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May 24, 2013

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Three Questions Left Unanswered by Obama’s Counterterrorism Speech

Colbert Slams PBS for Appeasing Koch Brothers

'Left, Right & Center': Obama Ends the War on Terror

How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour

Marching in Chicago: Resisting Rahm Emanuel’s Neoliberal Savagery

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NASA/Kathryn Hansen

A Mission on Climate Change

President Obama should spend his remaining years in office making the United States part of the solution to climate change, not part of the problem.

Posted on May 23, 2013 READ MORE


The Hook of Ambition

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Posted on May 22, 2013 READ MORE


Watch: Sen. Warren Grills Jack Lew on Too Big to Fail Banks

At a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday, the Massachusetts senator got the best of the Treasury secretary as she pressed him on whether the government should cap the size of big banks or break them up.

Posted on May 22, 2013 READ MORE



AP

Real American Boy: How Our Byzantine Immigration System and Failed Economy May Have Made a Terrorist

It’s likely Tamerlan Tsarnaev was just another angry young man in our brave new America, a burgeoning dystopia where mass murder suddenly seems like a weekly occurrence.

Posted on May 20, 2013 READ MORE



AP/Ivan Sekretarev

Revenge of the Bear: Russia Strikes Back in Syria

Not since the end of the Cold War in 1991 has Russia asserted itself so forcefully beyond its borders.

Posted on May 20, 2013 READ MORE



AP/ Hasan Sarbakhshian, File

What Will Tighter Restrictions on Trade in Iran Do?

A bipartisan team of U.S. senators has introduced a bill that would expand sanctions against Iran by targeting an estimated $100 billion worth of the country’s foreign currency reserves that are parked in overseas accounts.

Posted on May 20, 2013 READ MORE



AP/Carolyn Kaster

Gillibrand’s Student Loan Proposal Follows Warren’s Lead

The Democratic senator from New York has proposed legislation that would allow holders of student debt to refinance their loans at lower interest rates, a move that could save tens of millions of borrowers a combined $14.5 billion in the first year.

Posted on May 20, 2013 READ MORE



Image via Shutterstock

Global Capital and the Nation State

As global capital becomes ever more powerful, giant corporations are holding governments and citizens up for ransom, while sheltering their profits in the lowest-tax jurisdictions they can find. Major advanced countries need a comprehensive tax agreement that won’t allow global corporations to get away with this.

Posted on May 20, 2013 READ MORE



College: A Lesson in Inequality

Rather than bridging economic disparities between students, higher education seems to be widening them; although Google’s new customizable maps sound like a great idea, they filter out a lot of useful information; and although some would like to blame the collapse of the middle class on the Internet, truth is it was falling apart long before the World Wide Web. These discoveries and more after the jump.

Posted on May 20, 2013 READ MORE


Repubarians

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Posted on May 20, 2013 READ MORE



Illustration by Mr. Fish

Rise Up or Die

We must either defy the corporate state or accept our extinction as a species. We have been stripped of the power to express dissent or effect change. Rebellion is the only way to remain fully human.

Posted on May 19, 2013 READ MORE



Image via Shutterstock

The Lotto Symbolizes the False Promises of Barracuda Capitalism

One of the social control mechanisms deployed in a plutocracy to keep people quiet while their pockets are being picked is the lottery. It is a scam.

Posted on May 19, 2013 READ MORE


Wall St. Banks

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Posted on May 18, 2013 READ MORE


Target Obama

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Posted on May 18, 2013 READ MORE



AP/LM Otero

Texas Blast Exposes the New Normal

If I told you that government officials possessed ironclad proof that an imminent threat to this nation had the capacity to create a 9/11’s worth of injuries and deaths every year at an annual economic cost of a quarter trillion dollars, ask yourself: Would you say we should do something about it?

Posted on May 16, 2013 READ MORE



AP/Don Ryan

An Interview With Ron Wyden, the Senate’s Powerful Policy Wonk

Having served in Congress for more than three decades—and in the upper chamber since 1996—Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden has established a reputation as one of the Senate’s more serious and diligent members.

