On Wednesday the newly elected Republican majority took power in the House of Representatives. As part of the changeover, the House Republicans adopted a new set of rules based on the principle of majority rule by a majority vote. This is effectively the same thing each new House has done for decades. Amazingly, there was [...]

The subsidized private health insurance exchanges created by the new health care law are going to do a very poor job of providing affordable health care to the low income Americans they are meant to serve, according to a new draft report to the Connecticut General Assembly from the Sustinet Health Partnership Board of Directors. [...]

The Defense Department’s annual budget is a phantom figure, falling far short of what we truly spend on defense. It doesn’t include either supplemental appropriations, or money allocated to defense by other departments.

But in trying to come up with a true figure, what should be included?

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn’t actually need to oppose Democrats’ proposals. He can simply declare that he opposes the Democrats’ plan thereby instantly making the issue a “controversy” for the media. By merely labeling any proposal “controversial” he can often succeed in making it less popular.

Returning the U.S. Senate to a majority rule legislative chamber is apparently too radical for The New York Times and most of the Senate Democrats. Restoring the original Senate rules — which allowed a motion to move previous question thereby ending the possibility of filibuster — is just out of the question. There does seem to be consensus for reform that would bring back the “talking filibuster” however. But what about other alternatives?

As we look forward into the new year, and the looming state budget crises, what should we anticipate?

Tom Ferguson told me last year that the “powers that be” were going to start forcing states to sell off their assets in order to plug their budget holes. It’s the next phase of disaster capitalism, the equivalent of the IMF forcing countries to sell off their airports and their factories to private companies in order to qualify for relief:

The New York Times editorial board has acknowledged that there is clearly a serious problem with the rules currently governing the Senate and has called for modest reform. Yet, despite calling for reform, the New York Times, for some reason, has a problem with the democratic principle of majority rule that governs almost every other [...]

Edwin and Joyce Koupal and their People’s lobby technically “failed” three times in their efforts at California-wide direct democracy before passing their first successful ballot initiative, the Political Reform Initiative of 1974. Yet from each loss, the Koupals learned important lessons they applied to later efforts. One of the lessons they learned was the importance [...]

This is play two of two, in which we see that Corporatist Democrats employ a very different strategy to justify schemes that rip off the public, using their own emotional buzzwords and talking points.

First of two plays, this one featuring Corporatist Republicans in lead role as beneficent protector of corporate welfare.