Opinion - Robert Scheer

  • Kill the Child, Spare the Lamb

    Robert Scheer - Tue, Mar 26, 2013

    Sorry to be such a nudge, but as I write this before heading off to yet another in a long lifetime of Passover Seders, I still can't get my head wrapped around this business of the plagues. Particularly that 10th plague, the one that gave the Passover holiday its name when: "On that night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn — both men and animals — and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD." More »Kill the Child, Spare the Lamb

  • From Greenwashing to Workerwashing

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Dec 12, 2012

    Big Industrial Ag pretends to go organic. PC behemoths mimic Apple products. Barack Obama goes to the right of the Republicans on civil liberties. Mitt Romney suddenly portrays himself as a left-leaning moderate on immigration. It seems no matter the arena, the most cliched move in corporate and political combat is to co-opt an opponent's message, expecting nobody to notice or care. More »From Greenwashing to Workerwashing

  • Note to editors

    Robert Scheer - Fri, Jul 20, 2012

    More »Note to editors

  • Health Care: Give the People What They Want

    Robert Scheer - Fri, Jun 22, 2012

    The nutty thing about the health care debate that will play a prominent role in the next election is that most Americans want pretty much the same outcome: to control costs without sacrificing quality. And that's not what either major-party candidate is offering. Few think that Obamacare, a Romneycare descendant that contains the same kind of individual mandate the then-governor of Massachusetts signed into law, will get us to that desired goal. Nor would Mitt Romney, who has been reborn as a celebrant of the old, pre-Obama system with a few nips and tucks. More »Health Care: Give the People What They Want

  • Democrats Failed in Wisconsin Because They Failed Wisconsin

    Robert Scheer - Fri, Jun 8, 2012

    On, Wisconsin! Or so it was meant to be with a union-led recall in the home state of Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette Sr., the populist governor and senator who once shaped the cry for anti-corporate social justice in this nation. After La Follette, there was the Wisconsinite William Proxmire, the great conscience of the U.S. Senate, followed by the equally impressive Russ Feingold, who, despite being exactly correct in warning of the consequences of unfettered banking greed, was turned out by Wisconsin voters in 2010. ... More »Democrats Failed in Wisconsin Because They Failed Wisconsin

  • Do the Bain Hustle

    Robert Scheer - Fri, May 25, 2012

    Obviously, Barack Obama was right in criticizing Mitt Romney's stewardship of Bain Capital. How else to evaluate the business experience that Romney has made a central tenet of his campaign? More »Do the Bain Hustle

  • Obama Can't Knock the Hustle

    Robert Scheer - Fri, May 18, 2012

    How did we end up with such smart scoundrels? Even after it was known that Jamie Dimon's bank blew more than $2 billion on the same suspect derivatives trading that has bankrupted the world's economy, Barack Obama still had praise for the intellect of his political backer and the integrity of the bank he heads: "JPMorgan is one of the best-managed banks there is," the president told the hosts of ABC's "The View" in an interview televised Tuesday, adding, "Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got. ... More »Obama Can't Knock the Hustle

  • Hope and Hesitation in Obama's Sudden Conversion

    Robert Scheer - Fri, May 11, 2012

    Once again, President Barack Obama has come tantalizingly close to being terrific. But his failure of courage on the gay marriage issue, in the end, undermined the point he hoped to make Wednesday. As with his prior rhetorical flashes of principle in denouncing torture, commiserating with the victims of Wall Street fraud and resolving to end unjustifiable wars, he quickly waffled and the result was a continuation of that which is fundamentally wrong. More »Hope and Hesitation in Obama's Sudden Conversion

  • Halfway Through the Lost Decade

    Robert Scheer - Fri, Apr 27, 2012

    Does anyone care that the economy is floundering and that we are not getting out of this crisis anytime soon? Housing values are in the cellar, the Fed foresees unemployment remaining unacceptably high for the next three years, and national economic growth is predicted to be, at best, anemic. More »Halfway Through the Lost Decade

