Dave Johnson Posts

Problem: Your right-wing brother-in-law is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about “Obama spending” and “Obama deficits” and how the “stimulus” just made things worse. Solution: Here are three “reality-based” charts to send to him. These charts show what actually happened.

Problem: Your right-wing brother-in-law is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about “Obama spending” and “Obama deficits” and how the “stimulus” just made things worse. Solution: Here are three “reality-based” charts to send to him. These charts show what actually happened.

Problem: Your right-wing brother-in-law is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about “Obama spending” and “Obama deficits” and how the “stimulus” just made things worse. Solution: Here are three “reality-based” charts to send to him. These charts show what actually happened.

Problem: Your right-wing brother-in-law is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about “Obama spending” and “Obama deficits” and how the “stimulus” just made things worse. Solution: Here are three “reality-based” charts to send to him. These charts show what actually happened.

The Labor Department reported on Friday that 28,000 manufacturing jobs were added in July. The report added, “Job gains occurred in motor vehicles and parts (+15,000) and in furniture and related products (+3,000). Over the prior 12 months, manufacturing had added an average of 12,000 jobs per month, primarily in durable goods industries.”

Last week one more example of Republican obstruction occurred – blockage of an important “Make It In America” bill – and one more time not a single corporate media outlet reported it. The House Republican leadership last Tuesday blocked a bill to secure for American companies critical minerals used in the production of energy-efficient products, renewable energy systems, electronics and other technologies. The result is companies – and the Defense Department – continue to be forced to turn to China to make or obtain critical electronics components.

The House Republican leadership on Tuesday blocked a bill to secure for American companies critical minerals used in the production of energy-efficient products, renewable energy systems, electronics and other technologies. The result is companies – and the Defense Department – continue to be forced to turn to China to make or obtain critical electronics components.

Harris v. Quinn continues the slide of the Supreme Court to the far right, right-to-work wing of the Republican Party. Although the ruling was framed in narrow terms, it sets an awful precedent that is all but certain to be used to erode the influence (and benefits!) of union representation.

There is a direct correlation between the lack of well-paying jobs, the budget deficit and the US' trade deficit. Simply put, if we were to stop sending as much money and many jobs overseas, we'd reap benefits in myriad ways.

Here are some depressing statistics: In 2013, CEOs of S&P 500 companies made 331 times as much as their employees. Your average American worker not in a supervisory role made $35,239, while the average CEO made $11.7 million.

Congress is debating another 'tax holiday' for corporations that have shipped their jobs – and their profits – overseas. As punishment for their sins, Congress in its ineffable wisdom has decided to let them keep most of the taxes those corporations have evaded paying. Makes sense? Not at all.

From the current VA scandal to Obamacare's implementation to immigration, to just about every major legislative initiative, Republicans have made obstructing into an art form. And the beauty of it all is that they're blaming the Democrats. AND the media is falling for it, hook and sinker.

CEOs' pay is soaring – now at an average of $10.5 million a year – while the rest of us schmoes are left with stagnating wages. But it doesn't have to be this way.

For decades we’ve been subjected to constant propaganda that government is inefficient, bureaucratic and expensive. We’re told that the answer is to “privatize,” or “outsource” government functions to private businesses and they will do things more efficiently and everyone comes out ahead. As a result we have experienced decades of privatization of government functions.

So how has this wave of privatization worked out? Has privati

Everyone in Congress talks about the budget deficit, but what about our enormous trade deficit. If we solved the trade issues, that budget would seem a whole lot easier to repair. Warren Buffet has a plan.

Polling shows that the way to get your base to show up at the ballot box is, strangely enough, to address their concerns. Campaigning towards the ever-elusive "middle" is not only counter to the left's goals, but actually keeps the Democratic base at home, on the couch, and disaffected.

The housing market is supposedly recovering, yet the homeownership rate is dropping. Meanwhile rents in urban areas were already high but now are absolutely skyrocketing.

The AFL-CIO has released this year’s 2014 Executive PayWatch at a “comprehensive searchable online database tracking the excessive pay of CEOs of the nation’s largest companies.” PayWatch.org offers workers the unique ability to compare their own pay to the pay of top executives. According to Executive PayWatch data, U.S. CEOs pocketed, on average, $11.7 million in 2013, compared to the average worker who earned $35,293. That means CEOs were paid 331 times that of the average worker.

The new Ryan/Republican budget is out. It cuts $5.1 trillion from spending over 10 years on things that make our lives better, while reducing taxes on the wealthy and giant corporations, and increasing military spending by $483 billion over the same period.

The mother of all sneak laws is quietly making its way through Congress disguised as corporate tax “reform.” Corporations have been avoiding taxes by moving production and profit centers out of the U.S. because of a loophole that lets them “defer” paying the taxes they owe until they “bring the money home.” Now they are hiding around $2 trillion or more outside of the country, which means they owe up to $700 billion in taxes.