Archive
Worse than Watergate
The U.S. Supreme Court is mulling a case that could end up giving America's wealthy a perpetual green light to contribute as much as they want directly to politicians and political parties. Credit Shaun McCutcheon, an Alabama businessman who owns an electrical...
Meat So Cheap You Could Die
Thanks to the shutdown, the government is doing less to protect Americans from foodborne pathogens and deal with the aftermath of outbreaks. The timing couldn't be worse. Ten days after the shutdown began, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that 317 people...
Health Care Hypocrisy
And now, Dr. Hightower offers this advice for improving your mental health: Don't fume about the GOP's lunatic effort to kill health care reform — just laugh at their farcical show. Take Sen. Ted Cruz's 21-hour blabathon, in which he said he would stop the Affordable...
How to Honor the March on Washington’s Legacy (or Not)
Remember that inspiring 50th birthday party for the March on Washington at the end of the summer? Unfortunately, those moving speeches didn't slow the emergence of a new Jim Crow system. The Supreme Court kicked off its celebration of the occasion a month early by...
Monumental Government
The Affordable Care Act: Bad for the GOP’s Political Health
Whacking yourself on the head with a ball-peen hammer would be stupid. Doing it again and again? That's insane. Welcome to your House of Representatives, presently led by a pack of tea-partying Republicans. They loathe the Affordable Care Act so much that they...
This Week in OtherWords: October 9, 2013
This week in OtherWords, Ryan Alexander points out that Congress could have averted the government shutdown had it done "its constitutionally mandated job" while Marc Morial warns that unless lawmakers raise the debt ceiling, an economic disaster could ensue. Donald...
Forging Ahead at 50
Fifty years ago, two progressive former Kennedy administration officials opened the doors of the Institute for Policy Studies. Ever since, IPS public scholars have channeled our independence — from government and corporate money— to blend fresh, bold ideas with...
Shut Up and Work
For the first time in 17 years, Congress failed to provide the funding to keep the entire government running. So now you have two classes of government service and two classes of employees: "essential" and "non-essential." If you run a national park, you aren't...
This Political Game Jeopardizes the Economy
Shortly before the first government shutdown in 17 years, President Barack Obama addressed the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference in Washington. He said the same thing he's been telling the nation ever since, "We will not negotiate whether or not...
