REWIND - A Week of Quotes & Cartoons

SUNDAY

Quote of the Day
January 23, 2011

'...Most Americans are imprisoned in a terrible tradeoff
- they can get a job, but only one that pays
considerably less than the one they used to have, or
they can face unemployment or insecure contract work.
The only sure way to improve the quality of jobs over
the long term is to build the productivity of American
workers and the US overall, which means major
investments in education, infrastructure, and basic R&D.
But it's far from clear American corporations and their
executives will pay the taxes needed to make these
investments. And the only sure way to improve the number
of jobs is to give the vast middle and working classes
of America sufficient purchasing power to get the
economy going again. But here again, it's far from clear
American corporations and their executives will be
willing to push for a more progressive tax code, along
with wage subsidies, that would put more money into
average workers' pockets.

'It's politically important for President Obama, as for
any president, to be available to American business, and
to avoid the moniker of being "anti-business." But the
President must not be seduced into believing - and must
not allow the public to be similarly seduced into
thinking - that the well-being of American business is
synonymous with the well-being of Americans.'

Economist Robert Reich
blog
January 21, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/6fa9g4k

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/4l6l9vk
Starve the Beast
Tony Auth - Philadelphia Inquirer

MONDAY

Quote of the Day
January 24, 2011

'In case you missed it, there is a fierce debate going
on. One side, which now controls the House and
effectively can block legislation in the Senate,
disparages science, wants America to be close to a
theocracy, craves a return to Wild West gun-slinging,
would gut social insurance, and repeal most of the
affirmative gains of social investment and public-
interest regulation since the New Deal.

'The other side recognizes the value of public spending
in a deep recession and beyond, wants a progressive tax
code, defends Social Security, Medicare and the new
health reform, wants the financial economy to be servant
of the real economy, supports regulation that benefits
workers and consumers, and accepts evidence-based
science when it comes to climate change and other
issues.

'Unfortunately, this other side describes only about
half the Democratic Party

'Give the Republicans this: they know what they stand
for. A good chunk of the Democratic Party today doesn't
quite.'

Robert Kuttner
co-editor of The American Prospect
Huffington Post
January 24, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/4fdcuoe

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/6d6n7xp
Deniers' Defense
Tom Toles - Washington Post


TUESDAY

Quote of the Day
January 25. 2011

'When you see surveillance videos of some creep mugging
an elderly person in an elevator or apartment lobby,
the universal reaction is outrage. But when the fat
cats and the ideologues want to hack away at the
lifeline of Social Security, they are treated somehow
as respectable, even enlightened members of the
society.

'We need a reality check. Attacking Social Security is
both cruel and unnecessary. It needs to stop. '

Columnist Bob Herbert
New York Times
January 25. 2011
http://tinyurl.com/6zze24z

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/47cc9jh
JOBS!
Jim Morin - Miami Herald

WEDNESDAY

Quote of the Day
January 26, 2011

'Tonight President Obama called on the nation to look
forward and spoke to our nation's prospects and
vulnerabilities: we are faced with opportunities for
progress, but paralyzed by weak job growth and an
economy that is increasingly out of balance for middle
class families.

'We strongly support the President's vision on
infrastructure to create good jobs and succeed in a
global economy, and working people are ready to work
with him and hold him to his promises.  We look forward
to comprehensive and substantial proposals to rebuild
our nation's schools, bridges, and highways and invest
in high speed rail, a smart electrical grid, universal
broadband and the green jobs of the future.  We will
join the President as partners to help build bipartisan
support for a sustained and strategic investment in
America's future. Labor and business, Democrats and
Republicans should all be working together to ensure
that we make the investments we need now to secure our
future.

'President Obama certainly understands our need to be
competitive in manufacturing, new technology and
skills.  But he must also understand that last-century
trade deals that reward and encourage corporations that
outsource American jobs will do little to generate net
new jobs in the United States or raise living standards
here or abroad.  Working people will continue to urge
the President and his administration to stick to his
campaign promises of reforming trade deals, so they do
more than boost profits for multi-national
corporations.

'We firmly believe that we should not be cutting
government spending when the economy is so weak.  This
economy is failing to create jobs at an adequate pace
to dig us out of the hole we're in, and a spending
freeze at this time will slow down job creation and
growth - further worsening the deficit.  This is simply
the wrong medicine at the wrong time. And it is
essential that the President acts on the commitment he
outlined tonight to strengthen and preserve our
essential retirement security programs - Social
Security and Medicare. All working people will continue
to fight any proposals that aim to cut Social Security
and Medicare benefits.

'We must move boldly now to put 15 million Americans
back to work and rebuild bargaining power and good jobs
for our middle class. We believe the President is
heading in the right direction- but as he outlined
tonight, the yardstick must be the health of the middle
class and the American economy'

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
AFL-CIO Blog
January 26, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/4rrq2yp


Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/48b9vpo
State of the Union
Stuart Carlson

THURSDAY

Quote of the Day
January 27, 2011

"The faulty assumptions of U.S. policy have been laid
bare for everyone to see. The U.S. position is
unsustainable - there's no doubt about that now. This
approach of depending on supposedly stable regimes has
backfired. And now the U.S. is on the wrong side of
history.'

Shadi Hamid, director of Research
at the Brookings Doha Center,
commenting on the U.S. policy
toward Egypt and anti-government
protests continued there.

Time
January 27, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/4socslr

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/46ukfen
Overboard
Jeff Danziger

FRIDAY

Quote of the Day
January 28, 2011

'It always seems that when it comes time to cut, the
most vulnerable -- the poor, children and senior
citizens -- end up being the first to have their
services reduced. It never seems to be a shared
sacrifice. The rhetoric is always to try to demonize
people who are struggling.'

Darrell Gaskin, an associate
professor at the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health and a member
of the Congressional Black
Caucus Budget Commission.

Minority News
January 28, 2011

http://tinyurl.com/4a8buju

Toon of the Day
http://tinyurl.com/4udsjtl
Runny Mouth
Mike Luckovich

SATURDAY

Quote of the Day
January 29, 2011

'More than two years after Bud Meyers lost his job as a
Las Vegas Strip bartender and nearly eight months after
he exhausted his unemployment benefits, the 55-year-old
is certain he will soon be homeless.

'He is among a growing number of men and women who no
longer qualify for unemployment benefits because they
have been out of work for so long.

'"Exhaustees" are searching for work and help across
the United States. But their situation seems
particularly bleak in Nevada, where unemployment,
bankruptcies and foreclosure rates are the highest in
the nation and job creation is at a crawl.

'Nearly 40,000 Nevadans have exhausted their benefits
and hundreds more are expected to join those ranks this
year, according to state data. '

Associated Press
January 29, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/4f58aeo

Toon of the day
http://tinyurl.com/4dozmla
Mubarak Rule
Dave Granlund

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