US and Dem Party needs more knowledge and fight like Michael Moore's and less attitude from Rahm E

by: Susan H

Tue Sep 07, 2010 at 08:42:44 AM EDT

Yup, the link's essay is exactly the recipe that would succeed, and  a message that people would respond to but Rahm doesn't want to hear it.

Rahm? He'd rather keep appealing to the mythical middle and Republican leaning Independents; newsflash genius: they just aren't that into you no matter how often you cave and get your 'boss' to cave to the radical right to win their love and votes.

Tell me again why this man is a Democratic President's Chief of Staff?

Thanks a Bunch, Senator Brown

by: LiberalAlice

Sat Sep 04, 2010 at 23:30:06 PM EDT

Then I read the HuffPo article about summer unemployment rates for youth:

Only 47.6% of people ages 16 to 24 had jobs in August, the lowest level since the government began keeping track in 1948, the Labor Department said Friday. By comparison, 62.8% of that age group was employed in August 2000.

Sure hope the Brown girls had work...

Traditionally, post Labor Day electorate focuses on political races

by: Susan H

Sat Sep 04, 2010 at 12:28:10 PM EDT

Now comes a ramped up effort to 'harvest' the last of the voters to get them to remember that Primary Election Day is September 14th 2010.

This is when campaigns dial it up a notch~ take time to enjoy the rest of this weekend, then head on back here for last minute pitches for favorite candidates.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

Corporate America's War on the Middle Class

by: Mullaley

Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 12:24:15 PM EDT

http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/...

IPS looked at the 50 firms that have laid off the most workers since the onset of the economic crisis -- firms that eliminated a total of 531,363 American workers.  Those 50 firms eliminated over a half million jobs despite reporting a 44 percent average profit increase for 2009.

Another disturbing fact is the level of executive pay at those job-eliminating 50 firms. In 2009, the combined compensation of their CEOs totaled $598 million -- that is, an average of almost $12 million each.

The IPS also evaluated overall executive compensation of US-based firms:

"[A]fter adjusting for inflation, CEO pay in 2009 more than doubled the CEO pay average for the decade of the 1990s, more than quadrupled the CEO pay average for the 1980s, and ran approximately eight times the CEO average for all the decades of the mid-20th century."

"American workers, by contrast, are taking home less in real weekly wages than they took home in the 1970s."

The Kansas City Star took a closer look at some of the CEOs and companies in IPS's report:

http://www.kansascity.com/2010...

"Fred Hassan, former CEO of Schering-Plough, presided over announced layoffs affecting 16,000 workers after a 2009 merger with Merck. He resigned after the merger, receiving "golden parachute" compensation in 2009 of more than $49.6 million to rank as the highest-paid layoff leader."

"The top five companies announcing the most layoffs for the study period were General Motors (75,733); Citigroup (52,175); Bank of America (35,000); Caterpillar (27,499) and Verizon (21,308). Among those top five, the biggest compensation package - nearly $17.5 million - went to Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon."

According to IPS, American CEOs make 263 times the average compensation for American workers, up from the 30:1 ratio in the 1970s. For comparison, the average compensation of a Japanese CEO is less than one-sixth that of their American counterpart and 16 times more than the average Japanese worker.

But on top of the lavish CEO pay at the expense of the American worker, many of these top-layoff firms received money from the taxpayer bailouts in 2008. Of these, IPS notes,

"American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault took home the highest 2009 pay, $16.8 million, a sum that included a $5 million cash bonus. American Express has laid off 4,000 employees since receiving $3.39 billion in TARP funding."

"These numbers all reflect a broader trend in Great Recession-era Corporate America," the IPS report says, "the relentless squeezing of worker jobs, pay and benefits to boost corporate earnings and maintain corporate executive paychecks at their recent bloated levels."

Courtesy of Think Progress.

Video from the 10th CD

by: bowes3

Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 23:11:39 PM EDT

10th Congressional Debate August 30th at Scituate High School

by: bowes3

Sun Aug 08, 2010 at 20:52:31 PM EDT

NECN debate last evening showed contrasts between Keating and O'Leary

by: Susan H

Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 10:03:01 AM EDT

Social Security is the issue that re-inforced for me that Rob O'Leary is very comfortable accepting GOP talking points:he accepts the very premise that Social Securty needs fixing which is a meme put forth by the GOP and the old time DLCer's and  and Bill Keating was excellent in combatting that message and premise:namely that Social Security is NOT in crisis.

The 2 other areas where there was a sharp contrast can be summed up in one word:urgency.

Bill Keating showed an urgency to the following topics:the economy and the need to create jobs and the need to truly develop alternative energy which impacts our world because of our late entry into that realm( Europe, China already ahead of US) and how our dependence on oil affects our economy, our foreign policy, our environment.

My impression was that Rob O'Leary has fallen into the trap I have seen too many policians running in a primary fall into:reciting a laundry list of issues when given a chance to sum up the evening debate.

Keating looked into the camera and said "JOBS". He also was the candidate that put a human face on the suffering that happens when there are no jobs by talking about the despair of losing a home, the suicides and crime he sees as a result of being DA during an economic downturn.

My only other thought was that the 30 minutes was too short, and the host, Jim Braude, acted a little too much like the late Tim Russert with a little too much Chris Matthews thrown in for my taste( interrupted too much).