Romney promised that he would act on China's currency manipulation "on his first day." So Republicans can pretend Romney won, and actually act on China's currency manipulation! If they would actually do what they promised to do we could get a lot a lot of "job creation" going on. Or will they continue to obstruct?

China continues to manipulate its currency. It has been getting better but not fast enough. This manipulation keeps the prices of things made in China lower than they should be -- even before taking into account all of the other trade cheating China has been doing. And that means that jobs, factories, industries and big chunks of our economy continue to move to China. Look at what happened with Sensata the day before the election.

For various non-trade reasons -- Obama needs China's help with Korea, etc. -- the President has resisted declaring China to be a currency manipulator. Action by Congress to push this forward strengthens the President's hand in getting something done on this, and in the end could just get it done outside of the administration. So to accomplish this there is a bill to act on China's currency manipulation.

More »»

More »»

• MORNING MESSAGE: The Triumph of Middle Class Populism
• "Welcome to Liberal America"
• GOP Heads Towards Intra-Party Civil War
• Senate Turns Left

More »»

“The one word description of this election is spelled J-E-E-P,” said a friend early Tuesday evening. “This proves you can’t keep giving the finger to the American people and be elected president,” he said, with evident relief.

True enough, in the final days of the campaign, Romney’s oily shape-shifting, etch-a-sketch prevaricating sales pitch finally exceeded the credulity of the American people and the cravenness of the mainstream media, particularly in Ohio and the Midwest.

But Romney’s defeat was far more telling than that. With the lousy economy, voters wanting change and an incumbent president curiously intent on selling progress and continuity, this was an election that Republicans should have won. In our Gilded Age of extreme inequality, with a middle class that increasingly understands the rules are rigged against them, this was the first election in what is likely to be an era of growing class warfare. And Romney’s defeat was a clear repudiation of the revolt of the rich.

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 college but not the popular vote:

Romney has began airing commercials and ramped up campaigning in states not considered battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania and Oregon. Some political observers say this is being done to gather stray undecided voters in these states and increase the chance and margin of a popular-vote victory.

There is also speculation that Romney may apply a strategy reportedly considered by George W. Bush’s campaign in 2000 if he lost the electoral vote to Vice President Al Gore, but won the popular vote–the opposite of what actually happened in the election.

Romney may be preparing a set of talking points that the Electoral College is essentially unfair and back this argument with a massive Fox News and talk-radio blitz that would fuel doubt in the legitimacy of an Obama win... In fact, Bush’s campaign advisers in 2000 contemplated creating a “Democrats for Democracy” group to make this point, if necessary.

More »»

Help us spread the word about these important stories...

Email to a friend

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on OurFuture.org.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Your Email: *

Your Name: *

Send To: *

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas. You can only email up to 10 recipients

You are going to email the following: Election Day Gossip: Tainting The Victory, Faithless Electors And More

Message Subject: (Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from OurFuture.org

Message Body: (Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the OurFuture.org web site.

Your Personal Message: *

Bookmark/Search this post with:

• Delicious
• Digg
• StumbleUpon
• Propeller
• Reddit
• Magnoliacom
• Newsvine
• Furl
• Facebook
• Google
• Yahoo
• Technorati

Originally published at Capital Gains and Games.

This column was written a few days before the elections and is being published on Election Day. So rather than talking about the election results before they happen (What a concept!), and instead of continuing what is now my weeks-long rant about the fiscal cliff, I thought it best to focus on something that few other federal budget watchers so far have dared talk about: There will be a big budget debate next year and it’s likely to be very ugly.

This will come as a shock to those who watched the comparative — that is, relative to the chaos of 2011 — peace and quiet of this year’s debate and assumed that was the new normal.

The truth, however, is very different. Unless something very unexpected happens on Election Day (I know I promised, but I just couldn’t help myself), the 2013 debate is more likely to resemble what happened in 2011, when a steady series of federal budget-related cliffhangers kept us on the edge of our seats through most of the year.

More »»

More than 50 years since the Civil Rights Movement and conservatives are still fighting to keep "the wrong kind of people" from voting. A 97-year-old in Georgia -- who has voted in every single election since she was old enough to vote -- is denied her right to vote. Florida is making citizens stand in line 4,5,6 hours to vote. Why are we putting up with this for one minute? Why isn't our government sending the US Army into these states that are trying to stop "the wrong kind of people" from voting?

This Was Settled!

This country already settled this: you can't keep people from voting! In the 1950s and 1960s conservatives tried to keep "the wrong kind of people" from voting and going to school. As a country we did something about it. We stopped putting up with it and ordered the army to push the conservatives aside and let people into the schools and voting booths.

