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.
Invest In America, Or Shortchange It
President calls for robust public investments in major economic address in Pittsburgh. USA Today: "'We can't afford to stand still while the whole world races by,' Obama said. He accused Republicans of trying to undermine his efforts to ramp up spending on education, research and development, high-speed rail and clean energy, all of which he described as 'investments' into the future. In Washington, House GOP Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia criticized Obama's remarks. 'Out-of-control Washington spending has created a massive debt … and the government keeps on growing,' Cantor said."
President also seeks to frame the choice for voters in November: "As November approaches, leaders in the other party will campaign furiously on the same economic arguments they’ve been making for decades. Fortunately, we don't have to look back too many years to see how their agenda turns out. ... They gave us tax cuts that weren’t paid for to millionaires who didn’t need them. They gutted regulations and put industry insiders in charge of industry oversight. They shortchanged investments in clean energy and education, in research and technology. And despite all their current moralizing about the need to curb spending, this is the same crowd who took the record $237 billion surplus that President Clinton left them and turned it into a record $1.3 trillion deficit. ... We can return to the failed economic policies of the past, or we can keep building a stronger future."
Tapped's Fernholz says Democrats will be emboldened by Obama's approach: "'This will cheer Democratic political operatives who worried that the president's refusal to confront Republicans would leave his congressional allies blowing in the breeze. It's a two-part bank shot that Democrats are planning for 2010: Make the race a choice between competing agendas — not a referendum — and highlight enough early returns on the Democrats' program to lead voters to re-elect the governing party."
Oil spill latest obstacle for Obama trying to focus on jobs argues LAT.
WH aides push back on notion President is hamstrung. NYT: " They pointed, as an example, to his effort in a speech on Wednesday in Pittsburgh to push for Senate passage of his energy and climate change legislation. Advisers to Mr. Obama are anticipating a new jobs report on Friday that they hope will show progress in rebuilding the economy, and they expect that new financial regulations will pass regardless of the oil spill."
Obama Renews Push For Climate Protection, Green Jobs Bill
NYT flags Obama's call for climate legislation in Pittsburgh speech: "President Obama said Wednesday that it was time for the United States 'to aggressively accelerate' its transition from oil to alternative sources of energy and vowed to push for quick action on climate change legislation despite almost unanimous opposition from Republicans and continued skepticism from some Democrats."
Grist's David Robert enthuses that President has made significant rhetorical commitment: "Until now, the rhetoric from the administration has all been about what the Senate will do -- what they 'hope' it will do, what they 'expect' it will do. But now it's not about them, it's we, and it's not about hope, it's will. 'We will get it done.' That's the kind of thing that's hard to climb down from. It's what the beginnings of real commitment look like."
Climate Progress' Joe Romm applauds "spill-to-bill pivot": "Perhaps Obama has finally listened to his campaign pollster: 'In the aftermath of the oil spill disaster, voters overwhelmingly support a comprehensive clean energy bill…. Voters understand the dangers of our dependence on oil. Now, they’re ready to hold Congress accountable.'"
Oil Spill Frustrations Continue
BP should not pay dividends to shareholders until liability costs are known, say Sens. Chuck Schumer and Ron Wyden reports Bloomberg.
Obama's fault rests with his actions before the Gulf spill, not after. The American Prospect's Tim Fernholz: "Calls for the president to do more -- personified by James Carville's ranting or Maureen Dowd asking the president to emote more -- seem designed to encourage theater rather than fix the mess. The problem with these critiques is that in interactions between government and business, the government's responsibility is before-the-fact, not after ... though the president appointed Liz Birnbaum, a former congressional staffer, to head the [Minerals Management Service], it's clear that she lacked the mandate, resources, and ability to change it ... despite regulatory successes in other areas — notably, at the Department of Labor — the liberal project of crafting an effective state has another hurdle to jump."
