Another Reason to Love Congresswoman Giffords
In a letter sent yesterday to the members of the Super Committee, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords urged the twelve leaders to add Congressional salary cuts to any proposal they make to reduce the budget.
View ArticleSocial Security Does Not Contribute to the Deficit
All this Super Congress, deficit reduction talk obscures the simple fact that Social Security does not contribute to the deficit.Did I mention, Social Security does not contribute to the deficit? Well...
View ArticleThe Progressive Alternative
The United States faces a $15.6 trillion national debt -- a debt that was largely brought about over the last 10 years by Bush Administration policies which included two wars, huge tax breaks for the...
View ArticleTax Cut Argument Shows the Sorry State of American Democracy
Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.The Republicans want to portray themselves as "deficit hawks". They constantly maintain that slashing spending on the social safety net millions of Americans depend on...
View ArticleL.A. Times columnist calls BS on inside-the-beltway deficit-reduction common...
In a must-read editorial entitled Deficit Debate Driven by the Wealthy, Michael Hiltzik exposes the hypocrisy on the part of the Washington elite when it comes to reining in the national deficit. The...
View ArticleErskine Bowles to Mitt: "Um, No, It's Not"
President Obama has labeled his opponent's tax plan "Romney Hood," a scheme to benefit the rich with no positive effect on the deficit or debt. Gov. Romney countered by claiming, “my plan is very...
View ArticleNo, Mr. President, It Just Ain't Gonna Happen!
Who else thinks the President's speech didn't include any plans to create the 29 million full-time jobs for the dis-employed? Please raise your hand!About jobs he said:”We can help big factories and...
View ArticleLet's Be Fair to Romney Ryan
I don't normally write short diaries, but my point tonight is simple and straightforward. Please consider, below the squiggly thing.
View ArticleNo Plan B?
Bob Woodward's releasing a new book, so we are now seeing articles based on it. A few days back, The Washington Post published the ”Inside story of Obama’s struggle to keep Congress from controlling...
View ArticleAlan Grayson's Right; But He Misses the Larger Point
Alan Grayson's e-mail on Moody's warning that it might reduce the US's AAA rating, suggested that Moody's was either threatening a downgrade because it wants to get the Bush tax cuts for the rich...
View ArticlePromises for America
The polling since the conventions shows that Democrats are doing better than expected. President Obama now apparently has a clear lead over Mitt Romney. Democratic Party control of the Senate seems...
View ArticleThese Folks are Soooo Clever . . .
Last week, Reps. Michael Honda, Keith Ellison, Raul Grijalva, Jan Schakowsky, John Conyers, Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey stalwarts of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) begged for mercy from...
View ArticleThe #ShrinkingDeficit Proves the #ShrinkingUnemployment Numbers are True
The issue of Fear. Uncertainty & Doubt that has arisen in the wake of recent Good News On Jobs was discussed on Meet The Press today.Shown was a clip of Jack Welch, who lit this particular brush...
View ArticleEverything they say we are, THEY are
Mitt Romney noted in the first Presidential debate that “you’re [] not entitled… to your own facts”. While he is right on that point, his comment raises a very important hidden issue. As noted in my...
View ArticleCall it the Fiscal Bluff
As we have learned from many fights before, using the language and framing of our opponents when communicating with voters plays perfectly into their hands. Unfortunately, it appears that the "Fiscal...
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Senator Conrad echoes call to take Social Security off the table
Sen. Kent Conrad, a cipher, and the man who hates Social Security. Senator Kent Conrad, outgoing chair of the Senate Budget Committee, makes the case for keeping Social Security out of any "Grand...
View ArticleAbout Those Dark Clouds in the Middle of the Silver Lining
Democrats seem to feel pretty positive about the recent election, as we mock the Republicans for their supposed state of denial and decay.But let me point out what looks like our own version of denial....
View ArticleSenator Bernie Sanders and his Deficit Reduction Plan
This blog is cross-posted at StewartAcuff.comIn our commitment to reduce obscene, ugly, and cruel inequality in the US, we have to look at tax policy. Today tax policy serves to widen the gap between...
