New Activists Fight for the Life of the American Worker | Alternet

New Activists Fight for the Life of the American Worker | Alternet
"As unions decline, new worker movements are rising up to preserve the dignity and health of hard-working people."

Chris Christie Vetoes Help For Homeowners In State Plagued By Foreclosures

Chris Christie Vetoes Help For Homeowners In State Plagued By Foreclosures:  New Jersey is facing a twin crisis of foreclosures and lack of affordable housing, but Gov. Chris Christie (R) recently vetoed two bills that would have brightened the outlook for New Jersey residents [...]/p

80 Percent of Senate Republicans Opposed Sandy Relief

80 Percent of Senate Republicans Opposed Sandy Relief
"The majority of Republicans now approach natural disasters as political fodder, another opportunity to push for massive cuts to other domestic spending. Tax cuts to the wealthy? Why, those pay for themselves. Rebuilding destroyed communities populated by millions of Americans? Only if you cut other government programs."

ALEC-Inspired "Right to Work" Bill Back Again in Pennsylvania

ALEC-Inspired "Right to Work" Bill Back Again in Pennsylvania
"Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Darryl Metcalfe has introduced so-called "right to work" legislation that would cripple state labor unions by allowing non-union members to free-ride -- benefiting from union representation, including higher wages and benefits, without paying the costs of that representation. For decades, right to work laws were used in southern states to bust unions and keep wages low.

Metcalfe's bill, like the recent Michigan's legislation, is strikingly similar to the ALEC "model" Right to Work Act."

IBEW Face-to-Face Organizing

In an age of smartphones, email and the Internet, members of IBEW local unions in the Pacific Northwest are going back to the basics to spread the union's message. They're using good, old-fashioned, in-person communication to reach out to their fellow union members and future union members.

How raising Maryland’s minimum wage will benefit workers and boost the state’s economy | Economic Policy Institute

How raising Maryland’s minimum wage will benefit workers and boost the state’s economy | Economic Policy Institute
"Increasing the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour by July 2015 will have a demonstrably positive impact on the well-being of Maryland workers and the overall Maryland economy. The characteristics of those benefiting most from increasing the minimum wage dispel many prevailing beliefs about who gains from increasing the minimum wage."

Criminalizing Dissent and Punishing Occupy Protesters: Introduction to Henry Giroux’s "Youth in Revolt"

Criminalizing Dissent and Punishing Occupy Protesters: Introduction to Henry Giroux’s "Youth in Revolt"
"In the United States, the state monopoly on the use of violence has intensified since the 1980s and in the process has been di­rected disproportionately against young people, poor minorities, immigrants, women, and the elderly. Guided by the notion that unregulated, market-driven values and relations should shape every domain of human life, a business model of governance has eviscerated any viable notion of social responsibility and conscience, thereby furthering the dismissal of social problems and expanding cutbacks in basic social services."

The Judicial Assault on Unions | Alternet

The Judicial Assault on Unions | Alternet
"It should come as no shock that Republicans in Congress would like to see the power of labor further diminished. The same is true of governors and state legislatures in red and purple states such as Wisconsin and Indiana. But now conservative courts have joined the fray."

Why Won't The Media Interview Economists Who Aren't Deficit Scolds?

Why Won't The Media Interview Economists Who Aren't Deficit Scolds?
"I've noticed a very dangerous trend on network and cable TV news. Have you noticed that does the Beltway media never puts on an economist who disagrees with their deficit fetish? Do economists have to fill out a form that declares what side of the deficit debate they are on before they get invited to discuss the subject? The only time we get meaningful pushback against the deficit scolds is by Paul Krugman --and he's just one person. And to MSNBC, why does Fix The Debt shill Ed Rendell get much more air time than any economist when it comes to issues regarding America's economy?"

How States Lose $600 Million On A Worthless Corporate Tax Break

How States Lose $600 Million On A Worthless Corporate Tax Break: There’s no shortage of corporate tax giveaways at both the federal and state levels. Lawmakers of all stripes love to use the tax code to subsidize companies, either directly or indirectly. But in some instances, federal tax breaks for corporations undermine state budgets. As the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities detailed today, one particular [...]/p

House Judiciary Chair Introduces Unconstitutional Bill To Permanently Abolish The Income Tax

House Judiciary Chair Introduces Unconstitutional Bill To Permanently Abolish The Income Tax:Goodlatte believes that Medicare and Social Security are unconstitutional, so it is both unsurprising that the House Judiciary Chair is too unfamiliar with the Constitution to draft a constitutional tax bill and ironic that his bill actually permits taxes for the two programs he thinks are unconstitutional.

Sixty-nine members of Congress co-sponsored Goodlatte’s unconstitutional proposal to bankrupt the federal government.

