Republicans: There's No Debt Crisis, We Just Want to Screw the Poor | Alternet

Republicans: There's No Debt Crisis, We Just Want to Screw the Poor | Alternet
"Admitting that there’s no immediate crisis illustrates that the GOP’s proposed monstrous cuts to social welfare programs are more an attempt to push through their ideology than save the country from collapse. As the media continues to hyperbolize the deficit, the need for compromise and the instantaneous dangers that will occur if we don’t impose austerity cuts, Republicans are happily using the spin to quickly demand these absurd cuts. But now, especially with both parties acknowledging that there’s no immediate debt crisis, we must demand an honest, smart budget from Congress."

With Inequality Spiraling Out of Control It's Insane to Consider Cutting Social Security | Alternet

With Inequality Spiraling Out of Control It's Insane to Consider Cutting Social Security | Alternet
"The United States already has a poverty rate among the elderly of 24 percent."

7 Things You Need to Know About the Shocking Cyprus Bailout Crisis That Has Everyone Freaked Out | Alternet

7 Things You Need to Know About the Shocking Cyprus Bailout Crisis That Has Everyone Freaked Out | Alternet
"Fears of bank runs, a Lehman-like collapse, and widespread panic are building."

March Madness: The 5th Straight Year of Extreme Corporate Tax Avoidance | Common Dreams

March Madness: The 5th Straight Year of Extreme Corporate Tax Avoidance | Common Dreams
"Corporations have simply stopped paying their taxes, perhaps using the 2008 recession as an excuse to plead hardship, but then never restoring their tax obligations when business got better. The facts are indisputable. For over 20 years, from 1987 to 2008, corporations paid an average of 22.5% in federal taxes. Since the recession, this has dropped to 10% -- even though their profits have doubled in less than ten years."

Why Does Anyone Still Take Paul Ryan Seriously? | Alternet

Why Does Anyone Still Take Paul Ryan Seriously? | Alternet
"His failed V.P. bid may have made him a national figure, but his budget plan is hopelessly out of touch."

Five Reasons Washington Shouldn’t Panic About The Debt

Five Reasons Washington Shouldn’t Panic About The Debt: Once again, the March budget season has arrived, and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has engineered another draconian fiscal vision for the House Republicans. The plan would radically remake Medicare, decimate Medicaid, grant a huge tax cut to the wealthy, and slash support for the poor, investments, and civic infrastructure. Ryan and his cohorts justify these [...]/p

Wall Street Execs Should Face Criminal Consequences | Common Dreams

Wall Street Execs Should Face Criminal Consequences | Common Dreams
"Another day, another Wall Street scandal—and yet another instance where the perpetrators will quite certainly get little more than a slap on the wrist."

New Study Finds That the Wealthy Are DIfferent Than Us | Alternet

New Study Finds That the Wealthy Are DIfferent Than Us | Alternet
"“The very rich,” wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald, “are different from you and me.”

It turns out he was right."

The 5 Corrupt Things About New Jersey Governor Chris Christie | Alternet

The 5 Corrupt Things About New Jersey Governor Chris Christie | Alternet
"Christie knows you can piss off some of the people some of the time, just as long as you don’t rock the billionaires’ boats."

Break Up the Behemoth Banks | Common Dreams

Break Up the Behemoth Banks | Common Dreams
"Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, fresh from his impressive re-election victory last fall, is back again with a simple, straightforward solution: make the big boys smaller. He is working on legislation with Republican Senator David Vitter to break up the half-dozen mega-banks and strengthen capital standards. This forced downsizing would make space in the marketplace, allowing many more midsize and smaller banking institutions to flourish. It could also protect the nation from another disastrous bailout of Wall Street at public expense."

Key Financial Justice Fight Happening Outside Of Spotlight

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House Republicans Vote Down Increase In Minimum Wage

House Republicans Vote Down Increase In Minimum Wage: House Republicans on Friday unanimously voted down a bill that would have raised the minimum wage. Six Democrats joined them in defeating the effort. The vote came after a surprise move by Democrats, who tacked onto a jobs training program bill an amendment that would have brought the national $7.25 minimum wage to $10.10 by [...]/p

The Progressive Caucus’ Budget Invests Where It Matters

The Progressive Caucus’ Budget Invests Where It Matters: Earlier this week, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) released a budget proposal that would undermine America’s long-term economic growth and competitiveness by slashing critical investments in education, science and technology, and infrastructure. If Ryan’s budget is an example of what not to do, the budget (PDF) proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus is a great example [...]/p

