April 12, 2005
Beth Shulman is the author of The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans (The New Press, 2003) and works with the Russell Sage Foundation’s The Future of Work and Social Inequality projects.
Tuesday 10:46 AM
April 07, 2005
When job growth is slow, like it is now, the poorest Americans suffer most. That's because they're the last to get hired and the first to get fired. Now, Alan Greenspan wants to stop a possible inflation outbreak and is raising interest rates to compensate. But Robert Reich says inflation is highly unlikely to spiral out of control, and the pre-emptive measures against it just mean poor Americans have fewer and fewer job options. In fact, all the Fed is doing is widening the poverty gap.
Thursday 10:04 AM
April 06, 2005
When all is said and done, George Kennan was right: America’s most powerful tool in international affairs is our example. Highlighting the hypocrisy of a leader who promotes democracy abroad while weakening it at home, Joe Stiglitz describes our domestic democracy deficit in detail.
Wednesday 10:52 AM
There's the House budget, and there's the Senate budget. Both include more than $100 billion in program cuts, mostly hurting working people, and large increases in tax cuts, mostly benefiting a small percentage of wealthy people. Sharon Parrott and Jonh Springer of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explain how the tax cuts and defense spending increases contained in both budgets would cost more than the cuts in domestic programs would save. So much for deficit reduction.
Wednesday 9:16 AM
April 04, 2005
John Paul II is difficult to understand for many Americans. He, like the church he led, was neither Democrat nor Republican. This Pope was more pro-human rights than Jimmy Carter and more anti-communist than Ronald Reagan. But it was in economics that the Pope was even more challenging to the American mind. Polish scholar Marcin Król explains John Paul II's "Third Way" between capitalism and communism. It's worth a read.
Monday 10:45 AM
April 01, 2005
Most of us have an ethical and/or religious framework which influences our beliefs about morally complex issues like the right to die or abortion. But progressives as a rule don't shout these beliefs from the rooftops. Traditionally these decisions have been seen as intensely personal. But religious extremists have changed all that, and journalist Russ Baker says it's time for progressives to act publicly—and not leave it to religious extremists to set the agenda.
Friday 10:19 AM
You turn on the news today, and you see that President Bush has decided to increase student financial aid and reduce student loan debt. Sound too good to be true? Don't worry, it is. Instead of taking real steps to make higher education accessible to more students, the president is spending the day talking up a "youth initiative" that's heavy on character and light on practical solutions. Earl Hadley of the Campaign For America's Future says the president is trying to play the public for April Fools.
Friday 10:17 AM
March 31, 2005
Community development expert Griffith explains that the obsession with home ownership as the key to rebuilding communities is short-sighted. The emphasis on creating more consumer opportunities for individuals may actually undermine efforts to build healthy neighborhoods.
Thursday 9:37 AM
March 30, 2005
Thomas Coughlin, the Wal-Mart vice chair who was recently dismissed for padding his expense account, is not just a public relations problem for the retail behemoth. He's a product of the Wal-Mart corporate culture. He's also not alone: Numerous other execs have been dismissed recently for various corporate crimes. Jonathan Tasini says that manipulation, greed and wrongdoing in the name of profit are as much a part of the Wal-Mart business model as are those low, low prices.
Wednesday 2:40 PM
Public opinion polls show Americans disapprove of the Republican Congress’ handling of the Terri Schiavo case. Corn argues that the public’s revulsion at the GOP intervention in a private family issue exposes a strategy Democrats can exploit: accusing Republicans of misusing their power for partisan purposes. With tough fights ahead on judicial nominations and stem cells, this strategy could prove useful.
Wednesday 8:58 AM
March 25, 2005
Yes, Social Security protect seniors—the same seniors filling the "town hall meetings" on Bush's 60-city tour to talk up his privatization plan. But Social Security was designed to protect children as well, and it does a good job. More than 7 percent of American children benefit from the program, and millions are kept above the poverty line through Social Security. Nancy K. Cauthen of the National Center For Children in Poverty says that Bush's silence on the issue of children and privatization has the potential to do great harm.