  • For He's a Jolly Good Scoundrel

    Robert Scheer - Fri, Apr 20, 2012

    How evil is this? At a time when two-thirds of U.S. homeowners are drowning in mortgage debt and the American dream has crashed for tens of millions more, Sanford Weill, the banker most responsible for the nation's economic collapse, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. More »For He's a Jolly Good Scoundrel

  • If a Republican Were President …

    Robert Scheer - Thu, Oct 13, 2011

    If a Republican were president, there would be millions of properly coiffed middle-class Democrats and independents at those Occupy Wall Street marches, and no questions asked as to what they really want. With 25 million Americans unable to find full-time work, 50 million whose homeownership dream has turned into the nightmare of foreclosure, and an all-time high of 46.2 million — including 22 percent of our children — living in poverty, the call to throw the bums out would be compelling. More »If a Republican Were President …

  • What Do They Want? Justice

    Robert Scheer - Thu, Oct 6, 2011

    How can anyone possessed of the faintest sense of social justice not thrill to the Occupy Wall Street movement now spreading throughout the country? One need not be religiously doctrinaire to recognize this as a come-to-Jesus moment, when the money-changers stand exposed and the victims of their avarice are at long last offered succor. More »What Do They Want? Justice

  • Cheney's Deceit of Shakespearean Proportions

    Robert Scheer - Thu, Sep 1, 2011

    Behold this unctuous knave, a disgrace to his nation as few before him, yet boasting unvarnished virtue. The deceit of Dick Cheney is indeed of Shakespearean proportions, as evidenced in his new memoir. For the former vice president, lying comes so easily that one must assume he takes the pursuit of truth to be nothing more than a reckless indulgence. More »Cheney's Deceit of Shakespearean Proportions

  • Amnesty for the Indefensible

    Robert Scheer - Thu, Aug 25, 2011

    They will get away with it, at least in this life. More »Amnesty for the Indefensible

  • Another Bailout Joins the Goofball Economy

    Robert Scheer - Thu, Aug 11, 2011

    The whole thing is nuts. More »Another Bailout Joins the Goofball Economy

  • The Recovery Is Dead, Long Live the Recovery

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Aug 3, 2011

    The die has been cast. Obama's "nearly complete capitulation to the hostage-taking demands of Republican extremists," as an editorial in the normally sedate New York Times described the deal to raise the debt ceiling, is a disaster in the making. It rules out a vigorous government response to the persistent economic stagnation in which joblessness, housing foreclosures and an ever-widening gap between the top 2 percent and the rest of Americans have become the norm. More »The Recovery Is Dead, Long Live the Recovery

  • Debt Madness Was Always About Killing Social Security

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jul 27, 2011

    This phony debt crisis has now passed through the looking glass into the realm where madness reigns. What should have been an uneventful moment in which lawmakers make good on the nation's contractual obligations has instead been seized upon by Republican hypocrites as a moment to settle ideological scores that have nothing to do with the debt. More »Debt Madness Was Always About Killing Social Security

  • Sorry, Elizabeth, Wall Street Said No

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jul 20, 2011

    So much for the meritocracy. Despite an elite education, effusive charm and brilliant wit, Barack Obama, like Bill Clinton before him, has ended up betraying his humble origins by abjectly serving the most rapacious variant of Wall Street greed. They both talk a good progressive game, but when push comes to shove — meaning when the banking lobby weighs in — big money talks, and the best and the brightest fold. More »Sorry, Elizabeth, Wall Street Said No

  • The GOP's Sick Priorities

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jul 13, 2011

    How deceptive for politicians to stress "entitlements" when they talk about gutting Social Security and Medicare, two programs long paid for by their beneficiaries. The Republicans make it sound as if they're doing us a favor, cutting government waste by seeking to strangle America's two most successful domestic programs. And now Barack Obama seems poised to join their camp in undermining the essential lifeline for most of the nation's seniors, many of whom lost their retirement savings in the banking meltdown. More »The GOP's Sick Priorities

