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MORNING MESSAGE: The Great Wealth Robbery

OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "An updated report from economist Emmanuel Saez details the loss of income suffered by 99 percent of Americans ... The top 1 percent has captured 121 percent of the increases in income since the worst of the financial crisis, while the rest of the country has continued to fall behind ... You rescued them. Now they’re drinking your milkshake ... if it had been tied to productivity gains, the minimum wage would [now] be $21.72. But all that added wealth went straight to the top."

Dems Propose Deficit Reduction, Sequester Postponement

Senate Dems propose package of tax increases and spending cuts to postpone sequester. W. Post: "Top Democrats acknowledged that their bill has little chance of winning the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster ... Half the new savings would come from spending cuts, including an end to direct federal payments to farmers and deeper cuts to the Pentagon after 2015. The other half would come from tax hikes, primarily on millionaires. Households earning more than $2 million a year would have to pay at least 30 percent of their income in federal taxes ... The measure also seeks to raise taxes on companies that ship jobs overseas by denying them a deduction for moving expenses. And it would require companies that produce oil from tar sands to start contributing to the oil spill liability trust fund."

House progressives pressuring WH to abandon Chained CPI. The Hill: "Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said Thursday she's been talking to White House officials and trying to explain the consequences of the Social Security cut ... She credited a similar effort last year with pushing the White House to drop its support for raising the Medicare eligibility age ..."

Debate over future of gas tax heating up. NYT: "...the funds, squeezed by fuel economy, are not keeping up with the nation’s infrastructure needs [and] only about a dozen states tie their tax to inflation ... Even some business interests normally opposed to higher taxes have called for an increase ... The situation has also led some to suggest a radical rethinking of road financing. Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia addressed the issue last month with a controversial proposal: get rid of the tax on gasoline altogether and increase the state’s sales tax ... While the idea might not survive the legislative session, it has blown open the staid world of infrastructure financing..."

Warren Makes Mark

Sen. Warren "comes out swinging" at first hearing on Wall St. regulation. NYT: "...Ms. Warren grilled top banking regulators on their response to Wall Street wrongdoing ... 'The question I really want to ask is about how tough you are.' ... 'We do not have to bring people to trial,' [Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry] explained, 'to achieve our supervisory goals.' ... 'We truly believe that we have a very vigorous enforcement program,' [SEC's Elisse] Walter said. But Ms. Warren countered with this: 'Can you identify the last time you took the Wall Street banks to trial?' Ms. Walter promised to 'get back to you with the specific information,' adding that 'we do litigate.'"

Moody's cuts credit rating of S&P's parent company after federal lawsuit alleging rating abuses reports Bloomberg.

Major Climate Rally Sunday

Major "Forward On Climate" rally set for Sunday in Washington: "On Sunday, February 17, thousands of Americans will head to Washington, D.C. to make Forward on Climate the largest climate rally in history. Join this historic event to make your voice heard and help the president start his second term with strong climate action."

The "federal government faces big financial risks" from climate change, says GAO. W. Post: "The government owns vast swaths of land, runs flood and crop insurance programs with millions of policyholders and regularly pours billions of dollars into emergency aid. But it has no system to address these costs as global warming escalates them ... Several experts said the GAO has underscored what scientists and economists already have suggested: Even developed countries will have to devote significant resources to coping with global warming’s impact."

Boxer-Sanders climate bill resets marker. Politico: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) unveiled a climate bill Thursday that would put a price on carbon and rebate 60 percent of the revenue to U.S. citizens ... The Sanders-Boxer legislation faces big hurdles to passage in the Senate, where two major climate bills have collapsed in the past decade, and would almost certainly be dead on arrival in the House."

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