Philadelphia City Council Approves Paid Sick Days, But It Won’t Go Far

Philadelphia City Council Approves Paid Sick Days, But It Won’t Go Far: pOn Thursday, the city council of Philadelphia approved, by a vote of 11-6, paid sick leave for employees. The proposal would require businesses with 6-20 employees to provide four paid sick days. Businesses of more than 20 would need to give seven days of paid leave. But that is unlikely to happen unless one council [...]/p

Monsanto: Patenting Death | Common Dreams

Monsanto: Patenting Death | Common Dreams
"Monsanto has yet another case pending in the court system, this time before the U.S. Supreme Court on the exclusivity of its genetically modified seed patents. Narrowly at issue is whether Monsanto retains patent rights on soybeans that have been replanted after showing up in generic stocks rather than being sold specifically as seeds, or whether those patent rights are “exhausted” after the initial planting. But more broadly the case also raises implications regarding control of the food supply"

An Open Challenge to Michelle Rhee and the Corporate Education Zombies | Common Dreams

An Open Challenge to Michelle Rhee and the Corporate Education Zombies | Common Dreams
"Rhee, the prominent corporate education reform advocate, former D.C. Public Schools Chancellor, and CEO of the ironically-named “Students First” organization, now has Seattle in her crosshairs. In her March 5thop-ed for the Seattle Times, Rhee berated teachers at Garfield and other Seattle schools for their boycott of the district required MAP test."

Path to Prosperity? How about Path of Austerity | Economic Policy Institute

Path to Prosperity? How about Path of Austerity | Economic Policy Institute
"Paul Ryan’s FY2014 budget alternative was released earlier this week, and though titled Path to Prosperity, a more appropriate title would be “Path of Austerity"."

Report Reveals JP Morgan as a Lying, Scheming Rogue Trader (Quelle Surprise!) | Common Dreams

Report Reveals JP Morgan as a Lying, Scheming Rogue Trader (Quelle Surprise!) | Common Dreams
"The first stunner, that JP Morgan was restating the first quarter financials, should have caused a deafening ringing of alarm bells. For a company of JP Morgan’s stature to be compelled to restate prior period financials is a very clear signal of bigger problems with their overall financial reporting. In isolation we would normally expect to see a massive selloff with an event of that seriousness. Analysts and reporters may have missed the significance since it was dropped into a footnote and overshadowed by the other disclosures. …

But the real cause for alarm is the reason for the restatement. JPM was forced to disclose that it relied on its traders to provide honest and accurate valuations for its financial statement disclosures. That’s like putting the foxes in charge of not just the henhouse, but the entire farm."

Will J.P. Morgan Chase Be Torn a New One? | Common Dreams

Will J.P. Morgan Chase Be Torn a New One? | Common Dreams
"If you can fight through the jargon, what this basically means is that Chase decided to go into the fiction business and invent a new way to value its crazy-ass derivative bets, using, among other things, a computerized model the company designed itself called "P&L predict" which subjectively calculated the value of the entire fund toward the end of every business day."

The Plan To Save The Middle Class & Trim The Deficit

What's Not to Like? It Raises Needed Revenues and Curbs the Beasts of Wall Street | Common Dreams

What's Not to Like? It Raises Needed Revenues and Curbs the Beasts of Wall Street | Common Dreams
"Let’s get one thing straight: The United States doesn’t have a public debt problem. Net interest payments on the federal public debt are less than 1 percent of GDP [PDF], which is about as low as they have been in the post-World War II era.  In the long run, projected debt problems are a result of rising health care costs  – driven by the private sector – and would disappear if we were to reduce these costs to the level of other high-income countries."

Sequestering the Poor

Low-Income Kids Are Being Kicked Out Of Their Preschool Programs Thanks To Sequestration

Low-Income Kids Are Being Kicked Out Of Their Preschool Programs Thanks To Sequestration: The early childhood education program Head Start provides educational opportunities specifically to low-income kids. But 70,000 of those students will lose the opportunity to be in the program, thanks to the drastic reductions in funding triggered by this month’s across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration. Reports are beginning to roll in about how children will [...]/p

Memo to Washington: Private Debt Threatens Our Economy, Not Government Deficits | Alternet

Memo to Washington: Private Debt Threatens Our Economy, Not Government Deficits | Alternet
"The debt we are talking about is private-sector debt. But most officials this afternoon focus on government debt and budget deficits as the problem – especially social spending such as Social Security, not bailouts to the banks and Federal Reserve credit to re-inflate prices for real estate, stocks and bonds."

