Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to effect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.
MORNING MESSAGE: Stiffed By Our Top 400 Taxpayers
OurFuture.org's Sam Pizzigati: "In 2008, the IRS revealed last week, 400 Americans reported at least $110 million in income on their federal tax returns. These 400, in a year that ended with millions of Americans out of work and home, averaged $270.5 million each, the second-highest U.S. top 400 average income on record ... the top 400 paid only 18.1 percent of their total incomes in federal income tax. The top 400 in 1955 paid 51.2 percent of their total incomes in tax. After taxes, and after adjusting for inflation, 2008’s top 400 had a staggering $85 billion more left in their pockets than 1955’s most awesomely affluent."
GOP Medicare Plan Backfiring Big
House GOP plan to dismantle Medicare may throw upstate NY congressional seat next week. W. Post: "[Defending Medicare', Democrats believe, is how [Kathy] Hochul just might do what seemed unthinkable a few weeks ago: win in one of the nation’s more inhospitable places for Democrats ... The backlash to [the GOP plan] in this economically struggling district, where registered voters are older than the national average, has turned an unusual three-way race into a dead heat."
Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich flip-flops, turns against House GOP Medicare plan. Time's Jay Newton-Small: "A couple of weeks ago ... I asked if he would advocate replacing [the President's health reform law] with Paul Ryan’s plan. The former speaker sang Ryan’s praises ...'But would you have voted for Ryan’s plan?' I pressed. 'Sure,' Gingrich replied. 'Do you think it would actually save the health care system?' 'No, I think it’s the first step,' ... So, I was surprised to see Gingrich on Meet the Press Sunday morning telling David Gregory that the Ryan plan was too bold ... How does one go from praising a plan as 'the first step' to criticizing it as 'too big a jump' and 'radical change'?"
House Budget Chair Paul Ryan will "relaunch" campaign to dismantle Medicare today with speech at Economic Club of Chicago, reports TPM.
Meanwhile, Republicans appeared to be flinching from Medicare fight. The Hill: "Republicans suffered through some testy town halls during the April recess — and the party leadership appears to have retreated on the issue ever since. House leaders do not plan to put Ryan’s blueprint into authorization legislation. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have introduced a deficit-cutting bill that calls for more Medicare spending than Obama has embraced."
Conservatives hold up Rhode Island Medicaid reform as a cost- cutting model, despite facts. NYT: "...Gary D. Alexander, a Republican and former Rhode Island secretary of health and human services ... said the state had saved more than $100 million in the first 18 months ... [His] Democratic successor, Steven M. Costantino, said he 'cannot substantiate those savings at this point.' ... a key difference between Rhode Island’s experience and the [House Republican] block-grant proposal: block grants would funnel less money to the states, but Rhode Island’s agreement almost certainly guarantees the state more than it intends to spend."
Dean Baker debunks W. Post's Robert Samuelson claims about "wealthy" Social Security and Medicare recipients: "Samuelson has another big push for means-testing of Social Security and Medicare, telling us how wealthy the elderly are. Samuelson's piece is full of comments that are either deliberately misleading or profoundly ignorant ... Most importantly, if Samuelson did know anything about income distribution among the elderly he would know that means-testing of Social Security and Medicare is not likely to save much money unless the intention is to take benefits away from middle-income people."
Public Fears Economic Collapse If Debt Limit Not Raised
Politico poll shows public worried about failure to raise debt limit: "The poll also flashed an ominous sign for Republicans urging GOP leaders to fight raising the debt ceiling. Fifty-six percent believe failing to raise the debt ceiling will be 'disastrous' for the country, compared with 32 percent who think it will not have a 'serious impact.'"
Debt limit technically reached today. W. Post: "The Obama administration will begin to tap federal retiree programs to help fund operations after the government loses its ability Monday to borrow more money from the public, adding urgency to efforts in Washington to fashion a compromise ... The measure won’t have an impact on retirees because the Treasury is legally required to reimburse the program ... The maneuver buys Geithner only a few months of time. If Congress does not vote to raise the debt limit by Aug. 2, Geithner says the government is likely to default ... several prominent congressional Republicans have dismissed the Obama administration’s assertion that the country would face dire consequences if Congress does not vote to raise the federal limit..."
House conservative try to pull budget debate to the far right with radical spending cap. The Hill: "[Republican Study Committee] Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) endorsed the bill submitted Friday by top-ranking GOP appropriator Rep. Jack Kingston (Ga.) that would cap spending at 18 percent of GDP ... Kingston’s bill does not specify which cuts to make to discretionary and mandatory spending."
Sen. Min. Leader McConnell refuses to consider repealing oil subsidies as part of budget deal. The Hill: "'That's not the kind of thing we're going to be dealing with here in connection with the serious talks that are going on with the Vice President's group,' McConnell said on CNN’s 'State of the Union.' ... McConnell’s comments come as Democrats are pressing to repeal of billions of dollars worth of industry tax breaks and apply the savings to deficit reduction."
Breakfast Sides
Gingrich falsely attacks NLRB in defense of Boeing, unchallenged on Boeing-sponsored "Meet The Press." In These Times' Mike Elk: "While Meet the Press host David Gregory vigorously challanged Newt Ginrgrich on details of his personal life, he failed to challenge Gingrich on his false assertion that the NLRB was breaking the law by finding that Boeing punished workers for striking in Washington state by moving a planned new production line there to nonunion South Carolina ... No other corporation is listed so prominently as a sponsor on the [show's] website."
Senate energy cmte chair Jeff Bingaman unsure if "clean energy standard" can pass. The Hill: "Obama used his State of the Union speech to call for a 'clean energy standard' under which utilities together would supply 80 percent of their power from low-emissions sources by 2035. Bingaman is working with the White House on a proposal. 'We are trying to figure out if we can put together a draft piece of legislation that can get enough votes to be seriously considered in our committee,' Bingaman said in an interview with C-SPAN ... 'We don’t have the answer to that yet...'"