  • The Tea Party and Goldman Sachs -- A Love Story

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jul 6, 2011

    Face it. We live in two nations, sharply divided by an enormous economic chasm between the super-rich and everyone else. This should be an obvious fact of life for most Americans. Just read the story in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal headlined "Profits Thrive in Weak Recovery." Or the recent New York Times story pointing out "that the median pay for top executives at 200 big companies last year was $10.8 million," a 23 percent gain over the year before. More »The Tea Party and Goldman Sachs -- A Love Story

  • Yes to Violence, No to Sex

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jun 29, 2011

    This American life of ours has long been pro-violence and anti-sex, unless the two can be merged so that violence is the dominant theme. The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that historical record on Monday in declaring California's ban on the sale of violent video games to minors unconstitutional while continuing to deny constitutional protection to purely prurient sexual material for either minors or adults. More »Yes to Violence, No to Sex

  • Bill Clinton's Legacy of Denial

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jun 22, 2011

    Does Bill Clinton still not grasp that the current economic crisis is in large measure his legacy? Obviously that's the case, or he wouldn't have had the temerity to write a 14-point memo for Newsweek on how to fix the economy that never once refers to the home mortgage collapse and other manifestations of Wall Street greed that he enabled as president. More »Bill Clinton's Legacy of Denial

  • Seven Republican Dwarfs

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jun 15, 2011

    They assumed the stance of the Seven Dwarfs, not as a matter of physical but rather intellectual stature. Not one of the candidates for the GOP presidential nomination who debated Monday night rose to a point of seriousness in addressing the nation's grievous problems. Instead, they ever so playfully thumbed their collective noses at any possible meaningful government reaction to the mess that we are in. It was Herbert Hoover warmed over, leaving Barack Obama secure in the mantle of FDR whether he deserves that tribute or not. More »Seven Republican Dwarfs

  • The Bernanke Scandal: Full-Frontal Cluelessness

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jun 8, 2011

    How I wish that Ben Bernanke would get caught emailing photos of his underwear-clad groin. Otherwise, we don't stand a chance of reversing this administration's economic policy, which is shaping up to be every bit as disastrous as that of its predecessor. More »The Bernanke Scandal: Full-Frontal Cluelessness

  • Geithner and Goldman, Thick as Thieves

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jun 1, 2011

    What was Timothy Geithner thinking back in 2008 when, as president of the New York Fed, he decided to give Goldman Sachs a $30 billion interest-free loan as part of an $80 billion secret float to favored banks? More »Geithner and Goldman, Thick as Thieves

  • Access Journalism: The Movie

    Robert Scheer - Wed, May 25, 2011

    It is not true, as a Wall Street Journal reviewer claimed, that the HBO movie version of Andrew Sorkin's book "Too Big to Fail" was "Too Boring to Watch." On the contrary, the problem with the film, featuring excellent acting and taut direction, as with the richly anecdotal book, is that it is all too effectively misleading. More »Access Journalism: The Movie

  • One Lawman With the Guts to Go After Wall Street

    Robert Scheer - Wed, May 18, 2011

    The fix was in to let the Wall Street scoundrels off the hook for the enormous damage they caused in creating the Great Recession. All of the leading politicians and officials, federal and state, Republican and Democrat, were on board to complete the job of saving the banks while ignoring their victims ... until last week, when the attorney general of New York refused to go along. More »One Lawman With the Guts to Go After Wall Street

  • What's the GOP Without Bin Laden?

    Robert Scheer - Wed, May 11, 2011

    Pity Bill O'Reilly and the rest of the Republican right wing led by the forlorn slate of candidates gearing up to challenge Barack Obama in the next presidential election. They lost their cherished patriotism card as a means of deflecting attention from an economy that exploded on their watch. Beating up on Medicare won't cut it as a platform when you don't have the specter of Osama bin Laden to scare voters. More »What's the GOP Without Bin Laden?

