RELATED: Our country isn’t broke — It’s being robbed. Stand up against cuts to vital programs and demand the wealthy pay their fair share. You’ve probably heard about the political game called “The Fiscal Cliff.” But, it’s actually a Fiscal Bluff — a self inflicted crisis designed to create urgency to make us believe our nation is broke and that we must cut vital programs. This is false and we won’t stand for it. Corrupt billionaires, tax-dodging corporations, and those who serve them have manufactured this crisis and are refusing to pay their fair share. Join us in telling them: #NOMORECUTS. MORE
VAN JONES: Today, my organization Rebuild the Dream is partnering with CultureStrike, 5D Stories, and dozens of artists for ARTSTRIKE, a day of action to get exactly that message out there. You can help by sharing some of the pieces below. These artists come from all different cultures and backgrounds, from coast to coast. And they’re all standing up and saying “stop the madness.” Progressives act as if one more pile of fact sheets and reports will finally tip opinions to our side. They won’t. Art like this will. It will get people’s attention, get them thinking, and get them engaged. As important as tactics like phone calls or staging rallies or signing petitions are, art like this will shift our culture faster than we think. BUT that only happens if we put it in front of people. So I’m posting some of my favorite pieces below, and I’m hoping you’ll help me share them far and wide…MORE
PREVIOUSLY: Like pretty much everybody not named Tom Corbett, I like Ed Rendell. A lot. How could you not? He’s big, hairy, loud, part grizzly, part cheesesteak, publicly questions the testicular fortitude of entire nations, brought the city 
back from the brink of death, etc. Plus, he’s a jedi when it comes to the dark arts of retail politics: shaking babies, kissing hands, slapping backs while guffawing on cue, shaking down donors, settling scores, holding grudges, and, most importantly, making you believe in your heart of hearts that he is on your side, even when he’s not.
Like right now.
In addition to his current duties as professional-liberal-even-Joe-Sixpack-can-love on MSNBC, Ballard Spahr court jester, and corporate consiglier at Greenhill & Co investment bank, Rendell is currently co-chairing the steering committee of something called The CEO Campaign To Fix The Debt — a blue-chip cabal of 130-plus plutocrats who have anted up a $43 million kitty to fund a multimedia stealth campaign/public relations offensive to convince the turkeys to vote for Thanksgiving.
Fix The Debt is pushing for radical alterations to the tax code to legalize a hundred-plus billion dollar corporate tax dodge and pass the buck onto the middle/working/underclass in the form of deep cuts to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, all the while masquerading as a selfless crusade to save the nation from going over the [cue thunder and lightning] financial cliff. Bless their blackened hearts. MORE
TOTAL STUDENT LOAN DEBT: One Trillion Dollars
That’s more than all the credit card debt. And it’s no accident.