Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to affect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.
Bernanke Wants Congress To Back Stimulus
Bernanke believes Congress should pass more stimulus, but reluctant to say so publicly, reports NYT: "Mr. Bernanke is uncomfortable in that role, which he believes to be outside his purview ... The hesitance of Mr. Bernanke ... has sharply divided economists."
Economy continues to grow, slowly. NYT on new GDP numbers: "The United States economy grew at an annual rate of 2 percent in the third quarter ... a slight uptick from the second quarter ... There have been fledgling signs of growth: home sales and chain store sales are up bit ... At the same time, the steroidal effect of the stimulus spending is fading. City and state governments have shed tens of thousands of employees ... an economy growing at a sluggish 2 percent rate, most economists agree, cannot produce nearly the demand needed to bring down the nation’s painfully high 9.6 percent unemployment rate ..."
Google's tax avoidance debunks conservative complaints of exorbitant corporate tax rates. W. Post's Steven Pearlstein: "Google, the company that once promised to do no evil, turns out to be an ingenious tax dodger that has found a way to stash billions of dollars in profit in overseas tax havens ... The 'anti-business' president said he supported the idea of reducing the corporate tax rate to a more globally competitive level - 25 percent is the number frequently mentioned - but only as part of a package that tightened rules on inter-company transfers and eliminated enough corporate tax breaks ... it's big global companies like Google that have the most to lose if rules are tightened and tax breaks eliminated, while smaller domestic firms would gain most from a reduction in the rate."
President to push business tax deduction today. Bloomberg: "President Barack Obama will make the case that his proposal to let companies take immediate tax deductions for the full cost of new equipment will help the economy grow and create jobs by encouraging about $50 billion in new investments through 2011.
"Will Washington State Raise Taxes on the Wealthy?" asks Swampland's Alex Altman: "Washington is one of seven states with no personal income tax. The ballot initiative, I-1098, would impose a 5% tax on income earned above $200,000 per year for individuals and $400,000 per year for couples ... While the Gates family is a major supporter of the initiative, Microsoft itself forked over $75,000 to oppose I-1098. CEO Steve Ballmer, and Amazon honcho Jeff Bezos also ponied up six-figure checks against the measure. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is another foe."
Health insurers admit new law isn't driving premium increases. Wonk Room's Igor Volsky: "[Sen. Judd] Gregg told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, 'You’re seeing a massive increase in premium costs, some driven by the cost of health care generally, but a lot driven by the cost of the regulations in this new program.' ... an argument that’s so unbelievably false that even the health insurance lobbyists are unwilling to make it..."
Robert Kuttner introduces special issue of The American Prospect, challenging the billionaire austerity activists: "...it will be much easier to restore normal budget discipline when workers are earning wages and paying taxes rather than drawing unemployment checks (or not), and businesses are making profits and contributing revenues rather than laying off workers ... , it makes more sense to increase public spending now for jobs and social and physical infrastructure -- and then get debt back down to a lower share of gross domestic product after the economy is performing well."
Obama Heads To Swing States In Final Stretch
Obama to hold his first and only rally for a House Dem today, Tom Perriello. W. Post: "It's not just that the first-term congressman is an unapologetic Democrat who defends his vote for the health-care overhaul with gusto. It's that, in the thick of the fight last summer, when some Democrats hid from view, Perriello held more town hall meetings than any other congressman in the country ... in a conservative central Virginia district with some of the state's highest unemployment rates..." Politico adds: "...he’s kept his race just competitive enough that national Democrats have been loath to disengage."
Rep. Perriello reminds HuffPost that he and the President don't agree on everything: "Perriello called for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's firing. And if that was too subtle he argued that top economist Larry Summers should go too. He opposed free trade agreements with Korea and Columbia as well as the president's budget (it wasn't balanced). In a vote that has gone relatively un-discussed this past week, Perriello did not back the Wall Street reform bill, on grounds that it did too little to reign in the banks."
Ohio Gov. embracing Obama as well. NYT: "'I don’t think you win elections by running away from your friends,' [Gov.] Strickland said, pointing to a recovery in the auto industry and construction jobs created by the economic stimulus plan. 'Ohio has benefited from the help we’ve received from the president and our Democratic friends in Congress. Why would I want to run away from those accomplishments?'"