Friday 10:38 AM
The Program Assessment Rating Tool, or PART, is a system in the President's Management Agenda that's supposed to be used to evaluate a program's effectiveness so decisions about expansion and funding can be more accurate. But a little digging reveals that Fiscal Year 2006 budget cuts were made based on ideology—not on a measured, objective system. Gary Bass and Adam Hughes of OMB Watch explain.
Friday 9:51 AM
March 23, 2005
Members of Congress obviously value Terri Schiavo's life. After all, they called a special vote to make sure that her right to food would be protected. But what about all the other Americans who don't have food or health care—where's the congressional intervention for them? Heather Boushey of the Center For Economic and Policy Research questions if the debate over "dying with dignity" has overshadowed the larger question of why so many Americans don't have the basics to live with dignity.
Wednesday 10:48 AM
It's been two years since the United States first entered Iraq, but for the majority of Americans—those lucky enough not to have loved ones serving in the Middle East—this doesn't feel like wartime. That's because there's been little interest in Congress about the compromises of war. And no one is less concerned about shared sacrifice than the wealthy, who are getting permanent tax cuts while the war bill is passed onto our children. Chuck Collins of United For A Fair Economy explains why now is the worst possible time to abolish the estate tax—our only tax on accumulated wealth.
Wednesday 10:27 AM
March 21, 2005
Polls have shown that most Americans value education and want the government to increase funding for it. But the Bush administration isn't following Americans' priorities in formulating its budget. Instead, Bush is pushing for more tax cuts while schools lay off teachers, cut after-school programs and are forced to turn kids away from Head Start programs. Here, Robert Borosage and Earl Hadley of the Campaign For America's Future break down the "shared sacrifice" rhetoric the Bush administration is hiding behind.
Monday 3:55 PM
Our health care system already has enough money to cover all Americans—but millions are still uninsured. That's because the system is extremely inefficient and wasteful. To reduce costs, say public health experts Alan Sager and Deborah Socolar, the best tool is not the risky gamble of raising co-payments and dropping benefits, or the meat-axe of HMO regulations, but the scalpel of careful physician decision-making about what care is appropriate for each patient.
Monday 9:59 AM
March 17, 2005
Consider what we have: There's the president’s Social Security agenda, which is a substantive plan for a fabricated crisis. Then there's his “Helping America’s Youth” initiative—a fabricated plan for a substantive crisis. No one needs to be convinced that young people in America—especially young people in poor, urban communities—need help. But Helping America's Youth pours money into "character education" and abstinence-only programs, when kids really need health care, safe after-school programs and parents with living-wage jobs.
Thursday 9:20 AM
March 15, 2005
It's getting easier and easier for business to influence Washington policymakers. That's because the Republicans in control of the White House and Congress have the dubious distinction of some of the closest ties in history to various corporate benefactors. This only continues, argues Waldman, because the American public is too distracted by major issues like war in Iraq to be concerned about seemingly arcane policy. That's why it's up to Dems to take a cue from the GOP playbook and make the impact of these laws vivid.
Tuesday 9:31 AM
March 10, 2005
If you've been reading TomPaine.com , you know that bankruptcy provides crucial relief to working-class Americans in financial stress. The fastest-growing age group filing for bankruptcy? America's seniors. And they're not buying SUVs—they're buying medicine. Huffington dresses down the Senate Dems who voted for this disastrous bill.
Thursday 9:53 AM
March 09, 2005
The co-publishers of The Black Commentator call school vouchers and faith-based initiatives the "strategic battering rams" the right is using to demolish the solidly progressive political consensus among African Americans. One of the more alarming aspects of this strategy relies on outreach to moderate black Democrats.
Wednesday 8:20 AM
March 04, 2005
It's pretty obvious why Wellesley, Mass. has better public schools than Washington, D.C.: a higher property tax base. Our system for funding public schools skews things in favor of kids lucky enough to live in affluent districts with high property taxes. And unless the playing field is leveled, all the achievement testing in the world isn't going to help kids in poor districts succeed. Here, Robert Reich lays out his simple tax plan for change.
Friday 9:19 AM
March 03, 2005
Republican senators and representatives, journalists who exclusively cover the Social Security beat, pundits paid to understand Washington, and, oh—the American public. They're all people who don't understand Bush's Social Security privatization scheme or how he's planning on saving retirement with it. David Corn says it's pretty much the same as realizing you're on an express train with a conductor who hasn't got a clue how the thing works.
