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We Need FDR-Style Proposals to Solve All Our Big Problems by Jon Rynn, newdeal20.org | January 3, 2012
oth Democrats and environmentalists seem to be searching for new sources of support, according to articles from Thomas Edsall and Leslie Kaufman. For Democrats, the problem is the state of mind of the “white working class,” while for environmentalists the problem is to convince the public that something should be done about climate change. In both cases, the dilemma is the same: the solutions offered do not solve the existing problems, and the public knows it. The New Deal offers a political lesson on the importance of an interlinking set of policies that cut across issue areas, a lesson that can help both the Democratic Party and the environmental movement. The point is not to idealize the New Deal or deify FDR. We need to learn the lessons of American history that can be useful for us today. read more »Shouldn't Americans Repair America's Infrastructure? by Jim Hightower, otherwords.org | November 7, 2011
Listening at last to his inner FDR, President Barack Obama is going straight at the Know-Nothing/Do-Nothing Republicans in Congress. At a rally in September on a bridge connecting Rep. John Boehner's state of Ohio to Sen. Mitch McConnell's state of Kentucky, Obama challenged the two GOP leaders to back his plan for repairing and improving our country's deteriorating infrastructure. "Help us rebuild this bridge," he shouted out to Boehner and McConnell. "Help us rebuild America. Help us put this country back to work." Yes, let's do it! However, in addition to the usual recalcitrance of reactionary Republican leaders, another impediment stands in the way of success: many of the infrastructure jobs that would be created could end up in China. Holy Uncle Sam! How is this possible? read more »'The Silent Masses Aren’T So Silent Anymore' by Steve Benen, Washington Monthly | October 5, 2011
Press releases from Capitol Hill are generally easy to dismiss, but one this morning caught my eye. It was sent by House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-Conn.), sent on behalf of the caucus, as opposed to just himself, “applauding” the “Occupy Wall Street Movement.” “In New York and across the country, thousands of Americans have taken to the streets, certain of the morality of their message: bringing fairness to Main Street,” Larson said. “The silent masses aren’t so silent anymore. They are fighting to give voice to the struggles that everyday Americans are going through.” These protests aren’t invisible to the establishment anymore, and when the House Democratic Caucus is officially applauding the demonstrations, it’s clearly a positive development for the burgeoning movement. read more »GOP Candidates Not Far Apart on Social Security by Scott Hochberg, OurFuture.org | September 22, 2011
For more on how we can save Social Security from conservative attacks, hear Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Campaign for America's Future's Roger Hickey, Strengthen Social Security's Eric Kingson and more at the Take Back the American Dream conference, Oct. 3-5. read more »A Deficit Pitch Without Social Security--The Only Chance of Winning by Josh Rosenblum, OurFuture.org | September 7, 2011
This past Friday night in Washington, a New York Mets pitcher threw the type of pitch President Obama must use in his march to stop any new proposals to cut Social Security if he plans to make it through the game of the deficit talks and his reelection. In the recent past the President and his teams have pitched a slew of failed curveballs that would cut our Social Security. The number 43 Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey helped beat the Nationals 7-3 with his slow velocity, highly unpredictable knuckleball. The 44th President and his multitude of committees have taken an approach to cutting the deficit that replicates a tied baseball game, with no end in sight. Could knuckle balls from a President battling to win the game, save the economy, and win reelection save the tied ball game called the deficit debate? Let’s take a look at the tape. read more »How Greedy Corporations Are Destroying America’s Status as ‘Innovation Nation’ by William Lazonick, newdeal20.org | July 28, 2011
The U.S. economy is a mess. Over two years since the Great Recession officially ended, the unemployment rate is over nine percent, the foreclosure crisis rages on, and households remain loaded up with debt. The fiscal situation of federal and state governments is dire, in part because free-market ideologues think that low taxes are a God-given right. Much of the mess is the result of an economy in which the forces for extracting value have come to dominate the forces for creating value. In the process, industrial innovation — the generation of higher quality, lower cost products that provide the foundation for economic growth — is suffering from neglect. read more »Jobs, Now by Scott Paul, OurFuture.org | July 8, 2011
If the topline numbers of today’s jobs report weren’t depressing enough, consider some other facts that, taken together, strongly suggest that we are in a serious economic crisis. Let’s start with the basics. The unemployment rate crept up to 9.2% in June. Only 18,000 jobs were added to the economy. read more »In Social Security Cuts, Look for the Chained CPI by Daniel Marans, OurFuture.org | July 7, 2011
Must Read: An Economy for AllAlthough specifics have yet to officially emerge, there is little doubt that among the Social Security benefit cuts the President is proposing will be a reduction in Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) through an obscure change in the COLA formula read more »A Love/Hate Relationship with Infrastructure by Steve Benen , Washington Monthly | July 7, 2011