Back To 1948: Ryan’s Fantasy Budget Cuts Spending To Its Lowest Level In 65 Years

Back To 1948: Ryan’s Fantasy Budget Cuts Spending To Its Lowest Level In 65 Years: Over at Investors.com, Jed Graham ran the numbers on Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) new budget for the House GOP, and found that by 2023, it would drive all government spending that isn’t either Social Security or interest on the debt to its lowest level since 1948. On only three other occasions in the last 60 [...]/p

Inequality and the Social Security Debate | Common Dreams

Inequality and the Social Security Debate | Common Dreams
"Next time you see one of these CEOs on TV lecturing about belt-tightening, keep in mind who’s talking. The stakes in this debate are extremely high for ordinary Americans who work hard every day but still have to worry about their retirement security. For CEOs with mega-million retirement funds, there’s not much to lose."

Ryan v. the Congressional Progressive Caucus | Alternet

Ryan v. the Congressional Progressive Caucus | Alternet
"For those who take a look, the contrast will open your eyes.

Both parties agree that we suffer from mass unemployment, declining wages, and growing inequality. Both agree that rising future deficits should be addressed. But they offer completely different responses to these realities."

Banks Prefer White Men For Mortgage Loans, Study Finds

Banks Prefer White Men For Mortgage Loans, Study Finds: If you’re a black woman looking for to refinance your home, the forces of discrimination are working against you. If you’re a white man, you’ll probably have an easier go of it. According to a new study from the Woodstock Institute, banks discriminate on the basis of both gender and race when they make decisions [...]/p

House GOP Blocks Welfare Reform Waivers Republican Governors Requested

House GOP Blocks Welfare Reform Waivers Republican Governors Requested: During the 2012 presidential election, Republican nominee Mitt Romney assailed a policy from the Obama administration that would have granted states waivers to improve their welfare programs under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. Even though the waivers were requested by a host of Republican governors, including Romney himself, Romney alleged that the policy [...]/p

The ‘Back to Work’ budget: Analysis of the Congressional Progressive Caucus budget for fiscal year 2014 | Economic Policy Institute

The ‘Back to Work’ budget: Analysis of the Congressional Progressive Caucus budget for fiscal year 2014 | Economic Policy Institute
"It builds on recent CPC budget alternatives in prioritizing near-term job creation, financing public investments, strengthening the middle class, raising adequate revenue to meet budgetary needs while restoring fairness to the tax code, protecting social insurance programs, and ensuring fiscal sustainability."

Progressive Caucus Budget Includes Tax On Risky Trading, Investments To Boost Economy

Progressive Caucus Budget Includes Tax On Risky Trading, Investments To Boost Economy: The Congressional Progressive Caucus introduced a budget this week that it says would bring total deficit reduction to $4.4 trillion through defense cuts, new revenues, and economic growth that would result from measures to boost the economy and education. It includes a substantial amount of revenue through the closure of tax loopholes and new taxes [...]/p

Koch Brothers: Vulture Capitalists

Cable News Obsessively Covers Cuts To White House Tours, Virtually Ignores Cuts To Programs For The Poor

Cable News Obsessively Covers Cuts To White House Tours, Virtually Ignores Cuts To Programs For The Poor: Thanks to Congressional gridlock, automatic budget cuts took effect 14 days ago, threatening 700,000 jobs and gutting funds for vital programs in housing assistance, early childhood education, disaster relief, and national security. Secret Service staffing was also impacted, prompting the cancellation of White House tours last week. Republicans immediately attacked the decision as a political [...]/p

Progressive 'Back to Work' Budget Wins Praise for Anti-Austerity Approach | Common Dreams

Progressive 'Back to Work' Budget Wins Praise for Anti-Austerity Approach | Common Dreams
"In the midst of ongoing hysteria about a 'non-existent deficit crisis' in Washington, the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Wednesday unveiled an alternative approach to destructive austerity economics by releasing their 'Back to Work Budget' plan for 2014."

