Social Contract
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The GOP Payroll Tax Plan Does So Stink
December 1st, 2011
No doubt Republicans know the fight over extending the payroll tax is one they could lose. Thus, they've pivoted away from opposing the extension, and have presented a plan of their own — one that Timothy Noah says the Democrats should be willing to work with because it "doesn't stink."
Well, in my experience, just because you can't smell something doesn't mean it doesn't sink. Some things "pass the smell test" because of a faulty sniffer; not because they don't stink. And the GOP's payroll tax plan does so stink.
Featured Issues
Don't Kill Jobs and Growth In The Name Of Deficit Reduction
More than 300 economists, policy experts and civic leaders have signed a statement warning political leaders of “a grave danger” that the still-fragile economic recovery will be undercut by austerity economics of the kind being pushed by conservative politicians and by the White House deficit commission. Read the statement and related commentary on the critical choices we must make to revive the economy.... more »
Social Security Isn't Broke
In the deficit hysteria now sweeping Washington, Social Security has emerged in the bull's-eye as a target for cuts. But the best "fix" for Social Security is simply to tell the truth about it. Social Security isn't broke; there is no need to "fix" it. We explain why. ... more »
'AmericaSpeaks' Deficit Town Hall Meetings In Perspective
AmericaSpeaks, an organization funded in part by the conservative Peter G. Peterson Foundation, sponsored a series of town hall meetings designed to build public support for eviscerating the social contract between Americans and the most economically vulnerable among us, particularly those on Social Security and Medicare. Did the right-wing deficit hawks get the mandate they hoped for? We don't think so, and these articles explain why.... more »
The News
The Campaign Disconnect
October 4th, 2010
Andy Stern: Invest Social Security Funds In Wall Street
July 1st, 2010
The Case
Greek Suicide Seen As An Act Of Fortitude As Much As One Of Despair
A picture of the man who has come to embody the inequities of Greece's financial crisis has begun to emerge, with friends and neighbors shedding light on the life of the elderly pensioner who killed himself in Athens on Wednesday. Named as Dimitris Christoulas by the Greek media, the retired pharmacist was described as decent, law-abiding, meticulous and dignified. The 77-year-old had written in his one-page, three-paragraph suicide note that it would be better to have a "decent end" than be forced to scavenge in the "rubbish to feed myself". "With his suicide he wanted to send a political message," Antonis Skarmoutsos, a friend and neighbor was quoted as saying in the mass-selling Ta Nea newspaper. "He was deeply politicized but also enraged."more »
The Choice in 2012: Social Darwinism or a Decent Society
The returns aren’t all in yet on today’s Republican primaries but President Obama didn’t wait. He kicked off his 2012 campaign against Mitt Romney with a hard-hitting speech centered on the House Republicans’ budget plan – which Romney has enthusiastically endorsed. Here’s what the President had to say about it: "Disguised as a deficit reduction… it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It is thinly veiled social Darwinism." We are likely to hear a lot more about social Darwinism in the months ahead.more »
Latest from our Bloggers
may
15
2012
12:49 pm
12:49 pm
The following was drafted for delivery at the Protest The Fiscal Summit demonstration outside the Peter G. Peterson Fiscal Summit in Washington on May 15.
apr
30
2012
2:47 pm
2:47 pm
Depending on your point of view, the results on austerity are in. The roll call European countries with shrunken economies, mired in recession, is identical to the list of European countries yoked to austerity economics — Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Greece (of course), and now the UK. Those countries are experiencing varying degrees of public reaction against austerity policies. In Prague, Czechs staged the biggest demonstrations their country has seen since the fall of communism, in protest of the austerity measures and corruption in Czech Republic's center-right government. In France, president Sarkozy now faces a runoff, after elections that were a reaction against austerity. In the Netherlands, the prime minister resigned after EU austerity demands caused the government to collapse. In Romania, the government has collapsed in a no-confidence vote after violent protests against austerity toppled its prime minister in February.
Does the latest wave of uprisings finally sound the death knell for austerity? Not if austerians stay the course, and don't get spooked by protests in the streets and at the ballot box. If their protests have no impact, and austerity happened anyway, people will go home. They'll forget about solidarity, worry more about survival, and arrive at the next phase of austerity's impact on their lives.
apr
30
2012
1:38 pm
1:38 pm
Finally, someone's giving NJ governor Chris Christie (whom fellow blogger Richard Eskow rightly dubbed, "The Heartless, Smug, Bullying Embodiment Of The Republican Party") as good as he dishes out. At the Daily Beast, author Stephen King has posted a response to Christie's suggestion that Warren Buffett should just "shut up and right a check." A top-selling horror writer, King isn't the least bit scared of Christie's bombast. It's one of the best things I've read today, and not to be missed.
What groups like the Patriotic Millionaires and candidates like Elizabeth Warren have said with more civility and eloquence, King puts in language even Christie can understand.
apr
24
2012
9:02 am
9:02 am
Wear black on Saturday. It is Workers’ Memorial Day, a time devoted to commemorating those killed on the job.
A month later, on soldiers' Memorial Day, the nation will recognize those who sacrificed their lives for American ideals, for a nation’s freedom. That ultimate gift is given in most cases valiantly and voluntarily. more »
apr
23
2012
10:29 am
10:29 am
Here are some headlines you won't see after the government releases new figures on Social Security and Medicare later today:
"Social Security Trust Fund Even Larger Than It Was Last Year"
"Growing Wealth Inequity Will Lead to Social Security Imbalance Later This Century"
"For-Profit Healthcare Poses Threat to Medicare, Federal Deficit, and Overall Economy in Coming Decades" more »
apr
19
2012
11:19 am
11:19 am
Take a good look at Europe—bloody riots in Athens and Madrid, rising unemployment, spreading poverty and suicide, and a deepening re more »
apr
17
2012
9:13 am
9:13 am
Some companies are learning that supporting hyper-partisan groups can backfire when their customers find out about it. In recent weeks a number of companies are trying to distance themselves from the partisan, right-wing group ALEC before their brands become as damaged as Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. more »
