First, let me get this out of the way – I have no problems with the rich. I plan on being rich. I’m an American. I believe. We all believe we can get to the top and enjoy the spoils of wealth. We are Americans.

People’s emotional well-being — happiness — increases along with their income up to about $75,000, researchers report in Tuesday’s edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Those who read my posts (and there are a lot more of you than I ever thought there would be) know that I am not really a fan of divisive politics. This comes from the teachings of my Mom, who spent her political career reaching out to Republicans to get things done in Washtenaw County. Her argument was always that while you might hammer your opponents in today’s fight, you’re probably going to need them to get tomorrows work done. It is generally good advice, but it is predicated on the premise that your opponents want to get things done and really are working for the best solution for everyone.

Sadly Mom’s good advice can not be used right now. There has been too big a shift in power in the nation for us to look at the Republicans as any kind of honest partner in anything. The efforts of the folks like the ultra-wealthy Koch brothers have shifted our discourse so far to the right that things which would have had politicians thinking about spending more time with their families in the past can be said with a straight face and taken as serious.

We’d like Less Candidate Obama, More President Obama. President Obama has the ability and drive to get many great things accomplished; now he needs to buckle down and do them.

Professor L. Randall Wray of the Department of Economics, University of Missouri, Kansas City is one of the leaders of the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) approach to economics. His blogs are very clearly and simply written, well-organized, thorough, and generally fairly dispassionate. But the recent attack of the right on Fannie and Freddy really blew his gasket, and he responded with a really passionate rant against all the present attempts by the righties to impoverish the middle class, the old, the young, and generally everyone else except the rich in a post entitled: “The Wingnuts Go After Fannie and Freddy.”

The American Small Business League (ASBL) has released the first analysis of the government’s fiscal year (FY) 2009 small business contracting data, and found 61 percent actually going to corporate giants.

proof of the extinction of the middle class in the U.S.

a theory about the push to cut deficits

CEOs commonly make incongruous assertions to protect profits after corporate-caused disasters. They’re driven by the same factor that is fundamental to the catastrophes – greed. Nothing wrong with that, right? Not in a society that has converted greed from a vice to a virtue. Still, American church-goers might recall that greed is one of the seven deadly sins. When it afflicts CEOs, it’s deadly to workers.

Every historic moment in this country compelled Americans to assess their values and choose sides. President Barack Obama’s signing of the landmark health insurance reform bill created such a moment. Now Americans must choose whether to side with the rich and the hate mongers or to align themselves with working people and hope.