As Predicted, Austerity Policies Send US Economy Downward | Common Dreams

As Predicted, Austerity Policies Send US Economy Downward | Common Dreams
"As warned by experts not cowed by the "deficit hawk" alarmists who dominate the national conversation on the economy, the dip in growth was not the result of "uncertainty" in the private sector or the future demands of public spending obligations, but rather on the contraction of public spending and the tax increases prematurely foisted on low-income and middle class workers in the form of a payroll tax increase that took effect on January 1."

Spending Cuts Slow Economy

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What Is Visa Hiding? Majority Shareholders Thwart Effort to Require More Disclosure of Money Spent on ALEC

What Is Visa Hiding? Majority Shareholders Thwart Effort to Require More Disclosure of Money Spent on ALEC
"Meanwhile, Visa is only one of 49 companies that socially responsible investors wrote to last year to urge ALEC funders to reconsider their financial support for the controversial group.  Walden Asset Managementand their other allies are continuing their shareholder-based outreach that has helped move other corporations out of ALEC.

But as a result of the shareholder vote in January, the amount of money Visa has spent funding ALEC over the years will remain hidden from investors and the public."

Austerity Is Dead: Can Someone Please Tell Paul Ryan and His Deluded GOP Cohorts? | Alternet

Austerity Is Dead: Can Someone Please Tell Paul Ryan and His Deluded GOP Cohorts? | Alternet
"In the academic world, at least, the debate over austerity seems to be at an end. But if the GOP has its way, austerity will come to America in a big way in 2013."

PERRspectives: Public Sector Austerity Still Slowing U.S. Economy

PERRspectives: Public Sector Austerity Still Slowing U.S. Economy
"All along, the real danger of the so-called "fiscal cliff" wasn't that U.S. national debt would increase, but instead that it would drop too quickly. Now, the surprise news that the American economy contracted by 0.1 percent in the last quarter of 2012 is providing a case in point. Along with the impact of super storm Sandy, declining exports and shrinking inventories, steeps cuts in federal (especially defense) spending explain much of the shortfall from the consensus forecast of 1.1 percent growth. As it turns out, since the start of the great recession the unprecedented shrinkage of the U.S. public sector has hampered economic growth and likely added a full point to the unemployment rate."

Today’s teachable GDP moment: Slower government spending => slower GDP growth | Economic Policy Institute

Today’s teachable GDP moment: Slower government spending => slower GDP growth | Economic Policy Institute
"Today’s GDP report, while overstating the current weakness in the economy, clearly illustrates what economists have known since the 1930s: Government fiscal contraction during periods of excess capacity—particularly when interest rates are already near-zero—is exactly the wrong thing to do. The coming year will see further cuts called for in the Budget Control Act (BCA) as well as possible cuts depending on the resolution of the “sequester” negotiations in March. These cuts will slow economic growth. Maybe not quite as dramatically as this quarter’s numbers indicate, but inevitably."

AEI Scholar To Fellow Conservatives: Forget About The Debt!

AEI Scholar To Fellow Conservatives: Forget About The Debt!
"Seriously, I think hell just froze over. An American Enterprise Institute "stink tanker" publicly contradicts the party line and tells conservatives the debt is no big deal -- based on actual facts n' stuff? The AEI, home to Lynne Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Newt Gingrich and John Bolton?

There's always the possibility this is merely a public relations move in reaction to the sound drubbing conservatives took in the November election, but even if it is, so what? A chink in the armor is going to make our job of stopping austerity measures a lot easier"

Vast majority of wage earners are working harder, and for not much more: Trends in U.S. work hours and wages over 1979–2007 | Economic Policy Institute

Vast majority of wage earners are working harder, and for not much more: Trends in U.S. work hours and wages over 1979–2007 | Economic Policy Institute
"As is well-documented in The State of Working America, 12th Edition (Mishel et al. 2012), the U.S. economy over the past decade has worked primarily to the advantage of a small sliver of winners. Meanwhile, the vast majority of workers have not fared well—a trend that stretches back to the late 1970s. Contrary to some political rhetoric of late, this is not due to lack of effort; the broad middle class has increased its productivity, upgraded its educational attainment, and worked more hours. In other words, workers have been offering more to the economy and the labor market, and what they have received in return—particularly in the form of real hourly wages—has been very disappointing."

Civil Rights On The Factory Floor

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Report: Nearly Half of Americans Have No Safety Net to Keep Them Out of Poverty | Alternet

Report: Nearly Half of Americans Have No Safety Net to Keep Them Out of Poverty | Alternet
"A new report reveals a fact that too many Americans are familiar with first-hand: nearly half of the nation's residents have no safety net to protect them from falling into poverty in the event of a layoff or other financial misfortune."

