A progressive manifesto

Here's a list of eight (for now) progressive items of important President Obama and Congressional Democratic leaders should be doing. (But aren't, really.)

1. Reinstate the broad parameters of Glass-Steagall, updating the new legislation for hedge funds, various derivatives, etc.
2. Revise the minimum wage again, above all by making a COLA, a cost of living adjustment, part of it. (I begged Congressional Democrats to do this in 2007.)
3. Pass a federal "guaranteed vacation time" law.
4. You want to reform education? How about a 200-day school year, and not just at charter schools? States won't be anxious to unilaterally extend their school years, so the federal carrot and stick will be needed.
5. Reform the tax code to tax capital gains — indexed for inflation — as straight income.
6. Ditto on hedge fund management fees, etc.
7. Provide serious funding for vocational training and adult re-education. That's more needed than getting even more kids, who don't all need to, to go to college.
8. Along with that, if you want to give tax credits, look at business tax credits for funding re-education for their employees. And target smaller businesses.
9. Cut the defense budget. Don't just slow its rate of growth. Cut it. If you stop putting troops in the Middle East, in Latin America and elsewhere, this is easy.
10. Related to that, stop using the "war on terror" as an excuse to intervene in more and more countries' domestic affairs.