Today, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles will put out a new deficit-reduction plan. The pair served on President Obama's fiscal commission in 2010, and presented a plan to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff – a plan that was so focused on austerity, that 350 economists co-wrote and published a letter rejecting it. And Simpson-Bowles are at it again.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the new plan will aim to reduce the deficit by $2.4 trillion over 10 years, and include $600 billion in spending cuts to programs like Medicare and Medicaid. That's $200 billion more cuts than Obama said he's willing to accept in any plan. When Simpson-Bowles released their original plan, The AFL-CIO said “there's nothing 'fair and balanced' about the Simpson-Bowles budget plan...” and that it would, “ultimately increase unemployment, cut Social Security, tax workers' health benefits and scapegoat federal employees while giving more tax breaks for sending jobs overseas.”

This new plan is likely just a carbon copy of the first, and it's exactly the opposite of what we need to do to fix our economy, and grow the middle class. President Obama acknowledged this during his State of the Union speech saying, “we can't cut our way to prosperity.” That's right. Because no nation, in the history of the world, has ever cut its way to prosperity. And we shouldn't even worry about deficits at a time our economy is still struggling.

Stop the Republican austerity. Call Congress today and tell them to reject the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction plan.

-Thom

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Monday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Should FB and other billionaires have to pay their fair share?
- Chuck Gallagher, CEO / Author of 'Second Chances: Transforming Adversity into Opportunity'

Book: "Second Chances: Transforming Adversity into Opportunity" by Chuck Gallagher.

Article: "Facebook Paid No Corporate Income Tax Last Year, After Making More Than $1 Billion In Profits" by Pat Garofalo.

Article: "Facebook turns billion-dollar profit into tax refund" by Richard Chirgwin.

Article: "Fat-Cat Pay Makes Swiss So Mad Wages Face National Vote" by Patrick Winters & Eva von Schaper.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Case: "First National Bank Of Boston V. Bellotti", 1978.

Case: "Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad", 1886.

Case: "Dartmouth College v. Woodward", 1819.

The Big Picture
- Sam Sacks, The Big Picture producer, progressive commentator

Article: "Washington state fifth graders plotted to kill girl, authorities say" by Eric M. Johnson.

Article: "Maine, Texas GOP Consider Requiring High Schools To Teach Gun Classes" by Rebecca Leber.

Article: "How Law Enforcement and Media Covered Up the Plan to Burn Christopher Dorner Alive" by Max Blumenthal.

Article: "GOP Electoral Vote Scheme Still Alive And Kicking In Pennsylvania" by Benjy Sarlin.

Article: "“Cruise from hell”: Don’t pity Carnival’s passengers!" by Josh Eidelson.

Article: "The Company That Ran The ‘Cruise From Hell’ Pays Almost No Income Tax" by Pat Garofalo.

Article: "How CNN’s ‘Poop Ship’ Coverage Failed To Highlight A Real Global Health Issue" by Hayes Brown.

Article: "Why the Newest Psychiatric Diagnostic Bible Will Be a Boon for Big Pharma" by Bruce E. Levine.

Letter: "Alexander Hamilton to Edward Carrington", 26 May 1792.

Letter: "Alexander Hamilton to George Washington", Aug. 18, 1792.

Article: "Mark Sanford and the politics of forgiveness" by Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake.

Article: "Does 'Rehab' Help or Hurt?" by Maria Elena Fernandez.

Book: "Diagnosing Jefferson" by Norm Ledgin.

Article: "Constitution of the United States" Article 2.

Article: "Welcome to Debt Anonymous: Why America Needs to Act Now" by Mark McKinnon.

Article: "Two Santa Clauses or How The Republican Party Has Conned America for Thirty Years" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Boehner got ’98 percent’ of what he wanted in debt deal" by David Edwards.

Hour Two: How will health exchanges work?
- Jay Angoff, former Director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight-HHS

Article: "Obamacare deadline looms for holdout states" by Kyle Cheney and Jason Millman.

Why can't we negotiate with Big Pharma?
- Wendell Potter, former healthcare industry insider turned whistleblower / Author-Deadly Spin , former Director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight-HHS

Book: "Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans" by Wendell Potter.

Article: ""Would You Like To Buy A Pen?" She Asked Me" by Alan Grayson.

Book: " What Would Jefferson Do?" by Thom Hartmann.

Book: "Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century" by David Blume.

Hour Three: How one family fights back against KXL eminent domain...
- Julia Trigg Crawford

Site: "Stand With Julia".

Article: "PHOTOS: 35,000 Protesters Demand Immediate Climate Action At ‘Largest Climate Rally In U.S. History’" by Rebecca Leber.

Case: "Kelo v. City Of New London".

Video: "Obama says adding $4 trillion to debt is unpatriotic".

The good: David Peck: "Local farms installing solar panels to slash their energy bills (with video)" by Paul Post.

The bad: "Rep. Marsha Blackburn Opposes Obama's Pre-School Education Plan Because of 'More Paperwork' (Video)" by Michael Allen.

The very, very ugly: "Lindsey Graham: Slash health care so sequester cuts won’t ‘destroy the military’" by David Edwards.

Article: "Obama to unveil universal preschool plan" by CBS/AP.

Article: "Obama announces voting rights commission to tackle broken system" by Ed Pilkington.

Article: "White House immigration plan offers path to residency" by Alan Gomez.

Article: "McKibben leads thousands in D.C. pipeline protest" by Wendy Koch.

Article: "Spanish Doctors, Nurses March Against 'Pillage' of Privatization, Austerity" by Jon Queally.

Article: "Suspected meth lab turns out to be sweet maple syrup" by Arnold Wyrick.

Hour One: Media cover up on the plan to burn Dorner alive...
- Max Blumenthal, Journalist & Author, "Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party"

Hour Two: The REAL reason the GOP wants the sequester..
- Jamie Weinstein, The Daily Caller / Co-Author (w/Will Rahn) "The Lizard King"

Hour Three: Could a new monetary system save America...and the world?
- Steve Keen, Professor of Economics & Finance-University of Western Sydney (AU) / Author-Debunking Economics

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program...your media support group for "we the people"...

The Family & Medical Leave Act (now 20 years old) still doesn't go far enough...not everyone has paid sick days for themselves let alone to care for ailing family members. Now some Democrats are pushing to expand the FMLA for women and now for men too...so everyone should support this right?! WRONG! I'll challenge conservative Kay Hymowitz of the Manhattan Institute...

Plus, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...