‘Fundamentally Unfair’: How States Tax Their Richest 1 Percent At Half The Rate Of The Poor

‘Fundamentally Unfair’: How States Tax Their Richest 1 Percent At Half The Rate Of The Poor: The poorest Americans are subject to a tax rate at the state and local level that is twice as high as the tax rate paid by the wealthiest earners thanks to “fundamentally unfair” state tax laws, according to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Middle-class taxpayers also pay higher [...]/p

U.S. Economy Shrinks For First Time Since 2009 Due To Government Spending Cuts

U.S. Economy Shrinks For First Time Since 2009 Due To Government Spending Cuts: According to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. economy contracted slightly in the fourth quarter of last year, shrinking by 0.1 percent. Analysts has expected growth of 1 percent. This was a large tumble from third quarter’s growth of 3.1 percent and the first contraction since 2009. According to the [...]/p

Goldman Sachs Made 400 Million in 2012 Manipulating Food Commodities Derivatives

Goldman Sachs Made 0 Million in 2012 Manipulating Food Commodities Derivatives
"Some will point to ever increasing food costs as their proof of inflation caused by an expansionary monetary policy by the Federal Reserve, but that’s not true.  Food costs and other must have commodities are being manipulated by Wall Street so that every time you buy a loaf of bread – you’re funding the bankers.  Every time you buy tortillas – you’re giving pennies at a time to bankers.  Goldman Sachs has invested $44 TRILLION into derivatives (source) with an unknown amount of that being funneled directly into commodities.  They’re cornering the market to make sure they extract their pound of flesh.  Worse yet – they’ve sued the Obama administration for implementing regulations that would limit how banks can manipulate food prices.  The courts ruled on behalf of the banks and against the Obama administration."

Immigration Reform Must Include Workers' Rights | Common Dreams

Immigration Reform Must Include Workers' Rights | Common Dreams
"At this moment, various plans to reform America's broken immigration system are working their way through Congressional debate. On Monday, a bipartisan group of eight lawmakersunveiled a plan that includes what they call a "tough but fair" path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Last Friday, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus met with President Obama to discuss the issue, and this caucus' input will be influential in shaping any final legislation."

How Big American Corporations Dodge Taxes By Claiming Huge Profits In Tiny Countries

How Big American Corporations Dodge Taxes By Claiming Huge Profits In Tiny Countries: American corporations avoid millions of dollars in taxes each year by reporting that large shares of their income are earned in five popular tax havens, even though small segments of their workforce and investment take place in those countries, according to data from the Congressional Research Service. The report analyzed five countries — Switzerland, Ireland, [...]/p

David vs. Goliath: Keystone XL Multinational Bullies Pipeline Protestors into Settlement | Common Dreams

David vs. Goliath: Keystone XL Multinational Bullies Pipeline Protestors into Settlement | Common Dreams
"Transcanada, the multinational giant behind the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, has followed a new corporate strategy by filing crushing lawsuits against individual activists and financially vulnerable organizations that have tried to halt to the construction of thecontroversial project."

Three Charts Reminding The GOP That Domestic Spending Is Already Headed Toward Historic Lows

Three Charts Reminding The GOP That Domestic Spending Is Already Headed Toward Historic Lows: Republicans like to portray President Obama as a big government spender, despite the fact that government spending under Obama has grown at its slowest pace since the Eisenhower administration. The GOP is also trying to pretend the spending cuts that Obama has signed into law over the last two years simply didn’t happen. In fact, [...]/p

From Bradley Manning to Aaron Swartz -- The Government's Inhumane Persecution of Brave Truth Tellers | Alternet

From Bradley Manning to Aaron Swartz -- The Government's Inhumane Persecution of Brave Truth Tellers | Alternet
"The Justice Department’s legal assault on Swartz is one of many attacks on people who carried important information into the public realm."

The Anti-Economist: Misleading American History - Truthdig

The Anti-Economist: Misleading American History - Truthdig
"By ignoring the historic role government played in enabling economic growth, the prevailing myths about how the U.S. became prosperous allow lawmakers, officials and lobbyists to craft policies that prevent the majority of Americans from taking their rightful share of the national wealth"

Opponents of “Corporate Personhood” Eye US Constitution | Common Dreams

Opponents of “Corporate Personhood” Eye US Constitution | Common Dreams
"There is a growing national movement to establish a 28th amendment to the constitution of the United States to address the issue of unlimited corporate spending in elections, although the groups working on the issue diverge on what exactly the amendment should say."

Contrasting Words With Deeds In Republican Tax Policy

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31 Senate Republicans Opposed Sandy Relief After Supporting Disaster Aid For Home States

31 Senate Republicans Opposed Sandy Relief After Supporting Disaster Aid For Home States: When the Senate passed the long-delayed $50.5 billion Hurricane Sandy relief package Monday, 36 Republicans voted against the bill. But of the 32 no-votes from Senators who are not brand-new members, at least 31 came from Republicans who had previously supported emergency aid efforts following disasters in their own states. While opponents complained that the [...]/p

Biotech Giants Battle to Stop Generic Competition | Common Dreams

Biotech Giants Battle to Stop Generic Competition | Common Dreams
"Biotech giants are fighting tooth and nail to prevent pharmacists from giving generic substitutes for biological drugs, which could cost the companies billions of dollars in annual sales but save consumers thousands of dollars."