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AR-Sen: Mark Pryor (D) To Host Twitter Town Hall Meeting On "Fiscal Cliff"...
Uploaded with ImageShack.usThis isn't so much a diary but more of an announcement. If you're a resident of Arkansas, Senator Mark Pryor (D. AR) will be holding a Town Hall Meeting via Twitter...
View ArticleACTION: Tell these Dems to Protect Safety Net
TalkingPointsMemo has an article listing the Dem Senators (who you helped elect) who are 'wavering' on protecting the Safety Net. Kossacks, contact these Senators!
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MI-Sen: Carl Levin (D), "Corporate tax hikes must be in debt deal"
I really hope U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D. MI) doesn't retire in 2014. If Washington D.C. is so hell bent on passing a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, it better include Levin's suggestion:...
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Social Security
Our philosophy of social insurance again arises out of the essential individualism of the American people. Our approach is that, within limits, the individual worker establishes the level to his...
View ArticleArmed guards & base police were at Fort Hood, TX
The Fort Hood shooting took place on November 5, 2009, at the most populous U.S. military installation in the world. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman, an army psychiatrist, killed 13...
View ArticleThe Best Deficit Reduction Program
Right now, as you read this, billions and billions and billions of dollars are being transferred from the hardworking middle class (and the poor) directly into the pockets of an increasingly entrenched...
View ArticleHow to replace sequester cuts and balance the budget with progressive tax...
The Center for American Progress publishes the best and most detailed suggestion for a Democratic starting position in the upcoming budget sequestration debate, I've seen so far, in Next Round of...
View ArticleCNBC confirms it: Higher taxes don't discourage spending by wealthy
Here is an article to keep handy for next time you're confronted with the argument that higher taxes on the wealthy will hurt the recovery by discouraging spending by the wealthy. And it comes from, of...
View ArticleAusterity on the Backs of the Elderly
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/...Paul Krugman on Friday:Sigh. So Obama is going with the “chained CPI” thing in his latest proposal — changing the price index used for Social Security cost...
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AK-Sen: The Protecting & Preserving Social Security Act Gets Praise On...
Senator Mark Begich (D. AK), author of the Protecting & Preserving Social Security Act of 2013.Ok, so I'm sure you've noticed that I haven't written about Senator Mark Begich (D. AK) lately. Well,...
View ArticleMake ‘em Prove the Causality before They Cause Any More Suffering: Part One,...
OK, austerity has always been about the causality. The people who are trying their best to get us to cut more and more spending, somewhat less than their best to get us to raise taxes, and who are...
View ArticleMake ‘em Prove the Causality before They Cause Any More Suffering: Part Two,...
In Part One, I asked whether the Carmen Reinhart/Kenneth Rogoff study and book didn’t show that, on average, nations experiencing debt-to-GDP ratios above 90% had negative rates of economic growth? And...
View ArticleMake ‘em Prove Cause before There's Any More Suffering: Part 3, Reinhart -...
This post is a more complete statement of my conclusions based on the analysis in Parts One and Two of this series. As I’ve explained in Part Two, there’s no reason in the Reinhart-Rogoff (R-R) data to...
View ArticleDon't Cut Entitlements, Do This Instead
The Huffington Postreports that the Center for American Progress ("a pillar of the Democratic establishment in Washington") is walking away from negotiations aimed at reaching a grand bargain in the...
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Inequality, Jobs and Congressional Malfeasance
A CNN network reporter has been asking the online public to pick the topics that we thought he should be covering for the rest of the year. The top pick as of last week was: “America’s widening gap...
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The American People Are Very "Unserious," Pew Poll Finds
A Pew poll released this morning shows that the American people are very "unserious." You see, they think that protecting Social Security, Medicare, and social welfare spending are more important than...
View ArticleProfessor Krugman's Nervous Tic?
