Elms Progressive Media

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union).It wasn't until I left America that I started to realize how badly the American plutocrat owned media lies to the American people through its disinformation campaign.Well today for a span of at least this one Daily Kos diary, you will get to see what the American plutocrat owned media never wants you to see, and that is how Europe in particular and the world in general has come to see America as a country in decline, whose people are so badly misinformed by the media, they actually don't realize that America is the only major industrialized nation in the world that by right of law does not offer universal medical access, paid sick leave, paid maternity leave and paid annual leave. It just seems almost impossible to get that word out to the American people. Even diaries on that subject at the Kos top out at just over 2,000 views. Let's please remember the purpose of the plutocrat owned commercial media isn't so ...

Unless Congress acts to extend programs for those who have exhausted regular state unemployment benefits, millions of jobless workers may soon be phased out of emergency unemployment benefits [1].Unemployment benefits from states typically last for 26 weeks, but since 2008, Congress has on four occasions [2] passed emergency provisions that use federal funds to extend benefits for jobless workers by up to 73 weeks [3], depending on the state’s laws and unemployment rate. These benefits are set to expire tomorrow unless lawmakers intervene. With Federal Benefits Set to Expire, Unemployed Workers Face Shrinking Safety Net - ProPublica Blogged with the Flock Browser

Does Obama think that freezing wages for federal employees will improve the economy which is in a depression ­? If anything it will prolong the pain and suffering for workers and small business. Why didn't Obama go after Wall Street, The Health Industry, and the Pharmaceut ­ical Companies who are robbing us all. Because they paid him off. Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

By a vote of 348-79, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act" on Wednesday afternoon, a bill that threatens trade sanctions against China if the country does not sharply revalue its currency upward. But here's something that Republicans and Democrats itching to start slapping tariffs on Chinese imports might want to consider: Exports of made-in-the-USA cars to China are suddenly booming. Congress to China: Let the trade wars begin! - How the World Works - Salon.com Blogged with the Flock Browser

For the past 50 years, American manufacturing has dominated the globe. It turned the tide in World War ii, and hastened the defeat of Nazi Germany; it subsequently helped rebuild Europe and Japan; and it enabled the United States to outlast the Soviet empire in a Cold War. Concurrently, it met all the material needs of the American people. The Death of American Manufacturing | theTrumpet.com by the Philadelphia Church of God Blogged with the Flock Browser

The United Steelworkers recently filed a petition with the U.S. Trade Representative, accusing China of illegally stimulating and protecting its producers of green technology exports, ranging from wind and solar energy products to advanced batteries and energy-efficient vehicles. After the USTR opened an investigation, EPI International Economist Robert Scott submitted the attached comments outlining how Chinese trade practices "pose a direct threat to the recovery of U.S. manufacturing." Comments on the USTR investigation of China’s subsidies to green industries Blogged with the Flock Browser

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed in 1993, the rise in the U.S. trade deficit with Canada and Mexico through 2002 has caused the displacement of production that supported 879,280 U.S. jobs. Most of those lost jobs were high-wage positions in manufacturing industries. The loss of these jobs is just the most visible tip of NAFTA's impact on the U.S. economy. In fact, NAFTA has also contributed to rising income inequality, suppressed real wages for production workers, weakened workers' collective bargaining powers and ability to organize unions, and reduced fringe benefits.NAFTA is a free trade and investment agreement that provided investors with a unique set of guarantees designed to stimulate foreign direct investment and the movement of factories within the hemisphere, especially from the United States to Canada and Mexico. Furthermore, no protections were contained in the core of the agreement to maintain labor or environmental standards. As a r...

Thirty years of Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush economic policies. Has put us in this economic ditch “America is looking like a third world country.” By stripping workers of their civil rights, breaking worker unions, deregulation, tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires. The conspiracy of the SUPER RICH and Multinational Corporations to rob workers of their dignity and their financial independence. To paralyze them emotionally and financially. To take away their political power. To prevent them from mobility. To take away their voice. To make them invisible. By stealing their homes, by stealing money from their bank accounts, and by getting them deeply in financial debt. As a result, states have lost tax revenues. States have had to raise sales taxes, cut services, and layoff workers. This has affected local communities; it has affected small business because they rely on the locals to spend money for their survival, and community based organizations which all rely on states f...

WASHINGTON -- Some progressive organizations have been making a push in recent days for incoming congressional Republicans to drop their government-sponsored health care on the grounds that keeping the plans would be hypocritical. The incident started after incoming Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) complained loudly during freshmen orientation that his coverage wouldn't start immediately upon taking office. It took a new turn when Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Penn) and Bobby Schilling (R-Ill.) both said they would, in fact, forgo the coverage. It escalated even further when White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called out Harris for the "irony," and the municipal workers union AFSCME applied a similar charge to the whole GOP shortly thereafter. Republicans Could Save $2.4 Million A Year By Forgoing Their Health Care Blogged with the Flock Browser

THE PRE-PRESIDENTIAL PAC MAN: With about 23 months still to go until the next national contest, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a bit early to start talking about presidential elections. But hey, we're not the only ones doing it; and it's pretty clear that some GOP hopefuls are in a White House state of mind. Mitt Romney's Creative PAC Strategy, Making Nice with the Chamber and More in Capital Eye Opener: November 23 - OpenSecrets Blog | OpenSecrets Blogged with the Flock Browser