Posted on May 16, 2013 READ MORE


Economy

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Posted on May 15, 2013 READ MORE



AP/Alexander Zemlianichenko

Why Putin Let Russia’s Richies Take a Bath

The collapse of the Cypriot banking system reveals much about the complex relationship among ordinary Russians, “offshore oligarchs” and a political system that depends on both.

Posted on May 14, 2013 READ MORE



Image via Shutterstock

The Triumph of Progressivism: Graduation 2013 and 1968

Many of you soon-to-be college graduates are determined to make the world a better place. But many of you are cynical about politics. “What chance do we have against the Koch brothers and the other billionaires?” you’ve asked me. “How can we fight against Monsanto, Boeing, JPMorgan and Bank of America? They buy elections. They run America.”

Posted on May 14, 2013 READ MORE



AP/Cliff Owen

Elizabeth Warren, a Great Investment

How astonishing to have a public servant who actually cares to inform the public about the inner workings of the system of crony capitalism that has wedded big government with big business.

Posted on May 14, 2013 READ MORE


No Credit for Obama

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Posted on May 12, 2013 READ MORE


In the Toilet

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Posted on May 12, 2013 READ MORE        



State Farm (CC BY 2.0)

Student Loans a Drag on Graduates and the Economy

Crippling student debt is keeping hundreds of thousands of Americans from spending money on goods and services in the real economy, which is constraining the nation’s recovery.

Posted on May 11, 2013 READ MORE


Diploma for Dinner

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Posted on May 11, 2013 READ MORE


European Economy

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Posted on May 11, 2013 READ MORE



Koch Brothers Face Backlash, Colbert Reacts to Sister’s Loss, and More

A look at the day’s political happenings, including President Obama shifts his attention and Gabrielle Giffords’ gun control group gears up to go head to head with the NRA.

Posted on May 9, 2013 READ MORE


Markets Rise to Record Highs

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Posted on May 8, 2013 READ MORE


Students as Important as Big Banks, Elizabeth Warren Says in Bill Introduction

The senator’s first piece of stand-alone legislation is aimed at giving students who take out federally subsidized loans the same interest rate the big banks get when they borrow from the government. Student loans rates are set to go up to 6.8 percent July 1. Meantime, the big banks responsible for plunging the economy into a recession a few short years ago pay just 0.75 percent

Posted on May 8, 2013 READ MORE



Shutterstock illustration of American candle burning.

Everything We Know About What’s Happened Under Sequestration

Among other effects, cancer clinics in March began turning away thousands of Medicare patients being treated with expensive chemotherapy drugs, which the clinics say they can no longer afford.

Posted on May 7, 2013 READ MORE



Flickr/401(K) 2013

The Real Cost of Austerity

A new study paints a sobering picture of the negative consequences austerity is having on the U.S. economy (and shows once more that New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, a consistent voice against austerity, is right).

Posted on May 7, 2013 READ MORE



AP/Carolyn Kaster

Obama Did It for the Money

The president has chosen to fill two key Cabinet positions dealing with business practices with people who specialized in financial rip-offs.

Posted on May 7, 2013 READ MORE


Obama’s Wake-Up Call

President Obama got roughed up by the pundit class last week. The question is what lessons he draws from the going-over.

Posted on May 6, 2013 READ MORE



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Krugman Exposes the Hypocrisy of Fiscal Conservatives

In his latest column for The New York Times, the Nobel Prize-winning economists notes that before President Obama took office in 2009, seven of the 10 previous presidents left the Oval Office with debt ratios lower than when they entered it. The three who did not: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

Posted on May 6, 2013 READ MORE


School Budgets

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Posted on May 6, 2013 READ MORE



Ted Cruz’s Presidential Buzz, Mark Sanford’s Special Election Chances, and More

A look at the day’s political happenings, including Bill Maher suggests a new rule for those who want to strip away constitutional rights to ensure “justice” and former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords gets a well-deserved honor. 

Posted on May 5, 2013 READ MORE


Romney’s Advice to College Grads: Get Married, Have Babies

The wealthy failed GOP presidential candidate doesn’t want them worrying about getting a job and making money, because who needs those things to support a family?