The Cruel Gap Between CEO Pay and the Stagnant Minimum Wage | Common Dreams

The Cruel Gap Between CEO Pay and the Stagnant Minimum Wage | Common Dreams
"It is time for a movement of the people to restore a level of minimal fairness to the compensation of working Americans and catch up with 1968."

Charles Koch Reflects on Last Election, Promises to Do More to 'Persuade Politicians' | The Nation

Charles Koch Reflects on Last Election, Promises to Do More to 'Persuade Politicians' | The Nation
"Why the obsession with global warming? The “freedom” Koch discusses seems to relate to the freedom to pollute. Koch’s business empire, according to an estimate by Brad Johnson, emits several hundred milliontons of carbon dioxide a year. The political suppression of climate science, and any reasonable response to the climate crisis, clearly benefits Koch Industries’ bottom line—and such selfish lobbying at the expense of the common good is the very worst example of crony capitalism."

Portland, Oregon Becomes Fourth American City To Adopt Paid Sick Day Law

Portland, Oregon Becomes Fourth American City To Adopt Paid Sick Day Law: Portland became the fourth American city to approve a paid sick days law Wednesday, an important step forward today that will help the city’s workers, employers, and residents. Portland joined three other cities – San [...]/p

Conservatives: The New Taliban

Conservatives: The New Taliban
"And don't for a minute think that it's really all about religion. Religion is just used to manipulate the useful idiots. It's really about money, power, and control. And that can only be held by thugs like the Taliban when the people are kept poor and stupid.

Here in America, there's a new Taliban rising. They fetishize guns, just like the Afghan Taliban. They fear women and education. They want to keep the people stupid and in chains.

They're the plutocrats and the billionaires who rose to power on the heels of Reagan's trickle-down economics. And now, what's trickling down to us is their stupidity."

Katrina Vanden Heuvel: Taking Paul Ryan Seriously Is Dangerous

Katrina Vanden Heuvel: Taking Paul Ryan Seriously Is Dangerous
"There were a lot of good points made about Ryan's ridiculous op-ed in The Wall Street Journal and the fact that he just wants to go after programs that help the poor, the elderly and the most vulnerable in our society and that his "budget" has a lot of numbers that don't add up."

How ALEC Is Fueling Efforts To Block Paid Sick Leave And Other Pro-Worker Policies

How ALEC Is Fueling Efforts To Block Paid Sick Leave And Other Pro-Worker Policies: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has been described as a “collaboration between multinational corporations and conservative state legislators”, is waging a campaign against workers, especially those in minimum wage jobs with few to no benefits. The National [...]/p

McConnell: GOP Will Likely Take Debt Ceiling Hostage For Spending Cuts — Again

McConnell: GOP Will Likely Take Debt Ceiling Hostage For Spending Cuts — Again: Republicans and Democrats agreed to increase the debt ceiling for three months at the end of January, but with another deadline approaching in May, the top Senate Republican is hinting that the GOP will again demand spending cuts in exchange for any increase. That is par for the course for Republicans, who have repeatedly threatened [...]/p

Wave of "Ag Gag" Bills Threaten Food Safety and Freedom of the Press

Wave of "Ag Gag" Bills Threaten Food Safety and Freedom of the Press
"In its original form, the "ag gag" bill was a blatant violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression and would have quashed the right of independent investigators to document the truth. So legislators in Iowa and Utah changed the bills to make lying on employment applications a crime. Now factory farms and slaughterhouses can screen out reporters and other investigators by asking on job applications, "Are you affiliated with a news organization, labor union, or animal protection group"?"

Postal Union Members Rally Against 'Death Spiral of Cuts and Closures' | Common Dreams

Postal Union Members Rally Against 'Death Spiral of Cuts and Closures' | Common Dreams
"With Congress weeks away from deciding the fate of Saturday Postal Service delivery, some postal union members are saying the fight must be not only about saving six-day delivery but about stopping the multi-pronged assault on the postal system including privatization efforts."

Raise The Minimum Wage

Paul Ryan, a.k.a. Scrooge, Needs Both a Reality and a Humanity Check | Alternet

Paul Ryan, a.k.a. Scrooge, Needs Both a Reality and a Humanity Check | Alternet
"Someone needs to tell Paul Ryan that his party -- and the economic platform of austerity and plutocracy he crafted for it -- lost a national election last year."

