"Words that make actions speak louder."
Uh-oh. David Brooks is offering the President advice again. Since we’re told that Brooks is one of President Obama’s favorite columnists, there’s always the chance that his latest idea will gain traction in the White House. Brooks is smart, and he’s a good salesman, so his ideas may resonate with a lot of other powerful […]
The president kicked up his “corporate charm offensive,” meeting for hours with 20 CEOs yesterday. Characteristically, he started with an apology for not “finding the right balance” in addressing business. “We want to be boosters,” he said, because “when you do well, America does well.” The president and the business leaders talked about free trade, […]
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 […]
On Monday, The International Trade Commission (ITC) unanimously voted to recommend that President Obama impose tariffs on the import of Chinese tires for three years. The new administration will have until September 17 to decide what, if any, relief to provide based on the ITC’s recommendation. Will Obama cave to the power of business lobbies […]
You’ll be hearing a lot about a Korean Free Trade Agreement in the next few days. Negotiators are finalizing last-minute changes to the Korea Free Trade Agreement before President Obama arrives in Seoul Thursday for the G20 and to meet with President Lee Myung-bak. President Obama hopes that increasing exports will help restore American jobs. […]
"America has spoken." It’s a phrase we’ve heard from the right after every election — special election, run-off or midterm — following the 2008 election in which voters sent Barack Obama to the White House and Democratic majorities to both houses of Congress. Though more Americans voted in that election than any that has followed, […]
As the clock ticks down on tonite’s expiration of extended unemployment benefits for the 9.6% of Americans who are officially unemployed, the coming end of school lunch and other child nutrition programs, and the possibility of doing anything whatsoever to help create jobs, the President and Republican leaders instead met to discuss how many tax […]
Let’s go through it one more time. A simple truth: You can’t get the right answer if you ask the wrong question. The furious debate over how best to cut the deficit illustrates the point. The debate is about how we best enforce austerity. How do we bring the federal budget into "primary balance" by […]
Does it even matter what the public wants anymore? I guess that’s a rhetorical question these days because more and more obviously the answer is no. It matters what the plutocrats want, and they know how to get what they want. Public opinion is “engineered” or at least “managed.” When it can’t be managed it […]
No doubt voters sent a message last Tuesday. Deciphering it correctly is crucial. Republican cryptographers interpreted the election results that gave the GOP control of one house of Congress as a directive to demolish everything produced over the past two years – health care reform, Wall Street re-regulation and economic stimulus. In fact, like the […]