From today’s Paul Krugman column on the extension of the most pernicious of Bush economic policies, deficit-funded, tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans:

Republicans and conservative Democrats… rejected every suggestion that we do more to avoid deep cuts in public services and help the ailing economy.

But these same politicians are eager to cut checks averaging $3 million each to the richest 120,000 people in the country.

Krugman goes on to note the total cost of these giveaways:

What’s at stake here? According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, making all of the Bush tax cuts permanent, as opposed to following the Obama proposal, would cost the federal government $680 billion in revenue over the next 10 years.

That’s right, $680 billion.

We must not forget that these are the same deficit frauds who fought tooth and nail over extensions of unemployment and COBRA insurance, aid to states, funding for education jobs and myriad jobs bills which could have helped to put America back to work.

In this economy, amidst devastating unemployment for workers and families struggling to get by, Republicans and some of the most conservative Democrats are preaching the same trite, “rising tide will lift all boats” supply-side economics that got us into this economic mess.

Queue Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, of my home state of Kentucky, who seemed clueless as to why David Gregory would be asking how tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans should be paid for:

MCCONNELL: What are you talking about, paid for? This is existing tax policy. It’s been in place for ten years. [...]

GREGORY: For a final time, I’ll go back to my question which is, the extension of the tax cuts would cost $3.2 trillion. That’s borrowed money, that adds to the deficit. Do you have a plan to pay for that extension?

MCCONNELL: You’re talking about current tax policy. Why did it all of a sudden become something that we, quote, ‘pay for’? (Via Think Progress)

This is the governing philosophy of modern conservatism.  We need not pay for wars or tax cuts for the rich.  But strengthening the safety net, funding teacher’s jobs or assisting struggling states during this Great Recession must be paid for, no matter how dire the economy.

I guess we can’t expect much more from folks who want to take our government and drown it in a bathtub.

This past Saturday in Seattle, Washington Community Action Network (WCAN) and their allies in the Washington HCAN coalition took on the army of lobbyists trying to put the health insurance industry and their profits above the needs of consumers and their health.  The industry lobbyists have been pressuring the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to protect their bottom line at all costs.

In the video below Deana Knutsen, President of the WCAN board and Secretary Treasurer of USAction spoke about the protest of the health insurance lobbyists. 

Check out the album Health Care Advocates Disinfect Big Insurance Meeting on the USAction Facebook page for great pictures from the action, like the ones below.

Activists and advocates for consumers have been counteracting the industry’s lobbyist army in the fight over implementation of health care reform.  All the efforts have paid off as Ethan Rome, Executive Director of HCAN, noted on their blog earlier this week:

Today the NAIC took a step toward ending the health insurance companies’ stranglehold on our health care. The top state insurance regulators from across the nation voted to put patient care above insurance company profits. This decision moves us closer to more affordable health care for families and businesses and will help ensure that the new health care law fulfills its promise. Advocates have battled every step of the way to hold the insurance companies accountable, and we will continue to do so.

Many challenges remain before we can declare victory in the MLR fight. Pivotal aspects of the technical rules discussed today in Seattle remain unresolved, including crucial decisions on how to treat federal taxes and agent/broker fees. The NAIC still has work to do, and it should finish its deliberations soon so the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can swiftly develop final rules that take effect on schedule for 2011 health plans.

This is a positive step towards justice and a fair health care system in our country.  The insurance industry wields their power by spending hundreds of millions to water down reform and protect their outlandish profits.  The NAIC decision is clear evidence that your voice matters and that we have the people power to hold the insurance industry accountable. 

Shortly before 4 a.m. today local time, the last soldiers of the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry
Division crossed the border into Kuwait from Iraq. Seven years and five months after this same unit
participated in the invasion that deposed Saddam Hussein, the last American combat brigade had
left the country.

I’m grateful for those who serve in the military. I’m also reminded of the George McGovern quote:

I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.

The fact that 50,000 Americans and tens of thousands of private contractors will remain in Iraq
for some time to come (indefinitely? Think of Korea, Germany, Japan, etc., to say nothing of
Afghanistan) is, I guess, a difference with a distinction. Those remaining behind won’t be combat
soldiers first and foremost, although they will be in danger of attack and they will accompany Iraqi
soldiers on missions when requested.