Oh, great. Now we have conservative House Republicans arguing publicly that the Democrats' stimulus bill wasn't liberal enough when it came to public investments. The GOP has been attacking the Recovery Act for so long, the party no longer even notices that it's arguing, simultaneously, that it spent too much and spent too little. Of course, the dirty little secret is that Republicans have been engaged in this little shell game for quite a while. Remember the "Highway Hypocrites"? These are the conservative Republican lawmakers -- representing most of the House caucus -- who swore up and down than additional spending, including in areas like infrastructure, would be awful for the economy, right before they begged the Obama administration to spend the money on their constituents, argued it would create jobs, and showed up smiling at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. read more »Infrastructure Work Is Needed And People Need The Work by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | June 14, 2011
We've been deferring maintenance of our infrastructure since the Reagan tax cuts - never mind modernizing to restore American competitiveness. It is something that has to be done anyway, and here we are with so many people needing work. It's just nuts. Millions of jobs that need doing, and millions out of work, and we can't connect the dots. read more »
The Latest
Gridlock Sam: The Tea Party’s Bridge to Beyond Nowhere, pbs.org | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/18/2010The Tea Party has captured the imagination and spirit of many Americans and may very well turn that into a powerful voting bloc come November. But, that bloc may not have a leg or girder to stand on as our nation’s infrastructure continues to crumble. more »
Obama can help free trade with tariffs, Financial Times | September 11, 2009
Summary:Is Barack Obama really a free-trader? According to much recent commentary, we will find out on September 17, when the US president has to decide whether or not to accept the recommendation of the independent, bipartisan US International Trade Commission to impose tariffs on imports of Chinese tyres.
The orthodox free-trade view of most pundits holds that if Mr Obama accepts the recommendation he will fail the free-trade test. In fact, the truth is just the opposite. Not to accept the tariff recommendation would be a severe blow to open trade and globalisation as well as to America’s future economic health.
Article Publication Date:09/10/2009U.S. Economy Gets Lift From Stimulus, The Wall Street Journal | September 3, 2009
Government efforts to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy appear to be helping the U.S. climb out of the worst recession in decades. Much of the stimulus spending is just beginning to trickle through the economy, with spending expected to peak sometime later this year or in early 2010. more »
US Fares Poorly In Child Welfare Survey, Truthout | September 3, 2009
Source URL:America has some of the industrial world's worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates. more »
Bleak Outlook For Struggling States in 2010, The Washington Post | August 11, 2009
As states across the country grapple with the worst economy in decades, most have cut services, forced workers to take unpaid days off, shut offices several days a month and scrambled to find new sources of revenue. more »
House Approves $7 Billion Highway Fund, Reuters | July 30, 2009
The U.S. House of Representatives approved $7 billion on to temporarily shore up a nearly empty federal trust that pays for road, bridge and transit projects. Supporters garnered the necessary two-thirds support to push through the stop-gap measure intended to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through September 30, the end of the fiscal year. The vote was 363 to 68. more »
Federal Aid Jump-Starts New Battery Plants, The Washington Post | July 27, 2009
The Energy Department is getting ready to hand out about $2 billion in grants to create a domestic industry for electric-car batteries, and 122 companies are scrambling to get pieces. The companies range from small niche firms to giants such as Dow Chemical and Johnson Controls. more »
Cities Lose Out on Road Funds From Federal Stimulus, The New York Times | July 9, 2009
Two-thirds of the country lives in large metropolitan areas, home to the nation’s worst traffic jams and some of its oldest roads and bridges. But cities and their surrounding regions are getting far less than two-thirds of federal transportation stimulus money. more »
D.C. Metro Crash Highlights Underfunded Transit Systems, Christian Science Monitor | June 29, 2009
More than one-third of assets in the nation's seven largest rail transit agencies, including the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), are in marginal or poor condition, according to an April report by the Federal Transit Administration. These include public rail systems in New York, Chicago, Boston, New Jersey, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. more »
Mayors Say Cities Need Direct Economic Help, Reuters | June 15, 2009
Without more direct aid to U.S. local governments, Washington may make matters worse for cities facing falling tax revenues and increased spending needs, the nation's mayors said at their annual meeting this weekend. Mayors said they bear the tough task of cutting services and jobs vital to U.S. cities, even with help from the $787 billion in stimulus funds Congress passed in February.
