Blogs: The Big Con

As the election results sink in, partisans are busy debating what 2012 voting patterns mean for Republican and Democratic prospects in the next election cycle. But what lessons do this year’s results hold for those of us who are committed to expanding opportunity and protecting human rights in ways that transcend party and outlast individual elections or candidates? more »

More »»

I joined Campaign for America's Future's Richard Eskow to talk about the "fiscal cliff" scare, austerity, Social Security, Medicare and how we WON the election so we really should be talking about jobs instead. more »

More »»

Anyone who has read The Shock Doctrine understands exactly what this "Fiscal Cliff" scare is. more »

More »»

Take the conversation related at the beginning of this article with a grain of salt since it's a "my sister's best friend's brother told me" sort of thing, but I think it's a fair representation of the way the conservatives are gaming out their strategy in case it's close and Obama wins the electoral col more »

More »»

Wow, an entire campaign based on lies... Often they were simply ridiculous lies. (Remember when Romney said Obama will take God off our coins"?) The campaign even used doctored audio and video in ads to make people think Obama had said things he never said. So MANY lies! more »

More »»

FINAL UPDATE 11/5/12: The final days wouldn't be complete without a final excuse: Hurricane Sandy.

UPDATE 10/5/12: This post when originally published on Oct. 3 was a "Top 10" list. It has been expanded to include the new excuse: "Chicago" Rigged The Jobs Numbers. more »

More »»

Austerity is back in the news, and the news about austerity is never good. We've only had de facto austerity on this side of the pond. So as usual, the news is from Europe, where the austerians are going full-tilt boogie. Our homegrown austerians, like their European counterparts, tell us that the kind of severe austerity underway in Europe is necessary to reduce the deficit. Everything from food stamps to Medicaid and Medicare — everything except defense spending — must be cut in order to reduce the deficit. 

The thing is, it hasn't worked. In Greece, Europe's austerity poster child, austerity has shrunk the economy and increased the national debt. 

More »»

As I wrote yesterday, I have some sympathy for any presidential challenger in a situation like this. An epic natural disaster automatically makes them look irrelevant and small and there's not a lot they can do about it. more »

More »»

Originally posted at Capital Gains and Games.

You haven't heard much...or perhaps anything...yet about a disaster relief supplemental appropriation for the state and local governments and individuals who were hit so hard by Sandy.

More »»

Originally published at TruthOut.

One of the major growth industries in Washington is the promotion of budget hysteria. Well-funded groups have weekly, if not daily, events designed to hype the country’s budget situation. Much of the national media, most importantly the Washington Post, have enlisted in this effort, devoting both their opinion and news sections toward this goal.

Unfortunately for the deficit-crisis industry, the facts may stubbornly refuse to cooperate. Any discussion of the deficit requires separating out the short-term and the long-term story. The short-term story is very simple. The economy collapsed in 2008 when the housing bubble burst. That is the story of the large budget deficits that we have seen in the last five years: full stop.

More »»