  • A Monster of Our Own Creation

    Robert Scheer - Wed, May 4, 2011

    He was our kind of guy until he wasn't, an ally during the Cold War until he no longer served our purposes. The problem with Osama bin Laden was not that he was a fanatical holy warrior — we liked his kind just fine as long as the infidels he targeted were not us but Russians and the secular Afghans in power in Kabul whom the Soviets backed. More »A Monster of Our Own Creation

  • All the WikiLeaks Fit to Print

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Apr 27, 2011

    There is a craven disconnect between the eagerness of leading editors to exploit the important news revealed by WikiLeaks and their efforts to distance themselves from both the courageous website and Bradley Manning, the alleged source of documents posted there. Alleged is required when referring to the Army private so as not to repeat the egregious error of a constitutional-law-professor-turned-president who has already presumed Manning guilty of crimes for which he is not even formally charged. More »All the WikiLeaks Fit to Print

  • The New Corporate World Order

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Apr 20, 2011

    The debate over Republicans' insistence on continued tax breaks for the super-rich and the corporations they run should come to a screeching halt with the report in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal headlined "Big U.S. Firms Shift Hiring Abroad." More »The New Corporate World Order

  • The False Debate on Debt

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Apr 13, 2011

    In the ever-so-smug company of the rich and powerful, it is a given that there is never to be any expression of remorse or other acknowledgement of the pain they have inflicted on the lesser mortals they so cavalierly plunder. It's convenient for them that the media and the politicians, which they happen to own, rarely connect the dots between the scams that made the rich so rich and the alarming rise in the federal debt that is crushing this nation. More »The False Debate on Debt

  • The Peasants Need Pitchforks

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Apr 6, 2011

    A "working class hero," John Lennon told us in his song of that title, "is something to be/ Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV/ And you think you're so clever and classless and free/ But you're still f—-ing peasants as far as I can see." More »The Peasants Need Pitchforks

  • Obama's Fatal Addiction

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Mar 30, 2011

    If it had been revealed that Jeffrey Immelt once hired an undocumented nanny, or defaulted on his mortgage, he would be forced to resign as head of President Barack Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. But the fact that General Electric, where Immelt is CEO, didn't pay taxes on its $14.5 billion profit last year — and indeed is asking for a $3.2 billion tax rebate — has not produced a word of criticism from the president, who in January praised Immelt as a business leader who "understands what it takes for America to compete in the global economy." More »Obama's Fatal Addiction

  • Be Consistent -- Invade Saudi Arabia

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Mar 23, 2011

    It's the black gold that drives nations mad and inevitably raises the question of whether America and the former European colonial powers give a damn about human rights as the basis for military intervention. More »Be Consistent -- Invade Saudi Arabia

  • No Nukes Is Good Nukes

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Mar 16, 2011

    When it comes to the safety of nuclear power plants, I am biased. And I'll bet that if President Barack Obama had been with me on that trip to Chernobyl 24 years ago, he wouldn't be as sanguine about the future of nuclear power as he was Tuesday in an interview with a Pittsburgh television station: "Obviously, all energy sources have their downside. I mean, we saw that with the Gulf spill last summer." More »No Nukes Is Good Nukes

  • Still in the Dark About 9/11

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Mar 9, 2011

    Ignorance is the real victor in the president's reluctant decision to abandon the effort to bring the alleged perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attack to account in civilian court. More »Still in the Dark About 9/11

  • Boeing Boondoggle -- Pork Can Fly

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Mar 2, 2011

    "The gift that keeps on giving" should have been the headline on the Pentagon's decision to award Boeing Co. a $35 billion defense contract. Defense of the nation, of course, had nothing to do with it, since the end of the Cold War also ended the need for midair refueling of the nuclear-armed bombers intended to retaliate after a Soviet first strike, a scenario brought to the public eye in the 1964 movie "Dr. Strangelove." More »Boeing Boondoggle -- Pork Can Fly

  • Betting on Arianna

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Feb 23, 2011

    In defense of Arianna Huffington. Not that the lady needs one, having been a leader in undermining the right-wing dominance of Internet reporting. Defenders of a free press should be thrilled that it is Huffington who is now merging with AOL rather than Matt Drudge, the unrivaled leader of Internet news whom I first met at Arianna's home when she was cozier with the right. More »Betting on Arianna

