A Scheme Out of Gas
Hawks are lobbying hard for a gasoline embargo against Iran. Too bad such a sanction just won’t work.
With China, Money Talks
Strategic and economic dialogue? Forget it, Hillary — it’s China.
The 10 Dumbest Arguments Against Health-Care Reform
The health-care debate has been overwhelmed by grumbling resistance. Too bad the complaints are largely groundless.
Women and the Minimum Wage
The increase in the federal minimum wage helps women — but not nearly enough.
Recession Depression
The authors of Womenomics are telling employees to demand work-life balance — or else! But in a bleak economic climate, most women workers lack real bargaining power.
Marion’s Moral Compass
The philandering former D.C. mayor leads a crusade against gay marriage.
Noted
FROM THE EXECUTIVE EDITOR Much of the work of implementing a lasting progressive agenda in the next year or two will take the form of dramatic fights — over health reform, financial regulation, and taxes. But some of the most significant changes will flow from subtle shifts in language, priorities, and regulations occurring with little…
The Assault on the Black Middle Class
Sub-prime lending was racially targeted and demolished decades of progress made by America’s most diligent and striving people of color. How will America make amends?
Regulation as Civic Empowerment
The policing of the financial system can’t just be left to bureaucrats. Properly designed, regulation can be a community-organizing strategy.
Reforming Credit
Our financial system needs to work for consumers at all income levels. A guide to the crisis, its causes, and cures.
What Does Financial Capital Owe Society?
Corporate social responsibility is a worthy goal, but it’s no substitute for regulation, subsidy, and government sponsorship of social institutions.
Don’t Blame the Community Reinvestment Act
Homeownership rates and CRA enforcement soared in the 1990s, but sub-prime came later. CRA shouldn’t be the scapegoat for the housing meltdown.
A Bridge to Somewhere
How do we build the road from predatory lending to good financial services for all Americans?
Reversing the Damage
What will it take to resume credit flows to low- and moderate-income neighborhoods?
Banks as Heroes
Community-development banks show what financial institutions can do when they have the right motivation and the right mission.
Community Reinvestment: The Broader Agenda
CRA has created a cadre of community-friendly bankers. It’s time to bring reinvestment policy into the 21st century.
When Creditors are Predators
We need to regulate to assure that loans work — and stop the loans that work people over.
Financial Product Safety
The case for a new agency to put the needs of consumers first
Our Cherished Paradoxes
American history is a series of clashes between personal freedom and societal order. Politics may be what holds us together.
Latin America’s Legalization Push
South of the border, where drug violence has taken a serious toll, lawmakers are weighing their decriminalization options.
Charm Offensive
A long list of liberal groups worked to elect Obama. Now the administration is working overtime to make sure they stay happy.
Race De-Baiting
As Sotomayor’s nomination has made evident, accusations of racism often obscure much deeper and more pressing questions about how our differences matter and how they should not.
Hillary’s Challenge
Our first feminist secretary of state sets out to prove that foreign policy works best when it makes women a priority.
The Ultimate Bear Market
The uncouth bankers who brought down Bear Stearns make for an entertaining story. But the real responsibility for the crisis lies elsewhere.
The Optimist
By asserting that our institutions are capable of actually governing, Obama is, in effect, demanding that they do so.
The Last Drug Czar
Both Obama and his appointed leader of the war on drugs, Gil Kerlikowske, say they’ve had it with the military metaphors and are taking a new approach to America’s substance abuse problem.
Cheap Thrills
Is buying more the way to economize? Clearly, this is not your grandmother’s downturn.
The Shipping Point
Wal-Mart and other discount retailers are exploiting workers in California warehouses. Can an organizing campaign make a difference?
Testing Testing
Beneath the feel-good press releases about national education standards lie unresolved policy differences.
Do the Netroots Matter?
The progressive blogs and online networks have changed politics. But did they replace the media or win the 2008 election?
Perils of the Public Plan
A badly designed public plan could turn out to be the opposite of what progressives intend.