GOP Governors Increase Burden On Poor With Regressive Tax Plan

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If You Don’t Want The U.S. to Be Greece, Forget Austerity

If You Don’t Want The U.S. to Be Greece, Forget Austerity
"See, one of the only reasons why many countries in Europe have suffered so much after the financial collapse has been because, instead of turning towards Keynesian policies that Paul Krugman has begged for, they’ve embraced the Conservative principles that the UK’s Cameron touted. And that decision ushered in very painful austerity measures upon the people of their nations. The effects of those decisions has been a non-existent financial recovery to their economy and an accompanying nightmare to their population."

How Big Banks Are Making Jobless Americans Pay Millions To Access Their Benefits

How Big Banks Are Making Jobless Americans Pay Millions To Access Their Benefits: According to a new report from the National Consumer Law Center, jobless Americans are being forced to pay millions of dollars in unnecessary fees to big banks in order to access their unemployment insurance benefits. Several states do not give beneficiaries the option of having their benefits deposited directly into their bank accounts, forcing them [...]/p

How CNBC And Fox News Misinformed Viewers About The Dangers Of The Debt Ceiling

How CNBC And Fox News Misinformed Viewers About The Dangers Of The Debt Ceiling: House Republicans recently agreed to raise the debt ceiling, preventing a self-inflicted economic calamity. Experts agree that failure to raise the debt ceiling would have catastrophic consequences for the U.S. economy. The debt ceiling debacle of 2010, during which the U.S. did not actually breach the debt limit and default, will wind up costing U.S. [...]/p

Four Important Ways Immigration Reform Could Benefit America’s Economy

Four Important Ways Immigration Reform Could Benefit America’s Economy: A bipartisan group of senators introduced a comprehensive immigration reform plan today that would reshape the nation’s outdated economic laws by putting 11 million undocumented immigrants on a path to citizenship while boosting border security. The plan would expand the pool of visas for highly-skilled immigrant workers and put young immigrants and undocumented agricultural workers [...]/p

New Jersey Governor Vetoes Minimum Wage Increase

New Jersey Governor Vetoes Minimum Wage Increase: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) today vetoed an increase in the minimum wage that was passed by the state’s Democratic senate. Using what’s known as a “conditional veto,” Christie sent the bill back saying he would sign it if certain changes were made, including: shrinking the increase from $8.50 to $8.25 per hour, phasing [...]/p

Analysis Shows Virginia GOP Governor’s Tax Plan Would Pound The Poor

Analysis Shows Virginia GOP Governor’s Tax Plan Would Pound The Poor: Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has been touring his state to promote a plan that would eliminate Virginia’s gas tax and replace it with an expanded sales tax. McDonnell is touting the plan as a way to fix the state’s dysfunctional transportation funding system, but its practical effect would be to make Virginia’s already regressive [...]/p

Court Ruling on Labor Board a Bid to Return to Era of Open Season on Workers | Common Dreams

Court Ruling on Labor Board a Bid to Return to Era of Open Season on Workers | Common Dreams
"The appeals court ruling Friday overturning President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board is a huge gift to Wall Street, big corporations and the politicians they control who have worked for years to overturn protections for working people in the U.S.

In healthcare the implications are especially insidious. It is a clear assault on the ability of nurses to act collectively to improve safety standards and public protections for patients. If nurses are unable to speak out for patients and act together to safeguard conditions, all patients are threatened in an era in which most hospital employers place their bottom line above patient safety."

AIG and Ethics: The Corporatization of Public Higher Education

AIG and Ethics: The Corporatization of Public Higher Education
"The notorious insurance monolith AIG gave two-thirds of the Ethics Center’s $16,000 first year budget. What might AIG’s intentions have been for funding the Center? AIG has not been known for its ethics. In fact, the insurer’s risky bets on derivatives were central to the 2008 economic crash. They received a $182 billion bailout. Yes, billion."

To End Extreme Poverty, Let’s Try Ending Extreme Wealth | Common Dreams

To End Extreme Poverty, Let’s Try Ending Extreme Wealth | Common Dreams
"Apologists for inequality have a standard retort to anyone who calls for a more equal distribution of the world’s treasure. If you took all the wealth of the wealthy and divvied it up equally among all the poor, the retort goes, no one would gain nearly enough to accomplish much of anything."

Up with Chris Hayes talks about the ongoing legacy of Aaron Swartz

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A Line Has Been Crossed: Anonymous Hacks DOJ | Common Dreams

A Line Has Been Crossed: Anonymous Hacks DOJ | Common Dreams
"Launching "Operation Last Resort," Anonymous twice hacked the Justice Department's Sentencing Commission this weekend to protest the death of Aaron Swartz and a legal system "wielded less and less to uphold justice, and more and more to exercise control (and) power." The group threatened to release Justice Department data if the government fails to reform flawed cyber crime laws that allow almost unfettered prosecutorial power, and then turned the website into a videogame and Guy Fawkes mask proclaiming, “We do not forgive. We do not forget"."