  • Home Sweet Wall Street

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Feb 16, 2011

    A most dastardly deed occurred last Friday, when the Obama administration issued a 29-page policy statement totally abandoning the federal government's time-honored role in helping Americans achieve the goal of homeownership. Instead of punishing the banks that sabotaged the American ideal of a nation of stakeholders by "securitizing" our homesteads into poker chips to be gambled away in the Wall Street casino, Barack Obama now proposes to turn over the entire mortgage industry to those same banks. More »Home Sweet Wall Street

  • Obama Pulls a Clinton

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jan 19, 2011

    Here we go again. When Bill Clinton suffered an electoral reversal after his first two years in office, he abruptly embraced the corporate money guys who had financed his congressional opposition in an effort to purchase a second term. More »Obama Pulls a Clinton

  • Perps in the White House

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jan 12, 2011

    While it is widely recognized that the banking meltdown has left enormous economic pain and political upheaval in its wake, it is amazing that the folks who created this mess are rewarded with ever more important positions in our government. Yet the recent appointments of Gene Sperling and William Daley, key Wall Street-connected perps of this crisis, to the most critical positions in the Obama White House have not generated much controversy. More »Perps in the White House

  • Lanny Davis Puts Dems to Shame

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Jan 5, 2011

    Last week, The New York Times carried a report on the tawdry lobbying practice of Lanny J. Davis, who first came to public attention with his strident defense of Bill Clinton following the stained blue dress incident. As the Times reported, Davis now spins the truth for political leaders with much more horrendous acts to hide: More »Lanny Davis Puts Dems to Shame

  • In Money-Changers We Trust

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Dec 29, 2010

    Two years into the Obama presidency, and the economic data is still looking grim. More »In Money-Changers We Trust

  • Speaking Ill of 'the Best and the Brightest'

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Dec 22, 2010

    One of "the best and the brightest" died last week, and in Richard Holbrooke we had a perfect example of the dark mischief to which David Halberstam referred when he authored that ironic label. More »Speaking Ill of 'the Best and the Brightest'

  • Return of the Great Triangulator

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Dec 15, 2010

    The sight of Bill Clinton back on the White House podium defending tax cuts for the super-rich was more a sick joke than a serious amplification of economic policy. More »Return of the Great Triangulator

  • From Jefferson to Assange

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Dec 8, 2010

    All you need to know about Julian Assange's value as a crusading journalist is that The New York Times and most of the world's other leading newspapers have led daily with important news stories based on his WikiLeaks releases. All you need to know about the collapse of traditional support for the constitutional protection of a free press is that Dianne Feinstein, the centrist Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, has called for Assange "to be vigorously prosecuted for espionage." More »From Jefferson to Assange

  • Hillary Gets Wiki-Served

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Dec 1, 2010

    Hillary Clinton should cut out the whining about what the Obama administration derides as "stolen cables" and confront the unpleasant truths they reveal about the contradictions of U.S. foreign policy and her own troubling performance. As with the earlier batch of WikiLeaks, in this latest release the corruption of our partners in Iraq and Afghanistan stands in full relief, and the net effect of nearly a decade of warfare is recognized as a strengthening of Iran's influence throughout the region. More »Hillary Gets Wiki-Served

  • Fail and Grow Rich on Wall Street

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Nov 24, 2010

    Welcome to the brave new world of post-bailout capitalism. The Commerce Department announced Tuesday that corporate profits are at their highest level in U.S. history, and the Fed released minutes of an early November meeting in which officials predicted a stagnant economy and continued high unemployment. More »Fail and Grow Rich on Wall Street

  • The Man Who Shattered Our Economy

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Nov 17, 2010

    Rejoice, the housing market is back. Sandy Weill just picked up a humdinger of a wine vineyard estate in Sonoma, Calif., for a record $31 million, so the foreclosure crisis — which the former CEO of Citigroup did so much to create when he successfully lobbied then-President Bill Clinton to sign off on radical deregulation of the banking industry — must be over. More »The Man Who Shattered Our Economy

