Education can be an individual’s or a nation’s greatest investment. We talk about the disparity between the public education provided to students with fewer economic resources and those who have greater financial means. We also talk about gender differences in that young women are often steered away from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields of study.… [Read more]
Yesterday, 10 US banks and mortgage firms agreed to pay $8.5 billion to settle complaints of wrongful foreclosures. Federal regulators undertook an extensive review process of homeowner foreclosure files as required under an enforcement action filed during 2011. According to terms of the agreement the banks – which include several of the nation’s largest financial institutions such as Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo – will end up paying individual homeowners anywhere from several hundred dollars to $125,000 once it has been determined that those individuals were wrongly foreclosed upon.… [Read more]
Yesterday marked the last official day on the job for the 112th Congress. That particular Congress made history by breaking a record: they were deemed the least productive Congress ever due to lack of legislation passed. Today, the 113th Congress will make history of its own; this group will be the most diverse Congress ever. When the legislators swear into office taking the constitutionally mandated oath at noon, American citizens will be represented by a class of not just men, but by more women and openly gay lawmakers.… [Read more]
Sen. Harry Reid (R-Nev.)
Senate Majority Leader
Searchlight, Nev.
Dear Harry,
No doubt, hidebound Senate rules to govern traditional committee assignments are, of necessity, more intricate than a cloakroom coin toss. That said, there is some exceptional talent coming in, which shouldn’t be wasted doing an apprenticeship in the shadows.
Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the Harvard Law professor and the financial industry’s Public Enemy No.… [Read more]
One of the things that I get to explain to inquisitive European friends is that America’s several time zones make for a very long Election Night. Despite pre-election web-surfed emigre house shopping moments between a nice seven-figure flat on Oslo’s stylish Bygdøy allé and a nice fjord view house on the slopes of Holmenkollen, there probably isn’t a winning lottery ticket in the pile on my desk to bail to Norway with.… [Read more]
Massachusetts made history tonight by electing Elizabeth Warren as its newest senator. After a bitter battle against GOP opponent Scott Brown, Ms. Warren became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts.
Prior to running for the senate seat, Ms. Warren was well known as a tireless consumer advocate, an American bankruptcy law expert and Harvard Law School professor. … [Read more]
With 46 days left until Election Day, I don’t know who’s flying the wobbly Romney campaign mothership, but they might just be the ones with a scarf bearing a Rising Sun tied over their forehead.
Former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle (R) is running for one of the Aloha State’s Senate seats. Lingle was among the panicking Republicans who have hurriedly left Mittens’ latest in the loo, next to the Ty-D-Bol.… [Read more]
Recently, union workers took to the streets to protest a company’s refusal to negotiate some of the terms of their employment contract. Strikes based on salary or benefits are common enough but what made this situation different was that it was at an electric utility company, and it took place in the face of both utility companies’ record profits and this summer’s record temperatures.… [Read more]
The poor of America have become the cash cow of the rich. Think about that statement. The Rich, mostly old white Americans, are making millions on poverty. I don’t make this up; since 2000 we have created more millionaires than America has ever seen. Contrasted, the number of people falling into the ranks of the working poor has also gone up over the same time period.… [Read more]
A DINO is not a dinosaur. A DINO is a Democrat In Name Only – those who align themselves with the political left in name but, at key voting times, leave some of us wishing that they, too, were extinct. That stated, the announcement by Senator Ben Nelson, ‘Democrat’ from Nebraska, that he will not seek re-election next term may turn into an example of liberals and progressives seeing that we should be careful of what we wish for.… [Read more]
The media often portrays the Occupy Wall Street movement as one with no coherent message. Of course, as with nearly everything else, we should all consider the source — especially since mainstream media gave up on real reporting and resorted to talking heads bleating their corporate overlords’ opinions, cast as ‘research’ and ‘investigative journalism’, ages ago.… [Read more]
