I agree with Republicans - America has a deficit problem. It’s just not the same deficit problem Republicans are freaking out about.

Shortly after sweeping the November midterms, Speaker of the House Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, outlining their plans for the upcoming Congress. In that op-ed, they wrote that Republicans would work to address, “a national debt that has Americans stealing from their children and grandchildren, robbing them of benefits that they will never see and leaving them with burdens that will be nearly impossible to repay.”

As usual, Boehner and McConnell were sounding the alarms over our nation’s federal deficit, something Republicans like to do a near-daily basis. But, what they didn’t say in that op-ed is that our federal deficit has actually improved A LOT in recent years.

Our federal deficit has been slashed by over two-thirds since President Obama took office, and deficits over the next decade are going to be around $4.7 trillion dollars lower than what the Congress Budget Office estimated just four years ago. Instead of focusing on a federal deficit that’s at its lowest point in years, Republicans should instead be focusing on America’s real deficit problem.

In a new report titled, “We Must Rebuild the Disappearing Middle Class,” Senator Bernie Sanders talks about the other deficits we are facing as a nation, and how we can go about addressing them. Those deficits are in jobs, infrastructure, income, equality, retirement security, education, and trade.

Right now, millions of Americans are unemployed or underemployed. As Senator Sanders points out in his report, the real unemployment rate, which counts those underemployed and those who have given up looking for work, sits at a staggering 11.2%. This is not a problem that we can just ignore.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Should we rename America... Kochistan? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Be sure to check out our new videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio

Big Picture Politics Panel:
- Hughey Newsome, Project 21 / Move On Up
- Nate Sweet, Progressive Commentator
- Scott Greer, The Daily Caller

Best of the Rest: Should we rename America... Kochistan?
- Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future / The Zero Hour (radio)

Tuesday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Should we rename America... Kochistan?
- Horace Cooper, National Center for Public Policy Research

Article: "United States advertisers 2013".

Speech: "Address Announcing the Second New Deal" by Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 31, 1936. " We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob."

Article: "Koch Brothers’ Budget of $889 Million for 2016 Is on Par With Both Parties’ Spending" by Nicholas Confessore.

Article: "Fascism Coming to a Court Near You" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Fascism" by 1983 American Heritage Dictionary.

Article: "An Explosive Crisis: EPA Pushes for Massive Munitions Burn at Louisiana's Camp Minden" by Mike Ludwig.

Article: "Citizens demand inclusion in disposal decision" by Vickie Welborn.

Speech: "A Rendezvous With Destiny", Franklin D. Roosevelt, 27 June 1936 speech to the Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power."

The good: "Abdul-Jabbar Responds to O’Reilly on Muslim Violence: Like Making Pope Responsible for IRA" by Evan McMurry.

The bad: "Chuck Grassley: Democrats Will Abolish Bill Of Rights By Overturning Citizens United Ruling" by Brian Tashman.

The very, very ugly: "Actual op-ed headline: 'End Obamacare, and people could die. That's okay.'" by Laura Clawson.

Video: "Alan Grayson on the GOP Health Care Plan: 'Don't Get Sick! And if You Do Get Sick, Die Quickly!'"

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Article: "First Amendment to the United States Constitution".

Law: "Tillman Act of 1907".

Article: "Morning Joe Hosts Receive Special Invite To Closed Koch Event, Lavish Koch Brothers With Praise" by Josh Israel.

Hour Two: Republican Party, Democratic Party and now...the Koch Party?
- Neil McCabe, Townhall / The Washington Mercury

Article: "Serious Ethical Questions Arising From Journalist’s Participation In Koch Event" by Josh Israel.

Quote: "I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality" - George Washington ".

Article: "Dempsey Sponsors Essay Competition to Honor Saudi King" by Jim Garamone.

Site: "Food Not Bombs".

Article: "Mark Cuban on Tax Inversions: If You Move Overseas, I’m Selling Your Stock" by Steven Russolillo.

Article: "Holocaust Memorial Day: thousands to mark 70 years since Auschwitz liberation" by Caroline Davies.

Article: "Study suggests sleeping drugs can increase risk of Alzheimer’s".

Quote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana.

Article: "30 Bible Verses about Stewardship Of Gods Creation".

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Bob Ney

Article: "My Entry For The Pentagon’s Essay Contest: Why I Love The King" by Bob Ney.

Article: "Snow forces House to cancel Monday votes" by Jake Sherman.

Article: "House Delays Border Bill Vote As Republicans Reassess Immigration Strategy" by Brianna Lee.