A Vicious New Strain Of Stomach Flu Shows The Importance Of Paid Sick Leave

A Vicious New Strain Of Stomach Flu Shows The Importance Of Paid Sick Leave: Jane Farrell, a research assistant for economic policy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. It seems that the U.S. is set up for a double-whammy outbreak of illness this winter — after enduring one of the worst flu seasons in years, America now faces an especially vicious strain of [...]/p

Michigan’s GOP House Speaker Expresses Support For Election Rigging

Michigan’s GOP House Speaker Expresses Support For Election Rigging: Late last week, democracy scored two important victories over a Republican plan to rig future presidential elections by changing the way electoral votes are counted in several key blue states. Two Virginia Republican state senators spoke out against the plan, effectively killing it. And Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford (R) attacked the election-rigging scheme as [...]/p

The GOP's Class Warriors: Makers, Takers, Fakers | Common Dreams

The GOP's Class Warriors: Makers, Takers, Fakers | Common Dreams
"Republicans have a problem. For years they could shout down any attempt to point out the extent to which their policies favored the elite over the poor and the middle class; all they had to do was yell “Class warfare!” and Democrats scurried away. In the 2012 election, however, that didn’t work: the picture of the G.O.P. as the party of sneering plutocrats stuck, even as Democrats became more openly populist than they have been in decades."

To Resist, To Join Together, Occasionally To Win | Common Dreams

To Resist, To Join Together, Occasionally To Win | Common Dreams
"It was three years ago that we lost Howard Zinn, teacher, historian, activist, optimist, speaker of truth to power. He is missed."

Paul Ryan: Calling Out My Hypocrisy on 'Entitlements' is a 'Straw Man Argument'

Paul Ryan: Calling Out My Hypocrisy on 'Entitlements' is a 'Straw Man Argument'
"Apparently taking note of the fact that someone is s hypocrite and rightfully pointing out that their policies hurt the most vulnerable among us is now a "straw man argument." On this Sunday's Meet the Press, David Gregory asked Rep. Paul Ryan about this quote from President Obama's inaugural speech, and Ryan pretty well twisted himself in knots trying to pretend that he and his fellow Republicans really don't want to gut our social safety nets. And all of that talk about "makers vs. takers"... well, just disregard all that."

Corporate Land Grabs Reveal a Hidden Agenda: Controlling the Water | Alternet

Corporate Land Grabs Reveal a Hidden Agenda: Controlling the Water | Alternet
"The food crisis and recent droughts have confirmed that controlling the source of food—the land and the water that flows under or by it—are equally or even more important."

US Chamber CEO Donohue: Fracking Is Our Future, Safety Nets Be Damned

US Chamber CEO Donohue: Fracking Is Our Future, Safety Nets Be Damned
"If you want to understand the source of the world's problems, follow the Davos coverage by CNN andBloomberg News for a few days. Not only will they tell you what the source is, they'll prove that your instincts are right about billionaires and those who present them as the arbiters of all things fair and right.

Davos is the annual billionaires' conclave where they network, get their message straight, gladhand hungry politicians, and try to determine our fate. Ladies and gentlemen, our problem isn't what the billionaires think it is. Our problem is the billionaires."

FreedomWorks Putting Its War Chest to Work for ALEC’s Union-Busting Agenda in the States | Alternet

FreedomWorks Putting Its War Chest to Work for ALEC’s Union-Busting Agenda in the States | Alternet
"The Tea Party-affiliated group FreedomWorks -- the right-wing organization that helps connect “Tea Party” groups with talking points, rallies, and more -- is gearing up to direct its sizeable war chest towards advancing anti-union initiatives in the states, supporting an agenda set by groups like David Koch's Americans for Prosperity and the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). This strongly suggests that the battle for the future of private and public sector unions in America is beginning a new phase of combat."

Republicans Already Moving To Obstruct Consumer Protection Director… Again

Republicans Already Moving To Obstruct Consumer Protection Director… Again: Less than a day after President Obama announced that he is re-nominating Richard Cordray to be director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Republicans suggested that they again intend to obstruct his nomination based on their continued opposition to having a strong independent agency protecting consumers from predatory lending practices. Cordray’s recess appointment is [...]/p

GOP Governors Would Help the Rich Pick Your Pockets - Truthdig

GOP Governors Would Help the Rich Pick Your Pockets - Truthdig
"A slew of Republican governors are taking advantage of an “improving economy and a gradual rebound in revenues” toaggressively push for cuts to personal and corporate income taxes, and propose to make up the difference by raising sales taxes.

