemployment benefits for the record number of Americans -- almost half the unemployed -- who have been out of work for six months or more. Starting today, 800,000 of the long-term unemployed lose their benefits. Unless Congress moves quickly, by the end of December, 2 million more will lose them.
The Swearing-in Ceremony of the Honorable Amy Coney Barrett, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Reversing the GOP Power Grab Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation as the ninth justice on the U.S. Supreme Court is a travesty of democracy.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 8, 2012
The Sad Spectacle of Obama's Super PAC It has been said there is no high ground in American politics since any politician who claims it is likely to be gunned down by those firing from the trenches. That's how the Obama team justifies its decision to endorse a super PAC that can raise and spend unlimited sums for his campaign.
Humans Need Not Apply, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Labor Day 2028 In 1928, famed British economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that technology would advance so far in 100 years -- by 2028 -- that it will replace all work, and no one will need to worry about making money. We still have 13 years to go before we reach Keynes' prophetic year, but we're not exactly on the way to it. Americans are working harder than ever.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 20, 2010
The Year Washington Became "Business Friendly" There's only one problem. America's big businesses are less and less American. They're going abroad for sales and employees. That's one reason they've showed record-breaking profits in 2010 while creating almost no American jobs.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Raising Taxes on Corporations that Pay Their CEOs Royally and Treat Their Workers Like Serfs The growing divergence between CEO pay and that of the typical American worker isn't just wildly unfair. It's also bad for the economy. It means most workers these days lack the purchasing power to buy what the economy is capable of producing -- contributing to the slowest recovery on record. Meanwhile, CEOs and other top executives use their fortunes to fuel speculative booms followed by busts.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, January 8, 2017
Government by Tweedict The United States is supposed to be a government of laws, not of edicts. Yet Trump's tweets are gaining power even though they aren't legislation. They aren't executive orders (which can be reviewed and overturned by courts). They aren't even the statements of a president using his "bully pulpit" to make a general point, because they single out particular companies and people.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 1, 2012
Whose Recovery? Republicans would rather not talk about widening inequality to begin with. The reverse-Robin Hood budget plan just announced by Paul Ryan and House Republicans (and endorsed by Mitt Romney) would make the lopsidedness far worse -- dramatically cutting taxes on the rich and slashing public services everyone else depends on.
Minimum Wage Hike Would Boost Economy By Billions., From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 28, 2014
Raising Most People's Wages Contrary to the dire predictions of opponents, the hike in minimum wage won't cost Seattle jobs. In fact, it will put more money into the hands of low-wage workers who are likely to spend almost all of it in the vicinity. That will create jobs. Conservatives believe the economy functions better if the rich have more money and everyone else has less. But they're wrong. It's just the opposite.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, December 23, 2012
Where Are We Heading -- Bedford Falls or Pottersville? It's easy to feel discouraged about the bullying by right-wing Republicans and their patrons over everything from gun control to taxes and social safety nets to trade unions and jobs. The Mr. Potters are still alive and well in America, threatening our democracy with their money and our common morality with their greed.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 31, 2012
Lousy Deal on the Edge of the Cliff Yes, the deal finally gets Republicans to accept a tax increase on the wealthy, but this is an inside-the-Beltway symbolic victory. If anyone believes this will make the GOP more amenable to future tax increases, they don't know how rabidly extremist the GOP has become.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 22, 2020
What Happened to the Voting Rights Act? Today's voter suppression often takes the form of purging eligible voters from the rolls, cutting back early and absentee voting, closing polling places, and using strict voter ID requirements -- disenfranchising voters of color at every turn.
Robert Reich, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 15, 2021
How Bidenomics Can Unite America A quarter century ago, I and other members of Bill Clinton's cabinet urged him to reject the Republican's proposal to end welfare. It's clearer than ever that conservative economists arguing that tax cuts for the rich create jobs are simply wrong.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 2, 2020
What You Need to Know About the GOP Takeover of the Supreme Court Led by Mitch McConnell, Republicans are gearing up to reverse the precedent they themselves set in 2016, when they blocked President Obama's Supreme Court nominee for 293 days because, they said, "this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president."
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 3, 2011
The Jobs Report: Don't Break Out the Champagne If Congress refuses to extend the payroll tax cut and/or unemployment benefits by December 30, it will create another drag on the economy. When people ask me what Congress is likely to do I always say the same thing: The odds are in favor of nothing. So while today's jobs report is in the right direction, it's way too early to break out the champagne.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The Shameful Murder of Dodd Frank The real reason Wall Street has spent the last year bludgeoning Dodd-Frank into meaninglessness is the vast sums of money it can make if Dodd-Frank is out of the way. If you took the greed out of Wall Street all you'd have left is pavement.
American Flint Glass Workers' Union, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 23, 2021
Worker Power For the past 40 years, this world has been dismantled. The voice of workers has been steadily drowned out in both the workplace and on the national political stage by the voice of big corporations.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Public Debt and Economic Growth By the end of World War II, the national debt was 120 percent of the entire economy. But by the mid-1950s, it was half that. Why did it shrink? Not because the nation stopped spending. "FDR's debt" shrank in proportion to the national economy because the national economy grew so fast.
Democrats versus Republicans, From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 6, 2014
The Six Principles of the New Populism (and the Establishment's Nightmare) Left and right-wing populists remain deeply divided over the role of government. Even so, the major fault line in American politics seems to be shifting, from Democrat versus Republican, to populist versus establishment -- those who think the game is rigged versus those who do the rigging.
Bernie Sanders, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 2, 2015
Why the Washington Post's Attack on Bernie Sanders is Bunk The move toward free public higher education that began in the 1950s with the G.I. Bill and was extended in the 1960s by leading public universities was reversed starting in the 1980s because of shrinking state budgets. Tuition has skyrocketed in recent years as states slashed education spending. It's time to resurrect that earlier goal.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 29, 2018
The American Social Contract No matter how discouraging things may seem right now -- regardless of the bigotry, cruelty, and greed that dominate our politics and corrupt our society -- it's important to remember the positive values we share and the social contract that binds us together.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The Truth About Obama's Tax Proposal (and the Lies the Regressives are Telling About It) Don't fall for these big lies -- Obama wants to extend the Bush tax cut "only for some people," small businesses will be badly hit, businesses won't hire because of uncertainty this proposal would create, or the Clinton-era tax levels crippled the economy. The truth is already a casualty of this election year. That's why it's so important for you to spread it.
From ImagesAttr
(9 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Cliff Notes on the Three Real Perils Ahead We can't avoid the fact we have the most expensive and least effective system of health care in the world that's spending 30 percent more on paperwork and administration than on keeping people healthy. The real healthcare cliff can only be avoided if we adopt a single-payer healthcare system.
$15 Minimum Wage Passed in Seattle!, From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 5, 2014
Seattle is Right The gains from a higher minimum wage extend beyond those who receive it. More money in the pockets of low-wage workers means more sales, especially in the locales they live in -- which in turn creates faster growth and more jobs. A major reason the current economic recovery is anemic is that so many Americans lack the purchasing power to get the economy moving again.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 3, 2012
Understanding the Fiscal Cliff Democrats -- You're in a strong bargaining position. If you do nothing, the Bush tax cuts automatically expire in January, and we go back to rates during Clinton administration. Which isn't such a bad thing. As I recall we had a pretty good economy during the Clinton years.
People protest during oral arguments in the case of McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission at the US Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., The case tests the Constitutional limits of campaign finance laws involving contributions to candidates and politica, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 3, 2014
McCutcheon, and the Vicious Cycle of Concentrated Wealth and Political Power In America of the late nineteenth century, the lackeys of robber barons literally deposited sacks of money on the desks of pliant legislators, prompting the great jurist Louis Brandeis to note that the nation had a choice: "We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth in the hands of a few," he said. "But we cannot have both."
