Barack Obama is Gutting the Core Principles of the Democratic Party
by Glenn Greenwald via CommonDreams
on July 20, 2011
In 2005, American liberals achieved one of their most significant political victories of the last decade. It occurred with the resounding rejection of George W Bush's campaign to privatise social security.Barack Obama. The President, writes Greenwald, "In many crucial areas, has done more to subvert and weaken the left's political agenda than a GOP president could have dreamed of achieving. So potent, so overarching, are tribal loyalties in American politics that partisans will support, or at least tolerate, any and all policies their party's leader endorses – even if those policies are ones they long claimed to loathe." (Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Bush's scheme would have gutted the crux of that entitlement programme by converting it from what it has been since the 1940s – a universal guarantor of minimally decent living conditions for America's elderly – into a Wall Street casino and bonanza.
Read more »
Balance the Budget on the Back of Billionaires
by David Swanson, RootsAction
on July 20, 2011
The wealthiest nation on earth is not actually obliged to starve our senior citizens. We don't need a military 670% more expensive than the next largest one on earth. We don't need to fund health insurance corporations instead of healthcare. And we don't need tax breaks for billionaires. In fact, we don't need billionaires. That's the message RootsAction is taking to Congress.
Read more »
Debt Ceiling Debate Fraud
by Real News Network
on July 17, 2011
RootsAction Campaigner David Swanson: polling shows majority of Americans want to tax the rich and cut the military before making social program cuts. Watch the Real News Network interview now.
Read more »
Too Good, Too Smart, Too Able for Wall Street Approval
by Ralph Nader, via CommonDreams
on July 17, 2011
Statement by Ralph Nader on the rejection of Elizabeth Warren by President Barack Obama to be the Director of the new Consumer Financial Regulatory Bureau.
To dump Elizabeth Warren, the most qualified, most motivated and most articulate candidate for the directorship of the Consumer Financial Regulatory Bureau is an act of political cowardliness by President Obama and a boon to anti-consumer Republicans and their corporate paymasters in Wall Street.
Read more »
Deconstructing the “Federal Debt Crisis”
by Sam Pizzigati, RootsAction
on July 17, 2011
The more our nation's wealth concentrates, the more our democratic give-and-take becomes all take — by the rich.
Read more »
Congressional Progressive Caucus lead effort to defend Social Security
by RootsAction
on July 15, 2011
RootsAction gives a nod to the leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who have gathered 60 signatories thus far to their letter to Leader Pelosi about the budget. In part, they write, "Especially in these tough economic times, we should not be cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits that millions of our constituents paid into and depend on. Such benefit cuts should be off the table in current debt discussions."
The letter is reprinted in full below.
***
July 8, 2011
Leader Pelosi,
We write in strong agreement with your unwavering defense of the Democratic programs that form the bedrock of America’s middle and working classes, and which are overwhelmingly popular.
On July 7, you made very clear that “We are not going to balance the budget on the backs of America’s seniors, women and people with disabilities” and that “we do not support cuts in benefits” for vital safety-net programs. We agree completely.
Especially in these tough economic times, we should not be cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits that millions of our constituents paid into and depend on. Such benefit cuts should be off the table in current debt discussions.
Our Republican colleagues should be embarrassed by their insistence that unless Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits are cut, the nation will default on its debts. Middle-class families have sacrificed enough, and a deal that pushes the American Dream further out of reach, in order to pay for extending tax breaks for the rich and corporations, is simply unacceptable.
We are united as Democrats in saying that it’s time to stand up to the Republican hostage-taking. We will not be forced to vote for a “final agreement” that we do not agree to -- and that the American people do not agree to.
We stand united with you in insisting that benefit cuts for working families, our seniors, children, and people with disabilities must be off the table, and we stand united with you in fighting for millions of Americans who need Democrats to be firmly on their side.
Sincerely,
Raul Grijalva
Co-Chair
Congressional Progressive Caucus
Keith Ellison
Co-Chair
Congressional Progressive Caucus
Debt Political Theater Diverts Attention While Americans' Wealth Is Stolen
by Congressman Dennis Kucinich
on July 14, 2011
There is a massive transfer of wealth from the American people to the hands of a few and it's going on right now as America's eyes are misdirected to the political theater of these histrionic debt negotiations, threats to shut down the government, and willingness to make the most Americans pay dearly for debts they did not create.
These are symptoms of a government which has lost its way, and they are a challenge to the legitimacy of the two-party system.
Read more »
The Tea Party Horse Is Riderless, The End Is Near
by Abby Zimet, via CommonDreams
on July 14, 2011
Oh dear. The Tea Party has had to cancel this fall's planned Freedom Jamboree because only 62 patriotic groups signed up out of a needed 350, which isn't quite like cancelling freedom, but pretty damn close.
Read more »
Bernie Sanders to Obama: Keep Your Word on Social Security
by Bernie Becker, CommonDreams
on July 12, 2011
The Senate’s left flank continues to be unhappy with President Obama’s willingness to discuss entitlement reform in the current deficit talks.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) noted Tuesday in a speech on the Senate floor that Obama had vowed not to cut Social Security when running for president in 2008.
“So, Mr. President, when you ask why the American people are frustrated with politicians, and are increasingly cynical, it has a lot to do with candidates who say one thing and do another thing,” Sanders said. “If you told the American people you're not going to cut Social Security, then don't cut Social Security. Keep your word.”
Read more »
Tracking US Recession with the RPI (Regular People's Index)
by Jim Hightower, via CommonDreams
on July 12, 2011
Economists and politicians keep their fingers on the pulse of the Dow Jones Average, following every tick of this narrow measure of Wall Street wealth.
But the truer indicator of America's economic health is in the Doug Jones Average — how are workaday folks like Doug and Doreen doing? After all, the experts tell us that we're now entering the third year of a glorious economic recovery from the Great Recession, so surely the bluebirds of happiness are chirping again in Dougland. But, listen: silence.
Read more »
|
|