We’ve been over this before. Sales taxes do not differentiate based on people’s ability to pay. All are equal before the cash register. The Wall Street banker is treated no differently from the lowly paid schoolteacher. Therefore all are required to pay the same tax rate regardless of income. The result is a tax scheme that takes more from the middle class and the poor than the wealthy."

Meet the "The Untouchables"

Wall Street banksters have been committing rampant crimes against the American people for years - but have managed to escape punishment. Why did the Department of Justice refuse to prosecute these criminals - and what does this say about Wall Street's sway with the federal government? The banksters on Wall Street got away with murder, literally. There have been broken families, divorces, suicides, and even murders that arguably can be tracked back to people's lives being destroyed by the greed of the banksters on Wall Street. And not a single Wall Street executive has gone to jail.

ALEC Has Opposed "Popular Vote" Efforts Which Would Protect Against Partisan Rigging of Electoral College

ALEC Has Opposed "Popular Vote" Efforts Which Would Protect Against Partisan Rigging of Electoral College
"The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has actively lobbied against state plans to implement a national popular vote for president, urging state legislators to preserve the Electoral College -- which GOP legislators are now trying to rig to ensure the the next president is a Republican. In late 2011, ALEC officially changed its policy on the Electoral College to implicitly support allocating electoral votes by congressional district."

Frontline Gets Its Man: Lanny Breuer Leaves DOJ After Exposé | Common Dreams

Frontline Gets Its Man: Lanny Breuer Leaves DOJ After Exposé | Common Dreams
"In a testament to the power of independent media, the award-winning public television show Frontline this week helped push a top Department of Justice (DOJ) official out the door."

Choice of Mary Jo White to Head SEC Puts Fox In Charge of Hen House | Common Dreams

Choice of Mary Jo White to Head SEC Puts Fox In Charge of Hen House | Common Dreams
"I was shocked when I heard that Mary Jo White, a former U.S. Attorney and a partner for the white-shoe Wall Street defense firm Debevoise and Plimpton, had been named the new head of the SEC."

There's just one way to stop GOP rigging the vote...

All across America - Republicans are working hard to corrupt our democracy - and to rig the 2016 election. How could reforming the American voting process help to put integrity back into the our democracy?

Less Than Half Of Wall Street Reform Rules Are Finalized

Less Than Half Of Wall Street Reform Rules Are Finalized: President Obama yesterday nominated prosecutor Mary Jo White to become the next head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. An important part of her task will be implementing the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which is slowly grinding through the rule-making process. According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, there is still quite [...]/p

Indiana Gov. Proposes Regressive Tax Cut Even Republicans Say The State Can’t Afford

Indiana Gov. Proposes Regressive Tax Cut Even Republicans Say The State Can’t Afford: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) used his State of the State speech this week to propose a 10-percent income tax cut that would cost the state so much money that even leading Republicans won’t support it. Pence’s proposal would cut the state’s income tax rate from 3.4 percent to 3.06 percent, a plan that follows [...]/p

The Rich Are Enjoying The Recovery While Wages Fall For Everyone Else

The Rich Are Enjoying The Recovery While Wages Fall For Everyone Else: As income inequality skyrockets, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute finds that the economic downturn and gradual recovery has exacerbated the trend. The wages of the richest Americans are making a dramatic comeback, while the rest of the country has seen its income drop by 1.2 percent since 2007. The wealthiest earners took [...]/p

North Carolina GOP Governor Distances Himself From His Party’s Super-Regressive Tax Plan

North Carolina GOP Governor Distances Himself From His Party’s Super-Regressive Tax Plan: North Carolina Republican lawmakers, following on the heels of Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) and Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS), have proposed eliminating their state’s income tax and corporate tax, replacing them with an expanded sales tax. Such a move is highly regressive, pushing taxes onto those lower on the income scale who are likely to spend [...]/p

We Must Stop the Tyrannical Minority

We Must Stop the Tyrannical Minority
"Now that the Republican Party has been hijacked by the Billionaire Class, a very small one-percent sliver of our nation, they've taken unprecedented steps to abuse the Electoral College."

The importance of revenue revisited: Minimizing the drag of austerity | Economic Policy Institute

The importance of revenue revisited: Minimizing the drag of austerity | Economic Policy Institute
"Via Ezra Klein comes a must-read leaked memo from Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to Senate Democrats ahead of fashioning a Senate Budget Resolution. It’s an excellent chronology of the deficit reduction enacted in the 112th Congress—a hefty $2.4 trillion expected to take effect and $3.6 trillion if sequestration goes into effect—and the looming phases on the Beltway budget fights following the American Taxpayer Relief Act (i.e., the lame-duck budget fight, or ATRA for short).^1"

GOP Version2013: Battling Not Just Democrats but Democracy | Common Dreams

GOP Version2013: Battling Not Just Democrats but Democracy | Common Dreams
"So President Obama would have won by 5 million votes, carried the majority of states and swept the battlegrounds. But Romney would have been inaugurated as the nation’s forty-fifth president.
That’s not democracy. But that is the point of the Priebus plan."