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, June 2, 2012
The Job Stall Corporate profits are healthy largely because companies have found ways to keep payrolls down -- substituting lower-paid contract workers, outsourcing abroad, using computers and new software applications. But that's exactly the problem. In paring their payrolls, they're paring their customers.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 14, 2013
Having the Backbone to Set Minimum Standards for Health Insurance Spineless Democrats (including my old boss Bill Clinton) are caving in to the Republican-fueled outrage that the President "misled" Americans into thinking they could keep their old lousy policies -- and are now urging the White House to forget the new standards and let people keep what they had before.
Comcast has agreed to purchase Time-Warner cable. This merger will bring together the two largest cable companies in the country., From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 17, 2014
Antitrust in the New Gilded Age When two such media giants merge, the threat is extreme. If film-makers, television producers, directors, and news organizations have to rely on Comcast to get their content to the public, Comcast is able to exercise a stranglehold on what Americans see and hear. Is this good for consumers -- for democracy?
Look who's buying American Democracy., From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Look Who's Buying American Democracy How much more evidence do we need that our system is in crisis? How long before we make it work for all of us instead of a handful at the top? We must not let them buy our democracy. We must get big money out of politics. Publicly-finance political campaigns, disclose all sources of campaign funds, and reverse "Citizens United."
Trumpism resurging, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, September 12, 2020
The reason Trump could still win Here's what people are telling pollsters. First, they figure that before the pandemic, the economy was really strong. Second, they say it's unfair to blame Trump for the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, because that could've happened to any president. Both of those arguments are seriously flawed, and we need to make sure that Americans know the truth before it's too late.
President Trump Visits the New Border Wall in Calexico, California., From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 13, 2019
Trump's immigration moves are straight from the dictator's playbook When he's not accusing Democrats of being socialists, Trump is rallying his followers around the supposed mob at the gates. At a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he claimed migrants are coached by lawyers to say "I'm very afraid for my life" although they look as strong as "the heavyweight champion of the world."
Facebook & Whatsapp, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 21, 2014
Inequality, Productivity, and WhatsApp Productivity keeps growing, as do corporate profits. But jobs and wages are not growing. Unless we figure out how to bring all of them back into line -- or spread the gains more widely -- our economy cannot generate enough demand to sustain itself, and our society cannot maintain enough cohesion to keep us together.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 26, 2010
Why Boehner's Blaming Bureaucrats All Republicans want to do is to privatize Social Security, extend the Bush tax cuts to the richest 3 percent of Americans, and deregulate. But none of this seems particularly relevant to the task at hand.
Huge Wal-Mart Protests, From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, June 1, 2014
Freedom Summer II The firm says it can't afford to give its workers a raise or better hours and working conditions. Baloney. Walmart is America's biggest retailer. Its policies are pulling every other major retailer into the same race to the bottom. If Walmart halted the race, the race would stop. This week, Walmart employees will go on strike in dozens of cities.
Happy Holidays!, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 18, 2015
How To Deal With Your Uncle Bob How to deal with your right-wing relatives during the holidays.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, August 6, 2013
The Three Biggest Lies about Why Corporate Taxes Should Be Lowered Corporations want corporate tax reduction to be the centerpiece of "tax reform" come the fall. The President has already signaled a willingness to sign on in return for more infrastructure investment. But the arguments for corporate tax reduction are specious.
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 14, 2011
How to Create More Jobs By Lowering Wages: Texas and America Conservative economists say Americans have priced themselves out of the global high-tech labor market. That's baloney. The productivity of American workers continues to soar. The problem is fewer and fewer Americans are sharing the gains. The ratio of corporate profits to wages is the highest it's been since before the Great Depression.
Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump - Caricatures, From FlickrPhotos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 10, 2016
Winning by Destroying: Trump and Gingrich Trump is the extreme, but his candidacy is the logical culmination of years of win-at-any-cost politics. If any public official is responsible for starting us down this bleak road, it's Newt Gingrich -- reputedly on the short-list for becoming Trump's vice president. The Trump bandwagon is taking us down the road to tyranny.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 6, 2011
Why Washington Should Pay Attention to the Economy Here and Now Washington would rather fight over the long-term budget, spending caps, taxes, and trigger mechanisms than do something about the pain most Americans are experiencing today. But the here-and-now economy is the most important thing on Americans' minds.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 14, 2011
Why Mitch McConnell Will Win the Day The compromise allows Republicans to vote against raising the debt limit without bearing the horrendous consequences of a government default. No budget cuts. No tax increases. No clear plan for deficit reduction. Nada. The entire, huge, mind-boggling, wildly partisan, intensely ideological, grandly theatrical, game of chicken miraculously vanishes.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tonight's Republican Debate: The 19th Century or the Stone Age? Some Democrats are quietly rooting for Perry or Bachmann, on the theory that they're so extreme that they'll bolster Obama's chances for a second term and make it easier for congressional Democrats to scare Independents into voting for a Democratic House and maybe even Senate. I understand the logic but I'd rather not take the chance.
From ImagesAttr
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 11, 2013
What We Need Now: A National Economic Strategy For Better Jobs There's no magic bullet for regaining good jobs and no precise contours to what such a national economic strategy might be, but at the very least we should be having a robust discussion about it. Instead, economic determinists seem to have joined up with the free-market ideologues in preventing such a conversation from even beginning.
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 9, 2020
The Real Threat to Law and Order Trump knows he has to distract the nation from the pandemic he has failed to control -- leaving more than 188,000 Americans dead as of September 8, tens of millions jobless, and at least 30 million reportedly hungry. So he's mounting a tried-and-true law and order campaign.
April 2014 Federal Reserve's steps toward removing USA economy from life support., From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 5, 2014
Today’s Jobs Report and the Supreme Court’s "McCutcheon" Debacle Most companies continue to shed workers, cut wages, and horde their cash because they don't have enough customers to warrant expansion. Why? The vast middle class and poor don't have enough purchasing power, as 95 percent of the economy's gains go to the top 1 percent.
Most wanted terrorists., From WikimediaPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 11, 2021
Accountability for the Attempted Coup Last week' rampage left five dead, including a Capitol Hill police officer who was injured when he tangled with the pro-Trump mob. We're fortunate the carnage wasn't greater.
NCLB -- Unintended Consequences, From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 25, 2014
Back to School, and to Widening Inequality The achievement gap between poor kids and wealthy kids isn't mainly about race. In fact, the racial achievement gap has been narrowing. It's a reflection of the nation's widening gulf between poor and wealthy families. And also about how schools in poor and rich communities are financed, and the nation's increasing residential segregation by income. Schools in lower-income areas have fewer resources than ever.
Hillary Clinton, From ImagesAttr
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 30, 2014
Hillary's Hardest Choice (and the Democrat's Dilemma) As the middle class shrinks and distrust of the establishment grows, a new Democratic strategy for the downwardly mobile may be both necessary and inevitable. If she runs, Hillary may have to take the gamble. And if America is to have half a chance of saving the middle class and preserving equal opportunity, it's a gamble worth taking.
From commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boss_Tweed,_Thomas_Nast.jpg: Boss Tweed, Thomas Nast--Hillary and Bill Clinton (together)ate the new--and deadlier--Boss Tweed., From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 7, 2015
A Crisis of Public Morality, Not Private Morality The final blow to public morality came when a majority of the Supreme Court decided corporations and wealthy individuals have a right under the First Amendment to spend whatever they wish on elections. Public morality can't be legislated but it can be encouraged. Glass-Steagall must be resurrected. Big banks have to be broken up.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 9, 2015
What I Learned on My Red State Book Tour Many of the conservative Republicans and Tea Partiers I met agreed with much of what I had to say, and I agreed with them. For example, most condemned what they called "crony capitalism," by which they mean big corporations getting sweetheart deals from the government because of lobbying and campaign contributions.
