Stories by Robert Kuttner
Robert Kuttner is the author of A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama’s Promise, Wall Street’s Power, and the Struggle to Control our Economic Future, recently published by Chelsea Green Publishing Company. Kuttner also authored Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency and several other books on politics and the economy. He is coeditor of The American Prospect magazine and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the progressive think tank Demos. He is a regular commentator on TV and radio, and a contributor to The Huffington Post and The Boston Globe, and a former longtime columnist for BusinessWeek. Previously, he was chief investigator of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and a national staff writer on The Washington Post.
Posted on Dec 27, 2011, Source: Huffington Post
Don't fall for another attempt to balance the hard-right with centrism that undermines progressive values and causes.
Posted on Oct 10, 2011, Source: AlterNet
If events turn critical again and we face a repeat risk of the seizing up of financial markets as in the fall of 2008, the president will need to make a fateful decision.
Posted on Feb 28, 2011, Source: Huffington Post
The real solutions to our problems lie beyond what is currently deemed thinkable in mainstream politics.
Posted on Dec 16, 2010, Source: Huffington Post
Obama has signaled that he might include Social Security cuts as part of a grand deficit-reduction deal. If that occurs, expect civil war among the Democrats.
Posted on Nov 28, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Progressives must move from disillusion to action and offer the kind of political movement and counter-narrative that the President should have been leading.
Posted on Sep 13, 2010, Source: Huffington Post
If Obama can smoke out Republican ideas, most voters will notice that they agree with him more than they agree with John Boehner and the GOP.
Posted on Aug 2, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Congress will either cut government outlay before a full economic recovery, or increase public spending and put Americans back to work. Much depends on Obama's leadership.
Posted on Jun 28, 2010, Source: Huffington Post
Obama is giving too much attention to deficit-reduction, and not enough to jobs.
Posted on Jun 2, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Imagine how much more reform we could get if Obama clearly weighed in on behalf of David rather than Goliath.
Posted on Apr 24, 2010, Source: AlterNet
If the Senate Democratic Leadership can resist the snake oil of a bipartisan deal, the bill will probably get stronger as it works its way through Congress.
Posted on Apr 18, 2010, Source: Chelsea Green Publishing
The Treasury Department is caught between two opposite and incompatible goals: It must maximize bank earnings while simultaneously diverting the housing market's nosedive.
Posted on Feb 8, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Obama seems to be determined to give bipartisanship one more shot, hoping he can smooth out GOP obstruction to his agenda.
Posted on Jan 25, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Obama knows he needs to be more populist when it comes to the banks, though it remains to be seen how hard he'll fight.
Posted on Jan 11, 2010, Source: AlterNet
Bernanke's defeat would be a repudiation of President Obama's close alliance with Wall Street -- but it would be extremely salutary for him and for the public.
Posted on Dec 21, 2009, Source: Bill Moyers Journal
Could a crushing defeat on health reform teach Democrats to stop prioritizing corporate interests?
Posted on Jul 7, 2009, Source: Huffington Post
Several events of the past week should be a wake-up call to the Obama administration. Bottom line: the medicine isn't working.
Posted on May 26, 2009, Source: Huffington Post
Obama doesn't lack leadership or nerve, which makes his dithering on the financial crisis and straddling on torture all the more bewildering.
Posted on May 11, 2009, Source: Huffington Post
It's been suggested that Obama is focusing on Republican self-destruction and that he'll get around to reforming Wall Street next year.
Posted on Apr 28, 2009, Source: Huffington Post
Public approval of a president is not like a stock of savings. Obama has yet to decide what to invest in.
Posted on Apr 14, 2009, Source: Huffington Post
It ain't easy to play the role of loyal opposition to a progressive president who seems determined at times to be captured by Wall Street.
Posted on Feb 24, 2009, Source: The Washington Post
Gutting Social Security and Medicare to pay for the sins of Wall Street is a perverse idea.
Posted on Jan 12, 2009, Source: AlterNet
As he crafts an economic recovery plan, Obama faces the danger of being too "post-partisan" and doing too little too late.
Posted on Dec 25, 2008, Source: Boston Globe
While there's no shortage of good uses for a huge stimulus package, there's going to be plenty of opponents standing in its way.
Posted on Nov 7, 2008, Source: Chelsea Green Publishing
A new book shows how Obama needs to address the economic emergency, starting with practical help for families and individuals.
Posted on Sep 22, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Do Democrats have the nerve to challenge the major flaws in Paulson's plan?
Posted on Sep 19, 2008, Source: AlterNet
Help must go to the ordinary people who have suffered harm, not just wealthy insiders. That should be the price of a deal.
Posted on Sep 18, 2008, Source: Boston Globe
The Bush administration's strategy boiled down to allowing Wall Street to privatize the gains while government socialized the losses.
Posted on Sep 18, 2008, Source: The American Prospect
Free-market extremists brought us this needless economic collapse. Here's a rundown of the mistakes we've made and the reforms we need now.
Posted on Sep 9, 2008, Source: Huffington Post
Amid all the hubbub, it's important to remember Fannie Mae's pedigree.
Posted on Sep 4, 2008, Source: AlterNet
In this strategy, every Democratic misstep is inflated into a cultural parable, while gaping holes in the Republican story are neatly sidestepped.
Posted on Feb 15, 2008, Source: The American Prospect
A "stimulus" package only works for ordinary, business-cycle downturns. But this is no ordinary recession.
Posted on Oct 8, 2007, Source: AlterNet
The parallels between then and now are frightening.
Posted on Sep 24, 2007, Source: Boston Globe
For more than two decades, the Federal Reserve has been prime enabler of a dangerously speculative economy.
Posted on Aug 29, 2006, Source: The American Prospect
Cheney's the real president. It'd be nice if the press noticed.
Posted on Jul 18, 2006, Source: The American Prospect
Fear of being voted out of office is the only thing that seems to convince Congress to do the right thing.
Posted on Jan 5, 2006, Source: The American Prospect
The new Republican Medicare bill is about to kick in, and what it offers to seniors isn't pretty.
Posted on Sep 5, 2005, Source: The American Prospect
Employment trends are hitting young people especially hard -- but not all young people.
Posted on May 27, 2005, Source: The American Prospect
The idea that 'moderates' stepped in to the filibuster debate to save the day just happens to fit one of the media's pet narratives. Problem is, it just ain't the reality.
