mai 2013
1 billet
Robert Reich: Sexual Assaults and Nuclear... →
robertreich:
After years of repeated reports of sexual assaults — and years of promises to prevent them, and then years of studies and commissions to find the best way of doing so — a Defense Department study released Tuesday estimates that some 26,000 people in the military were sexually assaulted in the…
mars 2013
1 billet
Robert Reich: Selling the Store: Why Democrats... →
robertreich:
Prominent Democrats — including the President and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — are openly suggesting that Medicare be means-tested and Social Security payments be reduced by applying a lower adjustment for inflation. This is even before they’ve started budget negotiations with…
février 2013
3 billets
Robert Reich: Today, an Anniversary of America's... →
robertreich:
Exactly a century ago, on February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, authorizing a federal income tax. Congress turned it into a graduated tax, based on “capacity to pay.”
It was among the signal victories of the progressive movement — the first constitutional…
Robert Reich: The Real Debate Over American... →
robertreich:
Sometimes we have a national conversation without realizing it. We talk about different aspects of the same larger issue without connecting the dots.
That’s what’s happening now with regard to the meaning of American citizenship and the basic rights that come with it.
On one side are those who…
Robert Reich: The Economic Challenge Ahead: More... →
robertreich:
Can we just keep things in perspective? On Tuesday, the President asked Republicans to join him in finding more spending cuts and revenues before the next fiscal cliff whacks the economy at the end of the month.
Yet that same day, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the federal…
janvier 2013
6 billets
Robert Reich: The GOP Crackup: How Obama is... →
robertreich:
Soon after President Obama’s second inaugural address, John Boehner said the White House would try “to annihilate the Republican Party” and “shove us into the dustbin of history.”
Actually, the GOP is doing a pretty good job annihilating itself. As Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal put…
Robert Reich: The Non Zero-Sum Society →
robertreich:
As President Obama said in his inaugural address last week, America “cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.”
Yet that continues to be the direction we’re heading in.
A newly-released analysis by the Economic Policy Institute shows…
Robert Reich: The Neocons vs. Chuck Hagel →
robertreich:
If the neocons in the GOP who brought us the Iraqi war and conjured up “weapons of mass destruction” to justify it are against Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary, Hagel gets bonus points in my book.
They’re the hawkish, bellicose bunch in the Republican Party — William Kristol, Richard Perle,…
Robert Reich: Why Obama's Gamble on the Debt... →
robertreich:
A week before his inaugural, President Obama says he won’t negotiate with Republicans over raising the debt limit.
At an unexpected news conference Tuesday he said he won’t trade cuts in government spending in exchange for raising the borrowing limit.
“If the goal is to make sure that we are…
Robert Reich: Lousy Deal on the Edge of the Cliff →
robertreich:
The deal emerging from the Senate is a lousy one. Let me count the ways: 1. Republicans haven’t conceded anything on the debt ceiling, so over the next two months – as the Treasury runs out of tricks to avoid a default – Republicans are likely to do exactly what they did before, which is to…
Robert Reich: The Ongoing War: After the Battle... →
robertreich:
“It’s not all I would have liked,” says Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, speaking of the deal on the fiscal cliff, “so on to the debt ceiling.”
The battle over the fiscal cliff was only a prelude to the coming battle over raising the debt ceiling – a battle that will likely…
décembre 2012
3 billets
Robert Reich: Cliff Hanger: Why Republicans Don't... →
robertreich:
Are House Republicans – now summoned back to Washington by Speaker John Boehner — about to succumb to public pressure and save the nation from the fiscal cliff?
Don’t bet on it.
Even if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell cooperates by not mounting a filibuster and allows the Senate to…
Robert Reich: Cliff Hanger: The President's... →
robertreich:
Why is the President back to making premature and unnecessary concessions to Republicans?
Two central issues in the 2012 presidential election were whether the Bush tax cuts should be ended for people earning over $250,000, and whether Social Security and Medicare should be protected from…
Robert Reich: Organizing McDonalds and Walmart,... →
robertreich:
What does the drama in Washington over the “fiscal cliff” have to do with strikes and work stoppages among America’s lowest-paid workers at Walmart, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Domino’s Pizza?