Sen. Harry Reid accuses Sharron Angle of calling Social Security "wicked." CNN: "'Isn't it us that should be caring in our community' for those that the Lord believes need help - Angle says in an audiotape ... 'We do have a lot of wicked ways that we can confess as a church,' she said. At an event with senior citizens, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized his opponent, accusing her of calling programs Social Security and Medicare 'wicked.' ... 'There's nothing in that text calling entitlement programs "wicked,"' Angle spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said in a statement. 'This text says that the programs are fine, but we should be caring for our community.' ... Angle has called for the privatization of program, but she recently told CNN National Political Correspondent Jessica Yellin she no longer supports that idea."
Jobless less likely to vote. Bloomberg: "Turnout among the unemployed has lagged behind those with jobs by at least a dozen percentage points in every midterm election of the past quarter century. Even in 1982, when joblessness nationwide was 10.8 percent -- the only time in the past 60 years an election was held amid worse unemployment than today -- just 34 percent of those put of work reported casting a ballot; 50 percent of those with jobs said they voted."
OurFuture.org's Isaiah Poole urges African-Americans to write history on Tuesday: "There are currently 11 races in House districts where the African-American voting-age population is 15 percent or higher that political statistician Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com projects will switch from Democrat to Republican ... If the Democratic candidates, with the help of black voters, were ahead in each of these 12 districts, Silvers' projection on October 28 of Republicans emerging from Election Day with 232 House seats and the Democrats with 203 instead becomes a projection in which Democrats are within three seats of keeping their House majority."
Kos writes that Blue Dog Dems are the ones most likely to lose: "If [the prognosticators are] right, that means that 23 of the 54 Blue Dog members would bite the dust, decimating their caucus. That means that the Blue Dogs would make up 44 percent of Democratic losses, even though they only make up 21 percent of the caucus. If the worst-case scenario comes to happen ... the brunt of the losses will be felt by the very same people who helped obstruct the Democratic agenda..."
Dems used their majority wisely, argues Matthew Ygelsias: "If you want to look at a really poor use of a congressional majority, try to recall the 109th Congress of 2005-2006. You probably can’t remember it because they didn’t do anything. And the Republicans lost their majority anyway ... obviously you don’t want to risk a congressional majority over something trivial. But the Affordable Care Act is not a trivial law. It’s one of the most important laws of the past thirty years. So then the question becomes, was it important in a good way? I think it was. And that’s the job of a congressional majority—to pass important bills that change the world for the better. I think the 111th Congress did a fair amount of that."
Most of the 50 biggest corporations won't say if they are funding campaign ads. Center for Public Integrity's Josh Israel and Aaron Mehta: "Of the 50 companies contacted, 21 responded ... 17 of the 21 said they made no additional donations for the Chamber’s more than $29 million in independent advertising, or to outside ad spending by any other independent group ..."
NASA may pay price if GOP takes Congress. LAT: "Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said that Republican Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma are insisting that all appropriations go back to the 2008 level. 'That, of course, would be devastating to NASA,' Nelson said, noting that the agency's 2008 budget was about $17.3 billion. Talk of a funding decrease comes as NASA and congressional officials acknowledge that the new blueprint will cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than the $19 billion budgeted."
Confessions Of A Robo-Signer
CNN profiles foreclosure "robo-signer" Tam Doan, fired for trying help keep people in their homes: "'I had no idea what I was signing,' said Doan ... Doan approached CNNMoney after the so-called robo-signing scandal came to light last month. After 18 months at Bank of America, he was terminated in early September for failing to follow policy, according to the servicer. He said he was fired for how he calculated the value on homes destined for foreclosure sale. If a property was missing a certification that the bank had done all it could to help the borrower, Doan said he would set the home's value at 100% of the debt owed. The bank's policy, however, was to set it at 85%, he said. Doan said he hoped the higher price would make it harder for the bank to sell the house at auction, and thus prompt Bank of America to work things out with the borrower."
Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo sees Doan's account as significant: "[The banks] want to make it a story about careless mistakes and sloppy paperwork, when it’s really one about a system explicitly designed to cut corners, even if that meant violating due process and the legal requirements for foreclosing on a home."
Banks are not changing their behavior, despite the foreclosure fraud scandal. Truthout's Peter White: "A number of lawsuits have been filed in Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, and other states, and all this attention may force banks to renegotiate their loans with more affordable terms for borrowers. But banks are not heading down that path, instead, they are redoing questionable foreclosure papers they hope will pass muster in court."
