No comments

Thoughts on March 15

  By 2016 Presidential race

It’s Over With Hillary’s victories in at least four and most likely five of the primaries today, she has effectively won the Democratic nomination for president. Barring a collapse of unprecedented proportions, which could only come about because of some major unexpected event, her pledged delegate lead of 300 is insurmountable. Like Clinton did eight years ago, Sanders will win some caucuses and primaries between now and Pennsylvania. But he’s totally unlikely to win by large enough majorities to overcome or even get that close to Clinton’s pledged delegate lead. And if he can’t do that, he won’t convince many super-delegates to switch to him. It’s over. Sander’s Impact on Our Politics Sanders’s campaign has had a major impact on this race and will have a major impact on the Democratic Party in the future. He’s brought the issue of inequality to the fore in a way that is now… Continue reading

No comments

Wolf, Legislators, and School Advocates Must Stand Together for PA Education

  By Education, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget

Originally published at Newworks, March 16, 2016 We are heading into a critical time in the seemingly endless Pennsylvania budget crisis. This is the moment when Pennsylvanians must stand strong for a budget that is not only done but done right. And that means a budget that finally, after years of deep cuts and shallow restorations, begins to fund education at levels that meet the needs of our children. Many of us want to attain that aim. But to know how to get there, we have to understand the forces, inside and outside the Capitol Building, that oppose us. They would rather see devastating cuts to education rather than increase taxes. Education advocates vs. extremist forces Some of those who take this view believe, falsely, that much education spending is useless and wasteful. They don’t grasp, as most Pennsylvanians do, that the money we spend on education is vital not only… Continue reading

No comments

Governor Wolf’s Minimum Wage Executive Order — A Step In the Right Direction

  By Minimum Wage, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts

This week, Governor Tom Wolf announced that, through executive order, he would require Pennsylvania state workers under his jurisdiction and employees working on future state contracts to be paid at least $10.15 an hour. Prior to his action, these workers making the minimum wage, many of whom who are heads of household, were often not making enough money to live above the poverty line. None of them were making enough money to have what economists call a living wage — the wage rate required to meet minimum standards of living in a given area. In many places across the state, a living wage for workers with a family is well more than even the $10.15 an hour that this executive order raises wages to. You can see MIT’s calculations for living wage by family by Pennsylvania county and metro area here. We have a moral obligation to ensure those working… Continue reading

No comments

Silver is a Big Loser Which Means Sanders Wins Bigger

  By 2016 Presidential race

The big loser is Nate Silver (and other pollsters). Silver is they guy who kept saying that Trump would collapse and gave Hillary a 99% chance of winning Michigan. That he is the big loser means that Sanders win is Michigan becomes far more important. Sanders supporters have been claiming, wrongly, that the mainstream media is biased against him. It isn’t. But the media has long believed, on the basis of the initial contests and polls, that Sanders had no chance of winning the nomination and assumed, not unreasonably, that he is too far to the left to do so. And Sanders reinforced that notion by calling for a political revolution. If you say you can only win with a political revolution, you better start showing people that you can make one. Losing the base of the Democratic Party, Blacks, by huge margins while failing to cut far into the… Continue reading

No comments

Bernie, Yes. Bernie Bots, No.

  By Uncategorized

I’ve never seen a political campaign like the Bernie Sanders campaign,  especially one which I intend to vote for.  It has  generated a more counter-productive kind of support, support which the candidate himself continue to disavow. I’ve been saying for months that Bernie’s political views are closer to my own and I intend to vote for him if I can see any evidence that he is building the kind of movement he would need to win a general election. So far, I see little evidence of that. I’ll probably still vote for him because I don’t expect him to become the nominee and it is important for him to do well to keep pushing the Democratic Party to the left on economic issues. But that has to be done in a way that builds a movement not a party tendency, cult, or sect. Bernie clearly wants to build a movement,… Continue reading

No comments

The Trouble with Donald

  By 2016 Presidential race

The Republican establishment is still so upper-class WASP. They’ve been happy to run on racism and sexism and militarism for years. But they insisted on being polite about it, using the appropriate code words and deniable symbols like Willie Horton. Their problem with Trump is not his racism and sexism and militarism. It’s his vulgarity and bad manners. He doesn’t know which fork and knife to use when he’s skewering Black people to secure the votes of white working people for the corporate elite. Continue reading

One Comment

How Low Will They Go?

  By Education, PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget

Originally published Third and State Blog, March 4, 2016 The majority of Pennsylvanians believe that every child in Pennsylvania deserves a high quality education. We believe that the best education for everyone is central to creating economic opportunity for individuals. And we believe that economic growth is only possible with a highly educated work force. And we know both of these aims can only be attained if we provide adequate and equitable funding to each of our schools. So when legislators or advocates on the right challenge the demand for adequate and equatibale funding we sometimes find it hard to understand what they want. How little funding are they prepared to give students in poor communities Pennsylvania before they will say it’s too low? How low will they go? A recent op-ed by the Commonwealth Foundation gives us the beginning of an answer. And it’s extremely disturbing. To judge by… Continue reading

No comments

The (Right) Choice We Made

  By Politics, Progressive Politics

What many of Bernie’s supporters don’t understand about our politics is that there are other forms of oppression besides economic inequality and that fighting for civil rights, women’s rights, and the rights of the LGBT community is the main reason that Democrats lost control of Congress, and that it is the loss of control of Congress, far more than corporate influence on Democrats, that is responsible for the inability of the US to reduce economic inequality. I wouldn’t trade the Civil Right Acts or Roe or Obergefell for a $15.00 minimum wage today. And, that’s exactly the deal Democrats of my father’s generation and my own made. History will look back and say we were right to do so. And Bernie is right that economic inequality is a core issue we must focus on today (even if it is isn’t the only one.) Continue reading

No comments

Obama’s Record

  By 2016 Presidential race, Politics

One more debate about Obama. (No link because it’s not worth pursuing) I’m so tired of lazy thinking, no matter where it comes from. On the left we once prided ourselves on the depth of our analysis. Now we say shit that makes us feel good, with pretty much no regard for whether it is true or not. Look at the details and you will see that Obama’s record on health care, climate change, non-fossil fuel energy, raising taxes on the rich, gay marriage, immigration, and regulating the finance industry has been extraordinary, especially in light of what he was fighting against. The economic recovery has been slow but steady–and would have been much better if Congress followed his lead. Did he compromise and temporize to accomplish what he did? He sure did. So did FDR and every other president who has changed the country. Did he make some bad… Continue reading

No comments

Look in the Mirror

  By Uncategorized

A lot of Republicans are wringing their hands about Trump. But I’ve yet to see one Republican admit that Trump is the inevitable outcome of the Southern Strategy, Lee Atwater, Willie Horton, Swift Boats, Death Panels and so on. You embrace racism and a politics of lies and this is what you get and, frankly, deserve. Continue reading