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.
The November Choice
NYT's Nick Kristof hits GOP hard on their main policy alternatives: "The Republicans opposed the stimulus package, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that it created between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs. In other words, under Republican leadership, we would have at least an additional 1.4 million people out of work ... The Democrats worsen the deficits by a net of about $640 billion, while Republicans worsen them by some $1.1 trillion — almost twice as much ..."
LAT's Doyle McManus argues that a GOP victory does not mean conservative mandate: "Half said they believe the federal government is 'doing too many things'; half said they believe the government should be doing more. Digging a little deeper, another survey found a three-way split among voters on whether the federal government should play a central role in solving the nation's economic problems ... That doesn't sound so much like a mandate for minimal government; it's an invitation for each party to try to make government work."
KY Senate candidate Rand Paul struggling to defend his plan to put a $2000 deductible in Medicare reports TPMDC.
W. Post's E.J. Dionne profiles Rep. Tom Perriello, running for re-election in a swing district proudly defending health care reform and carbon cap: "'If you take the stimulus, health care and energy and you treat them as three discrete debates, you've already lost,' he said in an interview over a late dinner Tuesday. 'All three were about making us competitive in the world ... We have to build, make and grow things in America ... We can't win a race to the bottom with China.'"
Health Reform Already Helping Business
Tim Fernholtz says the health care reform law is good for business: "The 3M company has decided that it will phase out its retirement health-care plan because its retirees can get cheaper, better care on the private market through exchanges. The [health reform law] doesn't even affect 3M's existing plans -- it's just made the competition more effective ... What's amazing to me is the conservative response to this policy, which appears to have cut costs for a business, given consumers more choice about their health-care plan, and improved market competition. They call this 'a new payload of bad PR.' It's like they don't remember what conservatives are supposed to believe in except for attacking the Obama administration."
HHS grants temporary waivers on new health insurance rules to avoid drops in coverage before full reform implemented in 2014. NYT: "The waivers issued so far include the policies offered by McDonald’s to its fast-food workers, typically capped at just a few thousand dollars, sold by a profit-making company owned by Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. As a result of the administration’s efforts, McDonald’s says it is 'confident that we’ll continue to provide health care coverage for our 30,000 hourly restaurant employees.' Aetna and Cigna have also received waivers to continue selling limited-benefit policies, according to the list released by the Department of Health and Human Services, as have small employers like Sanderson Plumbing Products and Guy C. Lee Manufacturing. HealthMarkets, which offers policies through MEGA Life and Health and other insurers, says it also plans to apply for a waiver for some of its plans."
Wonk Room's Igor Volsky says HHS is in a "tough spot": "If companies respond to the new regulations by dropping insurance coverage, low-wage employees will have to either go uninsured until 2014 (when the exchanges kick in) or try to enroll in Medicaid or the new high-risk insurance pools, for which they may be ineligible and may have some trouble affording ... [Offering waivers] seems to be a better solution than letting thousands of low wage Americans go without coverage."
CEOs Choose Profits Over Jobs
Corporations still hoarding cash instead of creating jobs. W. Post: "For months, companies have been sitting on the sidelines with record piles of cash, too nervous to spend. Now they're starting to deploy some of that money - not to hire workers or build factories, but to prop up their share prices ... firms have announced they will purchase $273 billion of their own shares, more than five times as much compared with this time last year..."
Fed considers buying Treasury bonds to boost economy. W. Post: "...attention has focused on whether the Fed might buy an enormous quantity of bonds to flood the economy with some specific amount of money ... [But] the Fed could instead announce it will target a certain interest rate and then buy Treasury bonds so that rates in the marketplace reach that level ... That would help the economy by lowering rates for a broad range of borrowers, including Americans looking to take out a mortgage and companies looking to use debt to finance expansion."
Declining property tax revenues hammering city budgets. NYT: "The report, by the National League of Cities, found that many cities, which are in their fourth straight year of declining revenues, are only now beginning to see lower property values translate into lower property tax collections, which are the backbone of many city budgets."
Conserative NJ Gov. Chris Christie considering pulling the plug on major federally-funded infrastructure project 20 years in the making. NYT: "To do so would effectively scuttle the biggest transit project under way in the country, forfeiting the federal money and 6,000 construction jobs."
Mortgage Mess
Beyond foreclosure fraud, some foreclosures denied because of unclear ownership. W. Post: "For struggling homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure, it could mean an opportunity to challenge the banks they argue have been unhelpful at best and deceptive at worst. But it also threatens to leave them in prolonged limbo, stuck in homes they still can't afford and waiting for the foreclosure process to begin anew. For big banks, 'there's a possible nightmare scenario here that no foreclosure is valid,'..."
"Little-Noticed Bill Could Make It Harder To Challenge Foreclosures" reports HuffPost: "If signed into law, it would require courts to accept certain documents that have been notarized out of state, streamlining foreclosure proceedings and stripping homeowners of one legal method of challenging a foreclosure."
