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: An Investment Agenda For America
OurFuture.org's Terrance Heath: "By failing to invest in direct job creation, our leaders are taking a 'do nothing' approach to shaping the new economy. Doing nothing — and yes, tax cuts amount to doing nothing, given their track record — will yield an economy in which the 'new normal' is a permanently lower standard of living for millions of Americans ... An infrastructure bank may be an idea whose time is has come ... Where an infrastructure bank leaves off, investment in preserving and creating local jobs can make a difference for millions of Americans ... An investment agenda for America must include incentives for corporations to invest again in an America that has been a long-term investor in their success — perhaps even asking them to be American corporations again ... President Obama recently hinted that reforming the tax code may next on his agenda. He would do well to consider that the tax code currently favors wealth over work."
What's Next For Jobs?
Business embrace temp jobs, permanently. NYT: "Despite a surge this year in short-term hiring, many American businesses are still skittish about making those jobs permanent, raising concerns among workers and some labor experts that temporary employees will become a larger, more entrenched part of the work force ... Temporary employees generally receive fewer benefits or none at all, and have virtually no job security."
NYT's Paul Krugman documents how free-market fundamentalist have been repeatedly wrong, yet remain influential: "... the Obama stimulus — which itself was almost 40 percent tax cuts — was far too cautious to turn the economy around ... A policy under which government employment actually fell, under which government spending on goods and services grew more slowly than during the Bush years, hardly constitutes a test of Keynesian economics ... maybe it wasn’t possible for President Obama to get more ... But even if that’s true, it only demonstrates the continuing hold of a failed doctrine over our politics."
W. Post's E. J. Dionne's urges a progressive-corporate alliance to promote American jobs: "Government policies, no matter how often we use the words 'free enterprise,' through design or inadvertence, inevitably affect the private economy. Why not choose policies that specifically encourage sectors that create good jobs for Americans? Why not ally with companies and CEOs whose interests lie in doing just that? I, for one, would not begrudge them their pinkie rings or their Rolls-Royces - though I'd hope they would consider a luxury car made in the U.S.A."
Doubled Salaries Not Good Enough For Wall Streeters
Some on Wall St. getting no bonuses this year: "In some ways, a zero bonus should not come as a surprise to many bankers. As a result of the 2008 financial crisis, Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and banks like Citigroup raised base pay substantially in 2009 and 2010. They were seeking to placate regulators who had argued that bonuses based on performance encouraged excessive risk. At Goldman, for instance, the base salary for managing directors rose to $500,000 from $300,000, while at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse it jumped to $400,000 from $200,000. Even though employees will receive roughly the same amount of money, the psychological blow of not getting a bonus is substantial, especially in a Wall Street culture that has long equated success and prestige with bonus size."
Watchdogs spotlighting new bank fees. Sacramento Bee: "[President Obama's credit card reform is] expected to cost the banking industry more than $11 billion next year. New and increased fees are viewed by banks as a way to minimize the impact of those decreased revenues ... Analysts say the pressure for banks to make money – even as federal lawmakers and financial officials labor to limit profit-making practices – could result in yet more banking service fees in the future. They say likely targets for fee introductions or increases include certain ATM transactions, major money transfers online and bank-check-issuing services."
Fossil Fuel Senators Gear Up To Whack EPA
Coal state Sen. Jay Rockefeller and oil state Sen. Murkowski will push for EPA ban on greenhouse gas regulation next year. The Hill: "...Rockefeller plans to immediately reintroduce the bill when the new Congress starts ... Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is also mulling new efforts to block EPA rules next year ... Murkowski tried a different tactic than Rockefeller – and a more aggressive one – to block EPA climate rules earlier this year..."
Murkowski also raises hope for compromise on clean energy standards: "[She] said the standard should allow wide discretion for states and regions ... The Alaska Republican is among the lawmakers backing the idea of requiring the nation’s utilities to supply escalating amounts of power from low-carbon sources like new nuclear power plants, renewables, and coal plants if they can trap emissions..."
The Fate Of The Mandate
Some liberals not sweating constitutional challenge to health reform law's individual responsibility provision. Kansas City Star: "'All you have to do is have a sign-up period, and say, if you don’t sign up when you’re supposed to, then you don’t get health insurance, and then you’re fully liable for all the costs,' [Howard] Dean said ... Other alternatives include rewarding people who buy insurance rather than penalizing people who don’t."
Conservatives pursue constitutional amendment to give states power to repeal federal legislation. NYT: "Under the proposed 'repeal amendment,' any federal law or regulation could be repealed if the legislatures of two-thirds of the states voted to do so ... It also won the backing of the incoming House majority leader, Representative Eric Cantor..."
Reid Not Done Yet
Sen. Maj. Leader Harry Reid saves food safety bill. ABC: "In an unexpected move, the Senate today passed a sweeping food safety bill by unanimous consent, sending the bill back for a vote in the House before it will move on to President Obama’s desk ... Just a few days ago the food safety bill was seen as dead on Capitol Hill, but the Senate this weekend modified it to resolve a revenue technicality and managed to pass it."
Limited bill expected to pass to keep government open. Politico: "Democrats predicted final approval this week of a year-end budget compromise ceding major leverage to Republicans in future battles but also giving the White House added protection for Pell Grants for low-income college students ... Government agencies would remain dependent on temporary funding through March 4 – a formula that freezes most spending at 2010 levels for the next 10 weeks and guarantees Republicans a chance to force more cuts once the GOP takes control the House and its Appropriations Committee in January. After a late-breaking drive, the White House won an exception for the Pell program to avert what could be a one-third cut from the maximum per-student grant..."
Reid getting his due. NYT's John Harwood: "...Mr. Reid goes so far as to claim a central role in 'the most productive Congress in the history of the country.' ... David S. Broder, The Washington Post’s venerable columnist, has derided him as 'amateurish,' ... countered Burdett Loomis, a Congressional scholar at the University of Kansas[, in] the present-day reality of intense partisan polarization, he added, Mr. Reid’s grit and stamina helped produce a legislative output 'in Great Society territory' for its reach and importance."
White House Seeks To Soothe Liberals
WH reaches out to liberal groups concerned about Social Security agenda. W. Post: "The White House faces challenges in soothing the raw feelings. A number of liberal activists said in interviews that the tax deal further depleted their confidence in the president, and they worry he will give ground on other issues ... [Roger] Hickey's group [Campaign for America's Future] sent a warning to activists Friday suggesting Obama, left to his own devices, might join with the GOP to cut Social Security benefits to trim spending and avoid raising the federal debt ceiling - a move it warned would 'shatter his grassroots base' ... Hickey said he and other liberals have raised such concerns in private sessions with White House officials but have received no clear assurances."
