10/29/2015 BERNİE SANDERS’ strength? What is socialism ?

Why Democrats Need Both Clinton and Sanders

Why Democrats Need Both Clinton and Sanders

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Paul Ryan and the Tea Party

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Paul Ryan and the Tea Party: The Paradox of Paul Ryan: Why the Tea Party’s Right to be Wary There’s a paradox to all this. Despite his ideological kinship with...

Joseph Stiglitz: What is happening in the new economy ?

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/27/nobel_laureate_joseph_stiglitz_on_rewriting

Social Security in the Budget Deal

Today, the Republican Leadership agreed to a deal to keep the government operating, raise the debt limit, and ensure that all Social Security benefits continue to be paid in full and on time beyond 2016. When hostage takers release their hostages, we are, of course, relieved that the hostages are no longer in harm’s way, but this is nothing to celebrate. That the ransom isn’t steeper is also not something to celebrate. 

The deal does include some good provisions: Medicare beneficiaries will not experience the drastically large premium increases that were set to take effect next year. It also closes a loophole that was introduced in the law relatively recently that allows wealthier Americans to game the system by claiming extra benefits inconsistent with the goals of the program.

But there is a diversion of Social Security resources towards virtually nonexistent fraud. This focus on fraud is a distraction from Social Security’s one real shortcoming: its benefits are too low, and an overwhelming majority of Americans know it. Congress should follow the will of the people by expanding those modest but vital benefits and restore the program to long range actuarial balance by requiring the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share.

Join us in calling on Congress to follow the American people and expand Social Security benefits!

Bernie Sanders Campaign

http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4556694/bernie-sanders-2015-jefferson-jackson-dinner-oct-24




Sat. Oct. 24.  Des Moines, Iowa
Economic proposals:
Make the wealthy and the corporations pay their fair share of taxes.
Oppose Citizens United. 

Keynes Comes to Canada

Paul Krugman

Canada has a reputation for dullness. Back in the 1980s The New Republic famously declared “Worthwhile Canadian Initiative” the world’s most boring headline. Yet when it comes to economic policy the reputation is undeserved: Canada has surprisingly often been the place where the future happens first.

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  And it’s happening again. On Monday, Canadian voters swept the ruling Conservatives out of power, delivering a stunning victory to the center-left Liberals. And while there are many interesting things about the Liberal platform, what strikes me most is its clear rejection of the deficit-obsessed austerity orthodoxy that has dominated political discourse across the Western world. The Liberals ran on a frankly, openly Keynesian vision, and won big.

Before I get into the implications, let’s talk about Canada’s long history of quiet economic unorthodoxy, especially on currency policy.

In the 1950s, everyone considered it essential to peg their currency to the U.S. dollar, at whatever cost — everyone except Canada, which let its own dollar fluctuate, and discovered that a floating exchange rate actually worked pretty well. Later, when European nations were scrambling to join the euro — amid predictions that any country refusing to adopt the common currency would pay a severe price — Canada showed that it’s feasible to keep your own money despite close economic ties to a giant neighbor.