Shamus Cooke: Corporations are on a public-sector union mopping up mission, using the city, state, and federal budget deficits as an excuse to target public sector unions.
A Nation of Cliff-Dwellers
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John Peeler: In the midst of a massive recession, the conservative argument for balancing the budget by cutting government spending is manifestly perverse.
Will Dems Tax Rich to Avoid Fiscal Cliff?
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Shamus Cooke: Literally the day after the election a sudden “urgency” gripped the nation: the imminent danger of the so-called “fiscal cliff” — the national automatic tax increases and spending cuts due in January.
Ideology and Politics
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Steve Hochstadt: onsiderable pressure has been brought on Republicans at the federal level to make ideological promises which exclude political compromise. The most notable is the Taxpayer Protection Pledge not to raise taxes ever on anyone, promoted by Grover Norquist.
Democrats Hold Upper Hand As Fiscal Cliff Approaches
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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.
Capitalism’s Two-Step Survival Plan: Austerity and Structural Reform
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Shamus Cooke: The coast is clear, the media tells us; economic disaster has been averted. The Euro Zone is finally stable and the U.S. economy is recovering. Whew! Why, then, are government policies internationally still pursuing extremist measures?
Paul Krugman Heading to White House Job?
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Charley James: Reports surfaced today that Nobel Prize Winning economist Dr. Paul Krugman will be offered the job of chairman for the White House Council of Economic Advisors.
Why Do Political Elites All Hate Democracy?
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Heather Gautney: We need to start pressing for things that our politicians did NOT discuss at the conventions. Real solutions–like universal education, debt forgiveness, wealth redistribution, and participatory political structures—that would empower us to decide together what’s best. Not who’s best.
Women & Latinos in 2012: Final Words
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Unai Montes-Irueste: In this election, Democrats and Republicans alike care deeply about the answers to these two questions: Are you a woman? Are you Latino?
Really Big Difference Between Democrats and Republicans
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Wayne Williams: Republicant’s along with fellow greedy and obscenely wealthy Libertarians and Corporatists, selfishly view the world as a ship of fools to dominate with fear-mongering.
No Julian Castro without Mother Rosie Castro
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Cynthia Orozco: Julian Castro is a rising star in the Democratic Party after his rousing keynote speech to the Democratic National Convention. But Castro’s presence on the podium would not have been possible without the political work of a generation of too-often-forgotten Hispanic women. One of those women was his mother, Rosie Castro.
Voter Suppression: One Man, One Picture ID?
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Vivian Rothstein: That was a fight we won, right? Not exactly. In 2011, more than 30 states introduced legislation to once again restrict the access of regular people to the voting process.
US Control of Haiti, Other Little Republics’ Vote at UN Not New
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Zili Danto: Maybe George Will intended to make the point that the US empire’s control of Haiti and other little republics’ vote at the UN is not new.
Of Champagne Corks and Gnashing Teeth
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Berry Craig: Ryan is a Social Darwinist of the if-you’re-poor-it’s-your-own-fault persuasion and a disciple of the greed-is-good gospel of Ayn Rand. He hates labor unions, to boot.
West Coast Unions Cave to Democrats
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Shamus Cooke: In California, the unions agreed to a rotten compromise, which taxes the rich at a lower rate while including an increase in the state sales tax that disproportionally affects working and poor people.
Army Officer’s Leaked Report Rips Afghan War Success Story
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Gareth Porter: “If the public had access to the classified reports,” Davis writes, “they would see the dramatic gulf between what is often said in public by our senior leaders and what is true behind the scenes.”
Uniting Occupy and Labor Over Health Care
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Shamus Cooke: In order to unite all working Americans into a powerful coalition, Medicare for All should be demanded, so that all Americans will see their interests reflected in the fight.
Supercommittee Sins
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Brent Budowsky: The sin of the supercommittee is that it has merely mirrored the old-think politics it was created to rise above.
Wanted: A President Who is Tougher Than Terrycloth
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Gil Troy: Presidential power also comes from the ability to reward and punish, to create careers and destroy others – demanding a ruthlessness in domestic politics Barack Obama has rarely displayed.
What Brings Democrats and Republicans Together: A White President?
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Anthony Samad: The rise of the Tea Party wouldn’t have taken place had we had a white president. Blink if you want to…but the fact this has not happened to any other President has raised my “Race-dar,” beyond anything ideological battles could muster. Race(ism) has not disappeared in this country. It’s just been codified.
The Biggest Driver in the Deficit Battle: Standard & Poor’s
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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.
Deficit Reduction Versus Democracy
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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.
The Rich Are Destroying the Economy
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Shamus Cooke: Because both parties simply threw money at the banks and hedge funds instead of punishing them, a condition of “moral hazard” was created, meaning, that banks would assume another bailout would come their way if they destroyed the economy again — too big too fail, remember?
The Fake Budget Debate
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Shamus Cooke: This two-party big lie is not an accident, but an expression of a deeper held belief: that the U.S. government must be directed to meet the needs of the super wealthy who own U.S. corporations.
A Disengaged Presidency
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Brent Budowsky: Obama’s political strategy is to position himself as the lofty leader above the fray, appealing to voters who tell pollsters that “we must work together” without risking his elevated image of possessing the hands-on executive leadership that is required to make hard decisions on tough issues in a divided government.
Obama Fights Fire with Gasoline
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Robert Reich: The President has to reframe the debate around the necessity of average families having enough to spend to get the economy moving again. He needs to remind America this is not 1995 but 2011 — and we’re still in a jobs crisis brought on by the bursting of a giant debt bubble and the implosion of total demand.
New Politics, Patriotic Capitalism
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Brent Budowsky: This is the first in a series of columns that will propose that progressive populist Democrats and conservative populist Republicans unite behind new economic policies that I will call patriotic capitalism.
General Shinseki Has a Dream
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Brent Bukowsky: Let’s begin a JFK moon-shot program to end homelessness among American veterans within five years, and end homelessness of any American within 10 years.
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