"Words that make actions speak louder."
This pretty much says it all: General Petraeus is returning to Afghanistan at the President’s request to lead the war effort there, but his wife Holly’s struggle to defend our troops against the predatory lending practices of car dealers has been lost. Holly will become another military spouse who lost a battle with car dealers […]
It happened again today. The Washington Post says the Democrats lost in the US Senate because they were “unable to muster the 60 votes needed.” As a result, states won’t get help paying for Medicaid, long term unemployed won’t get relief, and hedge fund managers will continue to enjoy their $35 billion loophole that could […]
Astonishingly, as Wall Street reform enters its final hours a tired, generic corporate refrain against regulation is gaining traction. As bigwig bankers and their lobbyist brethren fight to defeat tough new rules on derivatives—the crazy casino that brought down AIG—all their sloganeers can come up with is the trite wail that serious rules will send […]
Americans have grown fearful. Most believe, not surprisingly, that the country is headed in the wrong direction. For the first time ever, most Americans believe their children may not fare as well as they have. We spend nearly as much as the rest of the world combined on our military, chasing phantoms across the world. […]
Stateline just published a horrifying report on how the recession has depleted government coffers and forced states to execute mass layoffs and deep cuts in services. And the Wall Street Journal today reports that the recession continues to put the hurt on states: a collective budget gap of $127 billion is expected during the next […]
This Saturday an organization called AmericaSpeaks is sponsoring a “National Town Meeting” on the budget deficit in twenty cities. Although organizers claim to be non-partisan, a review of their materials shows a strong ideological bias and a thinly disguised goal: to manipulate attendees into “spontaneously” deciding that the social safety net must be cut (with […]
A coalition of conservative New Democrats, whose leader is being investigated by a Congressional ethics committee over Wall Street fundraising, has officially come out in favor of gutting financial reform. The issue they’ve targeted: derivatives, the most closely watched effort of the bank overhaul. Good luck in November, guys. New Democrats like to say they […]
American deregulated corporatism: Short-term profits for a very few at the expense of the rest of us. The Gulf oil spill is driving home the “expense of the rest of us” part of this equation. And the corporatist/conservative reaction to government’s efforts to reign in an industry that provides so much of their funding highlights […]
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers have co-authored an op-ed ahead of the G-20 urging an international agenda that focuses on “work to stabilize debt levels, enact new financial regulation, and reduce…dependence on fossil fuels.” This sounds laudable, and who could object to stabilizing debt levels? Unfortunately, their lengthy […]
As the fight for financial reform on Capitol Hill enters its final stages, it is worth reviewing what is being done to protect states and localities from the Wall Street con. On Thursday, the House-Senate conference committee on financial reform will take up the controversial section of the bill dealing with derivatives reform. Not a […]