Mark Vorpahl: Between sequestration and the billions of cuts to social programs that Obama is pushing, it is evident that the economic policies of both major parties are not intended to promote a recovery for working people.
Write the Wrongs: Republicans and Democrats Unite for Former Governor Don Siegelman’s Clemency
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Ilene Proctor: Don Siegelman was once touted as a candidate for the 2004 presidential race then the Bush Administration indicted him
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.
George Will: Always Right, Occasionally Correct
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John Peeler: Obama, if he could free himself of the Wall Street crowd, is the likelier buyer of Will’s prescription of breaking up financial institutions that are “too big to fail”.
Romney: Get Thee to an Emergency Room
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Karen Finney: Romney finally told us how he would deal with the more than 48 million Americans without health insurance: Get thee to an emergency room!
Enlightened Economics: There Is an Alternative
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Mark Dempsey: One Modern Monetary Theory economist suggests sending each American household $50,000 to pay down debts, which would not only be cheaper than the $16-$29 trillion Wall Street bailout, it would bail out Main Street instead of the banks.
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.
Job Crisis Denial
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Shamus Cooke: Both parties are not talking about the fiscal cliff because they share the exact same solution: austerity -cuts to social programs, government layoffs, and other measures to make working people pay for the nation’s debt instead of the rich and corporations.
Rankism: The Poison That Destroys Relationships
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Robert Fuller: People are no longer willing to be treated like nobodies; they’re demanding to be treated like somebodies. Once people stand up for their dignity, it’s not long before they’re marching for justice.
Obama Boxes in Republicans on Immigration
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Victoria Defrancesco Soto: Romney needs some Latino support in swing states such as Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico and cannot come out in opposition to the president’s plan.
How Congressional Gridlock Wreaks Havoc on Our Streets
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Jackie Cornejo: While Republicans and Democrats are fighting each other tooth and nail on health care reform, Medicare, defense spending and almost everything else, nationwide our roads are crumbling. Literally.
For Progressives, Debt Ceiling “Deal” Was a Real Downer
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Joseph Palermo: The last-minute lobbying by the titans of industry and finance shows that President Obama might have had more leverage over the Republicans in the debt ceiling “negotiations” than he chose to exercise. We now breathlessly await the arrival of the “Super Committee,” the tragedy that follows the farce.
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?
Washington: Pay Attention to the Economy
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Robert Reich: Even for Americans with jobs, wages are going nowhere. Basically, the only employers hiring are paying peanuts. McDonalds just announced it would start hiring big time.
The Devil Is in the “Debt”
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Ira Chernus: When Republicans gather for their national convention in 2012, they’ll have to decide whether to imitate the Democrats of 1932 and focus on social issues — which are, to so many, issues of sin — or on the dollars and cents of the debt.
Every Man His Own Historian
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Stanley Kutler: The right’s twist of history to please its backers and fuel its agenda is a vigorous enterprise. Serious history, serious scholarship and serious discussion of facts and ideas are dismissed with tunnel vision.
The Fight to Save Social Security Begins Now
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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.
The GOP Is Blowing It
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Brent Budowsky: Every time a Republican predicts the GOP will win the Senate and 70 seats in the House, more Democrats become scared stiff and decide to vote, and more moderates worry about partisan gridlock and the arrogance of Republican power.
The Fight to Save Public Education
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Shamus Cooke: The first battle tactic against public education was to starve it. Politicians have consistently lowered taxes on corporations and the rich for the past three decades, thereby lowering state revenues that have created the budget crises in nearly every state. Consequently, public education is in a state of shell shock.
What the “I’m Mad-As-Hell” Party Could Do
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Robert Reich: Mad-as-hellers don’t trust big government. But they don’t trust big business and Wall Street, either. They especially hate it when big government gets together with big business and Wall Street – while at the same time Main Street is in shambles and millions of people are losing their jobs and homes.
Party’s Over: Time for Progressives to Jump Democrats’ Ship
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Ed Rampel: It’s time to dump and jump the sinking two-party ship of state and create a new progressive people’s party. If those well-meaning activists who’d wasted time and money supporting Obama, just so he could backstab them once he got in power, had expended that energy and money on creating a new genuinely pro-worker, pro-peace, pro-human rights, pro-gay rights, pro-single payer, pro-woman, pro-ethnic rights, anti-global warming, anti-Wall Street party, we’d be better off.
Tea Baggers and “Populist Anger”
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Berry Craig: The Tea Baggers have bought into Social Darwinism, the 19th century gospel of the rich and powerful that extolled the “free market” as almost divinely inspired. “God gave me my money,” Rockefeller said. Social Darwinists said if you’re poor and powerless, it’s your own fault. Some Tea Baggers feel that way about health care. “YOUR HEALTH YOUR PROBLEM,” said another sign at a Tea Bagger rally.
What I Learned at the Sarah Palin Rally Before They Threw Me Out!
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On Saturday, I went to Carson, California, to attend a rally for Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. For those who aren’t familiar with the city of Carson, it’s approximately 19 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. In the 2004 Presidential election, Carson, which had a population of just under 90,000, donated three times as [...]
Progressive Democrats of LA Votes NO on Schwarzenegger’s PROP 11 Redistricting
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by Linda Sutton – Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly to OPPOSE the Proposition 11 redistricting initiative on the November ballot. Their endorsement committee voted UNANIMOUSLY to recommend opposing it, because the complex measure will result in Republicans taking control of the redistricting agenda. This constitutional amendment would apply only to the state offices [...]
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Labor Must Choose Between Occupy and the Democrats
Shamus Cooke: The labor movement has a foot in both worlds; one in step with the Occupy Movement and the other with the Democrats, who are working to crush Occupy outright.