Mary Bottari's News Articles

A Field Guide to the Koch O’ Nuts Behind the Near Government Default

by Mary Bottari — October 17, 2013 - 11:01am
  • Topics: Democracy

    • President Obama signed a debt deal at 12:30 a.m. averting a catastrophic debt default in the nick of time.

    In a city of manufactured crisis it is sometimes hard to distinguish real issues from fake ones, but the debt ceiling deadline is a serious issue. Since Congress failed to pass a budget, the Treasury Department ran out of authority to borrow months ago. October 17, 2013 was the day that the Treasury Department said it would be unable to juggle the accounts to pay the nation's obligations.

    The consequences of a default to the economy would be catastrophic, stocks and pension funds would crash as interest rates would jump. Just the two-week government shutdown and the threat of default took a $24 billion dollar bite out of the economy, says the S&P.

    Op-Ed

    Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson Reach New Heights of Hypocrisy in "Fix the Debt" Ad

    by Mary Bottari — October 14, 2013 - 5:21pm

    The Campaign to Fix the Debt, the $40 million dollar astroturf “supergroup” that CMD exposed on the cover of the Nation magazine, has shifted into high gear in an effort to leverage the debt ceiling crisis into cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

    News

    Dear WWII Vets, Forget About the Monument, They Are Gunning for Your Social Security

    by Mary Bottari — October 9, 2013 - 7:55am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations, Democracy, Economy

    • Apparently the only thing both Democrats and Republicans can agree on in Washington, DC, is that they can't deal with bad press involving Honor Flight vets.

    This led to absurd images of Republicans -- who had shut down the federal government, including all monuments and museums -- rushing to "aid" veterans shut out by monument closures. In the most revolting display, Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) publicly berated a National Park Service Ranger for a situation created entirely by Congress.

    News

    From Junk Bonds to Junk Schools: Cyber Schools Fleece Taxpayers for Phantom Students and Failing Grades

    by Mary Bottari — October 2, 2013 - 7:38am
  • Topics: Education, Outsourcing America Exposed

    • The data is in and K12 Inc.'s brand of full-time public "cyber school" is garbage. Not surprising for an educational model kicked off with a $10 million investment from junk-bond king Michael Milken.

    News

    Koch Bros Retainer to PRWatch: “Bring It!”

    by Mary Bottari — September 30, 2013 - 10:58am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Democracy

    • Some interesting emails were released as part of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's ongoing investigation of a $500,000 taxpayer grant awarded to the Koch-tied United Sportsmen's group. The grant was tailor-made for United Sportsmen and slipped into the budget by State Representative Scott Suder as one of his last acts as a state legislator. (Suder, who also served as ALEC's Wisconsin State Chair, was given a new job at the Public Utilities Commission and a $45,000 pay raise by Governor Scott Walker.)

    News

    Failing Up to the Fed, A Reporters' Guide to the Paper Trail Surrounding Larry Summers

    by Mary Bottari — September 3, 2013 - 7:35am
  • Topics: Banking, Real Economy Project

    • The Washington Post's Ezra Klein reports that Larry Summers is the "overwhelming favorite" of the Obama team for the job as Federal Reserve chairman. To convince the American public that one of the chief architects of the 2008 financial crisis should be the chief regulator of the U.S. financial system, supporters of Summers have their work cut out for them.

    Special Report

    ALEC 2013 Agenda Harkens Back to a Bygone Era

    by Mary Bottari — August 8, 2013 - 7:01am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations, Democracy

    • The year was 1973. Richard Nixon said he was "not a crook." John Dean said there was "a cancer on the presidency." Pinochet was taking over Chile; George Wallace was still in charge of Alabama. Gasoline was 40 cents a gallon and the minimum wage was $1.60 an hour.

    In Illinois, a group of legislators gathered to remake America. On their minds: "limited government," "free markets," "federalism" ... and let's not forget the girls.

    News

    The "Other NRA," the National Restaurant Association, Pushes Preemption of Paid Sick Days

    by Mary Bottari — July 24, 2013 - 9:53am
  • Topics: Corporations, Economy, Health

    • Today, the feisty advocates at the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), an organization founded in honor of the 73 employees of the Windows on the World restaurant who died on Sept. 11th, will be paying surprise visits to restaurants across the country that are members of the National Restaurant Association, including Capital Grille, Olive Garden, and Red Lobster.

    Op-Ed

    Time to Celebrate! Pete Peterson’s “Fix the Debt” Flunkies Blow Their July 4 Deadline for Austerity

    by Mary Bottari — July 5, 2013 - 6:39am
  • Topics: Economy

    • Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson's "astroturf supergroup," the Campaign to Fix the Debt, won't have much to celebrate this Independence Day weekend after missing its goal of achieving a "Grand Bargain" on austerity by July 4, 2013.

    News

    Ghost in the Machine: Pete Peterson Haunts College Campuses

    by Mary Bottari — May 13, 2013 - 6:44am
  • Topics: Banking, Economy

    • An odd couple made an appearance on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus recently: Tea Party Senator Ron Johnson and Madison's progressive Congressman Mark Pocan. The two were invited to participate in a conversation about the national debt hosted by a local student organization and a bevy of national groups, including the Comeback America Initiative, the Concord Coalition, the Can Kicks Back, and the Campaign to Fix the Debt. On the agenda: debt, deficits, and the economy.

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