A larger question is, what did we accomplish at what cost? Iraq was hell under Saddam Hussein. Iraq is anarchy after Saddam Hussein - an anarchy that oil companies and other profiteers are all too eager to exploit.

And the cost?

4,415 brave American soldiers dead, as of Wednesday. More than 32,000 seriously wounded. More
than 9,000 Iraqi military and police dead. 136 journalists, 51 media support workers and 94 foreign
aid workers killed. Well over 100,000 Iraqi civilian deaths, although the number varies so widely we
may never know how many died.

That’s some cost.

I’ll close with Gandhi:

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether
the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name
of liberty and democracy?

David Elliot is the Communications Director at USAction

The News Corp. (the parent company of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal) has made a $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association (RGA).

News Corp. said in a statement that the company “believes in the power of free markets, and the RGA’s pro-business agenda supports our priorities at this most critical time for our economy.”

How’s that for being fair and balanced?

Eric Boehlert tweets:

“Logically, shouldn’t the GOP be giving $1M to Fox News, not the other way around?”

Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association has issued a challenge to Fox News:

In the interest of some fairness and balance, I request that you add a formal disclaimer to your news coverage any time any of your programs cover governors or gubernatorial races between now and Election Day.

So far, Fox News has not responded or even covered this story on their network. Fortunately, other TV shows are covering it. Here, Stephen Colbert discusses the “love affair” between Fox and the GOP becoming more official:

Senator Olympia Snowe (R, ME) was in Saco, Maine today talking to voters on Maine Street.  Small business owners and other Mainers who work with USAction affiliate Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) asked Sen. Snowe to support fair and responsible taxes and to fight to protect Main Street, not Wall Street, by repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

A report from MPA staff:

Senator Snowe was talking to folks in shops and restaurants on Maine street when she went into Sam’s Place, an art supply store, where she met with three small business owners and another local MPA member as well as four canvassers who had stories from folks in Saco that focused on the need to let the Bush tax cuts expire.

Senator Snowe agreed with their points about the unfairness of cuts for the rich, but steered the conversation towards general small business needs whenever possible.

We are happy that Senator Snowe sees the inequity in our federal tax system.  It could not be much more clear that the policies of Bush, which today’s Republican Party continues to support, overwhelmingly favor the wealthy over the middle class and saving our struggling economy. 

Much like the legislative battles in recent months over regulation of Wall Street, extension of unemployment insurance to jobless workers and of state aid and jobs funding for teachers, Senator Snowe, along with Senator Susan Collins, also of Maine, will be essential votes to end the Bush tax cuts and ensure that Wall Street and millionaires pay their fair share.

Across the country today thousands are speaking out at hundreds of events to call for an end to corporate influence over our democracy.  Together with The Other98%, MoveOn.org, SEIU, Credo Action, The Nation and many other groups representing millions, USAction affiliates and USAction/TrueMajority members will be rallying to stand up for the Other 98% of us who can’t afford to buy elections.

This week, Target, Google and Verizon are our latest examples of corporate corruption and greed:

• Target learned the hard way that John Robert’s Supreme Court does not speak for the priorities or values of the American people.  After making a $150,000 donation to a MN Chamber of Commerce political group trying to buy the Minnesota Governer’s race, Target lost 1.3 billion in value on the stock market in a matter of days.  
• Google and Verizon are trying to increase profit opportunities by allowing companies to pay for their site to load faster than others, which could have a Wal-Mart affect on the internet.  Google is doing their best to make their motto of “Don’t Be Evil” a complete joke, all while forcing me to consider switching back to my old Hotmail account… HotChat here I come?

Enough is enough; we can’t let big corporations run everything! 

More than 400,000 people have already signed on to the pledge to Fight Washington Corruption and we are joined by these Representatives on the Hill.  August is a long congressional recess so it’s an important moment to ask other Representatives to join our reform campaign. 

Click here to find an event in your area to ask your member of Congress to sign the pledge and join us in standing against corporate influence.

