campaign finance

"A tiger doesn't change his stripes and the U.S. Chamber is not going to start working with the President," says Christy Setzer of U.S. Chamber Watch. But that didn't keep Obama from trying, as he gave a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which Christy reminds us is a massive lobbying organization, by far the biggest in the country, for right-wing causes. Christy joins us in studio to discuss Obama's speech to the Chamber, why it matters, and why we might be making too big a deal out of it. And don't forget to check out our original investigative series, The Loaded Chamber, at the links here. "Corporate America hasn't been thinking about this country for a number of years," says Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO. And one might argue that politicians have been thinking too much about corporate America and not enough about working America. Unemployment is still too high, and new conservative governors are taking advantage of the recession to bust public unions. But Trumka and the AFL-CIO are fighting back, and that's even led to some strange partnerships--a statement recently, co-authored with U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue. Trumka joins us from D.C. via Skype to tell us what he and Donohue agree on--and what they don't. The U.S. media seems to have found a new language for the economy. There's been talk of “solidarity” and even “class war,” and a focus on corruption and inequality like we haven't seen in who knows how long. The only problem? They're talking about Egypt. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"We need to shine a light on the big banks and all their different tentacles," says Sarah Ludwig of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, noting that all too many of the programs put in place to encourage banks to help homeowners fight foreclosure are voluntary, rendering them toothless. Instead, she calls for citizens to be aware of the banks' practices and to think about where we put our money. Sarah joins us to bring us up to date on the ongoing crisis in foreclosures in the U.S.--one million in 2010--and to discuss the different solutions, as well as WikiLeaks' promised disclosure of documents from a major bank. In the last weeks of the Bush administration, Israel started bombing Gaza. The attacks and invasion that followed were termed Operation Cast Lead, and they ended on January 18, 2009. The United Nations investigation into the assault culminated in the Goldstone Report, which accused both sides of war crimes. The controversy over the report made more news than its contents, unfortunately, but a new book out from Nation Books republishes the report along with discussions from many different voices. Lizzy Ratner was one of the editors of that book, and Laila El-Haddad a contributor to it, and they join Laura for a discussion of the invasion, the continuing controversy, and what ordinary people can do to help change the situation in Gaza. Finally, with a new Republican Congress falling all over itself to hand corporations whatever they want, it was only a matter of time before some politician turned up in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, breathlessly describing the “dazzling” and “path-breaking” nature of the free market, and vowing to get rid of regulations that have placed “unreasonable” burdens on businesses. We just didn't think it would be Barack Obama. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"What we are seeing is a dagger directed at the heart of our democracy, with this money," says Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation of the ongoing influx of corporate cash on election spending this cycle. She notes that this has been a $5 billion--with a B--election, with $1 billion spent just on the House, and no matter what Karl Rove tries to say, there is nowhere close to parity with spending from left-wing causes. Katrina and Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker join Laura in studio for a discussion of the money flooding the election cycle and to consider ways to counter the corrupting influence of cash on our political system. Is there a way to save the 2010 elections? In 2008, CNN and YouTube paired up to pose citizen questions to presidential candidates through YouTube videos. But, Daniel Teweles of the Personal Democracy Forum notes, the questions were still selected by journalists and presented in a typical debate format.

"Vulnerable Democrats are begging donors for cash -- $2,400 at a time, while their colleagues are sitting on millions of dollars they could unleash with a pen stroke." So wrote Erica Payne of the Agenda Project, pointing out that the control of the entire House could be in the hands of a few Democrats in safe seats. That's just one of the problems with a severely dysfunctional election system overly dependent on private cash, notes Chris Hayes of The Nation, who joins Payne and Laura for a discussion of the campaign season thus far, and the potential for a little bit of money to go a long way in the right place.