GOP Hypocrisy, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 19, 2020
The Public, the Personal, and the Utter Hypocrisy of the GOP Trump and many Republicans insist that the decisions whether to wear a mask, go to a bar or gym, or work or attend school during a pandemic should be personal. They also insist that what a woman does with her own body or whether same-sex couples can marry should be decided by government.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The Difference Between Private and Public Morality There is moral rot in America but it's not found in the private behavior of ordinary people. It's located in the public behavior of people who control our economy and are turning our democracy into a financial slush pump. It's found in Wall Street fraud, exorbitant pay of top executives, financial conflicts of interest, insider trading, and the outright bribery of public officials through unlimited campaign "donations."
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 9, 2013
Pragmatists, Ideologues, and Inequality in America he real ideologue is Christie, who vetoed an increase in the minimum wage in New Jersey. The current minimum of $7.25 is far lower than it was three decades ago in terms of purchasing power, and the typical minimum-wage worker is no longer a teenager but a major breadwinner for his or her family.
(11 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Greece's Choice -- And Ours: Democracy Or Finance? Wall Street has prospered but the rest of the nation hasn't. One out of four homeowners is underwater, owing more on their homes than the homes are worth. So which is it? Rule by democracy or by financial markets? Based on what's happened in America, I'd choose the former.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Moody's in a Mood The real problem isn't the deficit per se. It's the deficit in proportion to the size of the economy. Cutting too much too soon will tip the economy into recession because it would reduce overall demand for goods and services when private demand falls way short of what's needed. And if the economy goes into recession and begins to shrink, the ratio of deficit to the economy gets worse.
Occupy Wall Street Protest, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 2, 2015
The Rigging of the American Market As long as the big corporations, Wall Street banks, their top executives and wealthy shareholders have the political power to do so, they'll keep redistributing much of the nation's income upward to themselves. Which is why the rest of us must gain political power to stop the collusion, bust up the monopolies, and put an end to the rigging of the American market.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 17, 2011
How Austerity Is Ushering in a Global Recession When growth is slowing so dramatically and unemployment is already high, monetary policy can't possibly do it alone. Fiscal austerity is the wrong medicine at the wrong time.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Obama's Jobs Plan: Will it be Policy Miniatures or Give em Hell? At exactly the same time the President is laying out his jobs plan next Wednesday night, Republican presidential hopefuls will be holding their first big debate. The winner will be the one who comes off as the toughest fighter for average Americans. And the winner of the 2012 presidential election will be the person who comes off as the toughest fighter for average Americans.
American flag and vintage clock with calendar showing 2020 election date, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 4, 2020
FAQs About What's Ahead Trump will claim fraudulent mail-in ballots in any swing state with a Republican governor or legislature. He'll tell them not to certify Biden electors until fraudulent ballots are weeded out.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Questions that are Unlikely to be Asked Wednesday Night Debate tonight! And here are some questions that should -- but probably will NOT be asked...
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 4, 2012
America's Jobs Deficit, and Why It's Still More Important than the Budget Deficit When they're not blaming Obama for a bad economy, Republicans are decrying the federal budget deficit and demanding more cuts. But America's jobs deficit continues to be a much larger problem than the budget deficit.
(7 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 4, 2011
The Individual Mandate in the Health Care Bill: Why We Should Trade Broccoli and Asparagus for Hot Dogs and Apple Pie If the individual mandate to buy private health insurance gets struck down by the Supreme Court or killed off by Congress, I'd recommend President Obama immediately propose what he should have proposed in the beginning -- universal health care based on Medicare for all, financed by payroll taxes.
How The Most Corrupt Judges Rise To The Supreme Court, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Packing the Supreme Court Immigrant and the states they're in would have fewer representatives in Congress. The Census count determines the distribution of congressional seats among states. Under the Constitution, these seats depend on the total number of people residing in the state, not just citizens. Which is the real reason for this move by the Trump administration.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, June 13, 2011
The Swamp of Washington and the Morass of the Economy Americans are scared, with reason. We're in a vicious cycle in which lower wages and net job losses and high debt are causing consumers to cut their spending -- which is causing businesses to cut back on hiring and reduce pay. There's no way out of this morass without bold leadership from Washington to rekindle consumer demand.
The Supreme Court, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, June 22, 2018
The Trump Takeover of the Courts Even though much of his legislative agenda has stalled in Congress, Trump is nominating and getting Senate confirmation of judges to the federal bench much faster than previous presidents. Fortunately, not all of them have been confirmed. But by the end of his first term Trump could end up filling over 20 percent of the judges in the federal courts.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 30, 2020
Trump's Failed Coronavirus Response Part 2 America has suffered the worst rate of coronavirus deaths among all advanced countries -- a death toll equal to 9/11 every three days. And, as a recent Cornell study confirmed, Trump's blatant disinformation has been the largest driver of COVID misinformation in the world.
Bernie Sanders, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, January 30, 2016
The Post's Wrong-headed Attack on Bernie Sanders's Health Plan We can debate specific numbers, but the Post's unstated assumption -- that the quality of health care received by Americans is superior to the quality received by, say, Canadians, from their single-payer, mostly publicly-funded system -- is not borne out by evidence.
Shopping Cart Internet, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 2, 2013
The True Price of Great Holiday Deals Online retailing is the future. Technology and globalization are taking over more and more American jobs. There's no easy fix for this, and it's hardly the President's fault. But the sobering reality is the United States has no national strategy for creating more good jobs in America. Until we do, more and more Americans will be chasing great deals that come largely at their own expense.
Bernie Sanders, From YouTubeVideos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 19, 2016
Why Bernie's Proposals Would Spur Economic Growth Failure to take action on the biggest banks, a single-payer plan, widening inequality, and discrimination will almost certainly harm the economy. We can't afford another near-meltdown of Wall Street. Health care costs continue to be a huge drain on the economy. Widening inequality is robbing the vast middle class of the purchasing power it needs to keep the economy growing.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Trump's Final Days: Who Stood Up to Him? Tragically, most Senate and House Republicans are failing the test by refusing to stand up to Trump. Their cowardice is a devastating betrayal of public trust, and will have lasting consequences.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The Morality Brigade Conservative moralists don't want women to have control over their bodies or same-sex couples to marry, but they don't give a hoot about billionaires taking over our democracy for personal gain or big bankers taking over our economy. Where is the morality brigade when it comes to these moves to take over our democracy? Among the worst violators of public morality have been executives and traders on Wall Street.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 9, 2020
How You Can Stop America's Slide Toward Tyranny Without a shred of evidence, Trump claims that mail-in ballots are rife with fraud. Rubbish. Mail-in ballots, also called absentee ballots, have been used for years across America. They have proven safe and secure.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 10, 2011
Trigger Happy: Why Deficit Cuts Should Be Triggered Only When Unemployment Reaches 5 Percent We need to do more spending now in order to bring back jobs and growth, then do less spending in the future -- after the economy is once again generating jobs and growth. That's why it make more sense for Democrats to propose a deficit reduction plan that goes into effect only when jobs are back. The trigger should be the rate of unemployment -- and a 5 percent rate would signal we're back on track.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Why the GOP Can't Learn The GOP's national role will be primarily negative -- seeking to block, delay, and filibuster measures that will eventually become the law of the land in any event, while simultaneously preaching "states' rights" and praying for conservative majorities on the Supreme Court. In other words, more of the same.