The pledge includes three critical reforms:

• Overturning the Supreme Court decisions allowing unlimited corporate spending on elections;
• Fair Elections that give public financing to grassroots candidates so they can compete; and
• Ending backroom deals with corporate lobbyists by making all lobbying activity public, and shutting the revolving door between K Street and the government.

If you have not yet signed the Fight Washington Corruption pledge, then click the button below:

This is a long fight and we will always be outspent by corporations who will do anything to increase their profit margin, so we have got to stay together until we take back our democracy from corporations run amok.

It’s been a busy past few days here in Washington, D.C.

• On Wednesday President Obama signed into law the most sweeping financial regulatory reform since the Great Depression after a long fight with big banks, Wall Street and their allies on K Street and Capitol Hill.  Heather Booth, Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform and Vice President of USAction, is pictured right celebrating the victory over Wall Street.
• Senate Democrats, plus Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, needed the 60th vote of Carte Goodwin (D - WV), the late Robert Byrd’s replacement, to overcome a Republican-led, seemingly permanent filibuster of an extension of unemployment benefits for 2.5 million jobless workers.
• And a media and political firestorm erupted when Shirley Sherrod, a Georgia-based, USDA appointee, was forced into the national media spotlight by right wing propagandists Andrew Breitbart and Fox News and unnecessarily fired by Tom Vilsack, the Obama administration’s Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack has since apologized and offered Sherrod a new job with the USDA.

Financial reform is truly historic, unemployment benefits will soon return for many struggling jobless workers and apologies along with a job offer correct some of the injustice in the story of Shirley Sherrod.

But the fight goes on. Each of the above represent long struggles over our values and priorities as a nation.  We must be clear of our mission and organize with passion to bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice.

• Wall Street Reform: The path of the fight against Wall Street now mimics the path of the health reform law and moves to battles over implementation of the law and regulation.  The White House should protect Main Street by appointing Elizabeth Warren to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Warren thought up, to protect American consumers.
• Protecting Main Street’s Safety Net: The unemployment benefits extension was promptly passed by the House and signed by the President last night.  Relief is coming to the 2.5 million struggling to navigate the Great Recession.  The unemployment benefits extension barely begins to address the jobs deficit in our country. We need more jobs stimulus to avoid a potential depression.  The Local Jobs for America Act can help and you can sign here to create 1 million jobs for America.
• Tell Obama to fire Fox News: For the White House there is no free pass in the Sherrod story. It is bad enough that the Obama administration would react so mindlessly and quickly without considering the source of this smear. Fox News and Breitbart have a despicable ‘journalistic’ legacy and a track record of dishonesty and race-baiting which recently wrecked ACORN and cut Van Jones’ career short. Enough is enough. Tell the White House to stop listening to Fox News.

USAction / TrueMajority members will continue to fight the monied corporate interests who will defend the status quo and their profit margins at all costs.

Thirty-nine Republican senators voted against extending unemployment insurance yesterday.  They claim it is because of the $33 billion that would be added to the deficit, but in the hypocritical fashion of deficit hawks, thirty-eight of those Senators voted to permanently repeal the estate tax which would add than one trillion dollars to the deficit.

Enough is enough!  The people of New Hampshire made their voices heard yesterday at a rally organized by USAction affiliate, NH Citizens Alliance, who teamed with NH for Health Care/SEIU and Working Families Win, at Senator Judd Gregg’s Concord office.  The rally was calling out the Senator for his misplaced priorities and lack of support for his constituents who do not earn over $250,000 dollars a year.

Senator Gregg has consistently voted against the extension of UI benefits and additional stimulus to create new jobs.  In addition, he voted in favor of the Bush-era tax cuts, which cut taxes for the wealthiest one percent. NHCA made it clear to the Senator that the public does not support helping the rich get richer on the backs of a working class struggling to get by.  Olivia Zink, the Community Organizer of NHCA, vehemently expressed the need for this rally:

Through no fault of their own, people all across our country have been laid off and downsized because of the recession, as they sit at their kitchen tables figuring out how to make ends meet, Senator Gregg is actively working to make the wealthy even wealthier.

Zink is right: last week Senator Gregg announced support for extending tax cuts to people who are making more than $250,000 a year.  This will only make our deficit larger and our recovery harder; the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts cost the country $1.7 trillion dollars. What will these proposed tax cuts cost us?