Posted on May 5, 2013 READ MORE



Image via Shutterstock

How the Rich Benefited From the Recovery (While Most of Us Got Nothing)

The richest Americans made trillions during the so-called economic recovery from 2009 to 2011, while most everyone else’s net worth dropped, according to a recent study. “It’s as if the entire economic recovery is going into the pockets of the rich,” Les Leopold writes at AlterNet. “And that’s no accident.”

Posted on May 5, 2013 READ MORE



Wade Rockett (CC-BY-ND)

Obama Needs to Hope Again

If a president finds himself in the role of a political scientist, he has a problem—even when his political science lesson is 100 percent accurate.

Posted on May 1, 2013 READ MORE



Shutterstock image of bank.

Big Banks Are Victims of Their Own Success

Now that Wall Street has managed to neuter and delay the modest reforms passed by Congress, there is more political momentum to pass stricter financial regulations.

Posted on May 1, 2013 READ MORE


Dam Austerity

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Posted on May 1, 2013 READ MORE



Shutterstock photo of EU flags.

More Union in the EU Doubtful

The “More Europe” remedy favored by German Chancellor Angela Merkel seems plausible enough as a slogan, but so did the single currency.

Posted on Apr 30, 2013 READ MORE



Shutterstock photo of a bill fragment with blood spots.

Wall Street Is Killing Dodd-Frank One Regulation at a Time

The already tepid reforms enacted by Dodd-Frank are falling prey to business leaders, Republican lawmakers and the son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Posted on Apr 30, 2013 READ MORE



Capitol Hill image via Shutterstock

Earth to Washington: Repeal the Sequester

What is Washington doing to fix the economy? Worse than nothing. It has now adopted the same kind of austerity economics that’s doomed Europe—cutting federal spending and reducing total demand. And the sequester doesn’t end Sept. 30. It takes an even bigger bite out of the federal budget next fiscal year.

Posted on Apr 29, 2013 READ MORE


The Economic Whodunit

The policy mystery of our time is why politicians in the United States and across much of the democratic world are so obsessed with deficits when their primary mission ought to be bringing down high and debilitating rates of unemployment.

Posted on Apr 28, 2013 READ MORE


Bipolar Nation: The Rich Get Richer

Times are tough. Do the numbers: Chief executive officers of the country’s biggest companies experienced pay increases of a minuscule 15 percent in 2012, compared with the 28 percent their pay rose in 2011.

Posted on Apr 26, 2013 READ MORE



Shutterstock photo of a man holding money.

Americans Suffer While Finance Tax Waits for Congress’ Attention

The Financial Transaction Tax, or Robin Hood Tax, would generate more than $300 billion a year in revenue, thereby doing away with the need for the sequester currently forcing across-the-board budget cuts.

Posted on Apr 24, 2013 READ MORE



Twitter/ Niraj Chokshi

Congress Couldn’t Care Less About Unemployment

Only four lawmakers were in attendance at a congressional hearing about the important issue Wednesday.

Posted on Apr 24, 2013 READ MORE



A Policy in Search of a Proponent

Now that the foundations of austerity are crumbling because of an Excel coding error, few may be willing to champion the economic theory; sci-fi may become part of the mandatory reading list for West Virginia students; meanwhile, flamenco has become more than a dance—it’s a new way to protest the banks. These discoveries and more after the jump.

Posted on Apr 24, 2013 READ MORE



Shutterstock photo of recession.

Half-Baked Theories Continue to Direct Global History

The blood runs cold when one fully appreciates how vulnerable official policymakers and the Western policy community are to slogans and to magical thinking.

Posted on Apr 23, 2013 READ MORE



AP/Francisco Seco

Krugman: Our ‘Worst Fears’ About Long-Term Unemployment Damage Are Being Confirmed

As lawmakers on both sides of the aisle spend copious amounts of time on their seemingly futile quest to reach an agreement about how to deal with the nation’s burgeoning debt, there’s an even bigger economic problem in the U.S.: unemployment.

Posted on Apr 22, 2013 READ MORE


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A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
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