Thursday 9:59 AM
March 02, 2005
President Bush got elected the first time on a platform of "compassionate conservatism." Five years later, Karen Pearl of Planned Parenthood is struggling to find the compassion in his 2006 budget. In addition to increasing funding for ineffective abstinence-only education for teens, he cut the Title X funding that pays for family planning for low-income people. And while nearly everyone can agree that the best way to prevent abortions is through better contraception, Bush won't fully fund prorgrams that encourage it. So much for compassion.
Wednesday 10:15 AM
February 28, 2005
You must be living under a rock if you're progressive and don't know there's a serious debate underway about the future of organized labor. Here, labor analyst Tasini goes beyond the big personalities in the debate and focuses on the issues at stake for the American worker. Tasini will be blogging daily from the AFL-CIO meeting in Las Vegas.
Monday 9:32 AM
Conservatives talk a lot about closing the educational achievement gap between the races and helping African-American students succeed in school. But the plans they put forward—like school choice—are of little help when schools are drastically underfunded and the Bush administration is cutting college aid for needy students. Here, Earl Hadley and Troy Peters of the Campaign For America's Future on why it'll take more than just dedicated families and communities to ensure educational success for all children.
Monday 9:26 AM
February 24, 2005
Howard Dean has a lot on his plate. Patrick Doherty says the governor has to add something else: Democratic ideology. Liberal economists and historians agree that the conditions that enabled the New Deal, the Great Society and even Rubinomics have changed so drastically that they are undermining the foundation of the Democratic program. If Dems are to have a fighting chance in 2008, we need the debate to begin now.
Thursday 10:13 AM
February 23, 2005
Last weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference held here in Washington featured a pantheon of right-wing extremists and some downright nutjobs. The Gadflyer's Paul Waldman wonders why there's no outcry when mainstream Republicans rub elbows with radicals in their movement.
Wednesday 9:38 AM
When analyzing budgets like President Bush's, it's instinctive to focus on the cuts that take effect right away. But the long-term cuts—the ones that might not kick in for two or three or five years—are often really the crux of the matter. Earl Hadley of the Campaign For America's Future reveals the education and social program cuts in Bush's budget that are coming down the line—and how the GOP is counting on the American public not looking beyond next year's horizon.
Wednesday 9:30 AM
February 22, 2005
Many younger women today don't identify strongly with the women's movement of the past. They've grown up enjoying the right to work the same jobs as men, enter universities, join the military. But it doesn't mean equality has truly been achieved—just look at pay statistics and American attitudes about patriarchy. Martha Burk and Alison Stein of the National Council of Women's Organizations explain why we need to turn more young women into card-carrying activists—even if they don't use the "F word."
Tuesday 9:38 AM
February 17, 2005
WorldCom chief exec Berney Ebbers said he didn't know that his employees were cooking the books and taking investors' money. He may be the last CEO to be able to say that. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed just after WorldCom's collapse, requires that CEOs certify they've seen their companies' accounts and all is well. That's why a different CEO's trial—this one post-Sarbanes-Oxley—could signal the end of the "how did this happen" defense—and the beginning of real accountability for corporate power.
Thursday 10:20 AM
February 16, 2005
Wal-Mart may be the most visible offender of good workplace practices—it's the retail giant progressives love to hate, with good reason. Exhibit A: In a recent deal with the government, Wal-Mart agreed to pay a small fine for breaking child labor laws, with the understanding that next time the feds want to investigate, the retailer will be warned ahead of time. Jonathan Tasini says we can't reform the corruption of the corporate landscape overnight, but a Safe Workplace Act would at least mandate true punishments for offenders—not sweetheart deals.
Wednesday 8:19 AM
Back in the 1990s, organizations fighting against progressive priorities like sex education, gay rights and reproductive choice had to depend on private contributions and foundations for support. But the times, they are a-changin'. With the Bush administration at the helm, federal money for such groups is abundant—and there's ample chance to influence policy through the open and eager ears in powerful positions.
