picardow

TAP talks to Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, a freshman Democrat from Ohio, to get a rundown of the financial reform conference: This is an issue that is critically important to the American people, our financial well-being, and they need to be able to see what is going on. It’s important for it to be transparent. […]

TAP asks whether California’s new primary system will actually result in a less polarized legislature: Candidates who are able to get their message out are the ones who are able to raise the most money from established interests, be they unions on the Democratic side or business on the Republican side. And the ones who […]

Robert Kuttner argues that while the Tea Party is more flagrant, the austerity movement is more insidious: Though excesses on Wall Street combined with an ideology of regulatory default caused the second great crash, the aftermath (unlike in the Age of Roosevelt) has been a gift for the orthodox right. At home, the billion-dollar Peter […]

Monica Potts on why litigation following the oil spill will likely be as unprecedented as the disaster itself: The scope of the disaster and the number of people it is likely to directly affect, from fishermen to homeowners to restaurant and hotel employees is unprecedented. The costs of clean up have already soared to $1.25 […]

Adam Serwer on how repressive governments and extremist insurgent groups have attempted to tamp down soccer obsession without success: Conservative blogger Ilya Somin recently criticized the sport for promoting “nationalist and ethnic violence,” but it’s actually because of those nationalistic feelings that violent religious extremists find the sport so threatening. International soccer interferes with the […]

Tim Fernholz on why the final step in the banking overhaul — debating the bill in conference — could be bad news for progressives: Keep in mind that this was supposed to be the easy first day: Most of the policies discussed were comparatively minor, and the major point of contention was ratings agency reform. […]

Paul Waldman argues that, contrary to current hype, business acumen and political acumen are two very different skill sets: In last week’s primaries, Republicans nominated two corporate titans — Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, and Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard — as their candidates for governor and senator, respectively, from California. […]

Ann Friedman on how a headline-dominating oil spill should catalyze big changes in the way we power our country and regulate corporations: Much of the hard work of progressivism is to make the personal political — encouraging workers whose wages have stagnated to see the need for unions, making women who experience workplace sexism more […]

Stephen Kinzer explains why America’s future partners in the Middle East should be Turkey and Iran — yes, Iran: Today we work in the region primarily through two bilateral relationships–with Israel and with Saudi Arabia. These pairings served Washington well during the Cold War. They have not, however, produced a stable Middle East. On the […]

Mark Schmitt argues the American political system wasn’t built to handle showdowns, culture wars, crises of legitimacy, or bids for total power: When our system works, it is with a dull, workmanlike sense of compromise and grudging respect both for the majority’s mandate and the minority’s right to participate in the process, along with the […]