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DeMarco Must Go by Alan Jenkins, OurFuture.org | December 19, 2012
It’s time for President Obama to fire and quickly replace the Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Edward DeMarco, with a Director who will uphold the Agency’s mission to “support housing finance and affordable housing, and support a stable and liquid mortgage market.” DeMarco, a holdover from the Bush administration, is interim head of the FHFA, which currently oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. read more »The Voter Suppression Fight Underscores How Fragile Are Our Democratic Rights by Benjamin Jealous, The Guardian | December 18, 2012
This was a banner year for progressives. We brought racial profiling and the death penalty back into the national conversation. Marriage equality made great strides, with four states legalizing same-sex marriage or failing to make it unconstitutional. Despite attempts at voter suppression and an ailing voting infrastructure, a diverse electorate loudly rejected the anti-worker, anti-immigrant, anti-equality agenda offered by an increasingly radical right wing. But last week's sneak attack on organized labor in Michigan reminded us that the enemies of democracy are still very much empowered and in power. The same groups that funded voter suppression again flexed their financial muscle to cripple worker's rights at their core. If we become complacent now, we risk losing all we have gained this year and more. read more »Michigan Republicans Deny Police Officers and Firefighters the Right to Work by Dean Baker, Huffington Post | December 18, 2012
That is what the headlines would say if anyone really believed that the anti-union laws passed last week in Michigan actually had anything to do with the rights of workers. When the legislature outlawed contracts requiring workers who benefit from union representation to pay for that representation, it explicitly exempted the police and firefighters' unions. If this law was actually about the "right to work," the Republican legislature and Governor Snyder were effectively denying the right to work to the state's police officers and firefighters. Of course this law has nothing to do with the right to work (RTW), as everyone involved knows; that is just the spin from the anti-labor coalition. This is why police unions and firefighters' unions were exempted. The Republicans were trying to buy off these workers with special favors, not singling them out for punishment. read more »A Big Debt Limit Blunder? by Josh Marshall, talkingpointsmemo.com | December 18, 2012
Setting aside arguments about the policy substance underlying the fiscal cliff negotiations (and there’s obviously plenty to argue about), what puzzles me most is the idea that President Obama might shake hands on a deal that raises the debt limit enough to put off another big fight with House Republicans for about a year. It’s easy to see how Obama and John Boehner might reach that compromise. Conservatives want to have that fight with Obama as soon as possible, early next year. Obama wants the debt limit removed from the realm of legislative politics forever. The “compromise” between those two positions is somewhere between three months and four years. And one year allows Boehner to claim that the fiscal cliff deal satisfies the “Boehner rule,” pairing new borrowing authority with concomitant budget cuts. But strategically, it’s hard to identify any upside for Obama here. read more »Remember the Children by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | December 18, 2012
It seems as if every major interest has political clout – except children. They can’t vote. They don’t make major campaign donations. They can’t hire fleets of lobbyists. Yet they’re America’s future. Their parents and grandparents care, of course, as do many other private citizens. But we’re no match for the entrenched interests that dominate American politics. Whether it’s fighting for reasonable gun regulation, child health and safety overall, or good schools and family services – we can’t have a fair fight as long as special-interest money continues to poison our politics. read more »Reading The Tea Leaves On Financial Markets And Fiscal Austerity by Josh Bivens, epi.org | December 18, 2012
By now, it’s (finally) becoming well-recognized that the term “fiscal cliff” confuses more than it clarifies. The worst problem with it is that it presents the sharp fiscal contraction baked into current law for 2013 as a single monolith, when in fact it’s the result of a bunch of separable tax increases and spending cuts. Given that our previous effort at renaming the “cliff” clearly failed, I now officially nominate “à la carte austerity” as a new entry. A second problem with the “cliff” metaphor is that it carries the strong implication that if this à la carte austerity is not solved by Jan. 1, then economic chaos will ensue. This is clearly wrong. read more »Gas On The Debt Limit Fire by Brian Beutler, talkingpointsmemo.com | December 17, 2012