Wednesday 7:50 AM
February 15, 2005
Social Security was designed to pool risks. That's the social part of the program. The security comes from knowing that none of us will have to go it completely alone after retirement, if we become disabled or if a breadwinner dies. But President Bush's plan for private accounts takes both parts of the program away and tears the fabric of Social Security into tiny, risk-laden pieces. David Smith of Demos explains.
Tuesday 8:24 AM
February 10, 2005
A Republican president in favor of reducing bureaucracy wants to regulate the states' malpractice suits seems like a contradiction. Stephanie Mencimer—who writes about the politics of lawsuit abuse—says Bush's vehement desire to limit malpractice suits reveals a deep distrust of ordinary Americans. [Click here to see Public Citizen's report challenging Bush's claim that class action suits are out of control.]
Thursday 8:48 AM
One of the loudest voices in the debate about Social Security privatization belongs to Rep. Bill Thomas. Thomas recently proposed "adjusting" Social Security benefits so that women, who live longer than men, wouldn't receive greater overall benefits. But it turns out that the numbers show women are already being cheated out of well-earned benefits, says policy expert Martha Burk. It's definitely time for an adjustment—just not the one Rep. Thomas has in mind.
Thursday 8:19 AM
February 09, 2005
Last weekend in New Hampshire, former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards did what he does best: riff on social inequality. In a speech that some observers believe indicates his 2008 presidential ambitions, Edwards combines his potent “two Americas” themes with attacks on the Bush administration’s policies—which value wealth over work.
Wednesday 8:49 AM
There's a lot of talk about "personal accounts" coming from the White House lately. If you're thinking that's not squaring with everything you know about privatized Social Security, you're right: It's all in the spin. It's no coincidence that the White House is pushing for the warm and fuzzy "personal accounts," label. FAIR's Peter Hart wades through the semantic swamp and uncovers the real story.
Wednesday 8:44 AM
February 08, 2005
There's a lot of truth beneath the big numbers in the federal budget. Behind the millions for this or billions for that, how we allocate money reveals where we place our national priorities. That's why Campaign for America's Future's Robert Borosage is so disheartened by President Bush's new budget.
Tuesday 12:38 PM
February 07, 2005
When President Bush unveiled his budget, it was the opening salvo in a battle over priorities. Should President Bush be allowed to keep his tax cuts at the expense of programs that help low-income families—who notably get little benefit from the tax cuts? Greenstein—of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities—explains why the stakes are so high for the U.S. economy and ordinary Americans. Editor's note: We are republishing this article which originally appeared Jan. 31, 2005.
Monday 1:09 PM
TomPaine.com asked two economic policy experts to address new a new idea aimed at ending poverty: children's savings accounts. Arguing for CSAs, Reid Cramer urges Democrats to take advantage of a major gap in Bush's "Ownership Society" and move from defense to offense. Economist Max Sawicky thinks otherwise.
Monday 11:35 AM
TomPaine.com asked two economic policy experts to address new a new idea aimed at ending poverty: children's savings accounts. Responding to Reid Cramer's proposal, Sawicky argues that CSAs were borne of poor analysis and offer redundant and less-effective services to low-income Americans.
Monday 11:30 AM
February 03, 2005
Behind Bush's unpopular obsession with Social Security lies a greater political purpose—creating more Republicans. Luckily, the GOP faces stiff opposition.
Thursday 9:39 AM
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., sees the debacle in Iraq and is calling for change. Not only because our present policy is at the heart of the problem, but because of the damage the war budget is doing to our social contract. And as a single mother once on public assistance, we know the good lady from California won't let up in the fight for Social Security.
Thursday 9:38 AM
February 01, 2005
Last week, the Congressional Budget Office revealed the U.S. deficit has reached staggering levels— and that’s without calculating the cost of the ongoing occupation in Iraq. Among his priorities this year, President George W. Bush wants to make his tax cuts permanent. Not only do these tax cuts heap billions onto our national debt, but Jonathan Tasini explains that the evidence shows they don’t produce the jobs his administration claims they will.
Tuesday 10:39 AM
January 28, 2005
In late January, the new education secretary made headlines for criticizing a children's program on PBS which features an animated rabbit visiting a real family headed by lesbian parents. The Campaign for America's Future's Earl Hadley wonders where Secretary Spellings' priorities are. Working families around the country are struggling to pay for college. Two days before Christmas, the administration announced that it would enforce a change in the Pell grant funding formula that will eliminate Pell Grants for nearly 100,000 students and cut the aid for more than one million students. How about focusing on that?
