Talking Point

Retirement with Dignity

Molly Swartz — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:16:30 -0500

We need to make it possible for all Americans to retire with dignity at the end of a lifetime of work. That means protecting Social Security and mandating corporations treat their employees the same as their executives when it comes to health and retirement benefits.

The Privatization Threat Is Back

Chris Collins — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:52:32 -0500

Prominent Republicans have come out publicly in past weeks stating that, given the chance in 2007, they will push Social Security privatization again. This includes...

President Bush and his Chief of Staff Josh Bolten

Treasurer Secretary Henry Paulson

House Majority Leader John Boehner

And other key Republicans

The Republicans apparently haven't learned their lesson from the 2005 defeat of privatization: the American public, armed with the facts, will overwhelmingly reject privatization for the bad deal that it is.

We Can Choose A New Energy Economy

Bill Scher — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:34:02 -0400

We can choose a new energy economy, creating millions of jobs, generating clean American energy and freeing us from the tyranny of oil.

Most jobs producing renewable energy are not easily outsourced, helping reverse the recent loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs.

Investing $30 billion a year for clean energy is a fraction of the $237 billion we spent on foreign oil last year and the $500 billion we’ve blown in Iraq to date.

Addressing climate change now will be much cheaper than dealing with the consequences.

Conservatives Subsidized The Disease, Starved The Cure

Bill Scher — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:29:17 -0400

Conservatives have subsidized the disease and starved the cure.

Despite enjoying record profits from sky-high gas prices -- ExxonMobil posted the highest annual profit ever for a U.S. company, $40.61 billion, in 2007 -- oil companies get billions in tax breaks and government subsidies.

Yet in 2007, Senate conservatives used a filibuster to block a clean energy bill that would have stripped subsidies from Big Oil and invested in renewable energy.

Working Americans Hit Hard Now, While Climate Crisis Looms

Bill Scher — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:25:22 -0400

Working Americans now bear the brunt of a failed energy policy, as catastrophic climate change looms.

Families will spend $2,300 more this year to fill up their cars and $1,700 more for home heating oil than at the beginning of the Bush presidency. We spent $237 billion on imported crude oil last year.

Meanwhile, Arctic ice is melting at a record pace. Wildfires are burning hotter and longer. A record number of Category 5 hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic Ocean this decade. Lake Mead, which supplies water to Phoenix and Las Vegas, is drying up. Even hunting seasons and wildlife habitats are beginning to be adversely impacted.

The British government projects a 10-20% decline in global economic activity—comparable to the Great Depression—if we don’t stop global warming.

Real Health Care Choices

Bill Scher — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:29:07 -0400

Now is the time for real health care choices that guarantee quality affordable health care for all, with standard,
comprehensive benefits that meet our needs.

All Americans would have a guaranteed choice between quality public and private plans.

If you have insurance you like, you can keep it. If you don’t have insurance you like, or don’t have it at all, you’ll have real choices.

Employers must provide quality private coverage or chip in to fund the public plan.

We’ll save $1 trillion in health care spending over 10 years.

Conservatives Blocked Reform

Bill Scher — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:14:35 -0400

Conservatives have blocked real reform—protecting the greedy practices of the insurance companies, which
put profits before people.

Bush and his fellow conservatives blocked bipartisan legislation—twice—that would have provided health care to 4 million uninsured children.

Conservatives banned Medicare from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices.

Billions in wasteful subsidies are doled out to private insurance and drug companies through Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage, the programs that provide drug prescription coverage for seniors.

Conservatives promote caps on jury awards in malpractice cases that would do nothing to lower health care costs but would help insurance companies.

While premiums are up for working families, insurance company profits rose an amazing 1,084% in five years.

Skyrocketing Medical Costs Putting Care Out of Reach

Bill Scher — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:04:28 -0400

Skyrocketing medical costs are pricing care out of reach for families and business, leaving us without good health insurance choices.

Since 2000, family health insurance premiums have risen 57%.

47 million Americans are uninsured, up from 38 million in 2000, including 9 million kids.

Only 60% of American businesses offered health benefits in 2007, down from 69% in 2000.

More than half of all personal bankruptcies are due to medical bills.

State Budget Cuts Will Worsen Economy

Isaiah J. Poole — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:25:02 -0400

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia face a combined budget shortfall of about $48 billion in their 2009 budgets, which in most states take effect in July. Already, state and local governments modestly trimmed jobs in the past year, but to close the looming shortfalls states will have to make more dramatic job cuts, and program and project cuts will have ripple effects in the private sector as well. This will worsen economic conditions in states that are already struggling economically, including Arizona, California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. Congress should pass an aid package to states that will help them balance their budgets without deepening the recession.

'Tax Freedom Day': Misleading Propaganda

Isaiah J. Poole — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:22:39 -0400

A right-wing group called The Tax Foundation declared April 23 "Tax Freedom Day," representing the time it takes "Americans" to earn enough money to pay their federal, state and local taxes. A YouTube video dramatizes the organization's contention that average Americans are overtaxed, with a song that says, "I think it's too late in the year for Tax Freedom Day." But their annual proclamation is bogus.

Their calculation averages the tax burdens of the wealthy and the non-wealthy. And because the income increases experienced by the wealthiest 20 percent of taxpayers during the Bush administration far outstrip the income stagnation of the bottom 80 percent, the increase in tax receipts from that higher income bears no relationship to the tax burden of average families, which has actually gone down.

It's also misleading to say that families are paying more of their income in taxes than they are spending on food, clothing and other necessities. That is definitely untrue for low-income families, who may pay little or nothing in federal taxes, and is likely to be untrue for a number of middle-income families, depending on the tax deductions available to them.