WH approves Louisiana sand berm plan. CNN: "The White House has ordered BP to fully fund Louisiana's plan to dredge up walls of sand to protect coastal marshes from the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Wednesday. The news comes about a week after the federal government approved one segment of the plan on a trial basis. But U.S. officials raised concerns about the long-term environmental effects of what would effectively amount to building dozens of miles of new barrier islands off Louisiana."
Oil lobby tries to prevent crackdown by playing jobs card. NYT: "When the Obama administration imposed new restrictions last week on offshore drilling in the wake of the BP oil spill, officials carved out an exemption that received little public attention: Companies working in shallow waters, unlike deep-sea operators like BP, could again begin drilling for oil and gas ... the industry’s most persuasive argument in trying to fend off tougher regulations may prove to be jobs. That was one of the crucial elements used by the shallow-water operators..."
Economic pain already felt by Louisiana's fishermen. NYT: "At least 27,000 jobs depend directly on the fisheries. So far, Louisiana’s official biologists have found no evidence that the oil has contaminated any seafood. But the precautionary closing of oyster beds, shrimping grounds and crab habitats where oil has been spotted has idled most of the fishermen."
When disaster strikes conservatives suddenly warm to government solutions. AP: "All along the Gulf Coast, where the tea party thrives and "socialism" is a common description for any government program, conservatives who usually denounce federal activism suddenly are clamoring for it."
Low Expectations For G-20 Meeting on Financial Reform
No global consensus on bank tax before tomorrow's G-20 meeting. Bloomberg: "'[Said Treas. Sec. Tim Geithner] 'There’s not universal support for that across the G-20, at least at this stage, and I don’t think that’s going to change in Korea' ”French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said yesterday that France, like the U.K., would prefer to use proceeds from a bank tax to contribute to general government revenue. The Obama administration has asked Congress to enact what Geithner has called a 'too-big-to-fail tax' on financial firms with more than $50 billion in assets to recoup the costs of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program."
Disagreements persist on global bank regulation. W. Post: "The Obama administration has been frustrated in particular that European countries have not moved more quickly to disclose problems that remain in their banking systems ... A committee of central bank leaders has been meeting to draft new rules for bank capital and other requirements, and U.S. officials hope that a final agreement can be reached this year. Geithner pressed the issue with officials in Britain and Germany last week, and said Wednesday that the differences among major nations were 'narrowing.' But he also said he did not expect discussions in Korea to be definitive..."
Warren Buffet defends credit rating agency he invests in, during testimony to financial crisis commission. Bloomberg: "Moody’s, which gave faulty AAA-ratings to mortgage bonds, was simply one of many firms that failed to foresee the housing slump, Buffett [said.] ... 'Even though he’s a financial savant, he’s not in a position to be candid,' said Elizabeth Nowicki, a former SEC lawyer..."
OurFuture.org's Zach Carter finds Buffet's defense "astonishing": "...Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Phil Angelides pressed Buffett on whether he knew or should have known Moody's was doing terribly reckless things that endangered the global economy. Buffett responded that he didn't know, and he couldn't be expected to know. ... If the largest shareholder doesn't know what a company is up to, and can't be expected to, how can you possibly expect that corporation to ever act in a responsible way?"
Democracy for America urges pledges for people to "move their money.": "If enough people move their money from a big bank to a smaller, more local, more traditional community bank, we can break up the big banks ourselves."
NYT v. WH on Health Care
NYT takes shot of data used by White House to make case for health care reform: "...while the research compiled in the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care has been widely interpreted as showing the country’s best and worst care, the Dartmouth researchers themselves acknowledged in interviews that in fact it mainly shows the varying costs of care in the government’s Medicare program. Measures of the quality of care are not part of the formula ... As any shopper knows, cheaper does not always mean better."
Columbia's Andrew Gelman questions NYT reporting: "The problem is that [the NYT reporters] apply a shotgun approach, shooting all sorts of criticisms at the study without a sense of what makes sense and what doesn't."
