Republicans in Congress have a new tactic for shrinking government: making sure that nobody’s there to run it. Well into the president’s second term, an alarming and unprecedented number of vital positions in every branch of government remain vacant. As Republicans use and abuse processes that helped government run smoothly once upon a time not [...]

A NY Times editorial says Republicans need public pressure to get them to stop obstructing … everything. Meanwhile NY Times and other news coverage tends to obscure the source and extent of the problem and the damage it is doing to the country. Just months after a decisive election the country is paralyzed, the will [...]

I told you so. When minimum wage workers in Chicago, IL went on strike, I said that the movement to raise the minimum wage would not go away. When fast food workers in St. Louis, MO walked off the job, demanding better pay and better treatment, I predicted that the movement for a livable wage [...]

After losing the Hispanic vote in the 2012 election, Republicans have attempted to paint themselves as pro-immigration, but it’s all an act. The racist and unrealistic GOP amendments in this legislation show they have no real desire to fix our nation’s immigration system. As the Senate Judiciary Committee debates the hundreds of remaining amendments over the coming months, we must prevent these poison-pill provisions from making immigration reform meaningless. Call your Senators and tell them to fight these poison-pill amendments, and support provisions that actually fix our broken immigration system.

President Obama has nominated five people to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Two are Republicans. All are waiting for confirmation by the Senate. Let your Senators know these nominees should be confirmed so the NLRB can get back to work. What Is The NLRB? The NLRB is the agency that “safeguards employees’ rights to [...]

I had the privilege of hearing Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot speak about austerity the other night and it was as fascinating as you might imagine. I think most people who read this blog wouldn’t be surprised by what they said, but I think many in the audience were people who may be depending upon more mainstream sources and were very surprised — and alarmed — by what they heard. It’s hard to wrap your mind around. The CEPR does yoeman’s work in providing the data and analysis that informs all of us and I’m very grateful for them. And Chris Hayes is also doing something on his show that’s very important — telling stories about how austerity affects real people.

The research discrediting the Reinhart-Rogoff study is upending the economic policy discussion everywhere. Everywhere, apparently, except for HBO’s new series “Vice,” which recently featured Kenneth Rogoff as an expert on austerity.

Earlier this week, I noted that the Republican plan to take the debt limit hostage to demand unspecified tax reform at a future date was too ridiculous to be believed. But that battle plan looks like the Invasion of Normandy compared to the latest Keystone Kops scheme the Republicans floated to Politico today: hold the [...]

President Obama is in Texas to launch a “Middle-Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour” that focuses on manufacturing. The president announced an executive order creating three “manufacturing hubs” — Manufacturing Innovation Institutes — with $200 million from the Departments of Defense, Energy and Commerce, and the National Science Foundation and NASA budgets. The president is asking [...]

We give away our jobs and factories and industries to China. Some geniuses apparently thought that meant we should also let our military security be contracted out to China as well. A new report from the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), Remaking American Security, Authored by Brig. Gen. Adams (US Army, Retired) looks at supply [...]