When health care reform was passed, we were told by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) it was only a “starter home” that would be improved later. We were also offered vague promises from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that we would get a vote on a public option in the months [...]

President Obama talks about trade deal with South Korea- Transcript Good afternoon, everybody. Today I want to speak briefly about two issues that matter most to me and matter most to the American people — creating jobs and economic growth on which our country’s prosperity depends. Yesterday’s job report showed that despite 11 consecutive months [...]

When President Obama ran for office, I was foolish enough to believe he would end the extremely low tax rates on the rich, given that it was one of his most-repeated campaign promises, and one of the four points of his campaign’s fiscal plan. I had hoped he would begin to make our tax code [...]

The United States government has a general policy against paying ransom for a hostage. This is not because paying ransoms is an ineffective policy. Most hostage takers would be happy to return the hostage for money, so as a short-term solution, it does work. The problem is, long term, paying ransom just encourages many more [...]

After months of actively signaling weakness on extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich, President Obama is about to reach a “compromise.” According to reports, it sounds like the compromise with be a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts for all, a year-long extension of unemployment insurance, and an extension of some of [...]

At the AFL-CIO’s weekly Monday morning legislative meeting, the UAW tried to sell the deal to their fellow unions in the federation. The unanimous disapproval from all the other unions was summed up in a 10 minute invective by Matt McKinnon, the Political Director of the Machinists, who said the UAW concessions were “worth a lukewarm bucket of spit.”

It takes guts to get out in front of this when the White House is trying to strong arm people while they take bows with the Chamber of Commerce and Jamie Dimon. High marks for the Sierra Club for showing leadership and being willing to do so.

Friends of the Earth have released the following statement regarding President Obama’s NAFTA-Style South Korean Free Trade Agreement:

President Obama Promotes Damaging Bush-era Trade Deal

As President Obama well knew when he was on the campaign trail, NAFTA has been devastating to our workforce. Over 5.6 additional American jobs could have been supported had NAFTA and the WTO not led to increased trade deficits. With 15.1 million people currently unemployed in the United States, it is insane to extend the same NAFTA privileges to Korea that have already ransacked America’s manufacturing sector and our labor force.

I asked Ryan Grim if Leo Gerard’s comment that “some people feel they’re smart enough to make decisions based on rumors” was directed at the UAW’s Bob King.

“Definitely,” he said.