A note from the editor: David Prescott is a long-time friend and colleague; a retired businessman from Princeton, NJ; a big thinker and an ardent environmentalist now living in Santa Fe, NM;  and a man of impeccable integrity. David sent me the following article for my review and I asked him for permission to publish it on this page. What do you think about David’s ideas? What would you add? What Do The 99% Want? By David Prescott The Occupy Wall Street movement has prompted me, [...]

Thomas Friedman wrote in a recent article published in The New York Times  “I voted for Barack Obama and I don’t want my money back.  Friedman continued, “[Obama’s] never gotten the credit he deserves for bringing the economy he inherited back from the brink of a depression. He’s fought the war on terrorism in a smart and effective way. He’s making health care possible for millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions, and he saved the auto industry. “This is big stuff. But, as important as [...]

In a disingenuous flair of rhetorical nonsense, the Chair of the House Budget Committee told the Heritage Foundation that President Barack Obama was “sowing unrest and class resentment… (and) preying on the emotions of fear…” In his October 25 speech before the ultra-right organization Paul Ryan said that Obama is making “America weaker, not stronger” and he accused the President of “exacerbating class warfare.” This is from the man who authored a budget that gave tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy and slashed programs that serve [...]

I was cooking dinner one night last week while my 98-year old mother-in-law watched CNN. I stopped chopping onions and joined her when I heard a replay of Wolf Blitzer’s hypothetical question for Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) in the CNN/Tea Party Republican Presidential debate. Blitzer asked what Paul thought society should do if a 30-year old who chose to go without health insurance suddenly needed critical care and would die without it. Paul responded: “That’s what freedom is all about–– taking risks.” The people in [...]

How should Democrats respond when Republicans use half-truths, lies and focus group-tested slogans to blame all of society’s ills on them? What should they do when the majority of Republicans cast all Democrats as an evil liberal force? I suggest that Democrats ought to respond by reasserting the party’s basic values, and by reasserting their commitment to turn those constitutional values into public policy. The problem, however, is that many Democrats seem to have forgotten what their country’s values are, so as a reminder I [...]