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: Plutocrats Play Political Ponies
OurFuture.org’s Sam Pizzigati: “Mitt Romney is leading the Republican primary, but only because he has more billionaires on his side than anyone else. Four of these billionaires from the hedge fund industry — Paul Singer, Julian Robertson, Robert Mercer, and John Paulson — have each contributed $1 million to the cause of Mitt. In all, the super PAC run by Romney cronies has collected $1 million from 10 men of immense means, $2 million from one other, and at least $100,000 each from almost 40 additional politically inclined super rich, more than enough to fund the $17 million TV ad campaign that bounced Romney into the nomination lead … Just one political decision alone — the tax treatment of so-called ‘carried interest’ — can make an annual difference of tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars for [these] billionaires …”
Deadline Today For Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
Today is deadline for state AGs to decide on joining foreclosure fraud settlement. Bloomberg: “The accord … will allow banks to take steps toward resolving mortgage liability stemming from the housing bust. The releases protect them from legal claims tied to foreclosures, mortgage-servicing and origination of loans … The deal wouldn’t take away any individual’s right to pursue an individual or class action case … Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who joined [NY AG] Schneiderman in pushing for a narrow release that doesn’t protect banks from claims that haven’t been fully investigated, won’t support the agreement … The settlement, meanwhile, would also require Massachusetts, Nevada and Arizona, which have sued banks involved in the talks, to settle those cases...”
CA, NY AGs are close to joining foreclosure fraud settlement, reports NYT: “[California’s involvement] could increase the pot for mortgage relief nationwide to $25 billion from $19 billion … to pay for principal reductions and other relief for up to one million borrowers who are behind on their payments but owe more than their houses are currently worth. The deal would also provide checks for about $2,000 to roughly 750,000 who lost homes to foreclosure … homeowners who participate in the settlement will still have the right to sue the banks for improper behavior … California officials and other veterans of the foreclosure crisis are haunted by the failure of past attempts to alter the behavior of the big banks … The backers of the latest deal insist their plan has more teeth, with a powerful outside monitor to oversee enforcement and heavy monetary penalties if banks fail to live up to commitments.”
NY AG lawsuit is promising development, “settlement or no settlement,” argues HuffPost’s Robert Kuttner: “...the suit does blow up the wrong kind of settlement -- one that would protect the banks from further civil and criminal liability. In fact, the settlement now taking final shape would only narrowly insulate banks from federal and state litigation directly related to fake robo-signing. Nothing in it shelters the banks from other liability, such as fraudulently claiming that trust documents contained mortgage notes that in fact weren't there. The proof of the pudding is that Schneiderman's case went forward, and there will be more such cases.”
Economy Still In Pain
NYT’s Paul Krugman cautions that there is much more work to do on the economy: “...about that jobs report: it was genuinely good … falling unemployment was the real thing, reflecting growing availability of jobs rather than workers dropping out of the labor force … [But] this encouraging employment report shouldn’t lead to any slackening in efforts to promote recovery. Full employment is still a distant dream — and that’s unacceptable.”
Many GOPers still fighting to block payroll tax cut extension: “Challenges will be most acute in the House … Boehner moved the final two-month extension under a unanimous consent agreement while most GOP members were back in their districts. Leadership had to dissuade some rank-and-file members from coming back to Washington to oppose the deal. GOP leaders may be forced to deal with another potential mutiny this time around. ‘Our marketplace needs certainty,’ Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said. ‘Tax holidays just are bad policy.’”
Romney Winning Now, Weakened For Later
President hits 50% approval in ABC/W. Post poll: “Boosted by improved public confidence in his economic stewardship, President Obama for the first time holds a clear edge over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney … 55 percent of those who are closely following the campaign say they disapprove of what the GOP candidates have been saying. By better than 2 to 1, Americans say the more they learn about Romney, the less they like him.”
Romney hasn’t talked to a voter in three weeks. W. Post: “The objective: appear presidential, avoid gaffes and convince Republicans that they have no reasonable option left but to rally around Romney’s winning candidacy.”
Breakfast Sides
Communications Workers of America to intensify effort to stop union-busting measure in FAA reauthorization. TPM: “...what went in was this: a new union-busting measure would make it harder for workers to trigger a union election by increasing the percentage of workers who must declare interest in unionizing from 35 to 50 … if the bill passes unchanged, it threatens to widen a rift between labor and incumbent Democrats this election year.”
China opposes EU carbon tax on airlines. AP: “China announced Monday it will prohibit its airlines from paying European Union charges on carbon emissions … governments including China, the United States and Russia oppose them … Beijing could have unusually strong leverage in a possible dispute because its state-owned airlines carry large numbers of Chinese and other Asian tourists to Europe. Any disruption would hurt Europe's travel industry when the continent is struggling with a debt crisis and high unemployment.”
New rule will save money on prescription drugs. Stateline: “The federal government this week announced a rule change it says will save the federal-state Medicaid program $17.7 billion over the next five years … Instead of paying for drugs based on drug company price lists, which are often inflated, Alabama decided a few years ago to start paying local pharmacies for prescriptions based on what they actually paid for the medicines … Now, the federal government is proposing to make it easier for all states to take the same approach, and it is offering some assistance with collecting the pricing data.”