  • The Life and Times of Bush the Clueless

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Nov 10, 2010

    It takes a Harvard MBA to raze an economy. Perhaps that is too narrow a judgment given that a law degree from that institution or from Yale University seems to serve as well. But the Harvard MBA is the degree that George W. Bush and his last treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, had in common, and their shared ignorance as they presided over the collapse of the U.S. economy is on full display in the former president's newly published memoir. More »The Life and Times of Bush the Clueless

  • Payback at the Polls

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Nov 3, 2010

    Let's not shoot the messenger. Yes, the tea party victors are a mixed bag espousing often contradictory and at times weird positions, the source of their funding is questionable, and their proposed solutions are vague and at times downright nutty. But they represent the most significant political response to the economic pain that has traumatized swaths of the nation at a time when so-called progressives have been reduced to abject impotence by their deference to a Democratic president. More »Payback at the Polls

  • The High Price of Patriotism

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Oct 27, 2010

    It's over for the U.S. in Afghanistan, but that doesn't mean the death and destruction are about to stop. Quagmires don't just go away. The signs are everywhere, however, that the American course in that nation is doomed, that those directing this forlorn attempt at occupation of a country that has never tolerated occupation know there is no positive end in sight, and that the locals from President Hamid Karzai to the competing warlords and the Taliban are cutting their own deals on the assumption that our wishes no longer matter. More »The High Price of Patriotism

  • Obama Hires a Hustler

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Oct 20, 2010

    One day, as Wall Street was crashing, President George W. Bush had the temerity to plaintively ask his treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, "How did this happen?" Paulson, who headed Goldman Sachs before taking the Treasury job, remarks in his memoir, "It was a humbling question for someone from the financial sector to be asked — after all, we were the ones responsible." More »Obama Hires a Hustler

  • Invasion of the Robot Home Snatchers

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Oct 13, 2010

    The Titanic that is the U.S. housing market has just sprung its biggest leak, and even some of the largest banks responsible for this mess, like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, are now imposing a temporary moratorium on foreclosures. They have done so very reluctantly and only after courts throughout the nation, and the attorneys general of 40 states, questioned the legality of a securitized system of homeownership that has impoverished tens of millions. More »Invasion of the Robot Home Snatchers

  • Hey, Michelle, Read My Book

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Oct 6, 2010

    On Tuesday, I received yet another deceptively personal e-mail addressed to "Robert" from Michelle Obama asking me once again to contribute to the "amazing journey" toward "progress" that her husband has led. More »Hey, Michelle, Read My Book

  • The Big Guy Is on Our Side

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Sep 29, 2010

    Paul Volcker, or the "big guy," as President Barack Obama refers to the former Federal Reserve chair who heads his Economic Recovery Advisory Board, nailed it in a series of blistering remarks on the sorry state of our economy. But what he said was even tougher than was indicated by the media's scattergun reporting on his speech last Thursday to the Chicago Fed. Thanks to Reuters, which posted the video coverage online, it is possible to take the full measure of his concern over where we are and how we got here. More »The Big Guy Is on Our Side

  • So Long, Summers

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Sep 22, 2010

    Finally! The announced departure of Lawrence Summers as the president's top economic adviser is welcome news. Harvard's loss in taking back its $586,996-a-year professor and "president emeritus," who is also paid millions by Wall Street on the side, is the nation's gain. More »So Long, Summers

  • After Summers Comes the Fall

    Robert Scheer - Wed, Sep 15, 2010

    When will the president give Lawrence Summers his pink slip? He can thank him for his years of service and use the excuse that his top economic adviser wants to spend more time with his family. I don't care how he sugarcoats it. But Summers deserves the same fate as the millions of workers laid off because of the banking debacle he helped cause, the dire consequences of which he has done precious little to mitigate. More »After Summers Comes the Fall

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