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Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to effect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.

Morning Message: Lessons From The National Teach-In: "No Substitute" For An Energized Citizenry

OurFuture.org's Isaiah J. Poole: "Thousands of people who tuned into Tuesday night's "National Teach-In to Take Back the American Dream" got a remarkable one-hour tutorial on how the economy collapsed, and with it the economic security of millions of working Americans. They also received a sobering reminder that the political system that set the stage for the collapse can't be counted on to repair the damage without persistent demands from We the People."

Got Gas?

Higher gasoline prices could stall economy's recovery [McClatchy]: "A winter of good economic news for the White House may soon give way to the click, click, click of higher gasoline prices, experts said Monday, threatening the recovery - and perhaps President Barack Obama's chances for re-election.  By summer, some analysts said, you could be paying $4 for a gallon of gas, almost as high as the record set in the summer of 2008. A price that high could cripple the still-fragile recovery, as millions of Americans might decide to spend their just-renewed payroll tax cut on gas instead of a new clothes dryer or TV set.  We're always over-sensitive to the price of gasoline," said Chris Kuehl, a Kansas City-based economist and business forecaster. 'It just provokes consumers into total depression if the price goes up. It's just psychological.'"

Obama to Promote Energy Policy as Gas Prices Rise [ABC News]: "Playing defense on rising gas prices, President Obama plans to promote his energy policy in a visit to Miami on Thursday, senior administration officials said today. Administration officials said the president’s speech at the University of Miami will build off his State of the Union address, when he called energy one of the four 'pillars' for 'an America built to last,'  and is not a direct response to the political heat Obama has been taking for the pain at the pump. The president is expected to outline his all-of-the-above approach to energy production, calling for a clean energy standard and the need to eliminate oil and gas subsidies, among other things."

Santorum blames Obama for high gas prices [Washington Post]: "In remarks to a crowd of about 250 people Tuesday night, former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) appeared to suggest that President Obama has a plan to keep gasoline prices high in an effort to keep Americans driving less and, as a result, reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  The suggestion by Santorum comes as the entire GOP field is seizing on the high price of gasoline to slam the Obama administration’s energy policy. It also comes as Obama is slated to give an address on Friday in which he is expected to lay out new proposals for increasing domestic energy production and bring down fuel prices.  'The president of the United States, when he ran for office, talked about – talked about how he could higher prices for gasoline,' Santorum told the crowd. 'Why? Well, because he was concerned about global warming.'  The crowd in the auditorium of Phoenix’s El-Zaribah Shrine responded with boos."

The Tax Plan Cometh

Obama to offer corporate tax reform plan [CNN]: "The Treasury Department will unveil President Barack Obama's corporate tax reform plan on Wednesday that will reduce the overall corporate tax rate, an senior administration official told CNN.  The President's tax plan is intended to 'enhance American competitiveness by simplifying the tax code and eliminating dozens of tax loopholes and subsidies, incentivizing job creation and investment here at home and lowering the business rate while broadening the tax base,' the official said.  The proposal calls for lowering the overall corporate tax rate to 28%, and the effective rate for manufacturing to 25%.  The official, who laid out the plan's broad framework for CNN, said the proposal is essential to fixing a system that is 'uncompetitive, unfair, and inefficient.'"

Jared Berntsein notes that something good happened last week, regarding work-sharing: "The bill that extended the payroll tax break and Unemployment Insurance (UI) contains a provision for something called work sharing, a variation on UI that a) makes a lot of sense, and b) played a major role in holding down German unemployment during the recession (their current jobless rate is in the mid-fives right now, compared to ours in the mid-eights).  Work sharing, also called short-time compensation, is a way to use the UI system to avoid layoffs, or more accurately, dilute the pain of layoffs by substituting reduced hours across a group of workers as an alternative to laying people off.  UI benefits then kick in to help offset part of the lost pay."

Taegan Goddard says Republicans have a tax problem: "A new YouGov poll finds a big difference between the way Democrats and Republicans think about tax fairness -- but also shows that independent voters side with Democrats.  Jonathan Bernstein: 'The dilemma for Republican politicians here is clear: their primary voters are pushing them into a position on taxes which embraces a version of fairness that few outside the GOP base share. So something such as Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan can be wildly popular among Republican voters, but electoral poison in November. Repeat across enough issues, and you wind up with a Mitt Romney, backing his way into a presidential nomination of party that doesn't really like him very much while at the same time taking positions that could hurt him in November. For Republicans, there doesn't appear to be any easy solution.'"

Super PAC Kryptonite

Democratic senators want super PAC crackdown [Politico]: "Senate Democrats are calling on the Federal Election Commission to crack down on super PACs, arguing that voters deserve more information about who is funding independent political advertisements.  Eleven Democrats on Tuesday sent a letter to FEC Chairwoman Caroline Hunter urging the commission to enact broad disclosure and disclaimer rules in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision that struck down limits on corporate and union contributions to the outside groups. The letter comes a day after super PACs reported hauling in tens of millions of dollars in January alone, with much of that cash raised by groups that support GOP presidential candidates and conservative causes."

