Your Holiday Guide to Dealing with Uncle Bob.
How will you cope with your right-wing relatives over the holidays? Check out our latest video for a survival guide.
Posted by Robert Reich on Thursday, December 17, 2015
Showing posts with label Robert Reich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Reich. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Your Holiday Guide to Dealing with Uncle Bob.
How will you cope with your right-wing relatives over the holidays? Check out Robert Riech's latest video for a survival guide.
Friday, May 29, 2015
The Big Picture: Strengthen Unions
from MoveOn.org
There is one solution to skyrocketing inequality that most of the TV talking heads love to ignore: Unions! It's no surprise.
Without unions, big companies like Walmart or Amazon can cut benefits, allow unsafe working conditions, slash wages, and pocket the massive profits.
More economic growth, higher wages, shared prosperity—all by strengthening unions. 50 or 60 years ago, it was considered obvious; today, folks are afraid to talk about it. That's what decades of right-wing propaganda will do.
This video is the latest in the "Big Picture: Ten Ideas to Save the Economy" series
Robert Reich is working on with MoveOn.org
There is one solution to skyrocketing inequality that most of the TV talking heads love to ignore: Unions! It's no surprise.
Without unions, big companies like Walmart or Amazon can cut benefits, allow unsafe working conditions, slash wages, and pocket the massive profits.
More economic growth, higher wages, shared prosperity—all by strengthening unions. 50 or 60 years ago, it was considered obvious; today, folks are afraid to talk about it. That's what decades of right-wing propaganda will do.
This video is the latest in the "Big Picture: Ten Ideas to Save the Economy" series
Robert Reich is working on with MoveOn.org
Friday, January 30, 2015
Trans-Pacific Partnership = NAFTA On Steroids
By Jo Comerford/MoveOn.org
Republicans in Congress want to work with the Obama administration to fast-track the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The TPP is the largest—and worst—trade deal you’ve never heard of, having been devised in secret by representatives of some of the world’s largest corporations.
It’s so big and has the potential to do so much damage, it’s been likened to “NAFTA on steroids.”
Republicans in Congress want to work with the Obama administration to fast-track the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The TPP is the largest—and worst—trade deal you’ve never heard of, having been devised in secret by representatives of some of the world’s largest corporations.
It’s so big and has the potential to do so much damage, it’s been likened to “NAFTA on steroids.”
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
The little-known tool Republicans will use if they take the Senate
If Republicans seize control of the Senate this November, they will use a little-known tool called “reconciliation” to get their way. Robert Reich explains in this new video from MoveOn.org. Please watch and share widely:
It's on us to spread the word. Sign up to make get-out-the-vote phone calls as part of MoveOn's Voters Rising campaign.
It's on us to spread the word. Sign up to make get-out-the-vote phone calls as part of MoveOn's Voters Rising campaign.
Monday, October 13, 2014
What would happen under a Republican Senate?
The Daily Kos - The answer is in the video above. As Reich explains:
- Unemployment benefits will not be extended to the long-term unemployed
- No minimum wages—no living wages for that matter
- Continuing education cuts
- Continuing decay of our country's infrastructure
Monday, October 1, 2012
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
What If Everyone Saw This Clip Of Robert Reich Exposing 7 GOP Lies?
Robert Reich reveals the 7 biggest lies about the economy.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Robert Reich Debunks 6 Big GOP Lies About The Economy
Is Social Security a Ponzi scheme as Republican Presidential candidate Rick Perry claims? Noted author and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich debunks that claim and five other lies the right-wing tells about taxes, government and the economy.
The lies Reich debunks:
1) Tax cuts to the rich and corporations trickle down to the rest of us. (No it doesn't and it never has.)
2) If you shrink government you create jobs. (No, you get rid of jobs that way.)
3) High taxes on the rich hurts the economy. (No, the economy grew when the US did this under Eisenhower.)
