Lying, intransigent Republicans plus cowardly Senate Democrats is a witches' brew for stalemate on healthcare reform. The same posturing pompous politicians who celebrate the courage of the Iranian people asserting their public will against the mullahs shrivel into whining, doubting pusillanimity when they have to..to...to....vote to serve the clear choice...

By reaffirming the legitimacy of President Ahmadinejad's election victory yesterday, the so-called Ayatollah Khamenei placed his theocracy on the same (im)moral plane as the "Great Satan" that had deprived the Iranian people of its duly elected Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, in 1953.

In order to understand the significance of...

A flat payroll tax, matched by employers, funds Social Security and Medicare. Those taxes add to the cost of labor, and thus to the costs of goods and services produced in the United States. In a globalized world that puts US workers at a relative disadvantage.

The tax for Social...

In an article yesterday by Media Matters, Newt Gingrich is called out for misquoting the Declaration of Independence, although the article does acknowledge he correctly captured the gist. Gingrich goes on to use that language to raise rightwing policies--opposing women's choice in carrying pregnancies, the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, and...

As in the torture discussions, Dick Cheney has always tried mightily to portray himself as a staunch defender of the United States. For the most part, on that claim, the media has given him a pass. The MSM "discussions" of Cheney's aggressive statements focus on their (often highly questionable) veracity...

On the theory that "a financial crisis is a terrible thing to waste," let me offer a tried and true means of making that gift last beyond the few days that it usually takes your roses to wilt and die, thus providing more joy for the same investment.

At night...

The Nixon Administration bugged Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex. Their operatives were caught breaking and entering Watergate to replace a defective device. One of the operatives was a former CIA agent, James McCord, and at least one other had been involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Sean Hannity, like his cowardly rightwing compatriots Cheney, Limbaugh, Kristol, O'Reilly, Lowry, Gingrich, talks a big game about fighting spirit, war, toughness, but when it comes to putting their own bodies on the line, they follow their leader George W Bush's answer to his Air National Guard's question about whether...

It is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of their leaders. That is easy. All you have to...

Former House Republican Majority Leader and teabag organizer Dick Armey complained on Meet the Press that too many lower income wage-earners were taken off the tax rolls, and that they ought to be paying higher taxes. He went on to say, and to gesture with his hands so it was...

On a recent Pat Robertson show, the Reverend answered questions emailed from his viewers read to him by a fawning female co-host.

One viewer had a very interesting question: Is there anything "to do" in Heaven? After all, doing nothing for eternity seems, well, boring.

Without hesitating a nanosecond, Robertson...

At least twice last week, CNBC publicly backed countries that shelter the income of US citizens from US taxes, aka, tax havens, abusive tax shelters. According to CNBC's Larry Kudlow, these tax havens provide "tax competition."

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) chaired hearings on these abusive tax havens. Between 40,000-45,000...

Edward: "You know what I used to like as a kid, Phil? Erector sets.
Phillip: So, I used to like Monopoly, Boardwalk and Park Place, what's the point?
Edward: We don't make anything, Phil.
Phillip: We make money, Edward" -- from "Pretty Woman", in...

("If you owe a bank a small amount of money, the banks owns you. If you owe them a large amount of money, you own the bank".--The Donald).

Last week CNBC's Erin Burnett told us Wall Street CEOs told her that Secretary Geithner seeks their proposals and opinions, demonstrating whose...

It is not really so difficult.

Because investors are a diverse group, they rarely get together on their own to force corporations to take specific actions. Thus, the power of investors to enforce change is ignored.

But, investors have another power that does not require concerted action--they vote with their...

The much-reviled US tax code contains within it thousands of special treatments and exclusions that enable small subclasses of people to enjoy deductions, credits or even exclusions from paying taxes.

There is ample precedent, therefore, for the Congress to define subclasses for special tax treatment.

Congress can find that payments...

The much reviled US tax code contains within it thousands of special treatments and exclusions that enable small subclasses of people to enjoy deductions, credits or even exclusions from paying taxes.

There is ample precedent, therefore, for the Congress to define subclasses for special tax treatment.

Congress can find that...

1. Human embryonic stem cells: promise, potential problems.
2. "Solving" the financial challenges facing healthcare.
3. The Republican Congress twice tried to outlaw them, entirely.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) will be derived from embryos that were made for in vitro fertilization, but would otherwise be discarded, literally...

The Obama administration proposes to raise the top tax rate from 35% to 39.6%. According to the Wall Street crowd, this 4.6% tax hike on adjusted gross incomes over $250,000 will sound the death knell of free markets, the work ethic, and incentives for success.

Kudlow calls it a...

(*Al Franken's book of that title)

Rush made no bones about it. He wants the President of the United States to fail. He told the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) that he views your future and mine like the Superbowl -- he rooted for the Steelers and he wanted the...