Paul Vocker urging WH to write broad regulations harder for banks to avoid. WSJ: "Mr. Volcker, in private conversations with administration officials, said that, in implementing the so-called Volcker Rule, regulators should adopt something akin to antimoney-laundering laws, where the federal government bans a particular behavior and then places the onus on banks to screen for red flags and comply with the rules ... The new Financial Stability Oversight Council, made up of banking and other regulators and headed by the Treasury Department, is required under the law to conduct a study on implementation and recommend a course of action to regulators by the end of January 2011. It then has nine months to write the actual rules."
Elizabeth Warren sees technology as key to protecting consumers. W. Post: "Traditionally, she said, financial firms have armies of lobbyists and lawyers monitoring every new regulation and aggressively pushing the industry's views on regulators. Consumers have little voice. Warren said the new consumer bureau will use technology to interact much more intimately with regular Americans, soliciting input on their experiences with consumer credit products ... Warren suggested that tapping into such grass-roots data might have helped regulators prevent or alleviate the housing crash in 2008, as well as the recent foreclosure fiasco involving 'robo-signers' and fraudulent court filings."
Deny Deny Deny ... Science
McClatchy details the widespread denial of climate science among GOP Senate candidates: "Scientists say evidence from around the globe clearly shows that human activity is changing the climate. Conservative Republican candidates in U.S. Senate races nationwide, however, don't agree. It's a point that scores well with tea party activists, but contradicts what NASA, the National Academy of Sciences and other prominent science organizations have been telling readers on their websites."
Solar power boom in California may fizzle without sustained government support. NYT: " Without continued government incentives that vastly reduce the risks to investors, solar companies planning another dozen or so plants say they may not be able to raise enough capital to proceed ... With both Democrats and Republicans promising to rein in the federal budget, it is unclear whether lawmakers will extend the programs in any form."
The Transport Politic praises additional federal funds for California high-speed rail: "...California’s large commitment to its rail program continues to be rewarded by Washington; a focus on the Central Valley encourages long-term thinking about the state’s future train network ... it will form the central element of the nation’s fastest and most comprehensive set of fast train corridors ... The large lead Democrat Jerry Brown has taken in the California governor’s race is good news for California’s project, since his Republican opponent Meg Whitman has repeatedly suggested that the state cannot afford high-speed rail for now."
High-speed rail plans for the Midwest may be throttled if GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker wins. Time: "Milwaukee County executive Scott Walker, the Republican candidate for governor, has denounced the train as a Big Government boondoggle, and has vowed to send the money back to Washington if he's elected ... High-speed rail was once a bipartisan dream, but ever since it was included in Obama's controversial $787 billion stimulus bill, it's become another hyperpartisan issue in a hyperpartisan climate ...[GOP Transportation Sec. Ray] LaHood can't help but wonder what Eisenhower would have thought of the antigovernment sentiment dominating their party these days. 'Can you imagine if Ohio or Wisconsin or any other state had said, "No, thanks, we don't think that highway thing is going anywhere"?' he recently asked on his blog."
If We Won't Go Green, China Will
China, writes Todd Woody at Grist, has effectively taken the wind out of the U.S.: "Installation of new wind power capacity in the United States is expected to decline 39 percent this year, according to a report released Thursday. ... China, meanwhile, has become the world wind leader and is projected to install 14,000 megawatts of new capacity this year, a 25 percent spike from 2009 ... In other words, the inability of the United States to enact federal climate change legislation or a national renewable energy standard and its Lucy-Charlie-Brown-and-the-football approach to financial incentives for wind power ... has made investing in multibillion-dollar wind projects a gamble."
"China Is Said to Resume Shipping Rare Earth Minerals" reports NYT: "The embargo, which has raised trade tensions, ended as it had begun — with no official acknowledgment from Beijing, or any explanation from customs agents at China’s ports ... China’s willingness to play economic hardball could yet have long-term drawbacks, if it prompts multinationals to reduce their reliance on manufacturing in China and spread their investments among more countries."
"Obama may discuss rare earth policy with Chinese president" reports The Hill.
Sec. of State Clinton calls for US leadership in Asia, better US-China cooperation. Bloomberg: "Her assertion of U.S. leadership comes as China is acting to expand its territorial interests and exercise its economic clout. Those who see the U.S.-China relationship as fundamentally at odds, though, are mistaken, Clinton said. 'They apply a zero-sum calculation to our relationship, so whenever one of us succeeds, the other must fail,' she said. 'But that is not our view. In the 21st century, it is not in anyone’s interest for the United States and China to see each other as adversaries.'"
