Broke? Not if Governments Tax the $21 TRILLION Rich Have Offshored Broke? Not if Governments Tax the $21 TRILLION Rich Have Offshored
The enormous sum Romney and his billionaire pals around the world hide from the taxman is enough to pay for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and a whole lot more.
Jul 23, 2012 / Blog / John Nichols
Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age Mitt Romney and the New Gilded Age
Bain Capital is part of a system that enriches Wall Street while impoverishing millions.
Jun 27, 2012 / Feature / Robert B. Reich
Paul Ryan (and Mitt Romney) Versus the Nuns Paul Ryan (and Mitt Romney) Versus the Nuns
The Republicans are traveling the country to pitch their austerity schemes. But a busload of nuns are calling them out.
Jun 17, 2012 / Blog / John Nichols
Income Inequality Keeps Poorer Americans Away from the Polls Income Inequality Keeps Poorer Americans Away from the Polls
Those who most need their voices heard are less likely to vote.
May 29, 2012 / Blog / Bryce Covert
A New Politics That Rejects Austerity and Wars of Whim A New Politics That Rejects Austerity and Wars of Whim
There’s something sick about a politics that tells children to give up their lunch money so that billionaire speculators can avoid paying taxes. And that sickness will only be cured by a new politics. That new politics begins this week in Chicago. When National Nurses United and the union’s allies rally on May 18 in Chicago on behalf of a Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street speculation, the lie of austerity will be exposed. The proponents of austerity—from Madison to Washington to Berlin to Athens—would have us believe that nations, states and communities must sacrifice public education, public services and healthcare in order to balance budgets. Yet the same politicians who preach that there is no money for vaccinations and school lunches can always find the money for corporate tax breaks, payouts to defense contractors and wars of whim. Politicians in both parties tell austerity lies. But the people are pushing back. There’s an uprising brewing, not just in Europe but in American states such as Wisconsin and Ohio. There’s a dawning recognition that it is neither morally nor fiscally prudent to sacrifice human needs in order to pay for wars—or to redistribute more of the wealth upward. We do not need “shared sacrifice” and the lie of austerity. We need new priorities. That’s the message behind the May 18 “Heal the World” rally in Chicago, where I’ll join National Nurses United executive director Rose Ann DeMoro, musician Tom Morello and others in advocating for a Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street speculation. NNU is rallying in Chicago because that’s where the G-8 Summit was supposed to be held, before the leaders of the planet’s wealthiest nations decided to avoid the “street heat” that was being generated in support of a financial transactions tax. Now, they’ll gather at Camp David—where security will be tighter. But the Robin Hood Tax, which takes a small chunk of change on each transaction by rich speculators and gives to programs that serve the great mass of people, will stll be mentioned at Camp David. Newly elected French President François Hollande is likely to bring it the increasingly popular proposal, as may German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In Chicago, the battle cry against austerity will be raised his weekend, along with criticisms of the broken priorities that have turned the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into a vehicle for maintaining the occupation of Afghanistan. Many of the activists who will rally with the NNU will also rally Sunday in protest of NATO policies. The causes are related, as they both address the question of budget priorities. Indeed, one of the key backers of the protests, Progressive Democrats of America, has mounted a “Health Care Not Warfare” campaign that brings the messages together. There is a new politics afoot in America, a politics that challenges the lie of austerity and the lie that says unlimited military spending is necessary. As Americans and their allies from around the world rally, march and vote to put human needs ahead of corporate greed and the military-industrial complex about which President Eisenhower warned, it is no surprise that activist unions such as NNU and their allies in groups such as PDA will be in the thick of it. These are groups that understand that the next politics requires an inside-outside strategy that challenges the lie of austerity and the lies that lead to wars of whim. Those challenges must play out inside existing political parties, and outside them; in the corridors of power and in the streets. That next politics will be on display in Chicago on May 18. But it won’t stop there. The uprising has begun, and it’s spreading.
May 18, 2012 / Blog / John Nichols
Why Did Facebook’s Co-Founder Renounce His US Citizenship? Why Did Facebook’s Co-Founder Renounce His US Citizenship?
Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin will save hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes by giving up his US citizenship.
May 16, 2012 / Nation in the News / Press Room
Raising Kids Is Work? Tell That to Women on Welfare Raising Kids Is Work? Tell That to Women on Welfare
Neither Republicans nor Democrats treat parenting as work, and thousands of poor women are living in poverty today as living proof of that fact.
Apr 16, 2012 / Blog / Laura Flanders
No Regard To Race at Wells Fargo? (VIDEO) No Regard To Race at Wells Fargo? (VIDEO)
Housing Advocates have filed a complaint against Wells Fargo, accusing the nation’s largest mortgage lender of failing to maintain and market foreclosed properties in black ...
Apr 11, 2012 / Blog / Laura Flanders
Katrina vanden Heuvel: This Will Be a Historic Year for Women Katrina vanden Heuvel: This Will Be a Historic Year for Women
The Republicans are trying to overturn decades of women’s rights victories.
Mar 9, 2012 / Nation in the News / Press Room
How the 1 Percent Get So Rich? (VIDEO) How the 1 Percent Get So Rich? (VIDEO)
Even in an Occupy world, most Americans don’t know exactly how the 1 percent does what it does. The money media haven’t explained it, and the 1 percent likes things t...
Feb 17, 2012 / Blog / Laura Flanders