Which Members of Congress Are Standing Up for Economic Decency – And Which “Progressives” Aren’t | Common Dreams

Which Members of Congress Are Standing Up for Economic Decency – And Which “Progressives” Aren’t | Common Dreams
"In the real politics of the emerging struggle over Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, there’s a very big difference between expressing opposition to benefit cuts and promising not to vote for them. It’s only when members of Congress make a firm public commitment that Obama White House strategists may feel a need to recalibrate their deal-making calculus with Republicans."

A Salute to Bradley Manning, Whistleblower, As We Hear His Words for the First Time | Common Dreams

A Salute to Bradley Manning, Whistleblower, As We Hear His Words for the First Time | Common Dreams
"Whoever made this recording, and I don't know who the person is, has done the American public a great service. This marks the first time the American public can hear Bradley Manning, in his own voice explain what he did and how he did it."

Elizabeth Warren Slams Republicans For Trying To Weaken Consumer Finance Protections

Elizabeth Warren Slams Republicans For Trying To Weaken Consumer Finance Protections: At a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) rebuked Republicans for blocking Richard Cordray’s confirmation as director of her brainchild, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. After a bitter confirmation fight in 2011, President Obama bypassed the Senate using a recess appointment to grant Cordray a temporary term until the end of [...]/p

Ryan proposes another path to fewer jobs and slower growth | Economic Policy Institute

Ryan proposes another path to fewer jobs and slower growth | Economic Policy Institute
"It is unfortunate that Chairman Ryan has again failed to heed mounting evidence counseling against near-term budget austerity. Instead, his fiscal 2014 budget—like the two preceding it—has proposed deep and premature austerity that would unequivocally delay return to full employment and cost millions of American jobs relative to current budget policy."

Leaked: Bradley Manning's Military Court Testimony

Leaked: Bradley Manning's Military Court Testimony
"In this newly released audio, Private Bradley Manning explains his motives, noting how he believed the WikiLeaks documents showed wrongdoing by the government and how he hoped that the release would "spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan"."

Once Upon a Time, Corporations Paid Taxes

Once Upon a Time, Corporations Paid Taxes
"The end result of this looting: an America where corporate profits are setting records while typical workers, as former U.S. labor secretary Robert Reich points out, are making less today, in real dollars, than they earned a dozen years ago."

What Ryan's Budget Really Says: 'I Love Rich People' | Common Dreams

What Ryan's Budget Really Says: 'I Love Rich People' | Common Dreams
"Let's look at some of Ryan's trademark policies. Ryan repeatedly has proposed replacing Medicare with a voucher system or "premium support" as he likes to say. Note that Ryan has not proposed just eliminating Medicare and telling people when they turn age 65 (or 67) that they are on their own. 

What's the difference between handing people a voucher to buy insurance from private insurers and giving them access to a government-run Medicare system when they turn age 65? Over Medicare's 75-year planning period the difference is tens of trillions of dollars in additional money for private insurers and the health care industry, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). 

As CBO and many other independent analysts have documented, using private insurers raises rather than lowers costs."

Even Paul Ryan Admits That America Isn’t Facing A Debt Crisis

Even Paul Ryan Admits That America Isn’t Facing A Debt Crisis:  Paul Ryan says we must slash spending. We must do it now, and we must do it dramatically. We must cut 47 percent from education, 32 percent from infrastructure, and 28 percent from scientific research. [...]/p

10 Worst People on Forbes 2013 Billionaires List | Alternet

10 Worst People on Forbes 2013 Billionaires List | Alternet
"The Forbes list of billionaires is brimming over with oligarchs, monopolists, thugs, miscreants, and hustlers. Not to mention right-wingers, narcissists, and parasitic predators."

REPORT: Koch Brothers Looking To Purchase Several Major American Newspapers

REPORT: Koch Brothers Looking To Purchase Several Major American Newspapers: Right-wing funders and business industrialists David and Charles Koch may purchase the Tribune Company newspapers, which include the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and the Los Angeles Times. The brothers are “interested in the clout they could gain through the Times’ editorial pages,” the Hollywood Reporter notes. Responding to the report, a spokesperson for Koch told [...]/p

Introduced Constitutional Amendment says: 'Democracy for People, Not Corporations' | Common Dreams

Introduced Constitutional Amendment says: 'Democracy for People, Not Corporations' | Common Dreams
"Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) introduced a joint resolution on Tuesday calling for a constitutional amendment that would undo the damage they say was caused by a Supreme Court ruling that allows "unrestricted, secret campaign spending by corporations and billionaires"."