Education and Jobs, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 1, 2014
Back to College, the Only Gateway to the Middle Class We can do far better than we're doing now. Too often in modern America, we equate "equal opportunity" with an opportunity to get a four-year liberal arts degree. It should mean an opportunity to learn what's necessary to get a good job.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Why We Must Fight the Attack on Planned Parenthood Public investments in family planning -- enabling women to plan, delay, or avoid pregnancy -- make economic sense, because reproductive rights are also productive rights. When women have control over their lives, they can contribute even more to the economy, better break the glass ceiling, equalize the pay gap, and much more.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Obama's Deal with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce I debated a conservative economist who argued American workers had priced themselves out of the global labor market and would therefore have to settle for lower real wages and benefits before they'd be hired back in large numbers.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 18, 2012
Obama is Back Romney was as combative as in the first debate, but our newly-invigorated president made Romney's combativeness look like that of a child in a tantrum rather than a principled adult with facts and detailed proposals to support his position.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The Dis-Uniting of America Being wealthy in modern America means you don't come across anyone who isn't, and being poor and lower-middle class means you're surrounded by others who are just as hard up. Upward mobility -- the old notion that anyone can make it with enough guts and gumption -- is less of a reality.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, October 15, 2020
Vote NO On CA Prop 22: Reject This Corporate Power Grab Prop 22 would allow companies like Uber and Lyft to continue to misclassify employees as independent contractors, and eliminate the rights of millions of other workers -- who'd no longer be entitled to unemployment insurance, overtime, sick leave, protections against discrimination and sexual harrassment, or the right to collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions. Vote NO!
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, July 9, 2010
The Vanishing American Consumer and the Coming Trade War When the world's productive capacities exceed the buying power of the world's consumers, every government wants to increase exports and discourage imports. That spells trade war.
Democrats, From FlickrPhotos
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 8, 2016
Why We Must Try We must get big money out of our democracy, end crony capitalism, and make our economy and democracy work for the many, not just the few. But change on this scale requires political mobilization. It has never been easy. It will require the energies and commitments of large numbers of Americans. Which is why you shouldn't listen to the "we-must-not-try" brigade. They've lost faith in the rest of us.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, June 14, 2012
A Back Door to the Public Option In striking down the least popular part of Obamacare -- the individual mandate -- the Court will inevitably bring into question one of its most popular parts -- coverage of pre-existing conditions. And in so doing, open alternative ways to maintain that coverage -- including ideas, like the public option, that were rejected in favor of the mandate.
Bay Area or Mars? Smoke and ash-filtered sunlight is creating a brownish-orange glow over the Bay Area., From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 13, 2020
Trump doesn't care if wildfires destroy the west - it didn't vote for him Like the coronavirus, the dire consequences of climate change -- coupled with Trump's utter malfeasance -- offer unambiguous proof that he couldn't care less about the public good.
Stunning Gap In Wealth Between Whites & Blacks, From YouTubeVideos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Why Is The Racial Wealth Gap Widening? And What Should Be Done To Reverse It? Families of color are especially disadvantaged because they're less likely to have savings or inherit wealth, and face significant barriers to building wealth, such as discriminatory policies and practices that thwart home ownership. These structural disadvantages have built up to the point where the median net worth of white families is now more than 10 times greater than that of African-American or Latino families.
People's Parties, From FlickrPhotos
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 22, 2016
How the People's Party Prevailed in 2020 Politics abhors a vacuum. In 2019, the People's Party filled it. Its platform called for getting big money out of politics, ending "crony capitalism," abolishing corporate welfare, stopping the revolving door between government and the private sector, and busting up the big Wall Street banks and corporate monopolies.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 19, 2013
The Meaning of a Decent Society The supply-side, trickle-down, market-fundamentalist views that took root in America in the early 1980s got us fundamentally off track. To get back to the kind of shared prosperity and upward mobility we once considered normal will require another era of fundamental reform, of both our economy and our democracy.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 25, 2019
The Case for Environmental Justice You often hear that reversing climate change will mean fewer jobs, especially for the poor and working class the very people who are bearing the biggest burden from climate change. But it's not true. Clean energy powered by wind, or solar cells, or water is growing fast, even as the old fossil-fuel industries decline, and generate fewer jobs.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 12, 2013
Raw Deal About the only good thing that can be said about the budget deal just patched together by House Republican budget chair Paul Ryan and Senate Democratic budget chair Patty Murray is that the right-wing Heritage Foundation and the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity oppose it.
Measles outbreak coincides with low rates of immunization, From YouTubeVideos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 5, 2019
Getting a measles vaccination isn't a personal choice -- it's a social responsibility Measles travels through the air. The virus can live for hours after an infected person has coughed or sneezed. The core issue here is the common good. If enough people are vaccinated, everyone benefits. But if enough people decide to opt out of vaccinations, for whatever reason, they put everyone at a higher risk of contracting disease.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The Economic Challenge Ahead: More Jobs and Growth, Not Deficit Reduction We're still having the wrong discussion. It shouldn't be how to cut the budget deficit. It should be how to bring back good jobs and economic growth. Deficit hawks and government-haters are still framing the debate. That bodes ill for all of us.
Robert Reich, From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 23, 2015
#11. Why Medicare Isn't The Problem -- It's The Solution Medicare is more efficient than private health insurers whose administrative costs and advertising and marketing expenses are eating up billions of dollars each year. If more Americans were allowed to join Medicare, it could become more efficient by using its growing bargaining power to get lower drug prices, lower hospital bills, and healthier people.
From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Why Republicans are Disciplined and Democrats Aren't For the past five years of the Obama administration Republicans have marched in lockstep to oppose just about everything Obama and the Democrats have proposed. Yet the Democrats rarely march together. Recently, for example, 22 Democrats in the House joined every Republican in voting to delay the individual mandate in Obamacare.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 9, 2020
4 Key Takeaways from the Harris-Pence VP Debate The Vice Presidential debate didn't have the fireworks of the first presidential debate but Pence's lies were just as egregious as Trump's. The only honest thing about Pence last night was the fly on his head.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 3, 2013
What Immigration Reform Could Mean for American Workers, and Why the AFL-CIO Is Embracing It The real median wage of Americans is already 8 percent below what it was in 2000. The median pay of jobs created during this recovery is less than the median of the jobs lost in the downturn. One way to reverse this trend is enable these workers to join together in unions, and demand better pay and working conditions. And one strategy for accomplishing this is for the unions to embrace immigration reform and organize like mad.
A documentary film directed by Jacob Kornbluth that examines widening income inequality, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Why Widening Inequality is Hobbling Equal Opportunity America's savage inequality is the main reason equal opportunity is fading and poverty is growing. Since the "recovery" began, 95% of the gains have gone to the top 1 percent, and median incomes have dropped. This is a continuation of the trend we've seen for decades.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, November 13, 2010
The Failure of the G-20 Summit It's always nice to talk about international cooperation, and to create global photo ops. But the truth is much more needs to be done to ease tensions that are moving the global economy closer to the brink of outright protectionism.
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 1, 2011
Ransom Paid Added to the cuts already underway by state and local governments, the deal's spending cuts increase the odds of a double-dip recession. And the deal strengthens the political hand of the radical right.
Robert Reich, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 23, 2015
#12: Most Important Of All -- Get Big Money Out Of Politics At the rate we're going, the 2016 election is likely to be the most expensive in history -- and the moneyed interests will be responsible for most of it. Our democracy is broken, and we must fix it. Easy to say, but how do we do it?
How Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death impacts the election., From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, September 24, 2020
For RBG it was all Principle, for Mitch McConnell it's all Power People in public life tend to fall into one of two broad categories -- those who are motivated by principle, and those motivated by power. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday night at the age of 87, exemplified the first. People in public life tend to fall into one of two broad categories -- those who are motivated by principle, and those motivated by power.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, May 20, 2011
Why We Need to Rein In Government Contractors That Use Taxpayer Money for Political Advantage President Obama is mulling an executive order to force big government contractors to disclose details of their political spending. Big businesses are already telling their political patrons in Congress to oppose it -- and the pressure is building.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 6, 2013
What Tuesday's Election Results Really Mean A few decades ago McAuliffe would be viewed as a right-wing Democrat and Christie as a right-wing Republican. Both garnered their major support from corporate America, and both will reliably govern as fiscal conservatives who won't raise taxes on the wealthy. Both look moderate only by contrast with the Tea Partiers to their extreme right.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, March 2, 2012
Bye Bye American Pie: The Challenge of the Productivity Revolution Many of the gains are distributed narrowly in the form of profits to owners, and fat compensation packages to the "talent." The share of the gains going to everyone else in the form of wages and salaries has been shrinking. It's now the smallest since the government began keeping track in 1947. If the trend continues, inequality will become ever more extreme.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The Republican's Social-Darwinist Budget Plan Cuts would come out of food stamps, Pell grants to offset the college tuition of kids from poor families, and scores of other programs that now help middle-income and the poor. The plan also calls for repealing Obama's health-care overhaul, thereby eliminating healthcare for 30 million Americans and allowing insurers to discriminate against (and drop from coverage) people with pre-existing conditions.
