http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/magazines/fortune/powerplay/?section=money_powerplay From CNN and Money magazine, CNNMoney.com combines business news and in-depth market analysis with practical advice and answers to personal finance questions. en-us © 2011 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:53:36 EDT 10 http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/magazines/fortune/powerplay/?section=money_powerplay http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/images/cnnmoney_logo_144x30.gif 144 30 From CNN and Money magazine, CNNMoney.com combines business news and in-depth market analysis with practical advice and answers to personal finance questions. http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/06/30/news/economy/obama_labor_unions.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/06/30/news/economy/obama_labor_unions.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay How many ways are there to sidestep Congress' refusal to make it easier for unions to organize? Let us count them. No, better than that, let's add yet another example -- this one involving Delta Airlines -- to the growing pile of end-runs around Congress to reward a constituency this White House badly needs at its side in next year's presidential election. Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:52:31 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/06/16/news/economy/obama_big_goverment_unity.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/06/16/news/economy/obama_big_goverment_unity.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay In February of 2009, with Barack Obama barely a month in office, Newsweek declared "We are all socialists now." The most interesting part: its matter-of-fact tone, asserting that as boomers age and spending grows, Americans were turning, well, French. A bit tongue-in-cheek, maybe, but it's worth noting that, as it turns out, we're not all Euro-socialists. Not even close. The rise in federal spending from 21% to nearly 25% of the economy in just two years has contributed to an angry backlash -- leaving Americans more, not less, divided about government's proper role in our lives. Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:54:49 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/05/09/news/economy/obama_inflation_threat.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/05/09/news/economy/obama_inflation_threat.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay One of my most vivid memories from 1974 was the gas station at the foot of the hill below my Southern California high school -- car lines snaking out into the street, heralding the failure of the government's price controls and lame ideas such as odd-even rationing. That also was the year President Gerald Ford cooked up an equally goofy plan: Whip Inflation Now, or WIN. Mon, 09 May 2011 07:22:04 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/03/28/news/economy/better_by_mistake.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/03/28/news/economy/better_by_mistake.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay Those optimistic about the nation's economic future (and count me as one) look to a litany of American characteristics that presage its revival: our comfort with risk and reinvention, a national confidence buoyed by short-term memory, even individual greed and bit of wishful thinking. Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:22:00 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/03/09/news/economy/unions_failing.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/03/09/news/economy/unions_failing.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay As Barack Obama stood on that frigid inaugural stage in 2009, labor leaders could envisage the glorious future awaiting them. Here, at last, was a President determined to help unions rebuild their sagging ranks by supporting a "card check" bill that would change the way unions are allowed to organize workers. Here was a President who openly criticized fellow Democrat Bill Clinton for signing the North American Free Trade Agreement. And here was a President who would put government health care for the uninsured at the center of his agenda. Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:49:37 EST http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/02/08/news/economy/obama_business_frenemies.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/02/08/news/economy/obama_business_frenemies.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay "Maybe," President Obama told his newfound friends at the Chamber of Commerce yesterday, "if we had brought over a fruitcake when we first came in we would have gotten off to a better start." Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:01:52 EST http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/01/26/news/economy/obama_state_union_centrist.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/01/26/news/economy/obama_state_union_centrist.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay In 1992 Bill Clinton ran on a platform of "ending welfare as we know it." His political worldview, drawn from like-minded thinkers at the Democratic Leadership Council, was based in private sector growth and personal responsibility. He was determined to wrench Democrats away from a liberal-left that had parked the party's presidential prospects in a ditch for more than a decade. Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:48:49 EST http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/01/20/news/economy/bipartisan_debt_control.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/01/20/news/economy/bipartisan_debt_control.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay Kent Conrad's announcement this week that he would step down in 2012 rather than seek re-election didn't draw much attention outside the Beltway. But it should -- because it could have a big impact on the nation's finances. Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:23:05 EST http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/01/17/news/economy/china_hu_jintao.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/01/17/news/economy/china_hu_jintao.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay We've seen this movie before, whenever top U.S. and Chinese officials gather. Americans lecture the Chinese about a currency value that unfairly keeps their exports cheap, followed by complaints that Beijing isn't doing enough to prod its people to buy consumer goods. The Chinese counter-lecture Americans on the need to get our own fiscal house in order and our borrowing under control. Then, before getting too contentious, the officials close the session by announcing a few business deals to show that the U.S.-China relationship really isn't that bad after all. Tue, 18 Jan 2011 18:13:11 EST http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/01/06/news/economy/risk_taking_solution_economy.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/01/06/news/economy/risk_taking_solution_economy.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay After bidding farewell to 2010, many Americans are suffering from a hangover -- but it isn't from excessive partying. Quite the opposite: The unemployment rate in December fell to 9.4%, but job gains for the month disappointed. Meanwhile public confidence about the nation's future has fallen to historic lows. Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:05:51 EST http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/12/10/news/economy/long_term_unemployment.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/12/10/news/economy/long_term_unemployment.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay What happens to a nation's collective psyche when millions of once-productive people remain out of work for months or even years? What happens when unemployed husbands resign themselves to relying on a wife's income, when unemployed wives feel trapped at home, when twenty- and thirtysomethings calculate that they'd rather live off their parents than face a cut-throat job market, when middle-aged men and women stop searching for jobs after realizing they're hopelessly lost in a haze of rapid-fire technological change? Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:57:55 EST http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/11/19/news/economy/bob_corker_dealmaker_washington.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/11/19/news/economy/bob_corker_dealmaker_washington.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay Confrontation. Gridlock. A nation divided. Conventional wisdom tells us to expect a contentious stalemate in the wake of the 2010 midterm elections. But walk up the steps to the Senate Dirksen Office Building, hang a right, and you'll hear a different message: "I'm going to find Democrats who'll come along," declares Tennessee Republican Bob Corker. The Chattanooga real estate mogul-turned-senator is hoping to cajole folks from across the aisle to embrace his plan to reduce federal spending from 24% to 18% of gross domestic product -- in line with federal revenue. Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:01:09 EST http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/11/03/news/economy/Its_not_the_economy_stupid_midterm_election.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/11/03/news/economy/Its_not_the_economy_stupid_midterm_election.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay In the coming days and weeks, leading Democrats will make the case that their historic trouncing at the polls last night was the inevitable fallout of a brutal economy. In his press conference today the president -- pressed about public disapproval of his policies -- repeatedly referred to an "emergency situation'' that forced the need for a stimulus and the Detroit bailout. There's a bit of déjà vu here: George Bush blamed his plummeting approval ratings on an unpopular war. Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:32:35 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/11/01/news/economy/ryan_issa_republicans.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/11/01/news/economy/ryan_issa_republicans.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay Two of the most important figures to emerge if Republicans take over the U.S. House aren't on election-day watch lists: Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Darrell Issa of California. Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:56:10 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/10/31/news/economy/Tea_Partiers_Beware_Destruction_Backfires.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/10/31/news/economy/Tea_Partiers_Beware_Destruction_Backfires.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay In the fall of 1996, I sat inside weekly strategy meetings of conservative activists, as part of research for my book, Gang of Five, chronicling the rise of the baby-boomer right. The war-room host was famed anti-tax activist Grover Norquist and with Bill Clinton on the verge of re-election, the question on the table was this: How to convince lawmakers to open impeachment proceedings against the President? Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:24:45 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/10/28/news/economy/campaign_finance_reform.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/10/28/news/economy/campaign_finance_reform.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay One narrative of election year 2010 was shaped long before any votes were tabulated. President Barack Obama penned the first chapter with his January condemnation of a Supreme Court ruling that lifted government prohibitions on spending by corporations in elections. The 5-to-4 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission "strikes at our democracy itself," he said. Democrats and the media followed with tales of horror and fright, warning of corporate super-PACs and foreign donors. You could practically hear the theme from Jaws rumbling in the background. Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:16:38 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/09/29/news/economy/pension_populist_anger.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/09/29/news/economy/pension_populist_anger.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay In these dog days of our Great Recession, no one is feeling especially lenient toward taxpayer-funded fat cats. But what if that "fat cat" isn't some Wall Street banker (most of whom have paid back government loans with interest) but rather the retired small-town city manager in Northern California living on $261,000 or the 40-year-old former New York City cop who gets to collect $100,000 a year for the rest of his life? Thu, 30 Sep 2010 06:52:50 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/08/31/news/economy/republicans_carbon_tax.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/08/31/news/economy/republicans_carbon_tax.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay If Republican leaders were serious -- and gutsy -- about using the Gulf oil spill as an opportunity to put the nation on a sane energy course, they'd pull out a little-noticed bill sponsored by Arizona's Jeff Flake and South Carolina's Bob Inglis and plop it atop their 2010 campaign book. Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:06:33 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/08/19/news/economy/Congress_financial_reform.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/08/19/news/economy/Congress_financial_reform.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay "This committee doesn't function well on a partisan basis, and in the 22 months that I've been chairman of it we've never acted that way." That was Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd speaking in December of 2008, when American voters had the audacity to believe a new President's promise to rise above the short-sightedness of partisan Washington and unite most Americans around solving big problems. Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:21:08 EDT http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/08/19/news/companies/rattner_gm_bailout.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2010/08/19/news/companies/rattner_gm_bailout.fortune/index.htm?section=money_powerplay General Motors, fresh off two profitable quarters, is planning a public offering expected to raise as much as $16 billion. Does this mean election-year vindication for President Obama's much-maligned decision to take control of the Detroit automaker? Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:42:14 EDT