A “level playing field” sounds inherently fair, so why should domestic solar manufacturing have to suffer for the sins of legacy energy production?

Whose oil is it under the ground? Who “owns” that oil? In Alaska they decided the oil belongs to the People of the state and that the People will benefit if it is extracted. When the oil was discovered they created as part of their Constitution to establish the Alaska Permanent Fund, which collects at least 25% of the proceeds from companies that drill, and use that money for the People of the state for current and all future generations.

There’s a lot I object to in Hendrik Hertzberg’s judgment of those opposed to the Senate health bill as “pathetic.”

Harold Pollack is clearly pleased that a lot of money is being directed to help people (even if it is in a very wasteful way). On the other hand, I see this large number, and it fills me with terror.

The current Senate health care reform bill has changed to include more subsidies for those between 300 and 400% of the poverty level, an improvement over previous iterations for the middle class. But it would still leave a family of four that had experienced a significant health care event with just $13,620 to pay for everything besides food, housing, health care, and income taxes.

Mother Jones magazine’s Kevin Drum doesn’t seem to understand the reason progressives are fighting hard for the public option; the fight for the public option is inseparable from the fight for better subsidies and affordability.