Mark Thoma argues foreclosure fraud scandal more evidence mortgage industry needs regulation: "All of the sloppiness and corner cutting that was present when mortgages were first issued is reemerging in the foreclosure process. Without regulators looking over shoulders, how will these problems be corrected? ... This isn’t just an issue for individual homeowners. The speed of the economic recovery depends in part upon our ability to deal with the problems in the housing industry..."
Justice Dept. settlement may help us from being fleeced by credit card companies on the checkout line. W. Post's Michelle Singletary: "...upon court approval, [the settlement with Visa and Mastercard] will allow merchants to offer discounts, incentives and, most important, information to consumers that will help them decide which payment method is the most cost-effective ... the government says the companies set up rules that prohibit merchants from communicating to customers the cost of using a certain payment card ... accepting your payment by credit card costs merchants about $35 billion annually ... But don't feel too sorry for the merchants. They pass on the billions in fees to all customers by raising prices."
Europe Strikes Out With China Too
Europe not getting anywhere with China on currency either. Reuters: "Euro zone policy makers urged [Premier] Wen on Tuesday to allow China's currency to rise more rapidly, but he politely rebuffed them, repeating Beijing’s standard line on seeking currency stability."
Treas. Sec. Geithner argues international cooperation key to China currency problem. Bloomberg: "China is less likely to allow the yuan to climb if it is 'not confident other countries will move with it,' Geithner said. The issue 'is not something we’re going to solve in the next three months.'"
Paul Krugman rejects China solutions that don't involve trade pressure: "[Fred] Bergsten calls for countervailing intervention. But how can this be done? China has capital controls ... [Daniel] Gros then proposes that we limit Chinese purchases of our assets instead. But how can we do that? We can exclude China from buying US government debt at debt auctions — but how do you stop it from buying it on the secondary market? ... it seems to me that people are looking for innocuous ways to deal with this problem, and there aren’t any."
EPA Not Gonna Wait
"EPA May Set Up Cap & Trade for Nation's Biggest Polluters" reports Treehugger: "...the EPA is considering instituting a smaller sort of cap and trade, to help polluting industries buffer the costs ... Yes, I said help. I know it's been pounded into the American subconscious that anything relating to cap and trade would be some sort of an expensive energy tax, but that's simply not the case ... The EPA is only set to regulate polluting industries that emit over 4,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year, but giving those companies effective a flexible pathway to reducing emissions is still a chief concern."
Politico reminds that a piecemeal strategy on climate makes it harder to forge compromises: "[One industry lawyer] said the pressure to think big again inevitably comes back, especially after individual industry sectors catch wind that they may either be the primary target of the next package or, for that matter, be left out entirely."
EPA cracking down on Four Corners coal plant. NYT: "The Environmental Protection Agency signaled on Wednesday that it would require an Arizona power plant, one of the largest coal-fired ones in the nation, to install $717 million in pollution controls ... [The Clean Air Act] requires the air around areas like national parks to be as clean as possible."
Coal-state Sen. Max Baucus hints he would support bill to handcuff EPA from regulating carbon pollution reports The Hill.
Clean energy jobs on the rise in CA. Sacramento Bee: "Despite the decline in manufacturing employment in California, one key industrial sector is seeing robust job growth ... California's green industry is emerging as a major economic engine ... The study's finding will likely add more fuel to the ballot battle over California's landmark climate change law, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions sharply by the year 2020."
US negotiator laments lack of progress before international climate talks. AFP: "'There is less agreement than one might have hoped at this stage,' [Jonathan] Pershing told a small group of reporters nearly halfway through the six days of talks in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. 'It's going to require a lot of work to get to some significant outcome by the end of this week, which would lead us into a significant outcome in Cancun.' ... Rich nations such as the United States have long been at loggerheads with China and other developing countries over actions each side should take..."
EU-China deal on carbon emissions could reshape climate debate, says John Gummer in FT op-ed: "...China’s next five-year development plan, due in early 2011, could include a mandatory domestic carbon trading system to help it achieve a 40-45 per cent reduction in the carbon intensity of gross domestic product from 2005 levels, by 2020 ... showing it is willing to follow the EU’s lead in developing market-based mechanisms to cut emissions ... Opportunities now abound for the EU and China to bring together the world’s largest manufacturer with the world’s largest single market ... an EU/China partnership with emissions trading at its heart could make waves in the US..."
Breakfast Sides
Bush tax cut fight won't be easily resolved after Election Day. Politico: "There are three basic scenarios for the lame-duck session on taxes — each with increasing political risk: a short-term compromise that extends all tax cuts; a liberal-driven vote that allows just the top-income tax cuts to expire; and a high-risk strategy in which Republicans allow all taxes to go up on Jan. 1, followed by a quick vote to renew all tax cuts if Republicans make major gains ..."
New WH staff designed to exert executive power, instead of negotiate with Congress. LAT: "Winning passage of legislation wasn't easy for Obama, even with Democrats in firm control of both houses of Congress. Conditions will get tougher if, as expected, the Republicans pick up seats in the midterm election next month, or possibly take control of Congress ... the best arena for Obama to execute his plans may be his own branch of government. That means more executive orders, more use of the bully pulpit, and more deployment of his ample regulatory power..."