Go Make A Difference, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 1, 2015
Out with 2014, In with 2015, and Up with People Turnout in the 2014 midterm elections was the lowest in decades. This is exactly what the moneyed interests want. If we give up on politics we give up on democracy, and they can take over all of it. Never underestimate what we can, and will, accomplish together. Organizing. Mobilizing. Energizing. Making a ruckus.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 9, 2011
Two Cheers and One Jeer for the American Jobs Act Why did the President include so many tax cuts, and why didn't he make his proposal sufficiently large to make a real impact on jobs and growth? Because he crafted it in order to appeal to Republicans. To get it enacted, he needs their votes. The President would have done better with a plan that was big enough to make a real difference. And then, when Republicans rejected it, campaign on it.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 5, 2015
Paul Ryan's 7 Terrible Ideas The new Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, summed up his House Republican agenda -- vowing to pursue legislation that would frame a stark choice for voters in 2016. "Our No. 1 goal for the next year is to put together a complete alternative to the left's agenda," he said. Despite the speech's sweeping oratory and careful stagecraft, Ryan clings to seven dumb ideas that will only help the rich.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 8, 2011
Slouching Toward a Double Dip, For No Good Reason The most important aspect of policy making is getting the problem right. We are slouching toward a double dip because we're getting the problem wrong. Despite what Standard & Poor's says, notwithstanding what's occurring in Europe, and regardless of U.S. budget projections years from now -- our current crisis is jobs, wages, and growth. We do not now have a debt crisis.
From ImagesAttr
(8 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 13, 2014
How the Right Wing is Killing Women Some American women are dying during pregnancy and childbirth from health problems they had before they became pregnant but worsened because of the pregnancies -- such as diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease. Researchers aren't sure what's happening but they're almost unanimous in pointing to a lack of access to health care, coupled with rising levels of poverty.
Obama's overtime pay proposal, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Overtime: Finally, A Break For The Middle Class Corporate profits have doubled over the last three decades -- from about 6% of GDP to about 12% -- while wages have fallen by almost exactly the same amount. The erosion of overtime and other labor protections is one of the main factors worsening inequality. A higher overtime threshold will help reverse this trend. Finally, a bit of good news for hard-working Americans.
GOP Top Three Clowns, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, November 18, 2015
The Perils of Circus Politics Political parties used to sift through possible candidates and winnow the field. Now the parties play almost no role. Anyone with some very wealthy friends can set up a Super PAC. Or if you're a billionaire, you can finance your own campaign. If you're sufficiently outrageous and outspoken, a lot of your publicity will be free. Since Trump announced his candidacy last June, he hasn't spent any money at all on TV advertising.
Donald Trump, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Who Wins from Trump's Final Travesty? Leave it to Trump and his Republican allies to spend more energy fighting non-existent voter fraud than containing a virus that has killed 244,000 Americans and counting. The cost of this misplaced attention is incalculable. While COVID-19 surges to record levels, there's still no national strategy for equipment, stay at home orders, mask mandates or disaster relief.
Hope for freedom, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, November 23, 2015
Five Prerequisites for War Against ISIS As we move toward war against ISIS, we must be vigilant -- to fairly allocate the burdens of who's called on to fight the war, to protect civil liberties, to protect innocent civilians abroad, to avoid hate and bigotry, and to fairly distribute the cost of paying for war. These aren't just worthy aims. They are also the foundations of our nation's strength.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Five Responses to Climate Change Deniers At this point, anyone who denies climate change is either willfully ignorant or complicit in protecting fossil fuel profits over the safety and security of our children and grandchildren.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 15, 2012
Memo to the President: Your Next Debate Be indignant, but measured and steady -- as you naturally are. Practice your closing (your last closing was listless) so the nation can see clearly the choice: We're all in it together, or we're on our own.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 17, 2016
Tell Your Senators to Do Their Job The Constitution doesn't give the Senate leader the right to delay and obstruct the rest of the Senate from voting on a President's nominee. Yet this is what the current Republican leadership argues. In refusing to vote or even hold a hearing on the President's nominee to the Supreme Court, the GOP is abdicating its constitutional responsibility. It's not doing its job.
Anti-Donald Trump .liar.., From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 15, 2020
Debunking Trump's Post-Election Lies Even though Joe Biden won the highest percentage of the popular vote for any challenger since FDR in 1932, the Trump campaign is fighting in courtrooms across the country in a desperate attempt to overturn the results.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, September 7, 2012
The Jobs Report and the Election President Obama's speech to the Democratic National Convention was long on uplifting rhetoric but short on specifics for what he'll do if reelected to reignite the American economy. We have more jobs today than we did at the trough of the Great Recession in 2009. But the recovery has been anemic -- and it appears to be slowing. We're better off than we were then, but we're not as well off as we need to be by a long shot.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 3, 2013
Today, an Anniversary of America's First Progressive Revolution Exactly a century ago, on February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, authorizing a federal income tax. Congress turned it into a graduated tax, based on "capacity to pay."
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, October 18, 2013
What to Expect During the Cease-Fire Our real economic problem continues to be a dearth of good jobs along with widening inequality. Cutting the budget deficit may make both worse, by reducing total demand for goods and services and eliminating programs that lower-income Americans depend on. The President has now scored a significant victory over extremist Republicans. But the fight will continue. He mustn't relinquish ground during the upcoming cease-fire.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 31, 2016
Why Mainstream Media Disses Bernie because the major media depend on the wealthy and powerful for revenues, because their reporters and columnists rely on the establishment for news and access, because their top media personalities socialize with the rich and powerful and are themselves rich and powerful... hemselves part of the establishment, the major media have come to see much of America through the eyes of the establishment
Marco Rubio, From FlickrPhotos
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, February 27, 2016
10 Reasons Marco Rubio is no Moderate Marco Rubio is being positioned as a moderate alternative to Ted Cruz or Donald Trump. Baloney. His positions are extreme right. Although elected to the Senate as a Tea Party favorite, he's now the establishment's favorite Republican.
Economists had cautioned against reading too much into the report because of the shutdown, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 9, 2014
Why the Lousy Jobs Report Boosted Wall Street What's bad for Main Street and good for Wall Street in the short term is bad for both in the long term. The American economy is at a crawl. Median household incomes are dropping. The American middle class doesn't have the purchasing power to keep the economy going. And as companies focus ever more on short-term share prices at the expense of long-term growth, we're in for years of sluggish performance.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 26, 2012
Healthcare Jujitsu Compared to private insurance, Medicare is a great deal. Its administrative costs are only around 3 percent, while the administrative costs of private insurers eat up 30 to 40 percent of premiums. So why not Medicare for all? Because Republicans have mastered the art of political jujitsu. Their strategy has been to demonize government and privatize everything that might otherwise be a public program financed by tax dollars.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 22, 2013
The Triumph of the Right The central issue of our time is the reality of widening inequality of income and wealth. Everything else -- the government shutdown, the fight over the debt ceiling, the continuing negotiations over the budget deficit -- is a dangerous distraction. The Right's success in generating this distraction is its greatest, and most insidious, triumph.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 6, 2019
What's the Real American Story? America's true story shouldn't end with Trump's authoritarianism and nativism. An end that's far truer to America's ideals is a reinvigorated democracy. This will require a benevolent community free from the crony capitalists who have corrupted America. That chapter is up to us.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, July 7, 2012
The Jobs Doldrums and Obama's Future No matter how low the Fed keeps interest rates, it doesn't matter between now and Election Day. Companies won't borrow to expand if they don't see enough consumers out there demanding their products. Consumers won't spend if they're worried about their jobs and paychecks. And consumers won't borrow (or be able to borrow) if they don't have the means.
