"Words that make actions speak louder."
A video of retired Sen. Alan Simpson’s foulmouthed rant toward activist Alex Lawson is making the Internet rounds, as well it should: The sheer audacity and rudeness of the guy makes this clip “must-see TV.” It’s a political bloopers reel (it can be seen at the bottom of this post). But, while Simpson’s outrageousness makes […]
It was a fight to the finish between two heavyweight contenders. In this corner, representing the big Wall Street interests and wearing green trunks the color of money, Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts. And in this corner, representing common sense and the American people, wearing red, white, and blue trunks, Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota. […]
It can be hard to grasp all the details of Section 716, the Senate provision that would force big banks to spin off their swap desks, but the principle isn’t that complicated: Banks that get access to discounted money from the Federal Reserve, or federally-guaranteed deposit insurance, shouldn’t be able to gamble with them. And […]
Feel free to read Dana Milbank if that sort of thing appeals to you, but don’t imagine for a minute that you’re learning anything. That would be like studying the French Revolution by reading Marie Antoinette’s cake recipes. The Milbank school of journalism – which at this point is American journalism -doesn’t just fail to […]
Life can only be understood backward, said Kierkegaard, but it has to be lived forward. That’s the only explanation I can offer for the strange turn of events that led to me becoming an AIG executive, then a progressive writer/blogger, and to my plans to speak tomorrow at a Treasury Department protest organized by my […]
We’re here at AFN – the America’s Future Now conference – liveblogging a session called “Curbing Wall Street: Strategies Going Forward.” It’s a subject close to our heart. The panelists are Heather McGhee from Demos, Heather Booth from Americans for Financial Reform, George Goehl , investment advisor and Move Your Money visionary Robert Johnson, and […]
I was getting ready to attend next week’s America’s Future Now conference, whose theme is that progressives must lead, and thinking about the relationship problems progressives are having with Barack Obama and the Congressional leadership. All the relationship books say that you need to be clear about what you need, so that you can communicate […]
President Obama’s Department of Justice announced last week that there would be no indictments in the collapse of AIG, an event which led to a worldwide economic collapse and cost the American taxpayer trillions. As someone who once worked for AIG I was shocked, but apparently that’s how this mystery ends: Hundreds of millions of […]
Here’s an audio clip of an appearance yesterday with Hannah-Beth Jackson on Santa Barbara progressive radio to discuss the current state of financial reform and what activists can do to influence the outcome: Hannah Beth Jackson 0530 edited I edited out about a minute and a half of lead time, mostly commercials, but our conversation […]
There’s a lot to admire about the President’s consensus-seeking style, however frustrating it can be to activists. But his press conference yesterday, and the management problems that led up to it, show the limits of that style in times of crisis. Hopefully the oil tragedy – let’s not call it a “spill” when it’s more […]