"Words that make actions speak louder."
(Updated to include statements from labor and other organizations.) The President wants a win – but is the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) a win? Jobs are the win we need. A good trade deal can really help working people and the economies on both sides of the trade border. The world’s economy benefits. But […]
Yesterday I wrote that the President may have sacrificed his long-term vision on trade and economic/industrial policy to day-to-day concerns and politics. The tax-cut deal is another indicator that a big-picture vision has been sacrificed. But however much smoke gets thrown up to mask the real problem it’s still all about the economic paradigm. There […]
The “Tea Party” will face many tests when the new Congress convenes next year. Everyone is asking, how long will it take before the Tea Party officeholders are co-opted by the big money insiders? “Free Trade” is one of those tests. Tea Party members absolutely despise “free trade” agreements that have forced companies to close […]
Deal or No Deal? OurFuture.org’s Bill Scher and Dave Johnson make their cases for and against the preliminary tax cut deal between the President and Republican leaders. Dave Johnson’s case against the deal is below. Click here for Bill Scher’s case for the deal. The White House has announced a deal on extending tax cuts […]
Until this week here is what we heard over and over (and over and over and over and over): Because of budget deficits (caused by tax cuts for the rich and huge increases in military spending) we have to cut spending, not invest in the American People, put off investing in the infrastructure that makes […]
If you think the tax cut fight led to a bad deal… it may also lead to an expectation by conservatives they will finally be able to cut, gut or shut the government in the coming fight over raising the debt ceiling. The President and Democrats in Congress should take steps now to keep them […]
Are the Main Street Tea Party members getting “played” by Wall Street and big-corporate billionaires? There is a big, big, big difference between what the regular members and the big-money funders expect. If Tea Party candidates get elected will they do what their supporters want, or what their Wall Street and big-corporation funders demand? What […]
9.8%! It’s still all about jobs. It’s still an emergency. And the DC elite still don’t get it — or don’t care. They give us a “deficit commission” not a jobs commission. They’ve got it nice while the rest of us have it not-so-nice. Maybe we should move the Congress out of DC so they […]
There are reports that the Korea Free Trade Agreement is nearly concluded. Unfortunately the problems with the labor portions of the Bush-negotiated agreement were not addressed, which means we might have another NAFTA-style, job-killing, Wall Street-abetting, factory-moving, national-income-destroying, town-and-community-devastating trade deal on our hands. Public Citizen has been pushing for a better deal for American […]
It appears that the US and Korea could not reach agreement in time for President Obama’s visit to Seoul for the G20 meeting beginning today. Washington Post, U.S., South Korea fail to reach free-trade deal,, Negotiations over a U.S.-Korea free-trade agreement faltered Thursday after four days of discussions, a setback for the leaders of the […]