Congressman Cicilline stands with Sen. Warren
Elizabeth Warren made waves recently when she introduced the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act, which would offer students the same low interest rate the Federal Reserve offers big banks through the discount window, currently around 0.75%. This strong proposal highlights one of the most destructive, anti-capitalist practices of our government. The Fed, which is [...]
Senator Reed supports Rhody Fresh, local farmers
Perhaps the shrewdest business decision made in 21st Century Rhode Island didn’t occur in a board room, but rather a dairy barn. In 2004, five local dairy farmers – led by Portsmouth icon Louie Escobar, who runs Highland Dairy Farm not far from East Main Road – decided to cut out the corporate middle man [...]
Elizabeth Warren: pensions for middle class workers
Are pensions coming back into fashion? Perhaps, said progressive hero Senator Elizabeth Warren who was in Providence last night at a fundraiser at the Convention Center for her Senate Banking Committee colleague Jack Reed. Hailed as one of Wall Street’s worst nightmares and the intellectual godmother of Occupy Wall Street, Warren told me that public [...]
Jack Reed takes it to the banks and their regulators
There’s been a surprising dearth of coverage in the local press of Jack Reed’s exemplary work last week, as he stuck it to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) alongside Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren. Here’s a full transcript. Here’s the rub, from Dave Dayen at Salon: The vast majority of borrowers – [...]
Sen. Reed Calls For Federal Minimum Wage Increase
Sen. Jack Reed are Tom Harkin of Iowa are sponsoring legislation to raise the federal minimum wage $10.10 in 2015. “Raising the minimum wage is vital because too many people have been left out of the economic recovery,” Reed said in a press release. “The stagnation of earnings in the face of soaring prices for [...]
Dems Unite Around GOP Smear Campaigns
I’m glad the Rhode Island Democratic party is finally coming together to renounce the incredibly negative campaigning the Republicans have been resorting to. Let’s hope the media picks up on this story. In my biased opinion, it’s the biggest meta-narrative of the local campaign this year, but I think it has a lot of merit [...]
Libor Scandal: Will Wall St. Get What It Deserves?
Just over a week ago, the British and American governments announced the largest fine in history levied against Barclays PLC, just under half a billion dollars. The fine agreed to ignore criminal charges against Barclays itself, but current and past employees were not exempt. Well, after a letter from Democratic lawmakers (including Rhode Island’s Sen. [...]
Reed Now Supports Marriage Equality, Too
Thanks, presumably, to President Obama’s historic announcement of support for marriage equality, Rhode Island’s entire congressional delegation now believes gay couples should enjoy the same relationship rights as heterosexual couples. Senator Jack Reed was the lone holdout to support same sex marriage among the state’s beltway pols, but about three hours after the president announced [...]
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