Ah yes, nothing like some good old inside the beltway Villager wisdom from the likes of the PBS Newshour's Mark Shields and David Brooks . Mark Shields thinks that the Democrats should commit political suicide by making cuts to Social Security because the public will buy into his nonsense that if they do it, it will be less painful than anything the Republicans might do later. David Brooks Compares Raising Social Security Retirement Age to Having Wisdom Tooth Removed Blogged with the Flock Browser

In an exclusive interview on "This Week," Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told Christiane Amanpour that the rich should be paying more taxes and that the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy should be left to expire at the end of December. Warren Buffett: Read My Lips, Raise My Taxes - ABC News Blogged with the Flock Browser

We must change our course before it's too late. No Dirty Energy - Dirty Energy Blogged with the Flock Browser

china-high-speed-rail-plans-economic-stimulus.jpg (JPEG Image, 465x281 pixels) Blogged with the Flock Browser

The greatest crime ever committed against the American Taxpayer; our political leader were in on this they were on the take this is bank robbery by another name.

The Internet has a lot of information for people wanting to better the quality of their lives. Sometimes it is difficult to know what to believe and what to be wary of. I am trying to look at human issues from the perspective of scientific psychology and its practical applications. Helping you find ways to live life at its most richest is my intention. I want to share with you the exciting developments in psychology that you can use as personal tools for your life journey. Enjoy! The Worry Free Life Blogged with the Flock Browser

The House failed to pass an extension unemployment insurance benefits for another three months Thursday afternoon. The vote was 258 to 154, short of the two-thirds needed for passage. House Republicans Block Unemployment Benefits Extension - NYTimes.com Blogged with the Flock Browser

The tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, known as the Bush tax cuts, are set to expire Dec. 31, and the fight over what to do is increasingly heated. Should the tax cuts expire, as some Democrats have said? Should they be extended, as most Republicans maintain? Or does the answer lie somewhere in between, as the Obama administration, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, has argued in recent weeks? Five myths about the Bush tax cuts Blogged with the Flock Browser

Cutting defense is controversial, yet necessary. Our military spending is greater than the rest of the world combined. The largest organization of military air power is the U.S. Air Force. The second largest is the U.S. Navy. U.S. no longer needs large defense budget | desmoinesregister.com | The Des Moines Register Blogged with the Flock Browser

In an abrupt reversal, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday endorsed a moratorium on earmarks that GOP conservatives are seeking to send a signal that the Republican Party is serious about curbing federal spending. Now that Mitch McConnell is aboard, how much would earmark ban save? - CSMonitor.com Blogged with the Flock Browser

Let me be clear upfront: From a policy standpoint, the case for allowing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire is very, very solid. (Heck, the policy case for allowing all of the tax cuts to expire isn't that bad, either, when you consider that the savings could be used to, say, extend unemployment benefits or shore up Medicare -- not that this idea is on the table.) Ending the Bush tax cuts: Riskier than you think - War Room - Salon.com Blogged with the Flock Browser

(CBS) President Barack Obama is in Cleveland Wednesday to launch a program offering tax breaks for business investment and to call for the extension of middle class tax cuts. David Axelrod: End GOP Tax Cuts for Millionaires - The Early Show - CBS News Blogged with the Flock Browser

House liberals are urging Democratic leaders to let the George W. Bush-era tax cuts on the country's highest earners expire.Reps. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.), co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said extending the tax breaks for those earning more than $250,000 a year represents "a giveaway" to wealthy Americans that would saddle the country in unnecessary debt. Liberal Democrats urge Pelosi to stand firm in debate over tax cuts - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room Blogged with the Flock Browser

Dane Edward Rossman, 23, and Bryan Wayne Reavely, 24, were arrested for throwing rocks at police officers at the National Socialist Movement march, according to Sgt. Tommy Thompson with the Phoenix Police Department. Neo-Nazi march interrupted by riot in downtown Phoenix Blogged with the Flock Browser

Seven companies involved in the oil industry -- including Transocean (RIG), the company that owned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded and leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico for three months earlier this year -- will pay the U.S. government a total of $236.5 million to settle charges that they bribed overseas officials to lower customs duties, extend drilling contacts and streamline permitting for oil-drilling rigs, among other things. Shell, Panalpina, Five Other Companies Fined $236.5 Million for Alleged Bribes - DailyFinance Blogged with the Flock Browser

If you look at the polls, Charlie Crist's U.S. Senate campaign is poised for a beating Tuesday. If you look at Crist campaigning across Florida in recent days, he's as upbeat as any frontrunner. Shrugging at Senate race polls, Crist remains upbeat Blogged with the Flock Browser

Liberals are a useless lot. They talk about peace and do nothing to challenge our permanent war economy. They claim to support the working class, and vote for candidates that glibly defend the North American Free Trade Agreement. They insist they believe in welfare, the right to organize, universal health care and a host of other socially progressive causes, and will not risk stepping out of the mainstream to fight for them. The only talent they seem to possess is the ability to write abject, cloying letters to Barack Obama—as if he reads them—asking the president to come back to his “true” self. This sterile moral posturing, which is not only useless but humiliating, has made America’s liberal class an object of public derision. Liberals Are Useless | CommonDreams.org Blogged with the Flock Browser