Everything.
Jobs are slowly returning to America, but most of them pay lousy wages and low if…
novembre 2012
6 billets
Robert Reich: Inequality for All: The Film (and... →
robertreich:
Don’t be distracted by January’s fiscal cliff or looming budget deficits. The central problem of our economy is widening inequality.
It’s reducing the purchasing power of the vast middle class on which job growth depends, and turning the economy into a speculative casino for…
Robert Reich: Why We Should Stop Obsessing About... →
robertreich:
I wish President Obama and the Democrats would explain to the nation that the federal budget deficit isn’t the nation’s major economic problem and deficit reduction shouldn’t be our major goal. Our problem is lack of good jobs and sufficient growth, and our goal must be to revive both.
Deficit…
Robert Reich: The Three Biggest Democratic... →
robertreich:
It’s not too early to draw some lessons. Regardless of what happens Tuesday, Democrats should have three big takeaways from the 2012 election.
Lesson One: Democrats Can Own the Future.
Latinos, African-Americans, young people, and women have become the major Democratic voting blocs. That’s good…
Robert Reich: We the People, and the New American... →
robertreich:
The vitriol is worse than I ever recall. Worse than the Palin-induced smarm pf 2008. Worse than the swift-boat lies of 2004. Worse, even, than the anything-goes craziness of 2000 and its ensuing bitterness. It’s almost a civil war. I know families in which close relatives are no longer speaking….
Robert Reich: Obama's Next Economy: Why He Must... →
robertreich:
When the applause among Democrats and recriminations among Republicans begin to quiet down — probably within the next few days — the President will have to make some big decisions. The biggest is on the economy.
His victory and the pending “fiscal cliff” give him an opportunity to recast the…
octobre 2012
8 billets
Robert Reich: How January's Fiscal Cliff Turns... →
robertreich:
These are awkward days for deficit hawks who believe the American economy can get back to health only if the nation gets its fiscal house in order. If they get their wish, the economy goes over a cliff.
Regardless of what happens Election Day, at the beginning of next year more than $600…
Robert Reich: Why Biden Won →
robertreich:
I thought Biden won last night’s debate because he came off as genuine, passionate, and brimming with conviction. Ryan, by contrast, seemed like a wooden marionette, a kid out of his depth relative to someone who not only knew the facts but lived them.
On taxes, Ryan couldn’t come up with any…
Robert Reich: Memo to Joe, Re: Debate →
robertreich:
TO: VPOTUS
FROM: Robert Reich
RE: Debate
Beware: Paul Ryan will appear affable. He’s less polished and aggressive than Romney, even soft-spoken. And he acts as if he’s saying reasonable things.
But under the surface he’s a rightwing zealot. And nothing he says or believes is…
Robert Reich: The Politics of the Jobs Report →
robertreich:
The White House is breathing easier this morning. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent – the first time it’s been under 8 percent in 43 months.
In political terms, headlines are everything – and most major media are leading with the drop in the…
Robert Reich: The Week Ahead: Wednesday's... →
robertreich:
The biggest election news this week won’t be who wins the presidential debate Wednesday night. It will be how many new jobs were created in September, announced Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Rarely in the history has the monthly employment carried so much political…
septembre 2012
8 billets
Robert Reich: Four Reasons Why Romney Might Still... →
robertreich:
Can Romney possibly recover? A survey conducted between Sept. 12 and Sept. 16 by the Pew Research Center — before the “47 percent victim” video came to light – showed Obama ahead of Romney 51% to 43% among likely voters.
That’s the biggest margin in the September survey prior to a…
Robert Reich: What Mitt Romney Really Represents →
robertreich:
It’s not just his giant income or the low tax rates he pays on it. And it’s not just the videotape of him berating almost half of America, or his endless gaffes, or his regressive budget policies.
It’s something that unites all of this, and connects it to the biggest underlying problem America…
Robert Reich: Two Cheers for the Fed, but Thumbs... →
robertreich:
With deficit hawks circling overhead, the responsibility for creating jobs has fallen by default to Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve. Last week the Fed said it expected to keep interest rates near zero through mid 2015 in order to stimulate employment.
Two cheers.
