medicare
GRITtv: The F Word: Shareholders Fight Back, Dems Compromise
The ink on the compromise that kept the government open—barely--isn't even dry and they're already talking about the next round of cuts in Washington. The New York Times led off this week with an article about Obama's plan to reduce the deficit by making unspecified “changes” to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Sure, it also mentions increasing taxes and cutting military spending, but when we're embracing the conservative frame that entitlement programs are too big, that's not much to cheer about. Distributed by Tubemogul.
Email this pageGRITtv: Rep. Keith Ellison: Getting Serious about the Budget
Republicans in Congress, says House Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Keith Ellison, are treating the budget and potential government shutdowns as an "opportunity to inflict generationally-changing policies" in the guise of paying the bills. We're facing a government shutdown not, Ellison notes, because Democrats won't compromise, but because Republicans like Paul Ryan are interested in forcing a fight over ideological issues. Rep. Ellison spoke with Laura from Washington, D.C. to inaugurate a new segment with House Progressive Caucus members on GRITtv.
GRITtv: Heather McGhee: What's Wrong with Ryan's Budget
"Paul Ryan's roadmap, which I call the roadmap to ruin, is really an astonishing document that really doubles down on pretty much every single one of the negative economic decisions of the past thirty years that have gotten us into the mess we're in today," says Heather McGhee, Washington bureau director of Demos. Laura caught up with Heather at Frances Fox Piven and Cornel West's Fight Back Teach-In on April 5 to talk budget concerns. Keep an eye out for our in-depth interview with Frances and Cornel later this week! Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: Rick Wolff & Jeff Madrick: Economy is Still Broken
"The American people were pioneers again, not by going west but by going into debt," says economist Rick Wolff of the last 30 years of our economy. While wages stayed low and infrastructure, education and energy investments bottomed out, Americans leveraged everything on credit cards and loans to keep afloat. And now, despite record Wall Street bonuses and holiday shopping, the economy is still built on fundamental flaws. Rick Wolff and Jeff Madrick join us in studio for a year-end conversation about the economy--looking forward to 2011, what can we expect? And more importantly, what will it take to really change the shaky foundations on which our economy rests?
GRITtv: Dec. 22, 2010
"People are still looking at and facing too much pain," says Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who joined Bernie Sanders for part of his eight and a half hour speech against giving tax breaks to millionaires. Brown notes that while the compromise which eventually passed gives some short-term help to American workers, but that the economy will not begin to really recover until Washington turns its focus to jobs--and not just any jobs, but reinvigorated manufacturing jobs.Senator Brown joins us from Washington via Skype to discuss what he sees as the most important priorities for a shrunken Democratic majority in the Senate in the next session of Congress, and particularly why a focus on our trade policy is ; long overdue."The American people were pioneers again, not by going west but by going into debt," says economist Rick Wolff of the last 30 years of our economy. While wages stayed low and infrastructure, education and energy investments bottomed out, Americans leveraged everything on credit cards and loans to keep afloat. And now, despite record Wall Street bonuses and holiday shopping, the economy is still built on fundamental flaws.Rick Wolff and Jeff Madrick join us in studio for a year-end conversation about the economy--looking forward to 2011, what can we expect? And more importantly, what will it take to really change the shaky foundations on which our economy rests?And finally, John Fugelsang just wants to take a moment to wish ‘happy holidays’ to all our friends angry about the ‘war on Christmas.’
GRITtv: Dean Baker: The Deficit is the Wrong Problem
“It's the wrong answer to not a problem," says Dean Baker of the report out last week from the leaders of Obama's deficit commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson. The report, which recommends massive cuts across the budget, most significantly to Social Security and health care programs, has been roundly criticized by progressives for its targeting, but Dean notes that the biggest problem with it is that without the health care crisis we still have, we wouldn't have deficits in the first place. He joins us via Skype from Washington, D.C. to talk about the commission, the latest action by the Fed, and what can really be done to balance the budget--and why we should be much more focused on creating jobs and really reforming health care than on slashing programs that benefit us all. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: John Fugelsang: Kanye's Right, Bush is Wrong, Palin's...Palin
”You can believe in the torture, or you can believe in the Jesus, but you can't do both." That's comedian and GRITtv contributor John Fugelsang's message to George W. Bush, currently on his image-rehabilitation tour. ; He also notes that Jesus never said anything about abortion, but was pretty clear on the death penalty.As the Deficit Commission report hits and Americans reel from proposed job cuts, Social Security and Medicare benefit cuts, and other slashes to the social contract, Fugelsang joins us to try and make us laugh about things that aren't funny--and to get serious about concern for the poor and the needy.
GRITtv: Nov. 11, 2010
”You can believe in the torture, or you can believe in the Jesus, but you can't do both." That's comedian and GRITtv contributor John Fugelsang's message to George W. Bush, currently on his image-rehabilitation tour. ; He also notes that Jesus never said anything about abortion, but was pretty clear on the death penalty.As the Deficit Commission report hits and Americans reel from proposed job cuts, Social Security and Medicare benefit cuts, and other slashes to the social contract, Fugelsang joins us to try and make us laugh about things that aren't funny--and to get serious about concern for the poor and the needy.It's Veterans' Day--originally Armistice Day, initiated to mark the ending of World War I and create a day "dedicated to the cause of world peace.”
The F Word: For Poor, America's a Sinking Ship
For all the talk of Wall Street reform, and new consumer protections, and talk of alternative energy policy, the fact remains that for most people, America is a sinking ship. And minority communities are the first to be thrown over the side. Where are the lifeboats? The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Support us by signing up for our podcast, and follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com. Distributed by Tubemogul.
GRITtv: The F Word: Taxes, Spending, or Race?
The latest in a spate of polls about the Tea Partiers comes from the New York Times and CBS, and it raises some questions about just what's fueling the protests: is it all about taxes or something else? Of those self-described Tea Partiers polled by the Times most considered their taxes “fair.” They send their kids to public schools and despite opposing health care reform, think that Social Security and Medicare are worth the cost. So what's driving them to the streets in a rage? It's not money per se, it's something else. Usefully, the pollsters asked Tea Partiers other questions too. Surprise surprise, they believe that Obama “does not share the values most Americans live by and that he does not understand the problems of people like themselves.” Half think the administration favors the poor, and a quarter say it favors blacks over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public." Where did they get such ideas? In this case, mostly from the Fox News network, but the coded language is clear as ice. It's not about taxes or spending--it's about spending on "them" (i.e. "other people"). And that's how self-interested politicians and spinmeisters have stirred up people to slash government since Reconstruction. As one Social Security-receiving tea partier tells the Times: "I didn't look at it from the perspective of losing things I need" [emphasis added]. And that's the genius of this kind of talk. By painting assistance to the poor as only a "black" thing, poor whites have consistently been enocuraged to support doing away with the only safety net they'd ever had. That's part of what brought us to this spot. An honest debate about taxes? It'd be helpful. But what we really need to do is grapple with post-apartheid racial resentments. And that makes the whole tax debate look easy. The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Distributed by Tubemogul.
