Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics (and former John McCain advisor), and Alan Blinder, a former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve and a Wall Street Journal columnist, inform us that the TARP bailout of Wall Street and the economic stimulus package WORKED. Without both of these hotly debated actions our national GDP would be 6.5% lower this year, the dollar would be experiencin ...
*** Inexplicably, the GOP is Supporting Tax Loophole for Foreign Companies. House Repubs are encouraging members to vote against a bill that would fund medical services for 9/11 emergency responders by closing a tax loophole for foreign companies with American subsidiaries. See New York Congressman Anthony Weiner's emotional meltdown over Repub obstructionism on the floor of the House here. ** ...
Wouldn't want anybody to think that the Tea Party had any RACISTS in their midst! Gawd, no --- the man pictured below, Dale Robertson, is identified as the founder of the Tea Party --- but I'm sure there's an explanation for his sign that displays a pretty clear message. Right? Andrew Breitbart ... what do you say to this photo? You've told America that there are no racists in the Tea Party, r ...
LOW TAXES HURTING THE ECONOMY? A potential national debate on higher taxes vs. lower taxes may be brewing. Many concerned about the growing deficit and debt are warning that extending the Bush tax cuts will add more than $2 trillion to the federal budget deficits — which may give impetus to a review of the effectiveness of voo-doo economics, outside of wonky rightwing think tanks. Is it possib ...
Congressman Paul Ryan, GOP budget guru, has recently presented his proposed budget for the nation. While both holding Ryan up as a fresh young thinker for the Republican Party, AND at the same time distancing themselves from his actual budget plan, the Washington GOP is totally schizophrenic about what the hell they plan to DO when/if they take control of Washington. 'Hey, America, here’s our b ...
So right-wing blogger Andrew Breitbart posts a small clip of a speech, given by a current administration employee relating a story about an experience she had more than 20 years ago. The edited video clip purported to expose a black woman making racist comments --- and Breitbart acknowledges that his motivation in posting the video clip was retaliation against the NAACP for comments they made, wh ...
The American middle class is rapidly disappearing. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, and the disparity is growing at blinding speed. At one time America had the most widespread prosperity of any middle class in the history of the world, but no more. The causes are many: globalism, supply side economics, growing corporatism and greed --- for starters. The pie chart ...
UPDATE: The Pittsburg Post-Gazette reported on July 15: “An electrician at the Upper Big Branch mine, scene of a disastrous explosion that killed 29 miners, confirmed that he was ordered to bypass the methane detector on a piece of mining equipment — an action that has become part of an ongoing federal criminal probe growing out of the disaster.” Today's NY Times (July 19) picks up on the Post- ...
This article about the history of mine safety in America first appeared on May 23, 2010 in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, which graciously agreed to allow CLN to reprint it for our readers. Brigid O'Farrell is a political activist in the San Francisco Bay area, well-respected scholar and author. COAL MINERS, AND ALL WORKERS, NEED STRONG UNIONS AND PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION By Brigid O'Farrell ...
If you get a chance, please read this terrific article on Huffington Post about the future of gun control, by Dennis Henigan, --- VP of The Brady Center. At first glance it seemed like a defeat for the Left with the recent Supreme Court ruling, McDonald v. Chicago. Five of the nine Justices affirmed their earlier decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which declared that the Constitutio ...