The problem is, low…
Robert Reich: Why Romney and Ryan are Going Down →
robertreich:
Unemployment is still above 8 percent, job gains aren’t even keeping up with population growth, the economy is barely moving forward. And yet, according to most polls, the Romney-Ryan ticket is falling further and further behind. How can this be?
Because Republicans are failing the central…
Robert Reich: The Wrong Way to Save Money on... →
robertreich:
Employer outlays for workers’ health insurance slowed from a 9 percent jump last year to less than half that — 4 percent — this year, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Foundation. Good news?
Our political class believes it is. The Obama administration attributes the drop to the new…
Robert Reich: The Biggest Economic Challenge of... →
robertreich:
The question at the core of America’s upcoming election isn’t merely whose story most voting Americans believe to be true – Mitt Romney’s claim that the economy is in a stall and Obama’s policies haven’t worked, or Barack Obama’s that it’s slowly mending and his approach is working.
If that…
août 2012
9 billets
Robert Reich: How Romney Keeps Lying Through His... →
robertreich:
“We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers,” says Neil Newhouse, a Romney pollster. A half dozen fact-checking organizations and websites have refuted Romney’s claims that Obama removed the work requirement from the welfare law and will cut Medicare benefits by $716…
Robert Reich: Labor Day 2012 and the Election of... →
robertreich:
The most troubling economic trend facing America this Labor Day weekend is the increasing concentration of income, wealth, and political power at the very top – among a handful of extraordinarily wealthy people – and the steady decline of the great American middle class. Inequality in America is…
Robert Reich: Why Romney's Choice of Ryan Won't... →
robertreich:
I keep hearing that Mitt Romney’s pick of Paul Ryan “enables the country to have the debate it needs to have,” or “permits us to have a grownup discussion,” or “finally presents America with a real choice.” The New York Times oped page proclaims: “Let the Real Debate Begin!”
Debate? What…
Robert Reich: The Ryan Choice →
robertreich:
Paul Ryan is the reverse of Sarah Palin. She was all right-wing flash without much substance. He’s all right-wing substance without much flash.
Ryan is not a firebrand. He’s not smarmy. He doesn’t ooze contempt for opponents or ridicule those who disagree with him. In style and tone, he…
Robert Reich: Whose Plan Destroys Medicare --... →
robertreich:
Stumping in Florida today, Mitt Romney charged President Obama’s Affordable Care Act will “cut more than $700 billion” out of Medicare.
What Romney didn’t say was that his running-mate’s budget — approved by House Republicans and by Romney himself — would cut Medicare by the same amount. The…
Robert Reich: The Terrible Economy and the... →
robertreich:
The worst economy since the Great Depression and you might think at least one of the candidates would come up with a few big ideas for how to get us out of it.
But you’d be wrong. Neither candidate wants to take any chances by offering any large, serious proposals. Both are banking instead on…
Robert Reich: The Terrible Economy and the... →
robertreich:
The worst economy since the Great Depression and you might think at least one of the candidates would come up with a few big ideas for how to get us out of it.
But you’d be wrong. Neither candidate wants to take any chances by offering any large, serious proposals. Both are banking instead on…
juillet 2012
3 billets
Robert Reich: The Selling of American Democracy:... →
robertreich:
Who’s buying our democracy? Wall Street financiers, the Koch brothers, and casino magnates Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn.
And they’re doing much of it in secret.
It’s a perfect storm:
The greatest concentration of wealth in more than a century — courtesy “trickle-down” economics, Reagan and…
Robert Reich: The Jobs Doldrums and Obama's Future →
robertreich:
Bad news for the U.S. economy and for Barack Obama. We’re in the jobs doldrums. Unemployment for June is stuck at 8.2 percent, the same as in May. And only 80,000 new jobs were added.
Remember, 125,000 news jobs are needed just to keep up with the increase in the population of Americans who need…
juin 2012
5 billets
Robert Reich: Excluding Outsiders or Coming... →
robertreich:
Recently I publicly debated a regressive Republican who said Arizona and every other state should use whatever means necessary to keep out illegal immigrants. He also wants English to be spoken in every classroom in the nation, and the pledge of allegiance recited every morning. “We have to…
