As the latest reports indicate that the U.S. economy is slowing down and the intellectual foundation for austerity economics has been discredited, Congressional Democrats are pushing back against President Obama’s austerity budget. Democrats in the Senate and even more in the House no longer see the logic in austerity cuts to social programs such as [...]

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself and we are apparently very afraid. The ever mutating concept of “homeland security” has garnered more public funds since 9/11 than President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Pretty amazing, who knew fighting phantoms could be so expensive? For decades, the Department of Defense has met this [...]

The Very Serious People are at it again. In the never ending quest to find some explanation, any explanation, for political action that does not reference the reality of class in America the Very Serious People have a new narrative on why the Obama Administration is attacking seniors, the permanently disabled, and orphans. Despite the [...]

Does President Obama have some unresolved animosity towards FDR? Obama’s budget not only cuts Social Security but is seeking to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority. Buried on page 51 of President Obama’s new budget proposal is a short section titled “Reform TVA” — where “reform” is likely to mean “privatize.” It’s the quiet beginning of a [...]

Senator Lindsey Graham appears to be excited by President Obama’s recent proposal to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits. As social insurance advocates mobilize in opposition to Obama’s austerity budget there are signs that Republicans are aroused by the thought of screwing the poor, veterans, and seniors with cover from a Democratic President. Groups are [...]

President Obama’s proposal to cut Social Security and Medicare has fueled a civil war within the Democratic Party. The social insurance programs are considered by many Democrats to be the party’s greatest achievements in the New Deal and Great Society, respectively. Obama’s alignment with Bush style Neoliberalism has provoked the progressive wing of the party to [...]

President Barack Obama has once again started his negotiations by scoring into his own net. In what may be the dumbest plan yet proposed, Obama has offered cuts to Social Security hoping for a change in the Republican’s position on tax loopholes for the wealthy. President Barack Obama’s proposed budget will call for reductions in [...]

There are many explanations for why America is more right-wing than other countries in the developed world; an individualistic and unsympathetic political culture, the use of religion for reactionary causes, racial antagonism and division in the working class, a governmental structure designed to defend a commercial oligarchy – take your pick. But just because the [...]

While Washington debates cutting Social Security and Medicare the facts are in on the “recovery” – it’s a bust. Not only has unemployment remained historically high – 7.7% officially, 23% by the old metrics – but poverty has spiked to historic highs. The U.S. Census Bureau puts the number of Americans in poverty at levels [...]

Washington has a spending problem – it keeps spending money on the F-35. A weapon that not only doesn’t work but isn’t needed. In a time of austerity for social programs with President Obama offering cuts to Social Security and Medicare the government continues to shovel money into this black hole of a weapons project. [...]

The bill for one of America’s dumbest wars has come due and it’s a dousy. A report by the “Costs of War” project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies claims the U.S spent over $2.2 trillion on the Iraq War with at least 1340,000 Iraqi civilians being killed. Among the group’s main findings: [...]