August 10, 2013
NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: Get The Money Out Of Politics
On Thursday’s “Daily Show,” New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said, “I think we should get the money out of politics. Period.”
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August 3, 2013
Against Raising The Minimum Wage? You Stand With Billionaires
To argue against raising the minimum wage, which has not kept up with inflation, is to stand with billionaires.
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August 1, 2013
The Tasty Pick of American Exceptionalism: Minimum Wage Or Incarceration?
America is exceptional all right, its exceptionally jaded, exceptionally cynical, exceptionally resentful, and exceptionally callous. We are so judgmental of others, so righteous of our own strengths, so high on our own self-worth, we believe we need to be exceptionally tough when it comes to anyone who does not measure up. And nowhere is this more true than America’s “tough on crime” stance. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have laws. I’m not saying criminals shouldn’t go to jail. What I’m saying is we need to take it down a notch or two or a thousand. And we need to stop taking discretion away from judges and juries with “mandatory minimums” and other similar legislative “solutions” to crime.
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November 29, 2012
Eliot Spitzer – Number of the Day: Costco Economy Or Sam’s Club Economy?
In a recent article, Robert Reich told us the tale of two economies.
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September 4, 2012
Paul Ryan’s Duality: President Obama and the Janesville GM Plant Closing
During Paul Ryan’s fact-challenged Republican National Convention speech last week, he said President Obama was responsible for the closing of a General Motors plant in Janesville, WI. The truth is that Obama delivered a speech at the Janesville plant in 2008 when he was still a candidate. The factory closed later that same year while George W. Bush was president. Now Paul Ryan is clarifying his accusation by saying on the Today Show that he doesn’t blame Obama for the closing, but instead he blames Obama for his “broken promises.”
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August 22, 2012
A Liberal Exhortation on Government, Capitalism, Free Markets and Privatization
GOVERNMENT
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August 16, 2012
We Can’t Have Medicare-for-All Because Conservatives Need a Bogeyman
Health care costs keep rising rapidly, and even when the Affordable Care Act fully kicks in (2014), the expectation is that cost increases, while tempered, will still be unsustainable. There are many ideas, solutions and hybrid solutions to tackle rising health care costs, but at its most fundamental level there are two approaches, and only one makes sense in the long run.
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July 30, 2012
A few thoughts on the Olympics and our corporate sponsor overlords
I was listening to today’s Citizen Radio episode “(2012/07/30) What the Olympics and the Springfield monorail have in common, Georgia prison hunger strike” where Allison and Jamie were slamming the corporate sponsorship at the Olympics, specifically McDonald’s and Coca-Cola. These companies are so greedy that they have exclusive rights arrangements with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which means that your local pub can’t advertise the simple fact that they have a TV, and it can be tuned to the Olympics coverage on NBC. All of these things are facts about this hypothetical pub, but if they put a sign outside stating these facts, they will get their asses sued by their corporate overlords
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July 3, 2012
Free Market Ideologues Think The Economy Is Caged Lion That Will Be Set Free When Government Gets Out Of The Way
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June 24, 2012
The Naiveté Of Advocating A Free Market Health Care System
In case you didn’t notice, the current health care system in the United States is already a free market system. There are winners and losers. There are some people who can afford to participate and others who get left behind. This is how any market works, and this is how our current health care system (which isn’t really a system at all) is working, or should I say, is not working.
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