Friday 11:36 AM
January 27, 2005
President Bush recently said that privatizing Social Security will really help blacks, because they don't live long enough to collect benefits through the current system. Marcellus Andrews, a fellow at the New America Foundation, says this is political posturing of the lowest degree. Conservative policies keep black people down—without decent schools, decent housing or access to health care—and this latest tactic is simply political manipulation in the name of social justice.
Thursday 10:12 AM
January 26, 2005
It's no shock that kids suffer the most when parents work long hours without paid leave benefits. Nearly 50 percent of all workers have no paid sick leave for themselves—let alone to care for their kids. And the Family And Medical Leave Act, while a good step, doesn't go far enough. If policymakers really want to keep children from being left behind, giving their parents more workplace flexibility and better leave policies should be the first step, Shelley Waters Boots says.
Wednesday 11:10 AM
January 25, 2005
If you're going to end tyranny in the world, writes George Soros, you have to respect and understand how open societies work. Bush does not—and his inaugural address shows this clearly. While Bush is right when he says what goes on inside other countries is of vital interest to the United States, intervention can only be successful if there are clearly established rules, which in turn require international law and institutions.
Tuesday 9:45 AM
January 24, 2005
Planned Parenthood's Feldt celebrates the legacy of Roe v. Wade . This landmark legislation is under attack by the Bush administration, and the next four years will be critical. Feldt also cautions that the battle to protect women's reproductive freedom isn't only about the Supreme Court.
Monday 8:30 AM
January 20, 2005
Were progressives too obsessed with winning the presidency at the expense of other races in 2004? Perhaps, says Totten, executive director of Progressive Majority. Although their dominance seems overwhelming, conservatives worked for more than 30 years to rebound from their position as outsiders in U.S. politics. Now, progressives need to think long term about building the next generation of leaders.
Thursday 9:06 AM
January 18, 2005
The DNC would never support a chair who was opposed to Social Security or a minimum wage, because these issues are a fundamental part of Democrats' core values. So why would it even consider electing someone who opposes a woman's right to choose a safe, legal abortion? That's the question former NARAL president Kate Michelman has for Dems—because electing Rep. Tim Roemer is essentially the same thing as asking women voters to take their support elsewhere. It's time the Dems stop thinking about moving toward the center and instead move the center toward them.
Tuesday 4:04 PM
January 17, 2005
Martin Luther King Jr. day is a melancholy holiday for many black and poor people because King's movement for social justice has been abandoned by the powers that be—both conservative and liberal, says Marcellus Andrews of the New America Foundation. But the day can be reclaimed by remembering that King's legacy is his belief that justice grows not only from government power, but from people treating each other with respect and care every day.
Monday 8:59 AM
January 14, 2005
Trying to assess the urgency of Social Security reform? Economist Brad Delong offers a helpful metaphor. In comparison to the massive threat posed by the deficits in the general fund, currently standing at $7 trillion, the far-off imbalance of Social Security is but a slowly leaking tire on a car that has already crashed into a tree.
Friday 8:52 AM
January 13, 2005
Dems should not become Republican clones. Abortion should be legal and rare. Education is central. Medicare for all. Ted Kennedy strikes these and other themes in yesterday's big-think speech to the National Press Club. Does this icon of liberalism hit his mark? You be the judge.
Thursday 10:27 AM
January 11, 2005
So maybe it's been a while—or never—since you've heard Milton Friedman mentioned in the same breath as progressivism? Well, that should change, says the New America Foundation's Marcellus Andrews. We liberals could learn a lot from Friedman, who was willing to introduce radical ideas to his party when it was out of power. The move to the center isn't the way to go. Instead, Dems need to take a page from Milt's book, and go out on a limb.
Tuesday 10:54 AM
January 05, 2005
Now that former Education Secretary Rod Paige has resigned, will the Bush administration fulfill its promises? Before voting on a new education secretary, the Senate should probe the gulf between rhetoric and reality on education policy in the Bush administration.
Wednesday 11:53 AM
