The private prison industry is on the march. In recent months the industry moved to take over 24 state prisons in southern Florida and buy five prisons in Ohio. Now it's making moves in Michigan.

But the industry doesn't always win. Resistance isn't futile.

The industry wanted to buy five...

I've been spending evenings and weekends recently with the Occupy protestors in DC. I can't stay full time because, unlike many protestors, I have two children and a full-time job. But I clearly share their interests and I'm glad they're making the ruckus.

Our economy is broken. Hard work doesn't...

Yesterday evening I attended an event sponsored by my U.S. Representative, Jim Moran (D-VA). I accepted an invitation I received from his email list to a community forum called "Principles & Priorities: How would you balance the budget?"

I'm no dummy and I was expecting political theater,...

As the debate heats up over Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, I took a step out on my own. I got a divorce. I am no longer a wholly owned subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank.

First Wells Fargo acquired the bank I'd been banking in. Then...

Enough with blaming public employees for all of America's problems. Last week public employees in Oregon marched on the state Capitol with a billion dollars worth of recommendations for government efficiencies and revenue enhancements. On Monday in Lansing, Michigan, public employees presented their own report, New Solutions for...

Yesterday I attended a conference on the Renaissance of American Manufacturing in Washington DC. It included a variety of organizations with interests in trade, from the US Business and Industry Council to the International Association of Machinists and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. It was another step...

Today's new unemployment report contains no news, just decimal point changes. It tells us what we already know, that times are bad. The question is whether our great nation can rise to the challenge.

Unemployment remains unchanged at 9.5 percent, with 14.6 million people out of work....

New York is the most recent state to pass new rules about how people in prison are counted in the U.S. Census. The law passed on Tuesday evening provides that for purposes of political redistricting, incarcerated persons count as residents of their places of residence prior to incarceration,...

The progressive movement that fueled Obama's stunning 2008 election victory is out of work. Sure, lots of people are unemployed -- but the demographic groups at the heart of the Obama coalition have been hit especially hard. That's why it's so bitter to watch Obama being so passive on the...

Yesterday, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing to examine "the impact of China's exchange rate practices on U.S. manufacturing"

Many experts will testify. I offer some pictures that might help.

1. Is China manipulating its currency? Yes:

Source:

In the wake of the 2010 Census, Maryland passed a law yesterday that fixes a major problem. Maryland will now count people in prison where they actually live, not where they are confined. This first-in-the-nation law will improve the fairness and accuracy of Census data used to draw...

The White House announced its economic initiatives for middle class families, described as a preview of the State of the Union Address. They're all good ideas and I hope every one of them passes. But something is missing.

Mostly, the new initiatives don't create jobs. Doubling the child...

The Supreme Court says corporations are people, and corporate spending on political campaigns is the same as free speech. Here's what Barack Obama said in Audacity of Hope, when he was halfway between a community organizer and president:

I've never been entirely comfortable with the term "special interest," which...

People have been wondering for years who runs our country. People or wealthy corporations? Today the Supreme Court settled the debate.

Today's decision, Citizens United v. FEC, comes down decisively on the corporate side. It gives advertisers more power than voters, and tilts the balance of power even farther...

Okay, there was an election yesterday but I'm not writing about it. I'm writing about something nobody noticed during the election.

Lots of people drove to the polls. People traveled by train, walked on sidewalks, or communicated by wireless. Everybody used infrastructure, but nobody noticed it. That's the trick...

I'm looking forward to the 2010 elections. We need them.

Many dread how badly the election is shaping up. Commentators predict double digit Democratic losses in the House and further retreat from the sixty vote threshold in the Senate. We fear a progressive era strangled in...

The Federal Reserve today releases industrial production data with good news. Will it draw the right conclusions?

First the good news. Industrial production increased 0.8 percent in November, and capacity utilization for total industry moved up 0.7 percentage points to 71.3 percent. Reuters used the data to...

At his Brookings speech today the president outlined his economic plan. It has all the right pieces and it points in the right direction. But something is missing.

Start with the good news. The president understands how bad the situation is. The greatest crisis since the Great Depression, one...

Thursday December 3 is the date of both the President's Jobs Summit and the reconfirmation hearing of Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke. We should seize the opportunity to examine the statute that creates the Federal Reserve:

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open...

President Obama is home from China and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission today releases its 2009 report to Congress.

What have we learned? That we need to pay attention because we're getting schooled.

While Obama posed for photos on the Great Wall and talked about a...