Media

The current attack on regulations in Congress poses a serious threat to public safety and should be rejected.

Boston - As President Obama tours the nation to promote the "American Jobs Act," a new report from the public policy organization Demos, "The State of Massachusetts' Middle Class," details the causes and impact of the growing jobs crisis in the Bay State and across America.

The New York Times ran a front page article this morning titled "As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge around Globe." Nicholas Kulish writes that across the globe, from Spain and Greece to Israel and India, political protests are being motivated not just by rising economic inequality but by a growing feelin

One of the more frustrating, and fundamentally incorrect, arguments continually repeated during the attacks on Solydnra and clean energy investment is that government should not be in the business of “picking winners and losers,” meaning that the government shouldn’t provide incentives or subsidies to any specific industry or business. This argument is wrong both on a factual level and on a policy level. 

With polls showing strong public support for tax hikes on the rich, Republicans should hardly relish a fight with President Obama over “class warfare.” And yet, for weeks, GOP leaders have been bashing the White House for a tax plan that affects just 2 percent of U.S. households and lets the rest of us off the hook.

How is this smart politics?

Two weeks ago, the Census Bureau reported that poverty in America had grown to 15.1 percent, capturing 46.2 million Americans, including over 16 million (22 percent of) children. Further analysis revealed that there was growth in "deep poverty" -- 6.7 perecent of Americans, the most ever, are living at 50 percent of the poverty line. For a two parent, two child household, that's just $11,000.

Were Republicans listening?

There are a great many ways in which the "Buffett rule" is a very clever proposal. It highlights an appalling loophole in the tax code, aligns Obama with America's most successful investor, and has focused attention on how Obama wants to raise taxes on the truly well off, as opposed to all those upper-middle class households making just over $250,000.

If you've heard anything about Mayor Michael Bloomberg and taxes in the past 24 hours, it is surely that Bloomberg slapped down the "Buffett rule". Or as CBS News trumpeted, "Mayor Bloomberg Speaks Out Against President Obama's 'Buffett Rule.'"

The Republican push to end the Department of Energy’s (DoE) guaranteed loan program as part of their budget plan is misguided and counter-productive. The program was established in 2005, under the Bush Administration, to encourage development of new energy technologies that create jobs and bring us closer to energy independence.