In 1957 a Republican president sent the US Army into Little Rock to escort nine of "the wrong kind of" students into a school:

More »»

On the menu this morning:

• MORNING MESSAGE: A Vote Against Despair
• Campaigning Ends, Voting Begins
• Odds Favor Obama
• The Lucky One?
• The Day After
• The Status Quo Congress
• The GOP's Self-Sabotage

More »»

In New Jersey, as Barack Obama and Chris Christie met last week to survey the devastation Hurricane Sandy caused, the President placed a reassuring hand on the heartsick governor’s shoulder. Later, the President embraced storm victim Donna Vanzant in Brigantine, N.J., and told her and all East Coast residents that he and the nation “are here for you.”

Here for you means the federal government would muster all its resources to help Americans devastated by a deadly hurricane to restore some sense of normalcy to their upturned lives and to help rebuild their homes and communities.

More »»

Some people I respect are agonizing over their Presidential vote. Others are voting third-party, or not at all. Speaking only for myself, my choice wasn't made lightly: I'll be voting to re-elect a President whose Administration I've often criticized over the last four years. And yet, despite my concerns, I'll be casting that vote without despair.

Why not? Most Americans agree on a broad range of issues, according to polls. Across party lines and "left/right" boundaries, clear majorities oppose cutting Social Security or Medicare to balance the budget. They want to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires. They want government to invest in restoring our economy. And they want Wall Street held accountable.

Neither candidate is fighting unequivocally for these majority positions. But like the old cliché says: Despair is not an option.

Which isn't to say it's not tempting. What creates despair? According to the informative (if sadistic) dog experiments of Martin Seligman, the culprit is "learned helplessness." Some of us entered this election season with the same emotions Seligman's dogs must have felt as they were led to their electrified cubicles, and with a similar analysis of our situation: Nothing I do matters.

More »»

When it comes to politics, it ain’t over ’til its’ over. And even then it may not be over. With the presidential election just days away, the contest remains close enough to ensure some jangled nerves and nail-biting among Republicans and Democrats. Still, the latest news and numbers should give President President Barack Obama a boost as he delivers his closing argument to voters. 

Should Obama emerge the victor when the dust settles after Tuesday, his closing argument will become the winning message. And voters convinced to reward Obama with a second term on the strength of that message will — and should — expect him to live up to its vision and promise. 

More »»

Today Bain Capital's Sensata is laying off all of its workers and moving all of the jobs to China. The workers asked Mitt Romney to help, and he refused. Did Bain Capital choose the day before the election to say "Ha Ha" to the country and our jobs? Are they setting the stage for a possible Romney economy?

Over at The 99 Uniting see The Romney Economy Didn’t Work for the Workers of Sensata

On Election Day, Tom Gaulrapp is going to get up in the morning, go vote, and then sign up for unemployment compensation for the first time in his life.

When the workers of Sensata Technologies—a Bain Capital-owned company that Mitt Romney still profits from—found out their jobs are going to China, they realized Romney’s pledge to protect American workers was an empty one.

More »»

Help us spread the word about these important stories...

Email to a friend

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on OurFuture.org.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Your Email: *

Your Name: *

Send To: *

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas. You can only email up to 10 recipients

You are going to email the following: Today Is Last Day On Job For Sensata Workers

Message Subject: (Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from OurFuture.org

Message Body: (Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the OurFuture.org web site.

Your Personal Message: *

Bookmark/Search this post with:

• Delicious
• Digg
• StumbleUpon
• Propeller
• Reddit
• Magnoliacom
• Newsvine
• Furl
• Facebook
• Google
• Yahoo
• Technorati

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! The country is divided by an entire political philosophy based on lies -- by an entire massively-well-funded conservative ecosystem dependent on lies. Half the country is convinced by this propaganda machine that the lies are true and that policies that never worked did work. So we are mired in this mud of lies that keeps us from solving our problems. Global warming, lack of demand, lack of jobs, lack of good wages, lack of energy alternatives, lack of good infrastructure... This environment of lies can't lead us anywhere good.

Romney Actually Said ...

Romney -- a candidate for President of the United States -- actually said that Obama was going to "take God off our coins!" He said Obama was waging "a war on religion!" He said Obama sympathizes with Muslim rioters. He said Obama was trying to keep members of our military from voting! A candidate for President of the United States said those things! This is not just insulting to the country, it is deeply embarrassing to the country. It is an illness.

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.

All the current polling has President Obama beating Mitt Romney and Republicans failing to take over the Senate. There is an obvious reason for this: the public likes how progressive Democratic policies have worked in the past four years more than how conservative Republican policies worked in the past eight.

Accepting the obvious is proving difficult for conservative leaders. Instead of taking responsibility for past policy mistakes and proposing changes, conservatives are frantically coming up with various excuses why they are about to take a ballot box beating.

The list is impressive. Let it not be said conservatives are not creative.

12. "Chicago" Rigged The Jobs Numbers

More »»

• MORNING MESSAGE: Middle-Class Zeros Could Get Zeroed Out Tuesday
• Last Pitch To Undecideds
• Chaos As Florida Restricts Early Voting
• Money May Not Be Enough To Take Senate
• Budget Jockeying in Congress Before Election Day

More »»