News & Comment

Today, August 14, is Social Security's 77th birthday. That presents us with a difficult challenge: What do you give a government program that has everything ... except a secure future of its own? Let's take a look at the options for this year's celebration. The Gift Pile Talk about an embarrassment of riches! Look what Social Security can already list among its gifts. It's got: read more »

Paul Ryan's looks are often compared to an actor's, and that's no accident: He's being groomed for the role of a lifetime. read more »

Dean Baker recently posted on the closed door meetings some prominent CEOs are having on shaping austerity budgets to be used after the election to pressure Congress to arrive at a bi-partisan compromise that will cut spending much more than it raises taxes and “put us on the road to fiscal sustainability and fiscal responsibil read more »

The New York Times contains another elite-columnist attack on our Social Security and Medicare systems today. This time it's in the form of an op-ed by Bill Keller. read more »

Millions of people have read the Hunger Games stories, about a depraved future society where young people are forcing to fight each other for scarce resources while elites in the Capital plunder the nation's wealth. read more »

As I mentioned Friday in "Real Jobs At Stake" I attended a blogger meeting with Rhode Island's Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. The meeting was put together by Americans for Tax Fairness, a new coalition formed to help win the coming fight over the expiring Bush tax cuts. read more »

As I mentioned Friday in "Real Jobs At Stake" I attended a blogger meeting with Rhode Island's Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. The meeting was put together by Americans for Tax Fairness, a new coalition formed to help win the coming fight over the expiring Bush tax cuts. read more »

At the June 18-20 Take Back the American Dream conference, we'll organize to stop Simpson-Bowles from passing Congress in the December "lame duck" session. Hear Robert L. Borosage, Van Jones and Melissa Harris-Perry on "Winning in November – So We Can Win in December and Beyond" and hear Rep. read more »

I have always loathed Alan Simpson going all the way back to the 80s. His pro-choice and LGBT rights record always gave him cover as a "moderate" and everyone enjoys his colorful language. But he's a hardcore fiscal conservative who thinks that everyone can make it in America by just pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Like he did. Of course he had a teensy bit of help from his daddy, former Governor and Senator Milward L. Simpson. read more »

Suppose the "deficit hawk" plan unfolds just as it is being presented -- right after the election and before those we elect can take office, the Congress meets and hammers out a "grand bargain" to "reform" taxes and cut back on government and the things democracy does for We, the People. Will that be the end of it? Will the country move on from deficit hysteria to a new lobbyist-manufactured "crisis?" read more »