How Republicans Plan To Rig The Next Presidential Election, In Six Pictures

How Republicans Plan To Rig The Next Presidential Election, In Six Pictures: Yesterday, Virginia Republicans took the first step to move a GOP plan to rig the Electoral College forward in that state. Similar plans are under consideration in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The Republican election rigging plan targets blue states that President Obama won in 2008 and 2012, and changes the way they allocate electoral votes [...]/p

GOP has to rig elections to win

Republicans in Virginia snuck an election rigging plan through the state Senate while everyone was focused on the inauguration. I'll tell you what they did - and more importantly why they did it - and how it speaks to the fundamental difference between Conservatives and Liberals.

Earnings of the top 1.0 percent rebound strongly in the recovery | Economic Policy Institute

Earnings of the top 1.0 percent rebound strongly in the recovery | Economic Policy Institute
"One important cause of the rapid wage and income growth of the highest earners—particularly the top 1.0 percent—is the sharp increase of corporate CEO pay, a subject explored in The State of Working America, 12th Edition and an EPI issue brief previewing the findings (Mishel and Sabadish 2012). Another is the expansion of the financial sector and the increased pay, relative to other workers, of those in the financial sector. Other factors contributing to the overall increase in wage inequality discussed at greater length in The State of Working America, 12th Edition include policy decisions (of omission as well as commission) such as those concerning globalization, the minimum wage, collective bargaining rights, industry deregulation, and unemployment."

Austerity Fails: European Nations See Debt Grow Despite Deep Spending Cuts

Austerity Fails: European Nations See Debt Grow Despite Deep Spending Cuts: Since the onset of the financial crisis, European countries have attempted to deal with their economic malaise by implementing austerity packages, slashing government spending and laying off public workers. However, such measures have proved self-defeating, as the austerity measures blunted economic growth and caused Europe’s debt to actually grow: The eurozone failed to reduce its [...]/p

JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon Spurs Outrage in Davos | Common Dreams

JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon Spurs Outrage in Davos | Common Dreams
"Amid calls for stricter regulations of the banking industry, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon came under fire Wednesday after telling corporate and political leaders at the World Economic Forum that banks had been wrongly "scapegoated" as the cause of the global economic crisis, and resisted calls for increased regulation of the financial industry."

Union Membership Shrinks To The Lowest Level Since The Depression

Union Membership Shrinks To The Lowest Level Since The Depression: Union membership plummeted in 2012 to the lowest level since the Depression, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The membership rate dropped to 11.3 percent from 11.8 percent, while total membership fell by roughly 400,000 workers, largely due to massive layoffs of teachers, firefighters, and other public employees. Anti-labor measures passed by Republican-controlled governments [...]/p

State Higher Education Funding Has Dropped 10 Percent Since The Great Recession

State Higher Education Funding Has Dropped 10 Percent Since The Great Recession: State budget cuts brought about by the Great Recession have hammered funding for higher education, and as a whole, state governments will spend 10.8 percent less on higher education this year than they did in the fiscal year prior to the recession, according to data from the Grapevine Project at Illinois State University. Overall, only [...]/p

Paul Ryan Throws $1.5 Trillion In Spending Cuts Down The Memory Hole: ‘We’ve Yet To Get Anything’

Paul Ryan Throws $1.5 Trillion In Spending Cuts Down The Memory Hole: ‘We’ve Yet To Get Anything’: At a Wall Street Journal breakfast, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), who is re-emerging into the public eye following his failed bid for Vice President, adopted the Republican line that December’s deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff is the final word on taxes going forward. Ryan falsely claimed that Democrats received revenue, [...]/p

Fed Prez Accused Geithner Of Leaking Inside Info To Wall Street. Media Yawns!

Fed Prez Accused Geithner Of Leaking Inside Info To Wall Street. Media Yawns!
"Why on earth would your librul media not want to investigate how outgoing Treasury Secretary Tim "Turbo Tax" Geithner was accused of leaking inside information to Wall Street --by the Richmond Fed president? I can't imagine, because it does seem like a story to those of us outside the Beltway bubble. Maybe the complicit ladies and gentlemen of the corporate media could get up off their knees and, you know, actually cover this story? Maybe earn those paychecks for doing something other than parroting the conventional wisdom of the elite?"

How to Cut Megabanks Down to Size

How to Cut Megabanks Down to Size
"megabanks not only threaten taxpayers with bailouts, but that their continuing failure to lend is also thwarting the Fed’s efforts to jump-start the economy by keeping interest rates low."

