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.
MORNING MESSAGE: What About Wall Street Making Peace With Working People?
OurFuture.org's Isaiah J. Poole: "The White House "making peace" with corporate CEOs, to use The Washington Post's description of the meeting, is one thing. But Wall Street needs to make peace with those of us who have been forced, as a result of the conservative policies they promoted, to live through a decade of stagnant wages, unemployment and underemployment. Wall Street needs a reset with working America. ... The businesses that profit as a result of the public commons that We the People provide should not have to be given special inducements to pay their fair share toward supporting that commons. That is the starting point from which President Obama should begin in negotiating a new tax framework in which businesses and Main Street can profit together in a new economy."
President, CEOs All Smiles After Meeting
No policies announced after presidential meeting with top CEOs. W. Post: "Jim McNerney, president and chief executive of Boeing, said after the meeting, 'We have a chance for a new beginning ... We all made our apologies and said we wanted to move on.' Obama discussed a range of issues with the business leaders, and the gathering reached consensus on such goals as expanding American exports, improving education and reducing the budget deficit. But in terms of specifics, no formal agreement was reached ... Obama solicited ideas from the executives on a host of issues, though he also pointedly asked what else they need to start hiring again."
W. Post's Dana Milbank sees the CEOs as pleased: "Whatever Obama said privately to the executives over the next four-plus hours, they must have liked it. When they emerged from Blair House, several of them stopped at the microphones to welcome the president into the club of capitalists."
President's next meeting is with labor. LAT: "The White House said Obama would meet with labor leaders later this week. And Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, who also attended Wednesday's meeting, planned to meet late in the day with leaders of labor, progressive and minority organizations to discuss the economy, taxes, the budget deficit and job creation."
House May Pass Tax Cut Deal Today
Tax cut deal clears Senate, could pass House today. W. Post: "...House Democratic leaders were planning to stage two votes, one on an alternative package that would allow Democrats to express their dissatisfaction without blocking final passage of the compromise bill."
Alternative will try to raise level of estate tax. The Hill: "...the House will vote first on a proposed change to the estate tax provision of the deal Obama reached with Republicans ... renew[ing] the 2009 inheritance tax at 45 percent for individuals with estates worth more than $3.5 million ... House leadership aides said privately they doubted the [estate tax] proposal would pass..."
Ezra Klein says the Democrats should "go big on the estate tax or stay home": "... I can't see the argument for blowing up the tax deal over the difference between George W. Bush's 2009 rates and the Lincoln-Kyl rates. Over the next two years, the difference between those bills is $10 billion. If House Democrats are willing to risk the whole deal to fix the estate tax, they should actually fix the estate tax."
Matt Yglesias notes conservatives have changed their tune on stimulus: "...Whatever the merits of stimulus in general, or tax cuts versus spending, I think there’s no serious argument against the proposition that economic conditions in 2001 were much less dire than those of 2009. And yet there was huge embrace of Keynesian logic on the part of folks who liked the idea of cutting taxes."
"I Did Not Have Relations With This Earmark"
Senate tax cut vote clears decks for more legislation. CNN: "Formal consideration of the far-reaching [START nuclear] treaty begins Thursday morning ... However, by the afternoon, according to a Democratic leadership aide, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to shelve the treaty temporarily so that senators can begin debating a giant spending bill ... Reid needs to turn to the spending bill because the government runs out of money Saturday ... Reid has also vowed to take up a repeal of the military's policy barring gay men and lesbians from openly serving – passed by the House Wednesday night - and an immigration measure called the DREAM act."
GOP senators try to distance themselves from their own earmarks. W. Post: "[Sen. Roger] Wicker, like many other GOP senators with earmarks in the [year-long government funding bill], says he will vote against it ... Republican senators agreed during a closed-door meeting to ban them ... Yet Wicker ... had by then already sponsored ... 223 earmarks worth $415.4 million [in the bill] ... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has 42 earmarks worth $86.1 million ... The spending bill also contained earmarks totaling $30.2 million sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who swore off earmarks last month. ... Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), who sponsored an estimated $15.7 million and $38.5 million worth of earmarks in the bill, came under sharp questioning Wednesday when they staged a news conference to condemn the practice."
