One of the key ways Wall Street is trying to kill financial reform is to subject all of the new rules to what it calls “cost-benefit analyses.” This seductively sounding concept is, however, a sham; the industry only wants its costs considered and nothing else. When they say “cost benefit analysis,” they mean a one-sided, biased “industry cost only” analysis.
British Petroleum announced that it had reached a resolution with the Department of Justice over the Deepwater Horizon disaster that released nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Hurricane Sandy is the most recent storm to have shed light on the dangers of development in waterfront areas along the Eastern seaboard, but communities from Colorado to Missouri to South Dakota have also grappled for years with the growing risk of environmental damage from everything from rising rivers to forest fires -- dangers that are growing more acute thanks to climate change.
Despite President Obama’s important, even landmark, accomplishments, by the time November 6 arrived, many Americans were disappointed with his first term. They expected him to be a “transformational” president who would somehow, single-handedly, change Washington’s political culture.
One of the many parts of the financial sector that the crisis exposed as desperately in need of reform was the 401(k) industry. In 2008 alone, the securities industry lost over $2 trillion in workers’ hard-earned 401(k) and IRA savings.
A new Media Matters study shows that not only was climate change absent from the Presidential debates, it was virtually absent from media coverage. Total media coverage of climate change was just over three and a half hours since August 1st. However, the vast majority of this -- two and a half hours worth -- was on MSNBC. The other networks combined spent 51 minutes discussing climate change.
Poverty’s up, but still ignored. The drumbeat of evidence shows that it remains, despite the recovery, persistently high. The official Census poverty measure this summer found a record 15 percent of Americans living in poverty. But, as expected, that lowballs it. The official measure, which hasn’t been updated in fifty years, is inadequate.
Just sixty-one individuals gave $285.2 million to Super PACs in the 2012 elections, contributing the same amount as 1,425,500 small grassroots donors to the major party presidential candidates, according to a new report from Demos and U.S. PIRG.
This report, the fourth in a series, focuses on "the overwhelming influence of a tiny number of wealthy donors."
Tuning in to the latest round of fiscal panic, you might think that Congress and the President have been doing exactly nothing about the deficit over the past few years. Of course, though, that is wrong: Major steps have already been taken to control government spending. According to a new analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities:
One of the most visible signs of climate change was last summer’s prolonged extreme drought. Over eighty percent of the corn and soybean crops were impacted. Not surprisingly, we saw record food prices globally. Price increases due to drought are easy to understand given the reduction in crop supply that accompanies drought.
No doubt the new International Energy Agency (IEA)'s latest World Energy Outlook will be cause for celebration for the fossil fuel industry. In it, IEA points to the strong oil and gas production in the U.S. and predicts that by within a decade or so, the U.S. will become the world's largest oil producer, surpassing Saudi Arabia and Russia. By 2030, North America could be a net oil exporter and, around the same time, the U.S. will likely be energy independent.
When we talk about leveling the playing field for energy solutions, we often talk about how fossil fuels receive the lion’s share of federal subsidies even though they continually post record profits. The renewable energy sector, in contrast, continually faces uncertainty over future funding.
We already know that a well-publicized corporate gift can put spit and shoeshine on a tarnished public image; a well-placed one can exert political leverage. But what about companies that use disaster relief as product placement?
Last week's election was historic for all sort of reasons: gay rights (and human decency) prevailed in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington; Romney's loss suggested that super PACs could not, in fact, buy the presidency; and President Obama will get the crucial chance to implement the Affordable Care Act.
The job of reforming Wall Street is far from finished. The most profitable investments for the big banks continue to be Washington lobbyists chipping away at reform and litigators challenging every major rule in court.
During the Presidential campaign, conservatives continued to falsely claim that oil and gas drilling had been restricted during the Obama Administration. In fact, as we pointed out, oil and gas production is at the highest level it’s been in decades.
In 2012, just 61 large donors to Super PACs giving an average of $4.7 million each matched the $285.2 million in grassroots contributions from more than 1,425,500 small donors to the major party presidential candidates.
President Obama's biggest failure in his first term was to not forcefully stem the flood of foreclosures that has been devastating lives, prolonging the economic slump, and stripping vulnerable groups -- particularly blacks -- of financial assets that took years to build up.
In turn, that failure was the result of another devastating mistake by Obama: picking Timothy Geithner to be Treasury Secretary and allowing that department to be way too cozy with the big banks.