The Bottom Line: Regulation

Support For Tea Party Budget Amendment Craters In The Senate

Support For Tea Party Budget Amendment Craters In The Senate: At the opening of the last Congress, House and Senate Republicans lined up behind a Tea Party “balanced budget amendment” that would have made it functionally impossible to raise taxes while simultaneously forcing spending cuts so severe that they would “throw about 15 million more people out of work, double the unemployment rate from 9 [...]/p

Stiglitz and the WEF: Making the Connection between Climate Change and Economics | Common Dreams

Stiglitz and the WEF: Making the Connection between Climate Change and Economics | Common Dreams
"The World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos this week. Why is the WEF vital for climate change? As Greenpeace's Kumi Naidoo put it, "to appeal to the most powerful that they have to move beyond an obsession with preserving a system that drives economic inequality, environmental destruction and violence"."

Four Ways The Virginia GOP’s Redistricting Power Grab Could Be Stopped By Legal Action

Four Ways The Virginia GOP’s Redistricting Power Grab Could Be Stopped By Legal Action: Yesterday, when Virginia state Sen. Henry Marsh (D) was away from the state capitol to attend President Obama’s inauguration, Virginia Republicans rushed through a gerrymandering bill that that could potentially transform the evenly divided Virginia senate into a 27-13 Republican majority. The Virginia senate is currently split 20-20 between Democrats and Republicans, and Lt. Gov. [...]/p

Global Inequality Skyrockets: Report Says Top 1% Have Increased Wealth By 60% Over Last Two Decades | Alternet

Global Inequality Skyrockets: Report Says Top 1% Have Increased Wealth By 60% Over Last Two Decades | Alternet
"For instance, the US has seen “the share of national income going to the top 1%... doubled since 1980 from 10 to 20%. For the top 0.01% it has quadrupled  to levels never seen before.” And globally, the situation is not any better: “Globally the incomes of the top 1% have increased 60% in twenty years. The growth in income for the 0.01% has been even greater.” And the financial crisis has only accelerated the process of the 1% gaining even greater wealth."

Did the Flipping of the Reagan Revolution Begin Today?

“Free-Market” Outcomes Are Not Fair—and Not Free | Common Dreams

“Free-Market” Outcomes Are Not Fair—and Not Free | Common Dreams
"The realization that the economy is rigged to benefit the rich and large corporations takes away the force of the right-wing argument that progressives want to use government to “vilify” the “successful” and reward the “slothful and incompetent.” When the game has been rigged, it is wrong to say that the market simply rewards talent and hard work, and the outcomes that result can hardly be called fair. When the market outcomes that we observe are unfair, we need to both change the rules for how the economy works and use the government to restore fairness."

O'Reilly Attacks Obama for Promoting Social Justice in Inaugural Address

O'Reilly Attacks Obama for Promoting Social Justice in Inaugural Address
"What a shock. Sour grapes Bill O'Reilly didn't like President Obama's inaugural speech today. And what set Bill-O off that irritated him so badly about it? President Obama was advocating for... gasp... social justice! The horror! The only thing that was missing here was him calling us Greece. That and saying the words that didn't cross his lips, which is Social Security and Medicare. Apparently those are "welfare" now."

Citizens United at Three: Grassroots Fight Against 'Corporate Personhood' Swells | Common Dreams

Citizens United at Three: Grassroots Fight Against 'Corporate Personhood' Swells | Common Dreams
"Grassroots groups are marking the third anniversary this week of the U.S. Supreme Court'sCitizens United ruling with the continued message: 'corporations are not people'."

New Questions for Aaron Swartz's Prosecutor, Whose Career Is Filled with Cases of Picking on the Weak | Alternet

New Questions for Aaron Swartz's Prosecutor, Whose Career Is Filled with Cases of Picking on the Weak | Alternet
"Although the conduct of Ms. Ortiz’s office may seem disproportionately harsh, this is unfortunately par for the course. Rather than a procedure dictated from Washington, U.S. attorneys and local D.A.’s enjoy broad discretion in the charges they press. Thanks to tough-on-crime laws and mandatory-minimum sentencing, prosecutors are able to extort—if they so choose—a quick end to the proceedings and a headline-worthy admission of guilt. To single out the conduct of Carmen Ortiz as an anomaly of America’s system of mass incarceration would be to misunderstand its character. She is a symptom of the entire disease."

11 European Countries Adopted A Financial Transactions Tax, And The U.S. Should Too

11 European Countries Adopted A Financial Transactions Tax, And The U.S. Should Too: 11 members of the Eurozone today received the go-ahead to apply a financial transactions tax to trades of stocks and derivatives that occur within their countries. The EU’s tax commissioner called it “a milestone for EU tax policy“: EU ministers have given the go ahead for 11 eurozone members, including France and Germany, to prepare [...]/p

CHART: Labor Strikes Become Rare As Employers Gain The Upper Hand

CHART: Labor Strikes Become Rare As Employers Gain The Upper Hand: According to an analysis of Current Population Survey data by Matt Bruenig, the number of workers exercising their right to strike has plummeted since the 1970s: Forty years, ago, “an average of 289 major work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers occurred annually in the United States. By the 1990s, that had fallen to about [...]/p