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.
Speculation Rampant On Replacing Summers
NYT speculates on how Obama econ team will shift, after Larry Summers leaves: "News of Mr. Summers’s departure set off speculation that Mr. Obama would replace him with a corporate executive to counter the impression that he is antibusiness. His exit will undoubtedly expand the influence of Mr. Geithner and also of Austan Goolsbee, a longtime adviser to the president who was recently named to replace Ms. Romer. Jack Lew, the new budget director — he held the same position under President Bill Clinton — is also emerging as a powerful voice, especially as the president puts more emphasis on cutting the federal deficit."
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow sizes up the possible replacements for Summers: "[Richard] Parsons is a very sharp guy, but does the Administration really think it can fix its public perception problems by naming the head of Citigroup ... [Young & Rubicam's Ann] Fudge's background suggests she might surprise some people by bringing a more progressive perspective. But she brings some political baggage [for sitting] on the President's Deficit Commission ... Imagine the spike in consumer confidence we'd see if Paul Krugman or Joseph Stiglitz got the nod ... Janet Yellin, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco [has] been a little more pro-growth and pro-employment than many of her peers. Laura D'Andrea Tyson, who's been arguing cogently and forcefully for more stimulus spending ..."
Politico suggests women are at the top of the list: "Potential Summers replacements reportedly being initially considered include Rebecca Blank, a Commerce Department official who oversees the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis; Ursula Burns, chairwoman and CEO of the Xerox Corp.; Ann Mulcahy, the company’s former CEO; and veteran economist Laura Tyson, who held the NEC director’s post in the Clinton administration. Obama is also expected to give a close look to business executives, as well as women candidates currently serving on his Economic Recovery Advisory Board and the President’s Export Council."
More names floated by Bloomberg.
Naked Capitalism's Yves Smith rejects need for corporate executive to replace Summers: "The last thing Obama, who has been astonishingly accommodating to corporate interests, needs to do is signal weakness. But he has made the cardinal mistake of trying to please everyone and has succeeded in having no one happy with his policies."
Reuters' Felix Salmon notes not many CEOs are economists: "...of all the positions in the White House economic team, one would expect the NEC director to actually be an economist ... high-profile economists are hard to find, as is evidenced by the fact that so few of them become corporate executives."
Filibuster Stalls Dream For Gay Soldiers, Immigrant Children
Senate GOPers plus two Dems filibuster military spending bill to prevent path to citizenship for immigrant soldiers and end of military discrimination against gays. W. Post: "Senate Democrats vowed to reintroduce the Dream Act [immigration reform], but odds of the measure becoming law this year are slim to non-existent."
Daily Kos' Joan McCarter questions motives of moderate Republicans who joined filibuster: "Susan Collins and McCain both had ample opportunity to offer amendments when the bill was being considered in the Armed Services Committee. Their arguments are specious and wholly politically based. Passing DREAM and DADT would be far too popular for the Democrats leading into November, and there's no way Republicans--including Collins and Snowe--are going to let that happen. So this fight is being pushed off to the lame duck session."
Personal plea from "illegal immigrant" law student falls on dear ears. NYT: "Cesar Vargas graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn, just like Senators Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Bernard Sanders, independent of Vermont ... But Mr. Vargas, who was brought by his parents to the United States from Mexico when he was 5, cannot join the armed forces. He cannot vote. He cannot travel outside the country or he will not be allowed to return because he is an illegal immigrant ... He said he had repeatedly tried to enlist, especially after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but was turned away."
Fed Waits. So Do Jobless.
Fed sticks to wait-and-see stance. W. Post: "With economic growth sluggish, the jobless rate seemingly stuck near 10 percent and inflation well below the level the Fed aims for, officials of the central bank are 'prepared to provide additional accommodation if needed' to support the recovery and get inflation higher ... But they stopped short of taking action Tuesday."
Bloomberg suggests Fed may not wait much longer: "The Federal Reserve moved closer to a second wave of unconventional monetary easing and said for the first time that too-low inflation, in addition to sluggish growth, would warrant taking action."
Mark Thoma questions what the Fed is waiting for: "The Fed appears to be waiting for significant bad news on either inflation or employment before it will consider further easing, but (1) we have a big employment problem now that needs to be addressed, so why wait? And (2) once the bad news arrives, it will be too late for the Fed to do much about it. The Fed should have learned that it needs to act preemptively from its mistake in dealing with the housing bubble."
Krugman incredulous: "...why does the Fed keep saying that inflation expectations are stable?"
TNR's Neera Tanden counsels President to offer a jobs idea a day: "... introduce a specific solution for a specific problem each day. That way, Obama could show the American people that he understands what still needs to be fixed ... he could propose that the energy tax credits established in the 2009 recovery act be maintained ... a national jobs bank that could connect people to any jobs that are unfilled ... a set of loan guarantees for investments in schools, hospitals, and clinics ... a new revolving loan fund for manufacturing ..."
Rortybomb rounds up a wide array of proposals to boost jobs: "...there are still options on the table, both options that would be difficult to get through a stalled government next year but are worth fighting for, as well as those that move through the Federal Reserve, and would move better if Obama actually got his nominees to the FOMC."
Geithner to say banks don't need to curtail lending to meet new international capital requirements. Bloomberg: "Geithner said the Basel III agreement includes a 'meaningful' transition period for phasing in the new requirements. Forcing banks to raise capital too quickly would jeopardize the global economic recovery, he said."