Mitch McConnell, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 15, 2019
How McConnell is Killing the Senate Recently McConnell used his Republican majority to cut the time for debating Trump's court appointees from 30 hours to two, thereby enabling Republicans to ram through even more Trump judges. In truth, McConnell doesn't give a fig about the Senate, or about democracy. He cares only about partisan wins.
From ImagesAttr
(6 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Will Tim Geithner Lead Us Over or Around the Fiscal Cliff? If "pragmatic deal maker," as the Journal describes Geithner, means someone who believes any deal with Republicans is better than no deal, and deficit reduction is more important than job creation, we could be in for a difficult December.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Why the Democrats Should Never Have Started Paying Ransom to Avoid a Shutdown Compromising over budget cuts this year isn't just unfair in terms of who will be hurt the most. It also compromises the fragile recovery, and puts the entire economy at risk. The White House should never have started paying ransom. Once ransom starts, there's no end to it.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Why Obama Should Be Attacking Casino Capitalism -- Both Romney's Bain and JPMorgan Obama has to come out swinging about JPMorgan. The JPMorgan Chase debacle would have been prevented if the Volcker Rule were sufficiently strict, prohibiting banks from using commercial deposits to make bets except very specific offsetting bets (hedges) on narrow classes of trades. Bain Capital and JPMorgan are parts of the same problem. The President should be leading the charge against both.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, March 11, 2013
Ryan's Regressiveness Redux Austerity economics -- of which Ryan's upcoming budget is the most extreme version -- is a cruel hoax. Cruel because it hurts most those who are already hurting; a hoax because it doesn't work. The entire framework is based on the false analogy that the federal budget is akin to a family's budget.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 14, 2013
The Contest Over the Real Economic Problem Republicans want Americans to believe government budgets are like family budgets that must be balanced because the analogy helps their ideological aim to "drown the government in a bathtub," in the memorable words of their guru, Grover Norquist. As long as there's a debt and balance is the goal, shrinkage is the only option -- if tax increases are ruled out.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 20, 2013
Global Capital and the Nation State Google, Amazon, Starbucks, every other major corporation, and every big Wall Street bank, are sheltering as much of their US profits abroad as they can, while telling Washington that lower corporate taxes are necessary in order to keep the US "competitive." Baloney. The fact is, global corporations have no allegiance to any country; their only objective is to make as much money as possible.
Donald Trump Has Cheated His Way Through His Entire Life. It is no secret that Donald Trump likes to cheat., From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 7, 2019
How Trump is Killing Capitalism Big money has had an inhibiting effect on regulators in several previous administrations. What's unique under Trump is the blatancy of it all, and the shameless willingness of Trump appointees to turn a blind eye to corporate wrongdoing. Unless a better balance is achieved, capitalism as we know it won't survive.
Alma Mater, my nourishing mother, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, September 13, 2015
Ranking Colleges U.S. News relegates to lower rankings public universities that admit most of the young Americans from poor families who attend college, and which graduate far larger percentages of teachers, social workers, legal aide attorneys, community organizers, and public servants than do the private elite colleges.
Donald Trump, From CreativeCommonsPhoto
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, November 15, 2020
Trump's refusal to concede is just the latest gambit to please Republican donors Leave it to Trump and his Republican allies to spend more energy fighting non-existent voter fraud than containing a virus that has killed 244,000 Americans and counting.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Why Republicans Worry About Hurting Corporate Feelings In the upside-down world of regressive Republicanism, Senator McConnell thinks proposed legislation requiring companies to disclose their campaign spending would stifle their free speech. He describes the current push to disclose the sources behind campaign contributions as a "political weapon," used by the Democrats, "to expose its critics to harassment and intimidation."
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Where are the Voices of Republican Senators Who Still Care About Democratic Institutions? Why is it that Republicans who do want our governing institutions and processes to remain strong don't stand up to the fanatics? What happened to Hatch and McCain, or to Lamar Alexander, Susan Collins, and Lindsay Graham? Are they so frightened of losing to a fanatic in the next primary that they've been silenced into submission?
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Obama's Address to the Nation: A Missed Opportunity to Tell It Like It Is I'm a fan of Barack Obama. I campaigned for him and I believe in him. I think he has a first-class temperament. I have been deeply moved and startled by his ability to speak about the nation's most intractable problems. But he failed tonight to rise to the occasion.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 16, 2013
Pyromaniacs on the Potomac: The Problem With Obama's Second Term Obama is allowing the fires to dominate because he has not defined his core agenda. During the 2012 campaign it appeared to be restoring jobs, rebuilding the middle class, and reversing the scourge of widening inequality. Since then, though, the core has evaporated -- leaving him and his administration vulnerable to every pyromaniac on the Potomac.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The Real Battle in 2012 and Beyond It's not merely Republicans versus Democrats, or conservatives versus liberals. The larger battle is between regressives and progressives. The upcoming election is critical but it's not the end of this contest. It will go on for years. It will require that you understand what's at stake. And that you energize, mobilize, and organize others.
Air Pollution, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, June 10, 2015
#9 -- Make Polluters Pay Us We've invested more than $6 trillion in fossil fuels since 2007. The money has been laundered through our savings and tax dollars. This has got to be reversed. We can clean our environment and strengthen the economy if we (1) divest from carbon polluters, (2) make the polluters pay a price to pollute, and (3) then collect the money.
(5 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 18, 2011
The President's Bold Jobs Bill (Maybe) Faster growth means a more manageable debt in the long term. Which means the President could tie this (or any other jobs bill of similar magnitude) to an even more ambitious long-term debt-reduction plan than he's already proposed. A bold jobs bill is good politics and good policy.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, February 1, 2013
The Jobs Report, and Why the Recovery Has Stalled The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that American employers added only 157,000 jobs in January. That's fewer than they added in December (196,000 jobs, as revised by the Bureau of Labor Statistics). The overall unemployment rate remains stuck at 7.9 percent, just about where it's been since September.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 8, 2013
The Stealth Sequester The sequester is just starting. The sheer scale of it is guaranteed to make it far more apparent in coming months. Some 140,000 low-income families will lose their housing vouchers, for example. Entire communities that depend mainly on defense-related industries or facilities will take major hits. If you thought March's job numbers were disappointing, just wait.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Ryan the Redistributionist Ryan's budget plan also runs counter to the new Republican thematic. Not only does it turn Medicare into vouchers ("premium support" in Republican-speak) whose value can't possibly keep up with rising healthcare costs but it also dramatically reduces spending on education, infrastructure, and much else the middle class depends on.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 24, 2011
The State of the Union: What the President Should Say This is the heart of our problem. Most Americans no longer have the purchasing power to get the economy moving again. Once the debt bubble burst, they were stranded.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, November 29, 2012
Bungee-Jumping Over the Fiscal Cliff Rather than stoking middle-class fears about the cliff, the White House ought to be doing the opposite -- reassuring most Americans they can survive the fall. Obama needs to convince Republicans that the middle class is willing to jump. The legislation would operate like a bungee cord -- snapping the middle class back from the abyss of paying an extra $2,200 in taxes next year, even as the wealthy go over the cliff.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 21, 2013
Selling the Store: Why Democrats Shouldn't Put Social Security and Medicare on the Table Needy children should be getting far more help, better pre-school care, better nutrition. Seniors need better healthcare coverage and more Social Security. All Americans need better schools and improved infrastructure. The richest nation in the history of the world should be able to respond to the legitimate needs of all its citizens.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Bi-Partisanship We Don't Need: The President Offers to Cut Social Security and Republicans Agree The President's predilection for negotiating with himself is not new. But his willingness to do it with Social Security, the government's most popular program -- which Democrats have protected from Republican assaults for almost 80 years -- doesn't bode well.
