social security

Freedom Rider: Don’t Vote for Democrats

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 22:45 — Margaret Kimberley

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

Every day it becomes clearer that Democrats and Republicans are united in resisting the will and material interests of the people. “The issue of real importance to them is maintaining the empire, and that means destroying what little is left of the rights of all citizens, and empowering corporations and wealthy individuals even more.” This is the real basis for Obama’s quest for “unity across the aisles” and “reforms” that amount to surrender. But, “Social Security and Medicare don’t need reform, they need to be defended.”

Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network

Tue, 11/23/2010 - 13:18 — Nellie Bailey a...

Obama’s Deficit Commission “Shows the Hand” of Corporate Democrats and Their Republican Allies, says Nader

The recommendations put forward by the two co-chairs of President Obama’s deficit reduction commission are so “over the top,” says consumer advocate Ralph Nader, “if there’s anything that ought to get the liberal left going, it’s this monstrosity, which Obama has to take some responsibility for.” The former presidential candidate says the assault on social programs “shows the hand of the corporate Democrats and their Republican allies in a very distinct way.” What’s not in the co-chairs’ proposal is as glaring as what’s included. “They didn’t say we should have a speculation tax on derivatives and other transactions of Wall Street,” for example, “which economists have estimated could raise $400 billion a year.”

Black Is Back Rally in Washington, DC

Eugenia Charles reports on the cholera epidemic in Haiti, where international aid “is not being used to support the Haitian people”; People’s Organization for Progress director Larry Hamm calls for renewed grassroots organizing to “build a movement stronger than the one we had in the Sixties”; and Black is Back chairman Omali Yeshitela says Barack Obama represents “white power in a Black face.”

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Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey

Mon, 11/15/2010 - 21:41 — Nellie Bailey a...

Poor “Shack”-Dwellers Advocate Decries “New Apartheid” in South Africa

“We seem to have a new apartheid” in South Africa, says S’bu Zikode, leader of the poor people’s organization Abahliali base-Mjondolo. In this new order, “the poor are not taken care of, are not part of society.” Zikode, who is touring the United States, says the African National Congress government “wants to create a ‘shack-free’ country where the poor can be hidden,” reserving the cities “for the better-off and the rich.”

Bloomberg Undermines Living Wage While Jockeying for President

Billionaire New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is said to be eyeing a run for the White House in 2012, has hired a notorious opponent of minimum wages to study proposals to include subsidized development projects under Living Wage regulations. The mayor’s expert says higher wages kill economic development. But expanded wage protections have been “very successful” in Los Angeles and other cities, says Paul Sonn, of the National Employment Law Center.

Anti-War Committee Broadens Scope

A recent mass meeting of the United National Anti-War Committee (UNAC) showed progress in diversifying the peace movement. UNAC co-coordinator Joe Lombardo said a large fraction of participants at the Manhattan conference were Muslim, part of a newly-formed Muslim Peace Coalition with chapters in 16 states.

Plus…

Bruce Dixon examines the woeful irrelevance of the Black Misleadership Class; Jared Ball counters Michael Eric Dyson’s outrageous assault on Black youth; and Danny Schecter dissects the banksters’ fraudulent mortgages.

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Barack Obama, Social Security and the Final Irrelevance of the Black Misleadership Class

Wed, 11/10/2010 - 13:19 — Bruce A. Dixon

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

With a black president leading the charge to eviscerate Medicare, Medicaid and social security in the name of “deficit reduction,” what is there left of black politics? What is the relevance of so-called black leaders in the Democratic party, and the remains of our historic civil rights organizations?

Obama Prepares to Triangulate Himself

Wed, 10/20/2010 - 11:03 — Glen Ford

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

What a guy! Barack Obama has neutralized Blacks, the white left, and the majority of his own party in service to Wall Street, and some still call him “liberal” (The insane call him “socialist.”) With Social Security and Medicare in his sights, “the stage is set for a performance of presidential political gymnastics that will make Bill Clinton, once known as the Great Triangulator, bow down to the master.”

What's More Important For Black Leadership? Turning Off Fox News? Or Stopping the President's Cat Food Commission?

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 10:57 — Bruce A. Dixon

While black political leaders and activists focus on turning off Fox News, and clownish disputes with Tea Partyers and the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, are they missing something more important? Can any good come from a Democratic president reaching across the aisle to team up with Republicans for a bipartisan “fiscal reform” that targets “entitlements,” meaning Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security? Is the silence of black leadership on the president's Cat Food Commission still more evidence of their irrelevance?

Obama Can't Say "No" to the Rich

Wed, 07/14/2010 - 01:37 — Glen Ford

Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

Having transferred trillions of public treasure for the sake of Wall Street's health, Obama now picks up where George Bush left off on Social Security. Obama's deficit commission is pre-programmed to assault the last vestiges of the social safety net. The president "is the right wing's most potent weapon, the one before which liberal Democrats throw up their hands in surrender without the dignity of a fight."

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