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: It's About Social Security, Not Obama
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "It's irresponsible to have blind faith in the President, and it's misguided to give up on him altogether. The only smart course of action is to take matters into our own hands. There's no time to waste analyzing Barack Obama when action is so urgently needed. I want him to have a successful Presidency because I want what's best for the country. And what's best for the country right now is to save Social Security. That can only happen if the White House is pressured into backing down on these reckless and unjust plans, whatever motivations may lie behind them ... Sign the petition - 'Tell the President: No More Negotiations With Hostage-Takers. No Social Security Cuts.'"
Bipartisan Senate Duo Plot Deficit Reduction Push
Dem Sen. Mark Warner and GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss organizing deficit reduction effort, seek debt ceiling vote as opening. W. Post: "Chambliss and Warner are the leaders of a new, informal gathering of senators who have been meeting periodically since the summer to discuss ways to curb the deficit. The group includes more than 20 senators ... Chambliss and Warner plan to introduce the [Simpson-Bowles] report as a 'legislative vehicle' early in 2011, with a goal of finding a binding compromise by the end of next year ... the two men agree on the general idea of broadening the tax base by eliminating many existing deductions, while at the same time lowering personal and corporate tax rates ... Before next summer, Congress will have to take a painful vote to raise the federal debt ceiling to allow the country to borrow more money. 'If we can use that as a leverage' to get the ball rolling on a deficit-reduction plan, Chambliss said, 'that's an ideal scenario.'"
Dean Baker argues the threat not to raise the debt ceiling is a threat against Wall Street, not Main Street: "..., supporters of Social Security and Medicare ... have to push President Obama to announce in advance that he will never sign a debt ceiling bill that includes cuts to Social Security and Medicare, the countries two most important social programs ... A debt default would be a very bad situation and one that we absolutely should try to avoid. But the day after the default, the country would still have the same capital stock and infrastructure ... One thing that would not be around the day after a default is Wall Street ... Given the power of Wall Street over Congress, it is inconceivable that they would ever let the Republicans pull the trigger. This means that if President Obama is prepared to take the right and popular position of supporting Social Security and Medicare, he will win."
Paul Krugman on why Social Security shouldn't be on the cutting table: ".. this is absolutely the wrong place to cut if you’re serious about fiscal issues. It’s where the money isn’t; and in terms of securing Social Security itself, it’s deeply illogical: in order to avoid the possibility of future benefit cuts, we’re cutting future benefits."
New Data Show Middle-Class Erosion
"1 in 3 Working Families Near Poverty" reports HuffPost: "Almost a third of America's working families are now considered low-income, earning less than twice the official poverty threshold, according to a report released Tuesday by the Working Poor Families Project. The recession, which has incited layoffs and wage cuts, reversed a period of improvement: Between 2007 and 2009, as the recession set in, the percentage of U.S. working families classified as low-income grew from 28 percent to more than 30 percent. Workers who once focused on career advancement now live paycheck to paycheck. The American middle class, in effect, is eroding."
Robert Reich explains why "pro-business" policies aren't necessarily "pro-jobs.": "America’s big businesses are less and less American. They’re going abroad for sales and employees. That’s one reason they’ve showed record-breaking profits in 2010 while creating almost no American jobs ... Larry Summers, told a group of top U.S. CEOs that the election was partly a 'rejection of elites…that were seen as more citizens of Davos than of their countries.' American CEOs, Summers warned, should 'think very hard about their obligations as citizens of this country.' Yes, they’re citizens. But first and foremost they’re CEOs. And CEOs have to show profits – wherever those profits come from. Under American-style capitalism, profits matter. Jobs don’t."
W. Post explores the baseless backlash against civil servants: "Officials of public employee unions say they have felt political wrath before, but that this time, it feels different. 'The extent and the depth of it is new. This is a concerted, deep attack on public employees and public workers,' said Gerald W. McEntee, president of the 1.6-million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. 'The problem in the economy has not been created by public workers. It was created by Wall Street, and this political sleight of hand will do nothing to solve the problem.' ... said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), who counts 56,000 federal employees and at least as many government retirees among his consituents. 'Where are we going to get the sophisticated skill set we need for the future, if we're demeaning that service in the first place?'"
Jed Lewison reports that the pay freeze for federal employees must not apply to GOP staffers: "At the same time that they demand freezes in Federal salaries, Republican members of Congress are presiding over an explosion in payroll for their own staff."
9/11 Health Care Bill May Get Vote Today
GOPers feeling heat for obstructing 9/11 first responders health care bill. LAT: "'I can tell you, whoever votes against 9/11 responders a couple of days before Christmas is truly un-American,' said John Feal, a former demolition supervisor who lost a foot when a steel beam fell on it during recovery efforts ... New York's senators now believe they have the support to overcome a Republican filibuster in a vote that may be held as early as Tuesday ... The GOP largely opposes funding what many have characterized as a new entitlement program at a time of soaring deficits."