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 4, 2011
The Big Lie Instead of telling the truth, Obama has legitimized the Big Lie by freezing non-defense discretionary spending, freezing federal pay, touting his deficit commission co-chairs' recommended $3 of spending cuts for every dollar of tax increase, and agreeing to extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, December 17, 2012
Remember the Children It seems as if every major interest has political clout -- except children. They can't vote. They don't make major campaign donations. They can't hire fleets of lobbyists. Yet they're America's future. Their parents and grandparents care, of course, as do many other private citizens. But we're no match for the entrenched interests that dominate American politics.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 5, 2013
The Big Stall It's likely Americans are beginning to feel the pinches of January's hike in the payroll tax combined with the government budget cuts known as the sequester. Increases in gas prices haven't helped. All are taking money out of the pockets of most people -- whose job situation remains precarious. So they can't and won't buy much.
Leaders?, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, October 25, 2015
On Leaders and Demagogues A leader brings out the best in his followers. A demagogue brings out the worst. Leaders inspire tolerance. Demagogues incite hate. Leaders empower the powerless; they give them voice and respect. Demagogues scapegoat the powerless; they use scapegoating as a means to fortify their power. Leaders calm peoples' irrational fears. Demagogues exploit them.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, April 4, 2013
What's The "Chained CPI"? The White House and prominent Democrats are talking about reducing future Social Security payments by using a formula for adjusting for inflation that's stingier than the current one. It's called the "Chained CPI." Why are Democrats even suggesting the inflation adjustment be reduced? Republicans aren't asking for it. Not even Paul Ryan's draconian budget includes it.
Bernie Sanders, From FlickrPhotos
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 2, 2016
It Takes a Movement "The real world we're living in" right now won't allow fundamental change of the sort we need. It takes a movement. Such a movement is at the heart of the Sanders campaign. The passion that's fueling it isn't really about Bernie Sanders. Had Elizabeth Warren run, the same passion would be there for her. It's about standing up to the moneyed interests and restoring our democracy.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 2, 2013
A Story for May Day: The Fed, Apple, and Trickle-Down Economics Little or nothing is trickling down. The average American can't borrow at nearly the low rates Apple or any other big company can. Most Americans no longer have a credit rating that allows them to borrow much of anything. The reason big companies aren't creating more jobs is consumers aren't buying enough to justify the expansion. Corporations are borrowing simply in order to push stock prices up and reward their investors.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, May 12, 2013
Working Mother's Day In 1966, only 20 percent of mothers with young children worked outside the home. By the late 1990s, 60 percent. For married women with children under age 6, the transformation was even more dramatic: from 12 percent in the 1960s to 55 percent by the late 1990s.
NYC Rally To Raise The Minimum Wage, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, October 19, 2015
The Morality of a $15 Minimum Across America, workers at fast-food and big-box retail establishments are striking for $15. Some cities are already moving toward this goal. Bernie Sanders is advocating it. A national movement is growing for a $15 an hour minimum. Even if a $15 an hour minimum wage risks job losses, it is still the right thing to do.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, April 15, 2013
Why This is the Worst Recovery on Record Widening inequality is not inevitable. If we wanted to reverse it and restore middle-class prosperity, we could. But none of this will happen until the public understands why widening inequality is so damaging. Even the rich would do better with a smaller share of a rapidly-growing economy than a large share of one that's barely growing at all.
Berkeley vs. Big Soda campaign to pass a tax on sugary drinks, From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, September 8, 2014
Berkeley vs. Big Soda Times have changed. Four years ago the Supreme Court decided corporations were people under the First Amendment, entitled to their own freedom of speech. Since then, Big Soda has poured a fortune into defeating ballot initiatives to tax or regulate sugared drinks.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Patriotism July 4, 2012 When you hear people talk about patriotism, be warned. They may mean securing the nation's borders, not securing our society. Within those borders, each of us is on our own. These people don't want a government that actively works for all our citizens. Yet true patriotism isn't mainly about excluding outsiders seen as our common adversaries. It's about coming together for the common good.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The GOP Ticket in 2012: Romney-Rubio You can forget the caucuses and early primaries. Mitt Romney will be the nominee. Republicans may be stupid but the GOP isn't about to commit suicide. The other candidates are all weighed down by enough baggage to keep a 747 on the tarmac indefinitely.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, March 10, 2012
The Precarious Jobs Recovery How can consumers be sufficiently better off when their major asset has shrunk so much and when so few of the economic gains are going to them? This is the central paradox at the heart of the American economy today. If it's not resolved, the jobs recovery will stall, as it did last spring.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 30, 2013
Reframing The Debate The means of most Americans haven't kept up with what the economy could and should provide. The economy is twice as large as it was three decades ago, and yet the typical American is earning about the same, adjusted for inflation. All the gains have been going to the top.
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 7, 2021
Defeating McConnell: The Real Stakes of the Georgia Runoffs Mitch McConnell is the most duplicitous, morally bankrupt politician in America. (Well, maybe Trump beats him, but not for long.) He has wielded the GOP to inflict massive damage on our democracy.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, April 27, 2013
Earth to Washington: Repeal the Sequester The recovery continues to be wildly lopsided. The only thing really keeping it going is the rip-roaring stock market. But the stock market only boosts the wealth of the richest 10 percent of Americans, who own 90 percent of stocks (including 401-K retirement accounts). But no economy can maintain momentum just on the spending of the richest 10 percent.
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 26, 2011
The President Ignored the Elephant in the Room The President's failure to address the decoupling of American corporate profits from American jobs, and explain specifically what he'll do to get jobs back, not only risks making his grand plans for reviving the nation's "competitiveness" seem somewhat beside the point but also cedes to Republicans the dominant narrative.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Why Consumers are Bummed Out Business news is buoyant. The stock market is bullish. The housing market seems to have rebounded a bit. So why are consumers so glum? Because they're deeply worried about their jobs and their incomes -- as they have every right to be. The job situation is still lousy. More than 20 million people are still unemployed or underemployed.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Why Growth Is Good Growth doesn't depend on plunder. Rich nations have the capacity to extract resources responsibly. That they don't is a measure of their irresponsibility and the weakness of international law.
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Stop Voter Suppression We need to move to the next stage of voting rights -- a new Voting Rights Act -- that renews the law that was effectively repealed by the conservative activists on the Supreme Court. Voting isn't a privilege. It's a right. And that right is too important to be left to partisan politics. We must not allow anyone's votes to be taken away.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Connecting Entitlement Reform to Immigration Reform There aren't enough jobs right now even for Americans who want and need them. But once the American economy recovers, there will be. Take a long-term view and most new immigrants to the U.S. will be working for many decades. Immigration reform is already on the national agenda, but we've been focusing on only one aspect of it -- how to deal with undocumented workers.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 13, 2012
Why the Fed's Jobs Program Will Fail Consumers don't have additional money. The median wage keeps dropping, adjusted for inflation. Most of the new jobs in the economy pay less than the jobs they replaced. Corporate profits are taking a higher share of the total economy than they have since World War II, but wages are taking the smallest share since then
SHARE More Sharing        Monday, January 9, 2012
How a Little Bit of Good Economic News Can Be Bad for the President If all the potential workers who have dropped out of the job market over the past two years were counted, today's unemployment rate wouldn't be 8.5 percent. It would be 9.5 percent. That's only a bit down from the 9.9 percent unemployment rate two years ago. This will be bad for the President because it will look as though the trend is in the wrong direction again.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, May 27, 2013
Lessons from the World of Tax Avoidance: How Nations Can Negotiate With Global Capital Global companies are not interested in raising living standards in a particular country or improving any nation's competitiveness. Their singular goal is to maximize returns to their investors. Not only does money move immediately to wherever it can summon the highest return and be subject to the least tax, but jobs can be dispatched almost as quickly to wherever workers get the lowest wages for the most output.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, January 20, 2011
The Real Economic Lesson China Could Teach Us The prosperity of America's big businesses has become disconnected from the prosperity of most Americans. Republicans say the answer is to reduce the size and scope of government. China is eating our lunch. Why? It has a national economic strategy designed to create more and better jobs. We have global corporations designed to make money for shareholders.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, October 26, 2010
After the Midterms There is no "center" to American politics. The "center" is merely what most people tell pollsters they think or want at any given time. Trying to move to the center by following polls means giving up on leadership because you can't lead people to where they already are.