Another WI Supreme Court Election Battle Dominated By Outside Spending

Another WI Supreme Court Election Battle Dominated By Outside Spending
"In addition, Roggensack is being handed big checks by some ofthe same wealthy donors that gave to Governor Walker in his recall campaign, such as Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks and David Uihlein, Jr., as well as a variety of PACs and local Republican Party chapters."

Fox News Anchor Shouts Down Criticism Of Ryan Budget

Fox News Anchor Shouts Down Criticism Of Ryan Budget: Fox News host Bill Hemmer tried to shout down Rep. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) criticism of the GOP budget on Tuesday morning by loudly reading from Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) editorial promoting the newly-released Republican plan. Hemmer dismissed Van Hollen’s claims that Ryan’s proposal would benefit the richest Americans while severely underfunding programs like Medicare, [...]/p

Forget Spending Cuts, the U.S. Economy Really Needs a $2 Trillion Stimulus | Economic Policy Institute

Forget Spending Cuts, the U.S. Economy Really Needs a $2 Trillion Stimulus | Economic Policy Institute
"The United States does face an unsustainable long-term fiscal trajectory driven by rising health-care costs and inadequate revenue; deficit reduction will eventually be needed, but timing is everything. Today, deficit reduction is particularly damaging per dollar — aptly demonstrated by the United Kingdom — and premature deficit reduction could keep the economy mired in its current state. If fiscal policy is instead used to push the economy fully out of this slump, then subsequent fiscal retrenchment will be much less damaging per dollar than today’s austerity."

Chinese Cyber Attacks on US Targets Said to Mirror US Chamber of Commerce Cyber Plot Targeting Progressives Such as The BRAD BLOG

Chinese Cyber Attacks on US Targets Said to Mirror US Chamber of Commerce Cyber Plot Targeting Progressives Such as The BRAD BLOG
"So what do the Chinese Government and the Rightwing mega-lobbying group calling itself the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have in common? Apparently, they are both interested in hacking into the computer networks of their perceived political opponents and appear to be using very similar techniques and tools to do so, as The Nation's Lee Fang reported on Monday."

Manning Statement Audio Leaked in Opposition to 'Extreme Secrecy in Our Courts' | Common Dreams

Manning Statement Audio Leaked in Opposition to 'Extreme Secrecy in Our Courts' | Common Dreams
"In the recording, leaked in violation of court orders late Monday, Manning explains to a pre-trial military court in Fort Meade why he released the United States government files to WikiLeaks. The recording is the first time the public has heard Manning's voice since his arrest in May 2010."

Republican Budget Tests Credulity With Balance Claim

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Paul Ryan Budget Contemplates Selling Off ‘Millions Of Acres’ Of Public Land

Paul Ryan Budget Contemplates Selling Off ‘Millions Of Acres’ Of Public Land: This morning House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) offered his fiscal year 2014 budget, which the Wall Street Journal called “almost identical” to the Romney-Ryan presidential platform last year.  In addition to cutting taxes for the rich and preserving tax breaks for Big Oil, the budget offers an extreme and flawed view of public [...]/p

Paul Ryan Keeps Up the Bad Work | Common Dreams

Paul Ryan Keeps Up the Bad Work | Common Dreams
"But forget reality. On Tuesday Paul Ryan will release his latest budget plan, aiming to balance the budget in ten years by making $5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, food assistance for the poor, and other domestic programs--and through his signature plan: Medicare privatization."

How Bad Are Republican Cuts?

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Corporate-Approved State Bills Kick Low-Wage Workers While They’re Down | Common Dreams

Corporate-Approved State Bills Kick Low-Wage Workers While They’re Down | Common Dreams
"But an insidious effort to lower the wage floor is already underway much closer to the ground—in the state legislatures where right-wing lobbyists have been greasing the skids for years for an onslaught of anti-worker policies."

Jeb Bush: 'History Will Be Kind to My Brother'

Jeb Bush: 'History Will Be Kind to My Brother'
"As for comparing W.'s record to "what's going on now," the Obama administration has produced more jobs in 4 years than Bush/Cheney did in 8 -- not to mention the fact that they haven't suffered the worst mass-casualty terrorist attack in US history, let a US city drown, and presided over the worst financial crash since the Great Depression.

Good luck with that "W. was a great president" stuff, Jeb! It's a winner for 2016."