Representative Mark Kirk got a similar message in Illinois last week.  USAction affiliate Citizen Action/Illinois gathered outside Kirk’s office in Northbrook alongside the Chicago Federation of Labor the Northeastern Federation of Labor, Jobs with Justice and Working Families Win.  The working (or unemployed)  people of Illinois called out Kirk for his continued votes against jobless workers and creation of good jobs.

Kirk has also been preaching the same old policies of helping the rich get richer and at the same time denying help to workers.  John Gaudette, organizer for Citizen Action, briefly explained Kirk’s voting record.

When the bill was about tax cuts for the richest Americans or bailouts for Wall Street, Rep. Kirk was a strong YES.  When the thousands of unemployed in his district asked for help, when thousands of COBRA and Medicaid clients needed help, Rep Kirk was a strong NO.

50 unsatisfied constituents told Representative Kirk that they were sick of his continued lack of support for the thousands and thousands of Illinois families out of work and unable to find jobs.

Hopefully they got the message.  We need a forward looking agenda and not the same old policies that got us into this mess in the first place. Our goals are to allow the Bush tax cuts for the rich to run out this year as scheduled eliminate tax loopholes for big corporations and the wealthy and hold Wall Street accountable.

We are also working to pass the Local Jobs for America Act in order to create/save a million jobs.

These are our top priorities and with continued organizing and work from our affiliates and partners across the nation we can put America back to work and make sure corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.

USAction is calling on President Obama to name Elizabeth Warren as head of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Elizabeth Warren has the experience and political savvy to fill what will be one of the most important positions for consumers in America today.  She is one of the nation’s experts on consumer indebtedness and on bankruptcy and consumer protection law. In fact, the new CFPB was her idea in the first place.

Warren also comes from a working class background. Her parents grew up in Oklahoma during the dust bowl era and Warren herself has raised a family.  She knows the pressures ordinary Americans face as they fight to keep their jobs and their homes even as unscrupulous lenders peddle faulty lending schemes.  Bankers be warned but consumers take heart:  Warren is the best person for this important job at this crucial time.

Alan Charney is the Strategy and Policy Director at USAction.

Finally Democrats are taking a powerful stand against the Republican Party.  Representatives Alan Grayson and Jim McDermott voiced the thought that was on everybody’s mind:  Republicans are blocking unemployment insurance to intentionally cripple the unemployed workers of America and to benefit the GOP agenda.

Rep. Grayson made a very powerful speech in regards to the harsh actions taken by Republican Senators:

“There was no unemployment insurance back then (1930’s America during the Great Depression).  There was no State benefits back then. There was no help for the people who had no jobs. All they could do, like my grandfather, in desperate straits, supporting a family of seven, was to go to the dump and desperately try to find something he could sell.

“That, my friends, is the America that the Republicans are trying to revive. The America of desperate straits, and for them cheap labor. The America where people have nothing, hope for nothing, and are desperate to live to the next day. That is what the Republicans are trying to resurrect by blocking unemployment insurance day after day, week after week, and now month after month.”

Grayson went on to suggest that the Republican representatives do not understand the grievances and struggles of the working class in America:

“Now, I know what the Republicans are thinking. They’re thinking why don’t they just sell some stock.  If they’re in really dire straits, maybe they could take some of their art collection and send it off to the auctioneer. And if they’re in deep, deep trouble maybe these unemployed can sell one of their yachts.”

Rep. McDermott’s argument was similar; to him the GOP is waging a war on class. He points out that previous legislature like the Social Security Act made these benefits rights that cannot just be taken away.

“The Social Security Act of 1935 made these entitlements, Social Security and unemployment insurance and welfare. The Republicans have been after all three of those programs ever since 1935. They got welfare a few years ago, because that’s poor people. They could jump on them. But unemployment and Social Security is middle-class people — they haven’t been able to get them, but it isn’t because they’re not willing to try.”

The voices and opinions of these Representatives have been echoed throughout USACTION and other organizations in the progressive movement, the people of America, and the Democratic Party. Take action now and support American workers!