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.
Establishment Waking Up On China. Will Obama?
OurFuture.org's Dave Johnson: "China has an industrial policy and it is working for them as a nation. We do not. We have a lassez-faire ideology that enables a few at the top of 'Multinational Corp.' to get really rich moving manufacturing infrastructure to China, leaving the rest of us with no way to make a living. Next week, President Obama can announce that he is changing that."
No Breakthroughs At US-China Summit
President touts exports deals with China. The Hill: "The administration hailed $45 billion in business deals ... 'From machinery to software, from aviation to agriculture, these deals will support some 235,000 American jobs,' said Obama..."
Dean Baker scoffs: "The United States had a trade deficit with China of more than $250 billion over the first 11 months of 2010. Exports of $45 billion over some indefinite number of future years, many of which were already in the pipeline, will not affect this ... In other words, it's great that President Obama found a quarter, but he should not be wasting the public's time by telling us about his good luck."
President chides Hu on currency. LAT: "The two leaders, in their eighth meeting, held their ground on other issues. President Obama repeated his assertions that the Chinese currency is undervalued, and that China needs to take steps to see that competition between the two powers is on a 'level playing field.'"
SOTU Watch: Jobs v. Deficit Reduction
WH plans to walk fine line on deficit reduction in SOTU, according to NYT Magazine review of Obama's economic team: "Obama plans to use the State of the Union to present himself as a fiscal conservative. But it will be a delicate balance for someone who believes government spending helped turn the economy around; he hopes to make the case that he can rein in the deficit but that the deepest cuts should wait until after the recovery gathers momentum. 'We have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time,' [OMB Director Jacob] Lew said. 'I deeply believe that this would be the wrong time to hit the brakes.'"
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka lays out a jobs vision ahead of President's SOTU: "While one in five construction workers is looking for work, we have a $2.2 trillion old-school infrastructure deficit. We need to invest trillions more to build the 21st-century infrastructure necessary for our nation's and our planet's future -- high-speed mass transit, smart utilities and universal high-speed broadband ... the American people would never forgive their leaders for cutting Social Security or Medicare. Sadly, the chairs of the President's Deficit Commission urged just that, as part of a package of proposed deep spending cuts and tax changes that would hit middle-class families hard."
White House consideration of Social Security cuts not in sync with congressional Dem leadership. The Hill: "Senior White House officials have told Senate Democrats that raising the Social Security retirement age and changing the calculation for cost-of-living adjustments are 'on the table' but no final decisions have been made, according to Senate sources. A White House spokesman declined to comment. Strategists for congressional Democrats fear this could create permanent Democratic minorities in the House and Senate."
Third Way leaders deem Social Security cuts "progressive" in Politico oped: "...we would reduce the spending rate by means-testing the program ... We would then amend the Social Security benefits formula to slightly increase retirement payments for those with average lifetime earnings less than $55,000 a year. while slightly decreasing them for those who earned more ... We would also gradually increase the retirement age to 68 for today’s 38-year-olds and eventually set it at 70 for today’s 4-year-olds ... This plan is likely to generate opposition from the left, though it strongly defends progressive values for decades to come. It makes Social Security fully solvent through the century, bumps up benefits for lower-income workers, encourages retirement savings and modestly increases federal taxation."
NYT Magazine piece shows "dysfunction" on WH econ team. Reuters' Felix Salmon: "[NYT's Peter] Baker makes an important case that a lot of the blame should be shouldered by Larry Summers, who should have cared much more about unemployment than he did, and who was in large part responsible for the incoherence of the most important arm of the Obama administration."
Mike Konczal argues NYT Magazine piece shows WH failing to address the housing bubble: "Marcy Wheeler points out that the words 'foreclosure', 'housing' or 'HAMP' don’t come up in the piece at all. How telling is that? We just had a housing bubble collapse, and the signature post-collapse stories are about the fraudulent ways the securities were made in the first place, the obvious flaws in the servicing models, and the record numbers of foreclosures during the entirety of Obama’s first term in office."
David Kapell suggests turning struggling homeowner into renters through "structured foreclosures," in NYT oped: "The borrower would lose ownership of his home, but be allowed to remain as a tenant paying fair rent for a reasonable period after foreclosure, with the requirement that he cooperate in the foreclosure. He’d pay fair market rents as published by the federal government, ensuring a clear, national standard. If the borrower couldn’t afford to pay market rent, existing federal rent-subsidy programs could be extended to help tide him over."
DailyKos' Jed Lewison notes nothing in the GOP agenda is about jobs: "...Republicans have read an edited version of the Constitution on C-SPAN, changed budget rules to allow tax cuts without worrying about the budgetary consequences, begun planning investigative witch hunts to annoy the White House, introduced legislation to reinstate DADT, and started debate over a symbolic repeal of health care reform ... Notice anything missing..."
