Robert Reich: Too many Democrats inside and outside the Beltway have ingested the deficit cool-aide that the “serious people” on Wall Street have serving for two decades.
Why Jobs Trump Deficit Reduction
By
Robert Reich: Friday’s jobs report shows an economy that’s still moving in the right direction but way too slowly, which is why Washington’s continuing obsession with the federal budget deficit is insane. Jobs and growth must come first.
Stop Obsessing About the Budget Deficit
By
Robert Reich: I wish President Obama and the Democrats would explain to the nation that the federal budget deficit isn’t the nation’s major economic problem and deficit reduction shouldn’t be our major goal.
President Obama: Aim High on Grand Bargain
By
Robert Reich: I hope the President starts negotiations over a “grand bargain” for deficit reduction by aiming high. After all, he won the election.
Democrats Hold Upper Hand As Fiscal Cliff Approaches
By
Robert Reich: Democrats want a deal that raises taxes only on America’s wealthy and doesn’t substantially alter Medicare, and Social Security — which is the opposite of what Republicans want.
Why Democrats Are Winning
By
Brent Budowsky: MDemocrats are attuned to the tectonic plate of American politics in 2012. Rightist- dominated Republicans, who have offended too many voters on too many issues and demonized even moderates in their own party, are at war with it.
Obama & the Democrats Sending Mixed Messages about the Catfood Commission
By
Carl Bloice: The words of a party’s platform and the declarations of its candidate don’t mean much in the real world of political wheeling and dealing.
What European Elections Should Teach Obama
By
Randy Shaw: Europe’s lesson is that Obama should far more aggressively promote public investment, job creation, and other economically populist – and popular – measures.
Social Darwinism or a Decent Society
By
Robert Reich: The Romney-Ryan plan, by the way, is the most radical reverse-Robin Hood proposal propounded by any political party in modern America.
“Bipartisan” Plotters Targeting Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid
By
Carl Bloice: Several Democrats said during the day that the presentation had the support of a majority of the six Democrats on the panel, leaving the impression that at least one, and possibly two, of the party’s lawmakers had not signed on — possibly Becerra and Clyburn.
Occupy Movement, Labor on Collision Course with Obama
By
Randy Shaw: If President Obama and fellow Democrats agree to a deficit reduction deal that cuts Medicare, Social Security, and other programs serving the 99%, expect an electoral calamity for Democrats in 2012.
The Oddness of the President’s Upcoming Deficit-Reduction Plan
By
Robert Reich: When unemployment is still in the stratosphere, it would be insane to start cutting the deficit by $3 trillion to $4 trillion. That would push unemployment into outer space.
Super Committee to the Rescue
By
The recent debt ceiling negotiation wrestling match resulted in the United States losing its AAA credit rating and also resulted in the creation of a new committee. The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as the Supercommittee or Super Congress, was created by the Budget Control Act of 2011 on August 2.
Ransom Paid
By
Robert Reich: Anyone who characterizes the deal between the President, Democratic, and Republican leaders as a victory for the American people over partisanship understands neither economics nor politics.
The Biggest Driver in the Deficit Battle: Standard & Poor’s
By
Robert Reich: Standard & Poor’s insists any deal must also contain a credible, bipartisan plan to reduce the nation’s long-term budget deficit by $4 trillion — something neither Harry Reid’s nor John Boehner’s plans do.
What “Shared Sacrifice” Means
By
Carl Bloice: All across the country social services, which largely benefit lower income women, men and children are being cut back and people who made them function are being added to the ranks of the unemployed.
Deficit Reduction Versus Democracy
By
Shamus Cooke: Listening to Congress debate deficit deduction is like listening to a den of lions discuss the welfare of zebras. In both cases the debate is very one-sided.
Why Mitch McConnell Will Win the Day
By
Robert Reich: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s compromise on the debt ceiling is a win for the President disguised as a win for Republicans. But it really just kicks the can down the road past the 2012 election – which is what almost every sane politician in Washington wants to happen in any event.
Beware the “Middle Ground” of the Great Budget Debate
By
Robert Reich: If people knew that the Ryan plan would channel hundreds of billions of their Medicare dollars into the pockets of private for-profit heath insurers, almost everyone would be against it.
Why Obama’s Proposal Is Risky
By
Robert Reich: 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.
Pelosi’s Path to Victory
By
Brent Budowsky: The president’s budget and congressional responses will have a revolutionary impact on American politics that will either cement the total domination of the right and humiliation of progressives in the battle of ideas, or pave the way for House Dems to restore Democratic control in 2012.
Barbara Lee: We Need to Convince Obama to Campaign Against War
By
Tom Hayden: President Obama needs to be convinced to “shift his political calculus” and campaign in 2012 “on a platform of ending the war in Afghanistan,” Rep. Barbara Lee told representatives of several peace organizations in a conference call on Dec. 10.
Evolution Continues
By
Ron Wolff: Species typically become extinct as a result of failure to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Homo sapiens may be the first species not only to have caused its own destruction but to have had the power to see it coming — and failed to heed the warning signs.
The Fight to Save Social Security Begins Now
By
Shamus Cooke: Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission attacks Social Security and Medicare. The retirement age would be raised from 67 to 68 (for those born after 1959) and from 68 to 69 (for those born after 2006). But current retirees will be affected too. The social security cost of living adjustment will be unhinged from the inflation index, meaning, payments will decrease via inflation.
Watch “Deficit Hawks” Rush to Defend Pentagon Bloat
By
Randy Shaw: The Republican Party and Democratic so-called “deficit hawks” attack any proposed defense cuts as “job killers.” Yet this alliance refused to save the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers, and have backed tax and spending policies that have cost the nation millions of jobs in recent years.
Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, and Herbert Hoover
By
Robert Reich: Both Greenspan and Rubin are deficit hawks. So was Herbert Hoover and so was Hoover’s Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon. And look what Hoover and Mellon got us into. When we least need him, Hoover is being exhumed.
A Grand Fourth
By
Ron Wolff: FDR spoke about “four essential freedoms” on January 6, 1941, naming 1) freedom of speech and expression; 2) freedom of every person to worship in his own way; 3) freedom from want; and 4) freedom from fear — which he explained was related to a reduction of armaments and the lack of physical aggression against any other country in the world.
PCL offers monthly Open House Events on the 2nd Saturday at 2pm and 3rd Thursday at 6pm. Click here to learn more.
Recent Comments