Bob Lord

Bob has mostly wound down his 39-year career as a tax and business lawyer (with a 1-year interruption to run for Congress in 2008 (CD3), when he tried to unseat John Shadegg. Bob now serves as the senior advisor on tax policy for the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy Americans who believe the light taxation of America's rich is destabilizing our democracy, and as an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Bob has been writing for Blog For Arizona since late 2011, concentrating mostly on federal issues, with an occasional foray into Arizona state politics.

Progressive Litmus Test: Opposition To Larry Summers

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Posted by Bob Lord

Obama seems hell bent on nominating Larry Summers to be the next Fed Chair.

And progressives, particularly progressive women, are rightfully howling.

This is a true litmus test for the progressive community, and a test of our own grit.

If ever there was a time for progressive community and progressive members of Congress to draw a line in the sand and demand Obama not cross it, this is it. Summers is the consummate DLC / Third Way Democrat. His allegiance is to millionaires and billionaires, not working people. It's not that Janet Yellen would be a better choice, it's that there are about 100,000 better choices out there.  

And if a Rep or Senator voices support for Summers or fails to oppose his nomination, understand that Rep or Senator will not work for economic justice, no matter how much he or she supports abortion rights or same sex marriage. 

Warren Stewart: Gallego Is White. Don’t Vote For Her

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Posted by Bob Lord Some months ago, I called on Warren Stewart to disown the remarks of his supporter Mary Rose Wilcox. Now I'm calling on Wilcox to disown Stewart's remarks. And retract her endorsement. You have to see this to believe it — STEWART CAMPAIGN FLYER The message — from Stewart's own campaign — … Read more

Stone They Tried To Sink Rolling Faster Now

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Posted by Bob Lord I love when this kind of thing happens. Remember a few weeks back the concocted backlash against the Rolling Stone magazine for showing the surviving Marathon Bomber on its cover? The backlash was fomented by corporate America, with companies like CVS refusing to carry the supposedly offensive issue in their stores. … Read more

The Basic Income Guarantee

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Posted by Bob Lord

If you're done thinking about Anthony Weiner, here's something more substantive to consider: Has the time arrived for us to lift all Americans out of poverty?  

We've reached a level of national income that we have the means to do so. The real question is whether we have the morality to do so. More on that, later. 

The basic concept is a simple one. Whether it's through the tax code or some other vehicle, we restructure (and simplify) the safety net in America to ensure that each American household is at or above the poverty line. In other words, a basic income guarantee.

Detroit: The End Result of Inequality

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Posted by Bob Lord

Robert Recih has a post, Income Inequality Ruined Detroit, that connects the dots between income inequality and crisis Detroit faces. If you look at the Detroit metropolitan area as a whole, things are actually okay:

Its suburbs are among the richest in the nation. Oakland County, for example, is the fourth wealthiest county in the United States, of counties with a million or more residents. Greater Detroit — which includes the suburbs — is among the nation’s top five financial centers, the top four centers of high-technology employment, and the second-biggest source of engineering and architectural talent. Not everyone is wealthy, to be sure, but the median household in the region earns close to $50,000 a year, and unemployment is no higher than the nation’s average. The median household in Birmingham, Michigan, just across the border that delineates the city of Detroit, earned more than $94,000 last year; in nearby Bloomfield Hills — still within the Detroit metropolitan area — the median was more than $150,000.