Connect

So yesterday I looked on the bright side of the Senate's clean energy bill and proclaimed my delight that there is such a thing. Though naturally, this is not the whole story. more »

More »»

“Hundreds of job-creating projects are still on hold because Michigan businesses and entrepreneurs cannot get bank financing. We can break the credit crunch and beat Wall Street at their own game by keeping our money right here in Michigan and investing it to retool our economy and create jobs.” more »

More »»

The other day I wrote about the huge impact from California's Toyota NUMMI plant closing,

Toyota takes off with a ton of cash, we pay the costs, it's the way the system is set up -- by us. more »

More »»

The Wall Street Journal says the U.S. is “wrong” to protest China’s “fixed yuan-dollar rate.” Their explanation is that many countries adopt a fixed rate, so as to ensure market stability. China is no different… more »

More »»

Recently we wrote that Sen. Chris Dodd's draft financial reform bill would create a "cumbersome bureaucracy." That wasn't an endorsement of a conservative talking point: The operative word was "cumbersome." The Right likes to use the word "bureaucracy" as an epithet, but the primary definition of bureaucracy is "a body of nonelective government officials." So what's the biggest bureaucracy in the world? The Pentagon.

Conservatives agree that we need a smart, efficient, well-run military "bureaucracy" to provide for the nation's defense, even though they wouldn't use that word. Shouldn't we demand the same kind of lean, mean efficiency from our "first line of defense" against financial disaster? more »

More »»

Coalition Commends Inclusion of College Access and Affordability Measures in H.R. 4872

Robert Brandon, Coordinator of the Campaign for College Affordability, released the following statement in response to the unveiling of H.R. more »

More »»

Rep. Alan Grayson has written a letter calling for the release of all documents and materials contained on AIG's internal servers. His idea deserves support. US taxpayers rescued AIG and own a majority (79.9%) of its shares. Serious questions remain about the payment of money AIG allegedly owed "counterparties" like Goldman Sachs: Why did the US government indirectly pay 100 cents on the dollar to these counterparties for debts from a broken company? Were the amounts claimed by these counterparties legitimate or inflated? Was there an attempt to negotiate the amounts down - and if not, why not?

There are other legitimate and important areas of inquiry, too: Why were large bonuses paid out, presumably to the same people that ruined the company and cost the taxpayers billions? Was there a secret deal to ensure that these bonuses were paid? Did regulators and auditors perform their functions adequately? Rep. Grayson quotes fraud investigators Bill Black, Eliot Spitzer, and Frank Portnoy as saying that "a thousand journalistic flowers can bloom" once these materials are released. They're right.

The public has a right to know. These materials should be released.

The full text of Rep. Grayson's letter is below. more »

More »»

Tricky auto loans didn't cause the financial meltdown on Wall Street. Unscrupulous payday lenders didn't cost taxpayers a $700 billion "troubled asset" bailout.

more »

More »»

Brad Johnson at the Wonk Room went through and compared the leaked Kerry-Graham-Lieberman Clean Energy Bil to the Waxman-Markey version passed by the House and President Obama's proposed plan. more »

More »»

The CBO now says health reform will cut the Federal deficit by $138 billion That's a win for the bill's backers, and should make it tougher for self-described 'fiscal conservatives' in the Democratic Party to vote against this bill. (No, let's re-frame that as a positive statement: It will make it easier for Conservadems to embrace this bill.) Now what's left is a battle between two clear political philosophies on the left and right: The principled but pragmatic progressivism embodied by Dennis Kucinich, or the nihilistic fury and self-interest that's best represented by Ann Coulter. Since both Coulder and Kucinich had a lot to say about health reform this week, it's worth taking a moment to compare and contrast their philosophies. more »

More »»

China's currency manipulation is a worldwide problem, not just a job-killer here.

U.S. Ambassador Calls China’s Currency Stance ‘a Real Concern’, more »

More »»

Not long ago, the most prominent supporters of the public option were touting it as essential for healthcare reform. more »

More »»

When President Obama asked a group of senior executives for suggestions on streamlining government, it's unlikely that any of them suggested layers of new bureaucracy, vague marching orders, or management by committee. Yet Sen. more »

More »»

Wage theft has become more common in the downturn, the best the country's top economic policy makers can say about the job situation is that they don't "expect substantial further declines in unemployment thi more »

More »»

The Chinese currency manipulation issue continues to make news.

Economist Paul Krugman lays out the stakes,

China is in effect imposing an anti-stimulus of that magnitude — which plausibly means 1.5 percent of GDP. This is not a small issue.

more »

More »»

What personality types rule America today as the chosen representatives of the super-rich?

The intellectuals - who like sitting still and being quiet anyway, so don't mind that patriotism today is judged by how many hours you can spend at a desk. Throw any kind of academic work at them and pay them enough, and they won't pay attention to what you're doing with the world. more »

More »»