4) Debt is to be avoided and it is mostly caused by Medicare. (No, if debt is properly used to grow the economy, it becomes a smaller part of the budget because of increased revenue and Medicare has the lowest overhead of any health insurance plan out there.)
5) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme (No, its solid for 26 years. Social Security is solid beyond that if the rich pay the same percentage in social security taxes as the rest of us do.)
6) We need to tax the poor. (This is what Republicans have been proposing when they say any "tax reform" needs to involve all Americans because poor people pay no income tax. The poor have no money and taxing them will not solve our budget problems.)
Reich was speaking at the "Summit For A Fair Economy" in Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 10, 2011.
Posted on Youtube by UpTakeVideo
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Truth Behind Public Option
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich explains what a public option for healthcare coverage really means for working people.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
How Pharma and Insurance Intend to Kill the Public Option, And What Obama and the Rest of Us Must Do
By Robert Reich
FRIDAY, JUNE 05, 2009
I'ved poked around Washington today, talking with friends on the Hill who confirm the worst: Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill.
You know why, of course. They don't want a public option that would compete with private insurers and use its bargaining power to negotiate better rates with drug companies. They argue that would be unfair. Unfair? Unfair to give more people better health care at lower cost? To Pharma and Insurance, "unfair" is anything that undermines their profits.
So they're pulling out all the stops -- pushing Democrats and a handful of so-called "moderate" Republicans who say they're in favor of a public option to support legislation that would include it in name only. One of their proposals is to break up the public option into small pieces under multiple regional third-party administrators that would have little or no bargaining leverage. A second is to give the public option to the states where Big Pharma and Big Insurance can easily buy off legislators and officials, as they've been doing for years. A third is bind the public plan to the same rules private insurers have already wangled, thereby making it impossible for the public plan to put competitive pressure on the insurers.
Max Baucus, Chair of Senate Finance (now exactly why does the Senate Finance Committee have so much say over health care?) hasn't shown his cards but staffers tell me he's more than happy to sign on to any one of these. But Baucus is waiting for more support from his colleagues, and none of the three proposals has emerged as the leading candidate for those who want to kill the public option without showing they're killing it. Meanwhile, Ted Kennedy and his staff are still pushing for a full public option, but with Kennedy ailing, he might not be able to round up the votes. (Kennedy's health committee released a draft of a bill today, which contains the full public option.)
Enter Olympia Snowe. Her move is important, not because she's Republican (the Senate needs only 51 votes to pass this) but because she's well-respected and considered non-partisan, and therefore offers some cover to Democrats who may need it. Last night Snowe hosted a private meeting between members and staffers about a new proposal Pharma and Insurance are floating, and apparently she's already gained the tentative support of several Democrats (including Ron Wyden and Thomas Carper). Under Snowe's proposal, the public option would kick in years from now, but it would be triggered only if insurance companies fail to bring down healthcare costs and expand coverage in he meantime.
What's the catch? First, these conditions are likely to be achieved by other pieces of the emerging legislation; for example, computerized records will bring down costs a tad, and a mandate requiring everyone to have coverage will automatically expand coverage. If it ever comes to it, Pharma and Insurance can argue that their mere participation fulfills their part of the bargain, so no public option will need to be triggered. Second, as Pharma and Insurance well know, "years from now" in legislative terms means never. There will never be a better time than now to enact a public option. If it's not included, in a few years the public's attention will be elsewhere.
Much the same dynamic is occurring in the House. Two members who had originally supported single payer told me that Pharma and Insurance have launched the same strategy there, and many House members are looking to see what happens in the Senate. Snowe's "trigger" is already buzzing among members.
All this will be decided within days or weeks. And once those who want to kill the public option without their fingerprints on the murder weapon begin to agree on a proposal -- Snowe's "trigger" or any other -- the public option will be very hard to revive. The White House must now insist on a genuine public option. And you, dear reader, must insist as well.