"So far, no legislator has moved to pull [their own] earmarks from the bill," reports NYT.
Slate's David Weigel explains how conservatives can request and oppose earmarks at the same time: "Thanks to legislation passed in 2006, and cosponsored by now-President Barack Obama, the names of all senators and representatives who requested earmarks are published ... Reporters, presented with this data, dug through and counted up the earmarks requested by Thune and Cornyn, then asked the senators how it was possible for them to be anti-earmark when they'd requested so many earmarks for projects in their states ... other Republicans whose requests appear in the omnibus, became a lot like that of Rep. Ron Paul. He requests earmarks, then votes against the spending bills containing the earmarks."
Incoming Speaking Boehner calls on President Obama to veto the bill over earmarks reports McClatchy.
"...Congress may have to clear a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown next week reports CQ.
House GOP plans new rule: new spending must be offset with spending cuts, tax cuts don't. CQ: " If, as expected, the new rule is adopted by the full House during the first week of January, it would apply to all legislation and not just bills introduced under suspension of the rule..."
GOP Financial Crisis Commission Releases Empty Report
Financial crisis commission formally splits as GOP commissioners release separate document. Bloomberg: "The partisan split on the federal panel exploring the origins of the financial crisis may undermine the impact of its findings on the banks, bond-rating firms and regulators it investigated ... The divide intensified when [GOP co-chair Bill] Thomas proposed in the last few weeks deleting a series of words Republicans thought were pejorative or not precise enough ... 'Wall Street,' 'deregulation' and 'shadow banking.' The proposal was defeated by a majority of the commissioners ... the Republican members said yesterday that a 'social policy' decision by the U.S. to push affordable housing and fund it via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was a recipe for disaster ... To be sure, the commission has obtained thousands of documents it hasn’t yet released, and those could eventually contribute to public understanding of the financial meltdown."
"Republican Financial Crisis Commissioners Used To Employ Financial Crisis Language They’ve Now Banned" notes Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo.
Rortybomb scratches his head over the GOP document: "...where to begin with the GOP paper? ... I can’t respond to this argument because there are no numbers or citations ... There’s no mention of derivatives and the role the credit default swap market played in providing insurance for these mortgage bonds ... There’s nothing about the latest research pointing to securitization being a major driver in increasing mortgage debt ... They had the power of subpoena, staff and a budget, and, random bloggers covering it have done a much better job ... No sources, no numbers, no new info, not even 10 pages, but they put it out there so reporters have the option to go 'well, on the other hand the Republicans said this.'"
Reuters' Felix Salmon argues that after the split, we need the unreleased documents more than ever: "... at this point it seems the only way to get any value at all out of the $6 million we’ve spent on this panel. A book will be published; it will be rubbished by Republicans; it will have no lasting impact. But give us that Goldman Sachs data dump, and we’ll discover so much more. Maybe not a financial-crisis smoking gun, but an unprecedented degree of access into the real inner workings of Wall Street."
Comment period for Fed proposal to ease foreclosure rules on lenders ends next week. Bloomberg: "Consumer groups and industry lawyers say a rule under consideration by the central bank would make it harder for borrowers to exercise their right of 'rescission,' which forces a lender to relinquish a lien on a mortgaged property ... Lenders are pressing the Federal Reserve to act on the issue now because starting in July, rescission rules will come under the purview of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ... the Center for Responsible Lending called the proposed curbs an 'industry-friendly move' that contradicts the Obama administration’s goal of minimizing foreclosures."
Bank of America negotiating on buying back bad mortgages. Bloomberg: "Bank of America Corp., facing demands from institutional investors that it buy back billions of dollars in soured mortgages, said some bondholders will delay action as it conducts 'constructive' talks ... 'The reason why settlement is a much-preferred alternative to litigation is to avoid extensive discovery,' said [hedge fund founder] Manal Mehta ...
