Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011
RIP Mr. Hitchens
It’s hard to imagine a world without his voice in it.
Robert Reich: An Offer to the President
Mr. President, we heard what you said last week in Kansas – about the dangers to our economy and democracy of the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top.
We agree. And many of us are prepared to work our hearts out to get you reelected – as long as you commit to doing what…
5 months ago - 
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182 Multi-billionaire takes a Republican lie outside and shoots it
This lie is particularly galling to me because 1) I hear it all the time, 2) it’s an unpardonable lie, but mostly 3) it’s deliberately crafted to deceive people who know they’re hurting (no job) but don’t know how business or economies work. In other words, it’s designed to take advantage of the most vulnerable in order to benefit the least vulnerable.
The US nuclear industry wants to force out pro-regulation NRC leader
The four Nuclear Regulatory Commission members who are apparently owned by the nuclear industry, want the pro-regulation chairman gone. And they’re trying underhanded approaches to make that happen. In their view it seems that we can’t have an NRC that promotes safety if doing so will hurt the nuclear industry’s profits. Profits, after all, are what matter, and I’m sure that’s appreciated in Japan right now.
GingrichCare and the "individual mandate"
The referenced MoJo article quotes Newt as writing the following.
“In order to make coverage more accessible, Congress must do more, including passing legislation to: establish a national health insurance marketplace by giving individuals the freedom to shop for insurance plans across state lines; provide low-income families with $1,000 in direct contributions to a health savings account, along with a $2,000 advanced tax credit to purchase an HSA-eligible high-deductible health plan; make premiums for these plans tax deductible; provide tax rebates to small businesses that contribute to their employees’ HSAs; extend and expand grant funding to high-risk pools across the country; and require anyone who earns more than $50,000 a year to purchase health insurance or post a bond.”
An “individual mandate” … oh my. Could Newt be a Socialist?
Robert Reich: The Remarkable Political Stupidity of the Street
Wall Street is its own worst enemy. It should have welcomed new financial regulation as a means of restoring public trust. Instead, it’s busily shredding new regulations and making the public more distrustful than ever.
The Street’s biggest lobbying groups have just filed a lawsuit against the…
5 months ago - 158
158 Robert Reich: The Most Important Economic Speech of His Presidency
The President’s speech today in Osawatomie, Kansas — where Teddy Roosevelt gave his “New Nationalism” speech in 1910 — is the most important economic speech of his presidency in terms of connecting the dots, laying out the reasons behind our economic and political crises, and asserting a…
5 months ago - 594
594 Odd that R’s now demanding spending cuts for payroll tax cut, since they’ve always said tax cuts pay for themselves. Do I sense hypocrisy?
Robert Reich (@RBReich) via Twitter
(Source: robertreich.org)
I remember hearing about this when I was a kid too … you’d often hear people looking forward to the “30 hour week” which surely, at the time, couldn’t be far off. But instead, as productivity increased, its fruits were hoarded by the capital-owning classes, and the wage-earner was squeezed harder and harder and harder … salaries stagnant, hours and workloads rising, benefits cut (no more company-funded retirement fund for you proles, and soon no employer-provided health insurance either). Now we have double-digit poverty, a “reserve army of the unemployed” (many of whom, through sheer desperation, are forced to enlist in the real Army and face senseless death overseas), and virtually everyone in the 99% is economically-insecure to one degree or another. The “leisure society” is entirely within our grasp, but not without wresting the ill-gotten political and economic power from those who currently hold it.
(Source: thomhartmann.com)
Robert Reich: The Jobs Report: Don't Break Out the Champagne
In brief: The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey shows unemployment at 8.6 percent, and the payroll survey shows 120,000 new jobs in November (140,000 from the private sector, and a loss of 20,000 in the public sector). BLS also revised upward its job numbers for September and October.
What does it mean? We’re not out of the woods but we might be seeing some daylight.
6 months ago - 93
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