Article: "The Select Committee To Investigate Benghazi May Be Falling Apart" by Sam Stein.

Article: "Castro Still Wary Of U.S., But Open To Normalization" by TRNS.

Article: "CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling convicted of espionage in NYT leak case" by Xeni Jardin.

Article: "Bowe Bergdahl to Be Charged With Desertion, Officials Say" by Jim Miklaszewski.

Article: "Medicare unveils timetable for changing how it pays doctors, hospitals" by Noam N. Levey.

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 1/27" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes- 1/26" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: Renegade farmers...changing the future of food?
- Liz Carlisle, Lentil Underground / Center for Diversified Farming Systems-UC Berkeley.

Site: The Carbon Underground.

Article: "A Christmas Message From America's Rich" by Matt Taibbi, December 22, 2011.

Article: "What Chase & Goldman Sachs did to Greece" by Gaius Publius, 1/2/12.

Article: "Democrats point out that Benghazi committee is a sham" by Laura Clawson.

Book: The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe by David I. Kertzer.

Article: "The Danger of American Fascism" by Henry A. Wallace.

Article: "Obama Arrives In Saudi Arabia" by William McDonald.

Article: "King Salman: Just five days in, Saudi Arabia's new king has already overseen a beheading" by Heather Saul.

Article: "The Ghost of Vice President Wallace Warns: "It Can Happen Here"" by Thom Hartmann, 2004.

Article: "14th Amendment, July 9, 1868 (citizenship, representatives, public debt)

Article: "Lernaean Hydra" by Wikipedia.

Article: "J. D. Salinger's legacy" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Recruited by MI5: the name's Mussolini. Benito Mussolini" by Tom Kington.

Book: The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins, Social Security, Unemployment Insurance by Kirstin Downey.

Article: "Gates, UK take lead in $7.5 billion pledge for children's vaccines" by Stephen Brown.

Site: RESULTS.

Article: "Human Activity May Have Compromised Earth's Stabilization Systems" by Catherine Griffin.

Article: "Rate of environmental degradation puts life on Earth at risk, say scientists" by Oliver Milman.

Article: "The Scent Of Lavender Helps You Trust" by Kathleen Lees.

Article: "BP Shareholders Urge Oil Giant to Face Up to Climate Risks" by Stefanie Spear.

Article: "Why Rain Smells So Good: Raindrops Release Bubbling Aerosols on Impact (VIDEO)" by Catherine Griffin.

Article: "Senate votes that climate change is real" by Laura Barron-Lopez.

Wednesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

I'll be debating school choice with Andrew Campanella

And, 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"

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Should anyone be allowed to spend $1 billion on our elections?

Vote here!

Why the Greek Anti-Austerity Party Won

Did the N Dakota Pipeline Poisoned Drinking Water?

The Right's Home School Conspiracy

The Death of Whistleblowers?

TPP…Cement Shoes & Into the River for the Middle Class

Why is SCOTUS Reviewing Lethal Injection?

Full Show 1/26/2015: Why the TPP Will Sink the Middle Class

In tonight’s show, Thom talks Greece elections and the future of the Eurozone with Dr. Richard Wolff, economist and author Democracy at Work.

Tyson Slocum, Director of Public Citizen Energy Project talks about the 3 million gallon N. Dakota oil drilling waste spill, Montana leak, and the Keystone XL pipeline.

Norman Solomon, Co-founder of RootsAction.org and Executive Director at the Institute for Public Accuracy talks to Thom about former CIA employee Jeffrey Sterling’s espionage conviction. Author Mike Farrell talks about the Supreme Court taking up Oklahoma’s lethal injection case. Frank Schaeffer, author of Why I am An Atheist Who Believes in God, talks about homeschooling and its future in American education.

Thom concludes with his daily take on the proposed Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) Why it will sink the middle class.

Have Supreme Court Rulings Led to Covert Fascism in America?

Where Are We Headed? Mob Rule or the Over-Privileged Delight?

Do Sleeping Pills Cause Alzheimers?

Thom Reads "Why I Love The King," a Poem by Bob Ney

What Happens When The Kochs Hold Their Own Primaries? (w/ Neil McCabe)

Are Renegade Farmers Changing The Face of Food? (w/ Liz Carlisle)

Should We Change The Name of America to "Kochistan"? (w/ Horace Cooper)

Caller: "The U.S. Chairman of the Board of BAE... is Skeletor!"

Thom Hartmann on Science & Green News - January 27, 2015

Caller: Why Don't We Try "Geyser-Up Economics"?