Banks Try To Escape Prosecution
Banks beg not to be prosecuted. NYT: "To avoid the fallout from pleading guilty — no giant bank has done so in more than two decades — BNP Paribas and Credit Suissemade last-ditch appeals to prosecutors and regulators in recent weeks, according to people briefed on the talks ... While BNP and Credit Suisse proposed more modest guilty pleas from their subsidiaries rather than parent companies, the people briefed on the talks said, prosecutors appeared to balk at those overtures, challenging broader public concerns that banks have grown so important to the economy that they are effectively 'too big to jail.'"
Geithner book sparks war of words with former TARP inspector general. Politico: "Geithner writes that 'Barofsky’s desire to prevent perfidy was untainted by financial knowledge or experience.' He later adds: 'He was outraged by every program, uninterested in context, unmoved by evidence of success, never burdened by having to examine alternatives.' ... Not missing a beat, Barofsky posted a response to Geithner’s book on LinkedIn Friday night."
Corporations Find New Way To Avoid Taxes
US corporations buying foreign companies to avoid taxes, says WSJ: "The process is called inversion because the buyer often takes on the legal home of the seller ... They don't erase the tax burden on existing overseas cash, but legal experts say companies can establish internal lending arrangements that effectively free up the cash ... A move by President Barack Obama to crack down on inversions has added urgency to the search for a foreign partner, deal advisers say. 'Everybody is looking for one,' says Joseph Johnson III, a partner at law firm Goodwin Procter. 'It's like musical chairs. There's a sense the music is going to stop...'"
Swing congressional districts have relatively small wealth gaps, finds Bloomberg: "...the districts where Democrats have the best shot to win Republican-held seats show some of the smallest gaps between rich and poor in the U.S. ... Of the 100 congressional districts ranked as having the greatest gap between rich and poor, not one is held by a Republican whose seat is considered up for grabs ... 32 of the 35 districts with the greatest income inequality are held by President Barack Obama’s party."
Santorum proposes minimum wage compromise. The Hill: "Santorum, who recently came out for increasing the national minimum wage, said he supported a smaller increase than the $10.10 an hour that President Obama has proposed. 'More in the range of a dollar,' he said, adding that Republicans can't be labeled as the party that always opposes raising it. 'I think it does,' he told CNN's Candy Crowley when asked if he thought opposing a minimum wage hurt the party with blue-collar voters."
Rubio Embraces Climate Science Denial
Rubio unimpressed with "decades of research." LAT: "'Our climate is always changing,' Rubio said. 'And what they have chosen to do is take a handful of decades of research and say that this is now evidence of a longer-term trend that's directly and almost solely attributable to manmade activities.' ... Rubio’s denial that human activity is to blame for climate change could stand him in good stead with the conservatives who dominate some Republican nomination contests, although it puts him at odds with the views of most Americans."
"just wait until the Environmental Protection Agency announces rules intended to slow the pace of climate change" warns NYT's Paul Krugman: "Until now, the right’s climate craziness has mainly been focused on attacking the science ... But as the Obama administration moves toward actually doing something based on that science, crazy climate economics will come into its own ... First, we’ll see any effort to limit pollution denounced as a tyrannical act ... Second, we’ll see claims that any effort to limit emissions will have what Senator Marco Rubio is already calling 'a devastating impact on our economy.'"
GOP Begins To Surrender On Obamacare
61% reject repeal of Obamacare in CNN poll: "...61% want Congress to leave the Affordable Care Act alone (12%) or make some changes to the law in an attempt to make it work better (49%). Thirty-eight percent of those questioned say the law should be repealed and replaced with a completely different system (18%) or say the measure should be repealed, with Americans going back to the system in place before the law was implemented (20%). Two other surveys conducted earlier this year – Kaiser Family Foundation in April and National Public Radio in March – also indicated majority support for keeping and improving the law..."
And Republicans appear to give up on repeal. The Hill: "House Republicans have no scheduled votes or hearings on ObamaCare, signaling a shift in the party’s strategy as the White House rides a wave of good news on the law. Not a single House committee has announced plans to attack the healthcare law in the coming weeks ... The lack of action highlights the GOP’s struggle to adjust its message ... This dynamic was laid bare last week as Republicans failed to land punches against the healthcare law in a hearing of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. In a rare display, Democrats began to control the message as witnesses from health insurance companies rebuffed several lines of GOP questioning."