GOP Sen. Tom Coburn may prevent passage. Politico: "[Coburn] told POLITICO Monday night he wouldn't allow the bill to move quickly, saying he has problems with parts of the bill and the process Democrats are employing. Other Republicans like Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said he had concerns with the measure and said it should instead move through the committee process."
Federal Govt Lawsuit May Shape Health Reform
Antitrust lawsuit tests health reform law's ability to open up marketplace. NYT: " When the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in October, the unusual action was widely seen as a warning shot to dominant health insurance carriers in many other states ... Federal prosecutors contend that Blue Cross in Michigan thwarts competitors by pressuring hospitals to charge rival insurers more to provide care, a practice prosecutors say has made health care extremely expensive in a state that can’t afford it."
An Ezra Klein reader explains how Massachusetts' individual mandate has helped open up the marketplace::"...I went to the website of the [Massachusetts] health connector ... It is nothing short of astounding. All the different plans are clearly arranged in a table according to the benefit level they offer, with out-of-pocket costs clearly indicated. For any given level of benefits, you can see all the companies offering that type of plan and the monthly premium. Not-so-surprisingly, it becomes perfectly clear that some companies offer a given plan at 50% higher cost than others. It's no small wonder then that competition is driving down premiums in the exchange. Now this is what a health care marketplace looks like!"
Enviros Shift Strategy
Envrios shift strategy away from federal legislation. W. Post: "The Nature Conservancy, for example, successfully championed a ballot initiative in Iowa this fall that will devote a portion of any future sales tax increase to land and water conservation initiatives ... The Sierra Club, meanwhile, is bolstering its long-standing campaign to block the construction of power plants across the country ... 350.org founder Bill McKibben, who has been trying to foster a global grass-roots movement, wrote in an e-mail he sees it as the only way to overcome traditional opponents who are far better positioned in Washington ..."
EPA releases report showing success of cap-and-trade programs. The Hill: "The data concerns a 20-year-old, GOP-backed cap-and-trade program that has helped cut power plant emissions that cause acid rain ... 'An analysis estimates annual public health benefits of the program in 2010 alone at more than $120 billion, about 40 times the estimated cost,' EPA said..."
"Wisconsinites Rally Against Governor's Rejection of Rail Funds" reports Change.org's Zachary Shahan.
Food safety bill to be cleared by House today, sent to President. LAT: "It would give the Food and Drug Administration sweeping new powers to demand recalls and require importers to certify the safety of what they're bringing into this country."
Who WIll Pay For Failure Of DREAM?
Matt Baretto predicts that the Senators who killed the DREAM Act will face a Latino backlash: "With strong challengers and voters weary of incumbents, both Hutchison and Kyl could be in significant trouble if they can’t crack 20 percent of the Latino vote in 2012. Add to the list John Ensign of Nevada (26.5 percent Latino) where Latinos single-handedly turned away the anti-immigrant candidate in 2010, and Scott Brown who will almost certainly be in tight contest in left-leaning Massachusetts (8.8 percent Latino). Across the aisle, there may be little reason for Latinos in Nebraska (8.3 percent Latino) to continue supporting Ben Nelson who voted no on DREAM."
NYT focuses on the risks for Texas Repulbicans: "The risk for Republicans like Ms. Hutchison is that in trying to appeal to the conservative base, they will anger Hispanics, who are regarded as the sleeping giant of Texas politics. And whether Hispanic voters come out in large numbers to vote against Republicans who thwarted the act may depend on young Hispanic activists like Benita Veliz ... Having come to the United States at the age of 8, she wants to study law but faces deportation after being stopped two years ago on a traffic violation."
Foreclosure Scandal Persists
Robert Kuttner spots the origin of the next banking crisis, the foreclosure fraud scandal: "... this legal morass doesn't just gum up foreclosures; it calls into question whether several trillion dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities are worth anything close to their face value. Confronted with this incipient crisis, the Treasury Department is in a dither, torn between the need to take aggressive steps to prevent the mess from accelerating into a full-blown banking panic and the desire to reassure money markets that all is well."
Felix Salmon argues mortgage companies have too much control over Treasury anti-foreclosure program: "... so long as servicers are in charge of doing loan mods, and are providing what little policing there is themselves, HAMP is going to have no real enforcement mechanism."
Some in program stuck in limbo, reports HuffPost: "More than 29,000 troubled American homeowners have been stuck in mortgage modification purgatory for at least a year, with no end in sight, under the Obama administration's anti-foreclosure program ... [They] were supposed to receive lower payments on a trial basis lasting three months and then gain so-called permanent mortgage modifications--lowered payments lasting five years. But more than a year after beginning their trial phase, they have yet to be granted the permanent relief, leaving them unsure about their ability to hang on to their homes. Meanwhile their lenders continue to report them to credit bureaus as delinquent, impairing their ability to borrow in the future."
