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Progressive leaders representing more than 50 groups participated in a news conference call to oppose a controversial plan to create a “fast track” deficit commission being pushed by Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. and Republican Sen. Judd Gregg, D-N.H. Their concern, as spelled out by Campaign for America's Future co-director Roger Hickey and others on the call, is that the commission would have the power to ram cuts in Social Security and other social programs through Congress, bypassing the traditional legislative debate that would give citizens opportunities to influence the outcome.

Conrad and Gregg's efforts to create the commission has prompted President Obama to propose a deficit commission of his own, and the leaders said that they would vigorously oppose Obama's proposal as well if it had the same features as the Conrad-Gregg plan.

Joining Hickey at the news conference call was Gerald Shea, assistant to the president, AFL-CIO; Barbara Kennelly, president, National Committee to Protect Social Security; Joan Entmacher, vice president, National Women’s Law Center; and Hilary Shelton, director, NAACP Washington Bureau.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., joins Institute for America’s Future health care project director Diane Archer, Georgetown University research professor Karen Pollitz and Consumers Union senior policy analyst Bill Vaughan in urging insurance companies to disclose information about the prices they charge and the care they cover that they are now keeping secret.

On this week's edition of the LiberalOasis Radio Show, airing on WHMP in Western MA, I interviewed National Priorities Project Executive Director Jo Comerford about her new budget report The Numbers Behind The Troops Increase.

In a conference call with reporters, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.; Thea Lee, deputy chief of staff, AFL-CIO; James Galbraith, economist, professor at Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs; and Campaign for America’s Future codirectors Robert Borosage and Roger Hickey argue in favor of a robust jobs-creation program along the lines of the AFL-CIO five-point jobs program. They also oppose the “budget commission” proposed by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., that would replace the normal legislative process with expedited budget-cutting procedures prohibiting amendments and limiting debate. More than 30 major organizations have signed a statement warning that such a commission could propose cutting public investments as well as Social Security and Medicare benefits.

On this week's edition of The LiberalOasis Radio Show, airing on WHMP in Western MA, I spoke with David Roberts from Grist.org who previewed the upcoming international climate summit in Copenhagen and the prospects for carbon cap legislation in the U.S. Senate.

On the heels of President Obama's trip to China, Carolyn Bartholomew, the chair of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and Clyde Prestowitz, the president of the Economic Strategy Institute, discuss how the United States should respond to the Chinese economic juggernaut.

Bartholomew and Prestowitz agree that the United States needs to respond to the Chinese government's efforts to boost their economy with our own "innovation strategy" that supports the strengthening of industries key to our energy and technology future. That strategy would include national incentives to businesses that would supplement, if not replace, the piecemeal efforts by states to woo foreign companies or keep domestic companies from leaving. They suggest that, contrary to the insistence of some doctrinaire free-marketeers, there are some steps that China is taking to build up its economy that we should emulate, and our bilateral negotiations should reflect that truth.

They also explain the importance of Chinese currency policy in constraining our own ability to grow our economy.

Now that thousands of demonstrators confronted bankers at the "showdown in Chicago" during the American Bankers Association convention there this week, activist energy is now urgently shifting to Washington and to communities across the country.

James Mumm, the director of organizing for National People's Action, in this interview declared that the Chicago demonstrations were a success, with about 5,000 people at the concluding rally Tuesday in front of the convention demanding that the banks stop lobbying against a consumer protection agency and regulatory reform.

At that rally, Service Employees International Union president Anna Burger didn't mince words:

“The big bankers came here to Chicago to celebrate because they think they’ve won again. They got their bailouts, they are raking in profits, and they think they can continue to use taxpayers as their personal ATM.

“That’s why, this week, we are launching a national call to action.

“We cannot rest until we begin to break the power that big banks and corporations have over our economy. They have spent decades rigging a system so that no matter what they do, they will always win at our expense.

"We know who the architects of our economic collapse are—Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, and others.

"We have to investigate them and, if necessary, we have to prosecute them for what they've done to our country."

Mumm also discusses in the interview one of the highlights of the three days of demonstrations, an address Monday from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chair Sheila Bair.

Bow, with the Obama administration late Tuesday proposing legislation to rein in so-called "too big to fail" banks and with a comprehensive financial reform bill, in Hamm's words, limping out of the House Financial Services Committee, activists have a lot of work to do.

Mumm says that the financial services industry, having been extended a $17 trillion taxpayer lifeline to bail them out of their reckless behavior, is committing millions of dollars to fighting financial reform, and so it will take "constant messages to members of Congress" to counter that lobbying onslaught. The message to Congress, Hamm said, is, "It is time to choose between the American people and real financial reform or you can stay on the side of the big banks. There is a risk there; on the one side is a bunch of money and on the other side is a bunch of people. But it is time to choose."

There will also be grassroots actions around the country, including a community meeting Sunday outside Boston with Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and other Fed staff members. That meeting would be the climax of a series of community meetings NPC has held around this country since early summer.

The Showdown in Chicago website will remain active in the coming weeks as a resource for people interested in getting involved, as will the National People's Action site.

During today's Bill Dwight Show airing on WHMP, I analyzed the substance and politics of Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid's move to put a public option, with an "opt-out" provision, in the Senate bill he sends to the floor.

On yesterday's The LiberalOasis Radio Show -- broadcast by WHMP -- OurFuture.org blogger Dave Johnson previews the Oct. 29 Building The New Economy conference, outlining the economic challenges posed by a shrinking manufacturing base and an unfair trading regime, and how public investment and enforcement of rules would position America to thrive in a 21st century, balanced global economy.

On The LiberalOasis Radio Show, which airs on WHMP in Western MA, "My River Chronicles" author Jessica DuLong tells her story of how she left her dotcom job to become a fireboat engineer, and what she learned by seeing the American economy from those two starkly different vantage points.