GOP Pushes "Symbolic" Spending Cuts
House GOP schedules "symbolic" spending cut vote before SOTU. The Hill: "[The] resolution [calls] on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to limit non-security discretionary spending in the second half of 2011 to 2008 levels 'or less.' ... [Dems] attacked the resolution as a political ploy lacking in substance since it has no dollar figures in it ... Democrats questioned whether the cuts would jeopardize specific programs, from education to nuclear security, prompting an angry response from Republicans."
AP reviews what the GOP would have to cut: "A return to 2008 levels would mean significant cuts for lots of programs favored by Republicans, including an 8 percent cut to NASA, a 16 percent cut for the FBI and a 13 percent cut in the operating budget of the national parks ... Newly elected Republicans in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas are sure to feel major political pressure over big cuts looming for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program ... Lawmakers in both parties from rural districts are likely to resist what could be an almost 20 percent cut to a program that subsidizes service by smaller airlines to isolated cities and towns ... Special education grants to states could be cut by $1.4 billion ..."
Speaker Boehner not concerning himself with messy details. Politico: "'You’re asking me?' Boehner laughed, when asked by POLITICO how he thought the cuts would be first implemented in a stopgap spending bill next month. 'I know how to delegate.'"
States Cutting Jobs Instead Of Raising Taxes
Few states pursuing higher incomes taxes on wealthy, despite massive budget gaps. NYT: "'In a typical recession, you’d look for tax increases this year, as states already have cut a lot,' said Donald J. Boyd, a senior fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government .... 'But we’re in quite an extraordinary antipublic union, antitax climate right now.' A number of states, in fact, including Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina, let taxes on high-income residents expire this year."
NY Gov. Cuomo may slash 15,000 public sector jobs. NYT: "The prospective cuts are likely to accompany large reductions in Medicaid and state education spending ... as Mr. Cuomo and his administration seek to close a projected budget gap of more than $9 billion."
Health Care Repeal. R.I.P.
Health reform repeal dies seconds after passing House. NYT: "Leaders of the Democratic-controlled Senate have said that they will not act on the repeal measure, effectively scuttling it. While conceding that reality, House Republicans said they would press ahead with their 'repeal and replace' strategy. But the next steps will be much more difficult ... Republican leaders said they had not set any timetable for the four committees drafting alternatives to the law."
W. Post's Matt Miller dares GOP to offer something better: "Fine. I'm willing to repeal Obamacare. On one condition. Republicans need to pass a law that the Congressional Budget Office certifies will cover the same number of uninsured as the Democratic health reform does - 30 million. And it has to do it at lower cost."
GOP Rep. Phil Gingrey dismisses HHS finding of millions with pre-existing conditions. Wonk Room's Igor Volsky: "'One hundred and twenty nine million people with pre-existing conditions! They would all have to have hang nails and fever blisters' ... while Gingrey’s 'hang nail' comments are certainly ridiculous, insurance companies are not above denying coverage for fairly elementary ailments. Insurers will disqualify you for just taking certain medicines because of the possibility of future costs..."
GOP Working With Lobbyists To Squelch EPA
GOP working with oil lobbyists to handcuff EPA on climate. Politico: "With the backing of GOP caucus leaders, aides for House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) are seeking unwavering support from a host of industries for an all-out push to block federal and state climate rules ... The roster of those attending the invitation-only gathering is being kept under lock and key, though it is believed to include the American Petroleum Institute, National Mining Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and others."
Federal regulators find fatal coal mine explosion was preventable. NYT: "In a preliminary report, officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration said their investigation found that Massey Energy, operator of the Upper Big Branch mine, had repeatedly violated federal rules governing ventilation and control of coal dust to reduce the risk of explosion."
Solar industry claims local regulations are hurting business. NYT: "In a new study, the industry estimates that the permit dance adds an average of $2,500 in costs to each installation, and streamlining things could provide a $1 billion stimulus to the residential and commercial solar power market over the next five years ... [The industry] urges the federal government to create incentive programs that would nudge municipalities to adopt common codes, fee structures and filing procedures."
Breakfast Sides
Common Cause formally seeking to have Citizens United ruling vacated because of conflicts of interest. NYT: "[Common Cause charges] that Mr. Scalia and Mr. Thomas should disqualify themselves from hearing campaign finance cases because they may be biased toward [Charles] Koch, a billionaire who has been a major player in financing conservative causes. [It] filed a petition with the Justice Department on Wednesday asking it to investigate potential conflicts by Justices Scalia and Thomas and move for their disqualification from the landmark Citizens United case..."
Senator "Mike Lee Suggests FEMA, Federal Poverty And Food Safety Programs Are All Unconstitutional" reports ThinkProgress: "...Lee doubled down on this call for a return to failed constitutional vision that spawned the Great Depression, suggesting that even victims of Katrina-like disasters cannot constitutionally receive aid from the federal government ... in the same interview, Lee also claims that all federal anti-poverty and food safety programs also violate the Constitution."
