I am finally totally fed up with the last lame remnants of the Democratic Leadership Council corporate cheerleaders who still occupy the center of gravity in the national party.  How do they remain the agenda-setters for the path of the Democratic Party?  How many elections do... Continue

The recent Sonoma City Council decision to authorize a study on raising the city minimum wage came as a pleasant surprise.  It shows that the national momentum for raising the minimum wage to parity with the living wage index is spreading out from its base... Continue

This week I attended the North Bay Labor Council Pancake Breakfast, and as always I enjoyed the political buzz and the sense of camaraderie at this lively annual event. We heard brief and rousing speeches by Congressional Representatives Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman and County... Continue

Rarely does a thick tome on economics get noticed by the mainstream press, let alone become a best-selling book that fundamentally shifts political discourse.  French economist Thomas Piketty, aided by an elegant English translation, has managed a accomplish that feat. The groundbreaking statistical research done... Continue

Once in a great while, you leap to your feet in amazement on seeing a headline that strikes to the heart of your political concerns.  That’s what hit me when I pulled my copy of the NCR (National Catholic Register) from the mail on my... Continue

Over the last six weeks I have been doing phone banking for the primary election, working off a database of prospective voters which shows the approximate age, gender and party affiliation of all the voting members of the household.  The data point of that real-time... Continue

The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), one of the largest caucuses in the U.S. Congress, issued a bold federal budget plan that would tax big financial institutions, enact a healthcare public option, and raise much-needed revenue through ending unwarranted corporate tax giveaways.  The Progressive Caucus budget... Continue

Electoral statistics wizard Nate Silver, who accurately predicted the outcomes of the 2008 and 2012 presidential and Congressional elections, published data on his 538.com site indicating that there is a strong chance that the Senate may flip to Republican control after the 2014 mid-term elections. ... Continue

The debate over the modest proposed raise in the minimum wage has revealed the deep resistance to any structural economic reform that would challenge the current (and growing) levels of poverty and underemployment.  The stock argument put forth is that raising wages for low-income workers... Continue