blue dogs
GRITtv: Dean Baker: 180 Degrees The Wrong Way
Dean Baker has some words for Democrats and Republicans alike who want to focus on "fiscal responsibility" while millions of Americans still struggle for jobs: they're heading "180 degrees the wrong way." Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic And Policy Research, blogger at Beat the Press and author of a new book, False Profits: Recovering from the Bubble Economy.
Email this pageGRITtv: February 22, 2010
Seth Wessler joins us, along with Irasema Garza, president of Legal Momentum, Wanda Fossett with Community Voices Heard, and Carmen Cordero, welfare rights activist with the Hartford-based group Vecinos Unidos. They discuss food stamps, poverty, and why this might be the best opportunity we have to rebuild the social safety net. Dean Baker of the Center for Economic And Policy Research, Beat the Press, and author of a new book, False Profits: Recovering from the Bubble Economy, has some words for Democrats and Republicans alike who want to focus on "fiscal responsibility" while millions of Americans still struggle for jobs: they're heading "180 degrees the wrong way." From our friends at Tactical Technology Collective, this second video in the series shows how ordinary citizens from around the world used basic video technology to record events and corrupt actions and effect change. Imran Malik has just returned from a trip to Haiti providing medical aid--he went to medical school in Pakistan and got his first experience with emergency relief during the earthquake there in 2005. He also plays drums in Pakistani-American punk band The Kominas, who were featured in Taqwacore, a documentary on Muslim punk bands. He joins Laura in studio to talk about punk rock, Haiti, Muslim identity, and the problems with the U.S. health care system.
GRITtv: The F Word: Pocketbook Politics in the Senate
No sooner had they voted to move the health debate forward, than Senators. Joe Lieberman, I/D-Conn., and Ben Nelson, D-Neb., threatened to stop it in its tracks. Both "indicated Sunday that they will not vote to pass the package if it includes a government-run insurance program," no matter what the people in their states actually want, no matter what positive difference it might make. At least in the House, so called Blue Dog Democrats claimed their opposition was based on some semblance of political calculus. What's playing out is pocket book politics - the legislator's pocket book. Lieberman's received over $4 million from health related business and private insurance companies over his career. It's not people politics, it's campaign contribution politics that are playing out in the Senate. The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv.
GRITtv: Nov. 23, 2009
During the Great Depression, the labor movement was a major player pushing a progressive agenda and helping to put people back to work. While we have heard plenty of comparisons between the current recession and the Depression, we haven't seen a return of the kind of militancy that came from labor in the '20s and '30s. With all the anger swirling around right now, where's the organizing? Paula Finn, Editor of the New Labor Forum, Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and "The Wrecking Crew" and Wall Street Journal columnist Tom Geoghegan, labor lawyer, recent congressional candidate, and author of "Which Side Are You On?: Trying to Be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back" joins Laura to talk about labor's problems and suggest some solutions to help all of us, whether we're union members or not.
GRITtv: Opting Out of Healthcare Reform?
The last health care reform bill is out of committee. But there are many questions left to answer before the process is over, including the one most important to progressives: will the bill contain a strong public option? We have Paul Waldman, Adam Thompson, Rep. Raul Grijalva and Sharon Lerner to discuss the many options for the public option, including the new suggestion of an opt-out provision that would let states choose not to take part in a public health care plan.
GRITtv: October 14, 2009
The Senate Finance Committee pushed through a bill with bipartisan support -- if you call one senator from Maine bipartisan support. Meanwhile, the House and the rest of the Senate bills still contain a public option, so the question is: how far left can the Finance bill be pulled? On our roundtable, we have Paul Waldman from The American Prospect, Adam Thompson from the Progressive States Network, Representative Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, and Sharon Lerner, contributor to The Nation and author of "The War On Moms: Life in a Family-Unfriendly Nation."
