Opinion | Majority Agenda Project

Explaining Obama

Submitted by suren on Mon, 08/08/2011 - 10:40

The most recent "compromise" negotiated by President Obama has deepened the conversation about his tendency to compromise when the American people, and the rest of the world, expect real leadership. In the next few weeks we'll carry a number of different approaches to the President by cherry-picking from the web. In the present piece, political psychologist Drew Westen reconnects us with those heady days that followed the election in 2008 and shows us how the capable story-teller President failed to offer a counter narrative that "bends the arc of history toward justice."

Four Dead in Massachusetts... "It is important not to make connections!"

Submitted by suren on Wed, 06/01/2011 - 23:56

June 1, 2011: The Springfield Republican editorializes somewhat tritely that, "tornadoes show how fast life can change." Still recoiling from the tragedy that has just befallen their city, the writers can be forgiven. The Wall Street Journal, however, has few excuses for Donald Boudreaux's opinion piece in which he complains about "how seriously Americans [may come to] treat climate-change doomsaying." He attacks (but does not link to) a sarcastic editorial by Bill McKibben that appeared in the Washington Post last week.

First they attacked union bargaining rights in Wisconsin ...

Submitted by wtchen on Mon, 05/02/2011 - 19:22

... and I did not speak out, since I am a peace activist in Massachusetts. But last week the MA House overwhelmingly "voted to strip police officers, teachers, and other municipal employees of most of their rights to bargain over health care."

See: www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/27/house_votes_to_limit_bargaining_on_health_care/

Unlike the Tea Party efforts to eliminate union bargaining rights for public employees in Ohio, Wisconsin, and other states, this move in MA was led by Democrats who have traditionally stood with unions to oppose any reduction in workers’ rights.
...
“It’s pretty stunning,’’ said Robert J. Haynes, president of the MA AFL-CIO. “These are the same Democrats that all these labor unions elected. The same Democrats who we contributed to, in their campaigns."

Madrick: Ryan Plan Won't Work

Submitted by suren on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 14:33

Two dogs that won't hunt are at the core of Representative Paul Ryan's budget proposals: privatising Medicare and tax cuts for the rich. In a sharp rebuttal, Roosevelt Institute Fellow, Jeff Madrick shows that even if we accept the budget cutting goals, Ryan's plan fails the country. For one thing, turning the efficient Medicare program over to the private sector immediately increases administrative overhead costs. On the second topic: tax cuts for the rich--like those initiated by Ronald Reagan--have been be paid for regressive Social Security payroll taxes.

Runciman: The Offshore Elites

Submitted by suren on Mon, 04/18/2011 - 17:42

Today states and nation states compete with one another for investment and the resulting jobs. In the end, politicians of whatever stripe are more accountable to investors and less to voters. This situation is often presented as a natural outcome of globalization and economic development. In a review of two recent books, David Runciman, a well-known British political scientist, shows that seemingly unrelated developments: the resurrection of London as a center of global finance, the stationing of corporations in Delaware, the rise of sovereign wealth funds, and even Saif al-Islam Ghadaffi's philanthropy, are all connected with the relentless pressures of pro-business lobbyists and less with elections.

War is Killing Massachusetts

Submitted by pshannon on Thu, 04/14/2011 - 16:35

Last year, Massachusetts taxpayers sent $19.9 billion to the Pentagon to fund the trillion dollar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, sustain over 800 military bases in Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Afghanistan and other countries all around the world, and “improve” our vast stockpile of nuclear weapons – among a number of other very expensive projects.

Sachs: Corporate Power & the People's Budget

Submitted by rozziecole on Wed, 04/13/2011 - 15:36

Columbia economist Jeffrey Sachs was interviewed by Democracy Now on April 11. He explained that the American people want control of corporate power, less mlitary spending, and public health care.

Jeffrey Sachs Welcome to Democracy Now! Your understanding of what this agreement is?

JEFFREY SACHS: Well, this is a miserable step in the wrong direction. It started last December, when Obama and the Republicans agreed to cut a trillion dollars of taxes by extending the Bush tax cuts. And now, even though the details aren’t even worked out, apparently, they’re slashing into programs for the poor. So this is all going in the wrong direction, and many of us who supported President Obama just feel that he’s abandoned the field. He’s left it to the right wing, which wants nothing more than taxes cut for the rich, whereas the American public is saying very clearly, in every opinion survey, one after another, if you want to close the deficit, go after taxes for the rich, raise them, cut military spending, cut the excess profits in the insurance industry and healthcare, do things that would really make a difference—don’t punish the poor.

On FIDELITY Cutting Mass. Jobs

Submitted by pshannon on Mon, 03/28/2011 - 17:48

On March 16, the Boston Globe reported, "FIDELITY to shift more out of Mass: 1,100 jobs affected in Marlborough." In response, MAP's Paul Shannon wrote the Globe in a letter that they later published: "It's clear that the goal of corporate behemoths to prosper is incompatible with the goal of providing stable employment that allows the people of this country to support themselves and their families. The way companies make money these days is to constantly reduce and move their labor forces. That's the name of the game: automate, streamline, trim your labor force, and cut benefits.

The Story of Citizens United v. FEC

Submitted by rozziecole on Wed, 03/02/2011 - 12:17

Annie Leonard demystifies the Citizens United decision which has allowed even more corporate money to flow into campaign finances.

Firm Majority Supports Employees' Right to Bargain

Submitted by suren on Tue, 03/01/2011 - 00:35

For the first time in more than a decade, the American public is focused on the rights of employees, especially the fundamental one: the right to bargain over the conditions and terms of employment. Despite a recent decline in public support for unions, about 60% of the public oppose efforts to weaken collective bargaining rights for public sector workers. A majority also rejects cutting pay or benefits to balance state budgets according to recent polls including one by CBS and the New York Times. This poll corroborates the findings of another conducted last week by USA Today and Gallup.