Bipartisan Clean Energy Bill Faces Resistance
Bipartisan bill to require more renewable energy introduced, but several Dems not on board. NYT: "... a group of Democratic and Republican senators introduced legislation on Tuesday that would require utilities nationwide to generate at least 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar and biomass by 2021. The bill was introduced by Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, and Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas [and] counts two other Republicans as co-sponsors: Susan Collins of Maine and John Ensign of Nevada ... Senator Mary Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, said ...t she could not support a renewable electricity standard unless the Obama administration’s moratorium on deepwater drilling [ended.] ... Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Evan Bayh of Indiana are also considered potential 'no' votes."
Bill won't go to floor this year unless backers round up the votes. The Hill: "The plan is to gain enough support to convince Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to move it during a post-election lame-duck session. 'We are not in a position to urge that yet,' Bingaman said."
Grist's Terry Tamminen reveals America's economic secret weapon — the EPA: "In the race to compete in a global economic recovery, the U.S. may have a secret weapon against rivals like China ... thoughtful protection of the environment saves money and lives, which makes America more competitive. By sharp contrast, the Washington D.C. based International Fund for China’s Environment estimates that China must spend at least 2 percent of its GDP annually -- over $100 billion -- to clean up decades of pollution which now threaten food production, public health, and worker productivity."
Big Biz Lines Up With China
Peter Navarro scolds American business lobbies for aligning with China and defending currency manipulation, in LAT oped: "...Congress should not be swayed by the letter opposing action ... signatories include agricultural groups such as the American Soybean Assn. and the American Meat Institute, which have signed the letter because they fear retaliatory tariffs. Other signers include merchandisers such as the National Retail Federation, which fear they would lose business if the prices of Chinese goods were to rise sharply. A third group is composed of manufacturers who have moved production to China and don't want their offshore advantages diminished ... The flood of artificially cheap Chinese goods putting America out of business has merely been a down payment on this country's present and future unemployment ... less purchasing power for consumers and less business for these American retailers..."
NYT's David Leonhardt supports China currency reform, but downplays hopes for immediate impact: "...economies, like battleships, tend to turn slowly. Companies rarely move production in a matter of weeks. If they are using a Chinese supplier, it is often cheaper to stick with that supplier for a while, even if costs rise, rather than find a new one in another country."
Dean Baker critiques Leonhardt: "[Leonhardt's] point about China assembling items that involve inputs from other countries ignores the flip side of this story: there are many goods imported from countries like Japan and Germany that have substantial inputs from China. If the value of the yuan rises relative to the dollar, then these imports would be more expensive in the United States, making people here more likely to buy domestically produced goods. This will help the U.S. trade balance even though it will not be picked up in the trade balance with China."
Tax Cut Vote In Question
Sen. Maj. Leader Reid still pushing for Bush tax cut vote next week. Politico: "...a second senior Democrat predicted there is a 75 percent chance of a showdown with competing Republican tax alternatives next week. But the White House, after elevating the issue, is sounding a more pessimistic note ... [House Maj. Leader Steny] Hoyer spelled out that the House will stay into next week, putting to rest speculation that he would send members home this Friday ...
New report from Citizens for Tax Justice finds most Dems backing Bush tax cuts for wealthy aren't representing their constituents. Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo: "...some of them are also claiming that a household earning $250,000 per year isn’t actually rich, once geographic differences are taken into account. 'Where we come from, those people are living paycheck to paycheck,' said Rep. Michael McMahon (D-NY) ... in McMahon’s district, just two percent of households earn that much. In total, there are only 30 districts (out of 436 in the country) where at least 5 percent of households would be affected by the expiring tax cuts. Just two of those districts are represented by House Democrats who signed the letter to Pelosi [supporting a tax cut extension for top earners]."
Health Reform Benefits Start Kicking In
WH highlights next phase of heatlh reform at six-month mark: "the White House is preparing to use the law's six-month anniversary to reintroduce it to skeptical voters and trumpet new reforms that are taking effect, such as new coverage for preventive care and young adults and a ban on canceling insurance for someone who falls ill. Democrats are packaging the provisions, which kick in Thursday, as a 'Patient's Bill of Rights,' and Obama is advertising them Wednesday at an event in Virginia with beneficiaries."
Seniors aren't losing Medicare Advantage coverage after end of wasteful subsidies. Wonk Room's Igor Volsky: "...virtually all of the 11 million seniors enrolled in the Medicare Advantage will retain access to the program. On average, seniors will pay 1% or $0.45 cents less in premiums, than they did in 2010, [HHS Sec. Kathleen] Sebelius said..."
Careful With That Poll Data
Politico notes public is not focusing on elections yet, making poll data shaky: "'While D.C. is focused on the election, the voters are focused on the difficult economic conditions. They are likely to focus late on the midterms — and that signals there is still an opportunity open to both parties here,' said Mark Penn..."
Focus group of middle-class mothers finds "disappointment" but also "patience" with the President. W. Post's Ruth Marcus: "...Obama has some time to prove himself to these voters. They are less enraged than unconvinced ... Contrast this with the voters' attitude toward Congress, which provoked words such as 'juvenile,' ... Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster who viewed the groups, said he was struck by these voters' seeming patience with the president. 'I've seen it before that people want him to do well. But the clear voicing of sympathy for the guy was a surprise for me.'"
Under pressure, several GOP candidates try to run away from Social Security privatization. Politico: "In South Dakota, state lawmaker Kristi Noem came under fire in May for expressing mild support for [Rep. Paul] Ryan’s road map ... Last month, she backpedaled, signing a pledge that she will oppose the privatization of Social Security ... [Florida] Republican Dan Webster found himself in trouble when he suggested reducing cost-of-living increases for entitlements ... Webster’s campaign rushed to clarify his statements, saying he was referring to cost-of-living adjustments for federal employees, not Social Security recipients. Since then, his campaign has not responded to several requests for comment on his position on private accounts."