Lest you conclude that progress in fiscal cliff negotiations is symptomatic of a weakened conservative appetite for taking the debt limit hostage, allow me to dissuade you. The truth is quite different. See, for starters, the Club for Growth’s reaction to John Boehner’s latest budget offer. The nub of it is pretty straightforward: They don’t want Boehner to raise the debt limit, even temporarily. They’re still pushing a 2011 redux. Even if deep down John Boehner wants to avoid another debt limit fight, or doesn’t think it’s winnable this time around, he’s so constrained by the right that he only felt able to offer Obama a year-long reprieve from that particular brinksmanship. Preventing it altogether will require the kind of willingness to shut down the right that Boehner’s never exhibited as speaker. read more »GOP Leaders Finally Ready to Cave on Taxing the Rich by Daniel Gross, thedailybeast.com | December 17, 2012
Fiscal cliff hostage situation, day 40. It’s taken six weeks, but President Obama has finally got the Republican House leader to make the case for a more progressive tax system. In an effort to resolve the fiscal cliff impasse, John Boehner reportedly has offered to raise income-tax rates on people who make more than $1 million a year—but if, and only if, Obama agrees to entitlement cuts. In addition, The Washington Post reported, Boehner also has offered to take the toxic debt-ceiling debate off the table for a year. Like those Japanese soldiers holed up in caves on Pacific islands in 1945, the House Republicans don’t seem to grasp that the war over higher taxes on the rich is effectively over. This war ended, of course, with the election. read more »A Real Right to Work by Nancy Folbre, economix.blogs.nytimes.com | December 17, 2012
Most of us live in a world in which paid employment is the only avenue to economic self-sufficiency. Without it, families maintained by working-age adults are largely dependent on the kindness of strangers, otherwise known as extended unemployment insurance and food stamps. Yet, for more than four years, this nation has tolerated levels of unemployment that have essentially made it impossible for most of those seeking paid employment to find it, with a ratio of unemployed workers to job openings of more than three to one. The next time someone with a comfortable paycheck tells you that American workers no longer have a work ethic, please explain to them that right now, there’s not enough paid work to go around. Which is why we should fight for a real right to work. read more »Meet Five CEOs Who Prove That Lower Corporate Taxes Don't Equal More Hiring by George Zornick, alternet.org | December 17, 2012
Corporate tax rates must be lowered in order to create economic growth: this is a key argument made by CEOs and their political allies while they push for a fiscal cliff deal. That was in the Bowles-Simpson plan, and members of Fix the Debt are pushing for that too, along with a territorial tax system. This desire is deeply held in much of Washington. Never mind for a moment the obvious problem with lowering tax rates as a means of fixing the long-term debt. Would allowing corporations to pay less taxes really mean more hiring? Luckily we have some interesting case studies. Several of the CEOs pushing this idea actually run companies that pay extremely low corporate tax rates, well below the statutory 35 percent rate—or pay none at all. So, via the invaluable Institute for Policy Studies, let’s see what kind of job creation these folks did while enjoying very low corporate tax rates. read more »
The Latest
Occupy Wall St protesters wipe $5m off America's debt, telegraph.co.uk | November 17, 2012
Judge slams Occupy Chicago arrests as ‘unconstitutional,’ throws out case, rt.com | September 29, 2012
Poli more »'Israelis Heart Iran' and 'Iranians Love Israel': Citizens Bid for Peace, commondreams.org | March 21, 2012
Wikipedia Foundation: English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout, wikimediafoundation.org | January 17, 2012
Democrats think Obama's playing tax-cut extension fight well , The Miami Herald | December 15, 2011
Robert Borosage was quoted in an article in the Miami Herald about the debate to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. more »
Globalize This: Occupy UK converges on London, The Guardian | November 20, 2011
Robert Borosage on C-Span Talks Jobs And the Economy, wc-spanvideo.org | October 17, 2011
US Steelworkers Form Collaboration with MONDRAGON, usw.org | March 6, 2011
The 16 Profitable Companies That Pay Almost Nothing In Taxes, businessinsider.com | February 19, 2011
Obama Budget Plan: Cuts To Target Working Poor, Middle Class & Students, Huffington Post | February 15, 2011