This is it, folks. The concrete is being mixed and about to be poured. And after it's poured and hardens, universal health care will be with us for years to come in whatever form it now takes. Let your representative and senators know you want a public option without conditions or triggers -- one that gives the public insurer bargaining leverage over drug companies, and pushes insurers to do what they've promised to do. Don't wait until the concrete hardens and we've lost this battle.
Robert Reich was the nation's 22nd Secretary of Labor and is a professor at the University of California at Berkeley
FRIDAY, JUNE 05, 2009
I'ved poked around Washington today, talking with friends on the Hill who confirm the worst: Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill.
You know why, of course. They don't want a public option that would compete with private insurers and use its bargaining power to negotiate better rates with drug companies. They argue that would be unfair. Unfair? Unfair to give more people better health care at lower cost? To Pharma and Insurance, "unfair" is anything that undermines their profits.
So they're pulling out all the stops -- pushing Democrats and a handful of so-called "moderate" Republicans who say they're in favor of a public option to support legislation that would include it in name only. One of their proposals is to break up the public option into small pieces under multiple regional third-party administrators that would have little or no bargaining leverage. A second is to give the public option to the states where Big Pharma and Big Insurance can easily buy off legislators and officials, as they've been doing for years. A third is bind the public plan to the same rules private insurers have already wangled, thereby making it impossible for the public plan to put competitive pressure on the insurers.
Max Baucus, Chair of Senate Finance (now exactly why does the Senate Finance Committee have so much say over health care?) hasn't shown his cards but staffers tell me he's more than happy to sign on to any one of these. But Baucus is waiting for more support from his colleagues, and none of the three proposals has emerged as the leading candidate for those who want to kill the public option without showing they're killing it. Meanwhile, Ted Kennedy and his staff are still pushing for a full public option, but with Kennedy ailing, he might not be able to round up the votes. (Kennedy's health committee released a draft of a bill today, which contains the full public option.)
Enter Olympia Snowe. Her move is important, not because she's Republican (the Senate needs only 51 votes to pass this) but because she's well-respected and considered non-partisan, and therefore offers some cover to Democrats who may need it. Last night Snowe hosted a private meeting between members and staffers about a new proposal Pharma and Insurance are floating, and apparently she's already gained the tentative support of several Democrats (including Ron Wyden and Thomas Carper). Under Snowe's proposal, the public option would kick in years from now, but it would be triggered only if insurance companies fail to bring down healthcare costs and expand coverage in he meantime.
What's the catch? First, these conditions are likely to be achieved by other pieces of the emerging legislation; for example, computerized records will bring down costs a tad, and a mandate requiring everyone to have coverage will automatically expand coverage. If it ever comes to it, Pharma and Insurance can argue that their mere participation fulfills their part of the bargain, so no public option will need to be triggered. Second, as Pharma and Insurance well know, "years from now" in legislative terms means never. There will never be a better time than now to enact a public option. If it's not included, in a few years the public's attention will be elsewhere.
Much the same dynamic is occurring in the House. Two members who had originally supported single payer told me that Pharma and Insurance have launched the same strategy there, and many House members are looking to see what happens in the Senate. Snowe's "trigger" is already buzzing among members.
All this will be decided within days or weeks. And once those who want to kill the public option without their fingerprints on the murder weapon begin to agree on a proposal -- Snowe's "trigger" or any other -- the public option will be very hard to revive. The White House must now insist on a genuine public option. And you, dear reader, must insist as well.
This is it, folks. The concrete is being mixed and about to be poured. And after it's poured and hardens, universal health care will be with us for years to come in whatever form it now takes. Let your representative and senators know you want a public option without conditions or triggers -- one that gives the public insurer bargaining leverage over drug companies, and pushes insurers to do what they've promised to do. Don't wait until the concrete hardens and we've lost this battle.
Robert Reich was the nation's 22nd Secretary of Labor and is a professor at the University of California at Berkeley
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Rachel Maddow Show: Economic Storm
Robert Reich former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration and a current economic advisor to the Obama campaign talks to Rachel Maddow about the current economic crisis.
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