Paul Krugman's recent post makes some good points about the myth of the undeserving poor. But does he have a nervous tic? When criticizing conservative economic views, doesn't he always seem to...
View ArticleFederal Deficit at Lowest Level Since 2008
From The New York Times:WASHINGTON — Closing the books on a fiscal year in which the federal budget deficit fell more sharply than in any year since the end of World War II, the Treasury Department...
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Ted Cruz v. The Facts: Obamacare, Jobs, Coverage & Costs (CHARTS)
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) attacking Obamacare this morning:Millions of people have lost their jobs, have lost their health care, have been forced into part-time work, have their premiums skyrocketing....
View ArticleAn Open Letter to Don Beyer, VA – 8th Candidate for Congress
(Author’s note: My apologies: this one’s about 6 times longer than the ideal 1000 word post. I just didn’t feel right about breaking it up into parts, however, because that lose the continuity. So,...
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Jobs Report: 8.8 Million Private-Sector Jobs Created in First 4 Years of...
With the release of today's jobs report for March 2014, we now have official data showing four full years of private-sector job growth under Obamacare. Since the President signed the law, a total of...
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Jobs Report: 9.8 Million Jobs Created in Private Sector Since Obamacare Passed
John Boehner, 2010:"I believe that the healthcare bill that was enacted by the current Congress will kill jobs in America."John Boehner, 2011:"This health care law ... is already destroying jobs in our...
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JOBS REPORT: Over 10 Million Jobs Created in the Private Sector Since...
"It will bankrupt our nation, and it will ruin our economy! ... This health care law ... is already destroying jobs in our country." - John Boehner, January 2011"We now know that Obamacare has been...
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Day After Obamacare/Jobs Milestone (+10Mil), GOP Renews Repeal Message
From the Department of Bad TimingWhat We Learned Yesterday:American businesses have added more than 10 million jobs since Obamacare was enacted .... This represents a dramatic turnaround from the 3.6...
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Priebus & McConnell Frame the 2014 Election; Democrats Should Accept the Gift
Republican Party Chair Reince Priebus, This Morning:What this election is going to come down to ... is ... whether these Democrat senators followed this president lockstep, in spite of the fact that...
View ArticlePaul Krugman Still Believes That “teh debt” Can Be a Problem for the U.S.
The deficit is now down to under 3% of GDP, and in contemplating that fact, Paul Krugman asks whythe deficit hawks aren't celebrating the precipitous fall from nearly 10% of GDP a few years ago. He...
View ArticleBeware of Policies and Legislation Based on Generational Accounting
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation (PGPF) and its allied army of associated deficit hawks want the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the General Accountability Office (GAO), and the Office of Management...
View ArticleReal Fiscal Responsibility, Vol 1: The Progressive Give-up Formula
Below is an excerpt from my most recent e-book:Real Fiscal Responsibility, Vol. I: The Progressive Give-up Formula. The book is volume I of II critiquing austerity politics at the Federal level in the...
View ArticleDonald Trump, Deficit Reduction, and Social Security
Donald Trump’s recently announced plan for deficit reduction would be a hammer blow to Social Security.Falling back hard on his own business experience, he suggested that the proper method to deal with...
View ArticleAmerica: Every GOP claim about the Obamacare economy was dead wrong, from...
Fact Check: More Jobs (+15.7M), Rising Middle-Class Incomes (+$3K), Lower Deficit (-2/3rds)That’s the true story of the Obamacare economy. But unless Democrats start speaking with one voice on the...
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15.9 Million Private-Sector Jobs Created in the Obamacare Economy (April 2010...
The Obamacare Economy has likely come to a close. Although the Affordable Care Act will continue to help tens of millions of people in 2017, and although it has established new baselines that...
View ArticleThe Obamacare Economy: 7 Years, 16 Million Jobs Created, Middle-Class Incomes...
We now have 7 full years of economic data since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA or “Obamacare”). So, as Republicans in Washington continue their relentless assault on the ACA, it’s...
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