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: 10 Years Of Bush Tax Cuts Is Enough
OurFuture.org's Roger Hickey: "Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. And we're going to commemorate these costly handouts ... by taking action to get rid of them. 10 years of Bush tax cuts is enough! Click here to demand your representative supports the Fairness in Taxation Act so the rich contribute their fair share. ... The Bush tax cuts made our tax brackets more regressive. Rep. Jan Schakowsky's Fairness in Taxation Act makes them more progressive. It would create new tax brackets for annual income above $1 million, starting at 45% for income between $1 million and $10 million, inching up to 49% for income over $1 billion. It's plain common sense."
GOP Kills Fed Nomination, Blow To Economy
Nobel laureate Peter Diamond withdraws his nomination to Federal Reserve after unrelenting GOP obstruction, pens NYT oped: "Last October, I won the Nobel Prize in economics for my work on unemployment and the labor market. But I am unqualified to serve on the board of the Federal Reserve — at least according to the Republican senators who have blocked my nomination ... we should all worry about how distorted the confirmation process has become, and how little understanding of monetary policy there is among some of those responsible for its Congressional oversight."
TNR's Jonathan Cohn lambastes GOP for blocking Diamond nomination: "...by keeping Diamond off the Fed, where he likely would have pushed for expansionist policies, Republicans are blocking monetary stimulus—just as surely as their votes against infrastructure, aid to the states, and other spending programs are blocking fiscal stimulus. Kill the economy. Blame the Democrats. It’s the perfect crime."
Dean Baker warns of possible Great Depression if no further action is taken, in The New Republic: "...the economy only broke out of the Depression when the federal government undertook massive deficit spending to fight World War II. Deficits peaked at more than 25 percent of GDP. This would be the equivalent, in today’s economy, of running annual deficits of $4 trillion. There was no economic reason that the government could not have spent on this scale in 1931, as opposed to 1941; the obstacles were political ... fear of deficits limited the scale of New Deal programs and caused Roosevelt to reverse course and cut back on spending in 1937, just as the economy was gaining momentum. Unfortunately, the country seems destined to follow the same course in the current slump as it did in the 30s. The May jobs report should have provided the sort of stiff kick that is needed to revive discussion of additional stimulus. Instead, it seems to have barely shaken Washington’s ongoing obsession with deficits."
Mark Thoma of Economist's View distressed over WH econ adviser Austan Goolsbee's lack of distress: "Policymakers have been telling us to have patience for some time now, but patience ran thin long ago. We need action, not excuses to do nothing based upon Republican talking points. We have millions of people out of work, we face the prospect of a five to ten year recovery for employment, yet the administration has no plans to even try to push Congress to do more. I understand that Congress is unlikely to go along, but at least people would realize whose side the administration is on."
W. Post tracks GOP's shift from "fiscal responsibility" to "no tax increases, ever.": "[In] 1963 ... Republicans denounced tax cuts proposed by President John F. Kennedy as a road to red ink and rampant inflation. But today’s GOP adheres to a 'no new taxes' orthodoxy that has proved far more powerful than the desire to balance the budget ... all but 13 of 288 GOP lawmakers in Congress have signed a formal pledge not to raise taxes ... it is so well defended that its followers are constantly patrolling at both the state and federal levels for new forms of trespass ..."
"Greece Austerity Protests Grow" reports Reuters: "...more than 50,000 people packed the main Syntagma square outside parliament to vent their frustration over rising joblessness as austerity bites, blaming the crisis on political corruption. Turnout was the biggest so far in a series of 12 nightly rallies on the square inspired by Spain's protest movement."
Portugal turns toward austerity. NYT: "Portugal’s Social Democrats unseated the governing Socialists with a resounding parliamentary election victory on Sunday, giving the next government a strong mandate to enact a tough austerity program in return for 78 billion euros, or about $114 billion, international bailout."
Is Medicaid On Chopping Block?
Dems haven't vocally defended Medicaid the way they have Medicare. Politico: "While advocates say Democrats have drawn a clear line against the GOP’s Medicare plan, they’re less certain of the party’s stance on Medicaid. At this point, they’re unsure what will come out of the Biden negotiations on the debt ceiling, but they believe cuts are on the way."
There's nothing demagogic about explaining the GOP Medicare plan, says NYT's Paul Krugman: "...you can name the new program Medicare, but it’s an entirely different program — call it Vouchercare — that would offer nothing like the coverage that the elderly now receive. (Republicans get huffy when you call their plan a voucher scheme, but that’s exactly what it is.)"
Appeals court to hear arguments on constitutionality of health reform law. USA Today: "The three-judge panel will focus on [conservative judge Roger] Vinson's ruling that the insurance mandate exceeded Congress' power to regulate commerce because, rather than involving the usual 'economic activity,' it targets 'inactivity,' that is, a decision not to purchase insurance. [U.S. Solicitor General Neal] Katyal stresses in the administration's appeal that 'tens of billions of dollars in annual health care costs that people without insurance fail to pay are passed on to other participants in the health care services market — a burden on interstate commerce that plainly qualifies as substantial.'"
President, Speaker may try to work out debt limit deal on the golf course. Politico: "Word of the Obama-Boehner round leaked, perhaps not coincidentally, on Friday, hours after the speaker publically called the president out for not being more directly engaged in bipartisan budget and deficit talks..."
Conservative Launch Gas Price Attack On Obama
Koch-funded group launches campaign to blame gas prices on Obama. Politico: "Americans for Prosperity, the libertarian-leaning nonprofit chaired by David Koch, will launch rallies and media campaigns in a series of states — beginning with Nebraska — asserting that the administration’s regulation of the energy industries is key to pain at the pump ... Most analysts blame the global economic recovery, as well as turmoil in the Middle East, for much of the increase, but the oil industry and Republican critics have long argued that opening new areas to drilling and speeding the permitting process would lower prices."
On eve of international climate talks, new report shows "greenhouse gas emissions hitting record highs." AP: "...energy-related carbon emissions last year topped 30 gigatons, 5 percent more than the previous record in 2008. With energy investments locked into coal- and oil-fueled infrastructure, that situation will change little over the next decade, it said ... The figures are 'a serious setback' to hopes of limiting the rise in the Earth's average temperature to 2 degrees Celsius (3.8 F) above preindustrial levels ... Any rise beyond that, scientists believe, could lead to catastrophic climate shifts affecting water supplies and global agriculture, setting off more frequent and fierce storms and causing a rise in sea levels that would endanger coastlines."
Warren Good For Business
Elizabeth Warren would be good for business, explains The New Yorker's James Surowiecki: "...the demonization of Warren and the C.F.P.B. is all too predictable. But it’s profoundly misguided, because Warren is far from the anti-capitalist radical that her critics (and some of her supporters) suppose ... The core principle of Warren’s work is also a cornerstone of economic theory: well-informed consumers make for vigorous competition and efficient markets."
Goldman Sachs to attack Senate report on financial crisis, reports WSJ: "[The company] plans to accuse the subcommittee of drastically overstating Goldman's bets against the housing market in 2007, people familiar with the situation said. The securities firm is considering releasing documents about its mortgage bets that are aimed at showing what Goldman officials claim is sloppy math and incomplete analysis by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations..."
