We are betrayed by elected politicians and the fool economists they slavishly follow.

The announcement by Sen. Herb Kohl (WI) that he will not be seeking re-election makes him the sixth member of the Democratic caucus that has chosen not to run again this year. With Democrats forced to defend 23 of the 33 senate seats up in 2012, the loss of the incumbent advantage in another race is a minor setback for the party as it hopes to retain control of the Senate in 2012.

The unemployment rate has remained mostly stagnant over the past several months, despite job gains below the rate of the expanding population. With the kind of persistent destruction going on in the labor markets, are we’re really as a society worried about the anger level of the ultra-rich?

Why are the reasonably well-off commenters at the Wall Street Journal so hostile?

Public workers have the small amount of leverage they have because they can collectively bargain. Other industries that have no such protections are getting screwed on a daily basis – but right-wing ideologues who want to extend that leverage for management across all businesses blame the greedy union bosses because they don’t want to see actual retirement security spread to the masses.

Not everyone will get to be a millionaire investing in the stock market. A stable retirement includes Social Security, but you won’t get it if you don’t insist that it be left alone.

Four Democrats seeking gubernatorial and Senate seats, including three incumbents, decided against running in 2010, which will surely launch dozens of “Democrats in disarray” stories. But a cold political calculation suggests that Democrats are probably in exactly the same electoral position today than they were yesterday, although they lose quite a bit in institutional Senate knowledge.

Bah, humbug. Forget the cute socks hanging by the fireplace and the stomach-churning eggnog. ‘Tis the season to go after the Grinch. This year, there are many options. First up: “The Mitch Who Stole Christmas.” The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) is running a great action featuring one of this year’s worst anti-worker lawmakers, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

How appropriate Sen. John McCain didn’t mention the words “middle class” in this week’s presidential debate—or in the first presidential debate.

Because as a proponent of and heir to the greedy, corrupt, rich-first regime of the past eight years, McCain and the conservative ideologues he’s trying to distance himself from to win the election, are reaping the rotten fruits of policies that have systematically devastated the sound financial foundations of America’s working families.

This is really frightening. First, America’s workers lose their homes. Or the equity in their homes, or their ability to take out second mortgages to pay for unexpected expenses like health care crisis. So they turn to credit cards. Now, those cards increasingly are maxed out.
What’s left?
Retirement funds.
Remember back when 401(k) plans were introduced as the promised land of personal control over our retirement destiny?