SHARE More Sharing        Saturday, December 11, 2010
Why Democrats Should Disregard Bill Clinton's Endorsement of Obama's Tax Deal The Democratic Party can no longer ignore critical investments in the productivity of average workers. Nor can it ignore the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the very top, and the inability of America's middle and working class to get the economy moving again.
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, February 11, 2013
Why We Need an Investment Budget The only way to ensure private investors will continue to invest in America, and support the high living standards we want, is for Americans to be highly productive. This requires public investments in education, infrastructure, and basic R&D to keep us productive and make us even more productive in the future.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Tim Geithner and the Wall Street Bailout Redux The bailout helped the banks but did little or nothing for the tens of millions of Americans who lost billions of dollars in home equity and savings, and the millions more who lost their jobs. The toll was greatest on the poor and the middle class, who still haven't recovered their losses, even though Wall Street has fully recovered (and then some).
From ImagesAttr
(4 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The Triumph of Progressivism: Graduation 2013 and 1968 We have just begun. Widening inequality, a shrinking middle class, global warming, the corruption of our democracy by big money -- all of these, and more, must be addressed. To make progress on these -- and to prevent ourselves from slipping backwards -- will require no less steadfastness, intelligence, and patience than was necessitated before.
SHARE More Sharing        Friday, April 2, 2010
The Fed in Hot Water The Fed has a big problem. It acts in secret. That makes it an odd duck in a democracy. As long as it's merely setting interest rates, its secrecy and political independence can be justified. But once it departs from that role and begins putting billions of dollars of taxpayer money at risk -- choosing winners and losers in the capitalist system -- its legitimacy is questionable.
Donald Trump, From YouTubeVideos
SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, April 28, 2019
In fighting all oversight, Trump has made his most dictatorial move No questioning a Trump adviser about immigration policy. No questioning a former White House security director about issuances of security clearances. No presidential tax returns to the ways and means committee, even though a 1920s law specifically authorizes the committee to get them. Such a blanket edict fits a dictator of a banana republic, not the president of a constitutional republic founded on separation of powers.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 26, 2012
The Man Who Invented "Too Big to Fail" Banks Finally Recants. Will Obama or Romney Follow? Citigroup was bailed out in 2008, as was much of the rest of the Street, but that didn't alter the business model in any fundamental way. The Street neutered the Dodd-Frank act that was supposed to stop the gambling. JPMorgan, headed by one of Weill's proteges, Jamie Dimon, just lost $5.8 billion on some risky bets. Dimon continues to claim that giant banks like his can be managed so as to avoid any risk to taxpayers.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, August 29, 2013
Breakfast With My Mentor Those who have wealth and power and privilege don't want equal opportunity. It's too threatening to them.They'll pretend equal opportunity already exists, and that anyone who doesn't make it in America must be lazy or stupid or otherwise undeserving.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Why A Civil Society Extends Unemployment Benefits A record number of Americans are unemployed for a record length of time. This is a national tragedy. It is to the nation's credit that many are receiving unemployment benefits. This is good not only for them and their families but also for the economy as a whole, because it allows them to spend and thereby keep others in jobs.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, December 7, 2012
Today's Job Numbers Show Why Job-Creation Must Take Precedence Over Deficit Reduction The reason the economy is still under-performing is overall demand is inadequate. Businesses won't create more jobs without enough customers. But consumers can't and won't spend because they don't have the money. Unless or until the private sector -- businesses and consumers -- are able to boost the economy, government must be the spender of last resort.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, May 29, 2013
A Time for Harry Reid's Backbone Harry Reid punted on changing the filibuster rules, but he could -- and in my view now should -- propose changing them for judicial appointments, which he can accomplish with the votes of 51 senators. Reid is not known for his strong backbone, but here's an instance where he owes his backbone to posterity. You might even write to him and tell him so.
SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Stocks Up, Houses Down, And What This Means for Most Americans Don't be fooled. The American economy isn't back. While Wall Street's bull market is making America's rich even richer, most Americans continue to be mired in a worsening housing crisis that the Administration is incapable of stemming, and of which Wall Street has now seemingly washed its hands.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Monday, August 26, 2013
Trimmings for Labor Day It would not be a tragedy if some of these shareholder returns and compensation packages had to be trimmed in order that low-wage workers at McDonald's, KFC, and Walmart got a raise. Indeed, if this nation is to reverse the scourge of widening inequality, such a trimming is necessary.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Sunday, February 10, 2013
Coming Tuesday (Hopefully): The State of the Union's Economy Obama's focus should be on the joblessness, falling real wages, economic insecurity, and widening inequality that continue to dog the nation. These are the overriding concerns of most Americans. All will grow worse if the deficit hawks, austerity mavens, trickle-down charlatans, and government-haters who have commanded center stage for too long continue to get their way.
From ImagesAttr
(2 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, July 4, 2013
The GOP's Endless War on Obamacare, and the White House Delay The longer the Affordable Care Act is delayed, the more time Republicans have to demonize it before average Americans receive its benefits and understand its importance. The GOP raged against Social Security in 1935 and made war on Medicare in 1965. But in each case Americans soon realized how critical they were to their economic security, and refused to listen.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Excluding Outsiders or Coming Together for the Common Good: What's the True Meaning of Patriotism? The GOP's highest-ranking member of Congress said his "number one aim" is to unseat President Obama. For more than three years congressional Republicans have marched in lockstep, determined to do just that. They couldn't care less if they mangle our government in pursuit of their partisan aims. Senate Republicans have used the filibuster more frequently in this Congress than in any congress in history.
From ImagesAttr
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Wednesday, January 2, 2013
The Ongoing War: After the Battle Over the Cliff, the Battle Over the Debt Ceiling Apart from the military, Medicare and Social Security account for almost everything else the federal government does -- and these programs continue to be hugely popular, as Republicans learn every time they threaten them. The animus toward government has more to do with the growing frustrations of many Americans that they're not getting ahead no matter how hard they work.
(1 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, December 9, 2010
Why the Tax Deal Confirms the Republican Worldview Obama's new tax compromise is not only bad economics; it's also disastrous from the standpoint of educating the public about what has happened and what needs to happen in the future. It reinforces the Republican story and makes mincemeat out of the truthful one Democrats should be telling.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Friday, January 4, 2013
Why Jobs Must Be Our Goal Now, Not Deficit Reduction We're a very long way from the job growth we need to get out of the gravitational pull of the Great Recession. That would be at least 300,000 new jobs per month. All of which means job growth and wage growth should be the central focus of economic policy, not deficit reduction.
From ImagesAttr
(3 comments) SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, March 22, 2012
Why Mitt Won't Be Able to Hide From His Primary Self (We're No Longer In An Etch-A-Sketch World) Ever since Mitt left the governor's office, he's been twisting the right knob, moving downward into the muck of regressive Republicanism in pursuit of the Republican nomination. It won't be nearly as easy for Mitt to "shake it up and start all over again" for the general election of 2012, should he get the nomination. Try as he might, Romney won't be able to twist the knobs and create a brand new picture.
From ImagesAttr
SHARE More Sharing        Thursday, May 9, 2013
Sexual Assaults and Nuclear Missiles: What's the Matter With the Military? Further steps will be taken to prevent one of our missiles from accidentally causing a nuclear holocaust. But I hope the Air Force does a better job remedying this problem than it's done preventing sexual assaults.

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