In Republican Race, a New Breed of Superdonor [NYT]: "About two dozen individuals, couples or corporations have given $1 million or more to Republican super PACs this year, an exclusive club empowered by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and other rulings to pool their money into federal political committees and pour it directly into this year’s presidential campaign.  Collectively, their contributions have totaled more than $50 million this cycle, making them easily the most influential and powerful political donors in politics today. They have relatively few Democratic counterparts so far, with most of the leading liberal donors from past years giving relatively small amounts — or not at all — to the Democratic super PACs.  And unlike in past years, when wealthy donors of both parties donated chiefly to groups that were active in the general election campaign, the top Republican donors are contributing money far earlier, in contests that will determine the party’s presidential nominee."

Republican Primary 2012 Candidates Raising Far Less Than 2008 Field [Huffington Post]: "The Republican presidential class of 2012 is slacking in one of their key duties. The candidates, including those already fallen by the wayside, have combined to raise only $174 million through the end of January. That's $75 million less than the 2008 Republican presidential field had raised through January 2008.  Super PACs, the new unlimited-money campaign vehicles, have drawn much attention for the millions pouring into their coffers, raising and spending amounts nearly equal to, and in some times exceeding, the amounts brought in and spent by the candidates themselves. This dynamic, however, is driven primarily by poor fundraising on the part of the presidential wannabes."

Greek Bailout

Greece gets a reprieve, but crisis not over [CNN]: "The €130 billion rescue package, which was backed by European finance ministers early Tuesday, should enable Greece to make a €14.5 billion bond payment next month, assuming a crucial agreement with private sector investors is approved. But many experts say the second bailout will not resolve Greece's long-term debt problems and the nation will eventually need more support. They argue that focusing on austerity and debt reduction does more harm than good by further stunting the already shrinking Greek economy."

Greek bailout plan now moves to the IMF [Washington Post]: "Debate over the rescue plan for Greece now shifts to the International Monetary Fund, which must decide whether it is willing to risk more money on a new bailout effort that the fund’s own analysis shows has a strong possibility of failing.  Greece may need “prolonged financial support” beyond the three years envisioned for the new bailout, the IMF concluded in a report distributed as part of recent negotiations in Brussels over the $172 billion rescue program. The willingness of the IMF to continue lending to Greece is a critical part of the new program, because these loans would reduce the amount of money that Greece’s European neighbors must provide. Public sentiment in several countries has been turning against the Greek bailout, and some European leaders say they have provided as much support as their domestic politics will allow."

Katrina venden Heuvel pinpoints the failure of austerity politics: "Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Britain — the countries that have responded to the economic crisis by focusing on slashing their deficits — are sinking. And the ruin inflicted on Greece threatens its democracy, as riots and resistance spread. The advocates of austerity — here and in Europe — have argued that cutting spending and reducing deficits, even with interest rates already near zero, would revive the economy. The irresponsible — other than the banks — would be disciplined. This would reassure investors and 'job creators,' and they would invest and start to hire again. With an added refrain about deregulation, this remains the mantra chanted ceaselessly by Republicans."

The Devil Made Him Do It

Rick Santorum on Satan Speech: ‘I Will Defend Everything I Say’ [ABC News]: "Rick Santorum made a veiled mention this evening of a controversy that bubbled up after audio of a speech the candidate gave in 2008 in which he said Satan was attacking U.S. institutions in government and religion made its way around the Internet. 'I think the reason we are doing so well is because we are available to the American public, no teleprompters, no speeches …  'And then of course when they have a candidate that doesn’t do any of those things they say, 'Oh he’s really out there, you have to worry about what he says.' No you don’t, because I will defend everything I say.' In the speech at the conservative Catholic Ave Maria University in Florida, Santorum praised the Catholic Bishop Samuel Aquila for pledging to deny communion to politicians who support abortion rights and said the matter went beyond politics and was a symptom of Satan’s reach in U.S. society."

Jed Lewison writes that Santorum's answer to the relgion question will define Wednesday's debate: "With Rick Santorum's radical views on the role of religion in public life under fire not just from those of us on the left but also Mitt Romney's allies in the Republican establishment, here's an easy prediction for tomorrow's debate: How Santorum handles the "are you a religious fanatic and/or would you govern as one?" question will define the debate. ...It's the question that everybody is going to want to hear Rick Santorum answer, and how he answers it could be the difference between the end of his surge—or the beginning of yet another wave of support for Santorum building up to Super Tuesday.

Jamelle Bouie says Santorum's real problem is the American people: "Santorum’s 'passionate sincerity' is rightly seen by most people—including the people of Pennsylvania—as a dangerous extremism with no place in government. Rick Santorum’s problem isn’t that the media dislikes him, it’s that he’s far outside of the American mainstream. If they were smart, conservative elites like Lowrey would keep their distance from the former Pennsylvania senator. As it stands, they seem to care more about sticking it to liberals than winning elections."

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