Goldman Sachs execs getting big bonuses, for their "success" in 2007. Bloomberg: "Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s top executives will get about $111.3 million in stock next month in a delayed payout from last year and their record-setting 2007 awards ... The payments come as bonuses across Wall Street are expected to decline. Compensation for trading and investment- banking employees is likely to be down 22 percent to 28 percent from last year..."
Ryan Grim, at HuffPo, suggests another use for the $143 billion banks will give out in bonuses this year: "By spending just half of that money elsewhere, the banks could modify the loans of every homeowner with an underwater mortgage, cutting principal and interest rates down to the current market value, according to a new report by critics of excessive compensation."
"Republicans Lay Out Plan To Slow Walk Derivatives Reform" reports Wonk Room's Garofalo: "One of the targets that [GOP Rep. Spencer] Bachus has in his sights is derivatives reform, the title of the Dodd-Frank law that aims to bring some prudent regulation to the currently unregulated derivatives market ... But it’s not only Congressional Republicans who are trying to slow-walk reform. Republican appointees to the CFTC itself are doing the same thing ..."
Next Phase In Right-Wing Health Care Legal Attack
Broader legal challenge to health reform hits Florida court today. Politico: "Twenty states plan to present oral arguments Thursday that Congress overstepped its bounds when it passed the legislation ... The lawsuit’s backers are hoping Judge Roger Vinson declares the law unconstitutional and stops the federal government from enacting the law ... Observers are skeptical that Vinson will uphold the legislation, citing his Republican appointment and a recent briefing he wrote allowing the case to move forward."
Virginia gubernatorial advisory panel ignores judicial ruling, pushes for health reform implementation. W. Post: "Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Hazel heads the panel, which urged the state to move quickly to create a Virginia-run marketplace where individuals and small businesses could shop for insurance, find ways to boost the number of doctors practicing in the state and create an 'innovation center' to test ways to improve care for people with chronic diseases. Virginia also should consider requiring Medicaid recipients to pay more for some medical services..."
Breakfast Sides
Robert Kuttner reports "well-placed sources" say President will embrace Social Security cuts in State of the Union address, in Politico oped: "...now being teed up by the White House and key Senate Democrats, is a scheme for the president to embrace much of the Bowles-Simpson plan — including cuts in Social Security. This is to be unveiled, according to well-placed sources, in the president’s State of the Union address. The idea is to pre-empt an even more draconian set of budget cuts likely to be proposed by the incoming House Budget Committee chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), as a condition of extending the debt ceiling ... If you think the Democratic base feels betrayed by Obama’s tax-cut deal, just imagine the mayhem when Obama proposes to cut the Democrats’ signature program."
China makes some trade concessions. W. Post: "China has agreed to lift its extensive limits on the import of U.S. beef, lower restrictions on imports of wind turbines and telecommunications equipment, and take an array of other steps that U.S. officials say could lead to a substantial boost in U.S. exports to the world's second-largest economy ... the U.S. side was hesitant to describe the talks as a major breakthrough - the list of trade issues between the two countries remains long, and enforcement of prior trade promises has sometimes been lax - officials were clearly buoyed ... the United States had pledged from its side to 'seriously consider the views of China' when bringing cases before the World Trade Organization or taking other actions to impose duties on Chinese imports."
Auto industry group claims fuel efficiency proposal will cost jobs. NYT: "A study by an auto industry research group said on Wednesday that requiring automakers to meet fuel economy standards of 60 miles per gallon by 2025 would decrease sales because cars and trucks would become more expensive, and could eliminate up to 1.3 million jobs nationwide." Dean Baker retorts: "The auto industry put out a study that apparently assumes that if people don't spend money on cars, they will not spend it on anything."
W. Post's E.J. Dionne says the "No Labels" group has bigger problems than labels: "Moderation, very much alive on the center-left and among Democrats, is so dead in the Republican Party and on the right that even a staunch conservative such as David Frum, a former George W. Bush speechwriter and No Labels co-founder, is an apostate ... No Labelers can yet be a constructive force if they remind us of how extreme the right has become and help broker an alliance between the center and the left, the only coalition that can realistically stop an ever more zealous brand of conservatism. But they will have to admit that labels aren’t the real problem. What lies behind them is."
