MORNING MESSAGE
This
week, Sen. Bernie Sanders took on Big PhRMA, the all-powerful prescription drug
company lobby, by demanding an end to the Great American Drug Heist ... Medicare
projects that drug costs will continue to rise about 10 percent a year for the
next decade ... This isn’t because drugs are expensive. This is because we are
getting robbed ... Congress actually voted to prohibit Medicare from negotiating
bulk discounts on prescription drugs. There is no excuse for this except
corruption ... Sanders detailed a five-point program for ending the
rip-off...
Graham Brings Back Simpson-Bowles
Sen.
Lindsey Graham tries to resurrect Simpson-Bowles. USA Today: "... the
group’s final product — a politically toxic combination of tax increases,
spending cuts and reforms to entitlement programs like Social Security — is the
recipe that Graham says he would follow if he were in the White House. While he
doesn’t endorse all of the plan’s specifics, he speaks favorably of the
trade-offs that form its heart."
Sanders
may sign fundraising agreement with DNC. NYT: "Senator Bernie Sanders is on
the verge of signing a joint fund-raising agreement with the Democratic National
Committee, his aides said, a week after Hillary Rodham Clinton entered such an
arrangement ... Mr. Sanders has never aggressively courted the types of party
donors who hold major national events. But his aides indicated that he would
like to help the committee build its war chest in preparation for the 2016
general election."
"I’m
not a populist like Bernie," Biden tells party donors. The Hill: "...an
attendee who spoke to a pool reporter [said Biden] added that Sanders 'was doing
a great job exciting his crowds,' ... Biden was reportedly not asked about his
2016 plans and therefore did not address them."
Trump
has exposed the Tea Party as not libertarian, says Politico Magazine's Michael
Lind: "...the Summer of Trump was supposed to have been the Summer of Rand
Paul ... But Paul has all but disappeared from view ... Trump is no libertarian;
quite the opposite. He is a classic populist of the right who peddles suspicion
of foreigners..."
Union Momentum
The
political tides are favoring unions, argues W. Post's Harold Meyerson: "...
American workers may be beginning to reclaim what by right should be theirs ...
Ordinances to raise the local minimum wage ... have in the past few weeks been
enacted in St. Louis; Kansas City, Mo.; and Birmingham, Ala. ... In a mid-August
Gallup Poll, [unions] had a 58 percent approval rating, including 66 percent
among adults under 35 ..."
"Walmart
to Reopen 5 Stores Named in Union Complaint." Reuters: "The complaint filed
by the union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International, is still
pending. It said that Walmart closed a store in Pico Rivera, Calif., because
workers had been trying to organize for better pay and benefits. The other four
stores were included as cover, the union said. Walmart has denied the
claims."
"Low-Income
Workers See Biggest Drop in Paychecks" finds NYT: "...take-home pay for many
American workers has effectively fallen since the economic recovery began in
2009 ... The declines were greatest for the lowest-paid workers in sectors where
hiring has been strong — home health care, food preparation and retailing — even
though wages were already below average to begin with in those service
industries."
Obama Wraps Alaska Visit
Obama
becomes first president to visit Arctic Alaska. WSJ: "[He] came bearing
modest policy announcements, including an assistance package for Arctic
communities and a coordinated effort to bolster climate resilience. Earlier
Wednesday, Mr. Obama flew to the fishing community of Dillingham. There, he
highlighted his administration’s decision to block oil and gas exploration in
Bristol Bay, home to one of the largest wild salmon fisheries in the world ...
Mr. Obama made no mention of his administration’s recent move to allow Royal
Dutch Shell to drill in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska’s coast."
Mixed
reaction from locals. NYT: "...Sewalik, an inland village of 900 people[,]
has been trying for 10 years to relocate to higher ground but has struggled to
find the money to do it ... 'If there becomes, as a result of all of this, a
focal point where communities that are really facing the brunt of this climate
change crisis can go to get their issues addressed ... that would be the best
that could come of this,' said Reggie Joule, the mayor of the Northwest Arctic
Borough ... [But] 'What is $2 million going to give us?' [Sewalik's Diane]
Ramoth said with a rueful smile. 'A dream?'"
Progressive
Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to
activists. Progressive Breakfast is a project of the Campaign for America's
Future. more
»
