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The federal budget cuts being proposed by conservatives on Capitol Hill are not just heartless and reckless; they will if enacted "close off the route to jobs" and out of poverty for millions of Americans.

That's how Deborah Weinstein, the director of the Coalition for Human Needs, describes the impact of the $65 billion in cuts proposed February 11 by the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives. The list of cuts released over the weekend by the House Appropriations Committee has been described as "madness" by our own Bill Scher, but Weinstein says there is a dangerous method to that madness: a targeting of "the lowest-income, most vulnerable people in this country" in ways that will affect our entire economy.

The additional financial reforms we still need and the unfair economic privileges the big banks still enjoy are the focus of an exchange I had with Gil Gross on KGO Radio in San Francisco during the run-up to President Obama's State of the Union address. In this five-minute interview, we also discuss the important work of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, whose report was released the next day.

Leaders of four national organizations active in the fight to protect Social Security briefed reporters on a large campaign involving hundreds of thousands of citizen activists urging President Obama not to propose cuts to Social Security in his 2011 State of the Union address.

Featured speakers in this news briefing were Roger Hickey of the Campaign for America's Future, Daniel Mintz of MoveOn, former Rep. Barbara Kennelly of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and Eric Kingson of the Strengthen Social Security campaign.

The four lay out their argument against Social Security cuts as well as some alternatives for strengthening Social Security for future generations.

Dave Johnson discusses his writing exploring the right-wing attack on public employees on this segment of The Rick Smith Show.

Dave Johnson discusses free trade, North Korea, jobs and the need to revive American manufacturing on the Rick Smith Show.

This four-minute podcast is an excerpt of a news briefing by members of the Citizens' Commission on Jobs, Deficits and America's Economic Future. Their report presents a progressive alternative to the austerity proposals offered by the leaders of the White House deficit commission and by other panels influenced by the budget-cutting campaign of financier Peter G. Peterson and other conservatives.

Participating in the briefing are Robert L. Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future; Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change; Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and president of PolicyLink; Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America; and Robert Kuttner, senior fellow at Demos and founding editor at The American Prospect.

Leaders of the Citizens' Commission on Jobs, Deficits and America's Economic Future briefed members of the news media on their November 30 report on a progressive alternative to the austerity proposals offered by the leaders of the White House deficit commission and by other panels influenced by the budget-cutting campaign of financier Peter G. Peterson and other conservatives.

Participating in the briefing are Robert L. Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future; Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change; Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and president of PolicyLink; Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America; and Robert Kuttner, senior fellow at Demos and founding editor at The American Prospect.

The report is available at ourfuture.org/citizenscommission.

On The Rick Smith Show November 19, Terrance Heath discusses How the GOP in the House told unemployed Americans to "Drop dead," by blocking unemployment benefits extensions as 2 million Americans stand to lose their benefits by December 4th. Citing a Washington Post story about one of those two million Americans, Heath says, "We are on the verge of creating a permanent desperate class in this country, if we continue to abandon people who need help."

This interview is one of the "OurFuture Friday" segments heard weekly on The Rick Smith Show.