Archive
Making Caregiving Count in France
Even before the ink dries on the messy budget deal that staved off the "fiscal cliff," the next fight — over raising the debt ceiling — is shaping up. Republicans say they won't vote to pay the nation's bills unless offsetting cuts are made, and Social Security is...
A Chance to Invest in TV News
If you live in a swing state you might be wondering, what happened to all the money television stations got for airing the nonstop spew of political ads right up until Election Day? You'd think television stations, whose news departments at least try to lay claim to...
Forget Fake Girlfriends, Republicans Have an Imaginary President
The bizarre story of Manti Te'o, the Notre Dame football player, and his dying girlfriend gives new meaning to the term "fantasy football." Te'o very nearly rode the heart-rending story of his tragic online romance into a Heisman Trophy (college football's highest...
The Capital of Inequality
Politicians inside the Beltway that circles Washington, D.C., most of us would agree, don't understand the challenges of daily life that average Americans face outside the Beltway. But these days, if you really want to understand everyday life in our deeply unequal...
Coke Still Needs to Get Real
Does Coca-Cola think we’re all really stupid? For the first time, the company is using its slick commercials to address obesity. Obesity became a high-profile issue in the 1990s, when the government started to classify more than half of Americans as overweight or...
Duck and Cover 2.0
Last year, Sheriff Tommy Gage of Montgomery County, Texas, was eager to show off his new surveillance toy. Having obtained a $300,000 Homeland Security grant from the federal government, his office had become the first police agency in the nation to have its very own...
The High Cost of Free Trade
Tidy rip-offs From free trade; For which we So dearly paid. The Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, being negotiated in secret even as we speak, has a lot to say about worker rights and environmental protections. This pact, which is shaping up between the...
Automatic Congressional Allegiance
7 Progressive Steps Obama Should Take in His Second Term
Most progressives aren't exactly thrilled with President Barack Obama's track record so far. Sure, he came out in favor of gay marriage, raised taxes on at least some of the richest Americans, made history by being the first non-white man to occupy the White House,...
Obama 2.0: Yes We Can Raise Taxes
Republicans seem to have something against tax increases. I get that. But it's still not crazy to think we can win some important revenue battles during Obama 2.0. And given this country's pressing needs – from repairing our infrastructure to rehiring teachers – it...