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: Why Pawlenty Went Bust
OurFuture.org's Bill Scher: "In 2007, Pawlenty exhorted conservatives not to be 'Country Club Republicans,' but 'Sam's Club Republican' who stand up for middle-class interests. And that meant ending the ban of cheap prescription drugs from Canada, investing in clean energy and doing something to expand health insurance coverage to millions. In 2011, faced with a conservative base drowning in the Tea Party fever swamp, Pawlenty never dared to distinguish himself from the presidential primary field as a 'Sam's Club Republican.'"
The Real Rick Perry
NYT's Paul Krugman punctures conservative claims regarding presidential candidate Rick Perry's jobs record: "... from mid-2008 onward unemployment soared in Texas, just as it did almost everywhere else ... and significantly higher than the rate in Massachusetts. By the way, one in four Texans lacks health insurance, the highest proportion in the nation, thanks largely to the state’s small-government approach. Meanwhile, Massachusetts has near-universal coverage thanks to health reform very similar to the 'job-killing' Affordable Care Act."
GDP growth slowed in Texas under Perry. Dean Baker: "... in the years 1987-2000 per capita GDP growth averaged 2.2 percent in the U.S. as a whole. In Texas it averaged 2.8 percent, a 0.6 percentage point gap. However, in the years 2000-2010 the gap goes the other way. Per capita GDP in the U.S. as a whole grew at an average rate of 0.6 percent, while it grew at a 0.5 percent rate in Texas..."
Economic illiterate Phil Gramm endorses Perry. ThinkProgress' Pat Garofalo: "In 2008, Gramm, who was advising Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign (and was floated as McCain’s choice for Treasury Secretary) gained notoriety for saying that the country was 'a nation of whiners' that was only in a 'mental recession.' But Gramm’s legacy goes much deeper than that. In 2001, he tucked the Commodity Futures Modernization Act into an unrelated, 11,000 page appropriations bill. That act ensured that the huge market in over-the-counter derivatives stayed unregulated, laying the groundwork for the 2008 financial crisis ... "
Romney bases economic message on attacking unions. The Hill: "Right-to-work legislation has been a hot issue on the minds of voters in New Hampshire, where Democratic Gov. John Lynch vetoed [such] a bill ... Labor issues are particularly important, too, in another primary state, South Carolina, where conservatives have vocally criticized a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that prevented Boeing from moving a facility ... Romney has tied his criticism of unions into his larger, overarching campaign message about improving the economy and creating jobs."
President Hits Road To Talk Jobs
President begins midwest bus trip to highlight jobs agenda today. USA Today: "...Obama is determined to listen to the woes and worries of Americans in places such as Cannon Falls, Minn.; Peosta, Iowa; and Alpha, Ill. He will propose some initiatives to help rural areas beset by aging and declining populations, but broader elixirs for the nation's economy will have to wait until September."
Obama jobs agenda squeezed by both parties. McClatchy: "...Republicans say they won't vote for several pieces of the plan. And Democrats contend the program, even if enacted in full, would fall short of what's needed ... 'You'll see more ideas,' said Jason Furman, deputy director of the president's National Economic Council ... But Furman and other White House aides have declined to reveal a timetable, and many voters are clearly impatient."
GOP resisting Obama's tax cut proposal. The Hill: "While Republican leaders have not rejected the proposal outright, they have sought to shift attention to their broader tax platform ... The Republican budget chief, Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), has dismissed the payroll tax cut as 'sugar-high economics.' ... the payroll tax issue cuts against the traditional partisan divide on taxes."
NYT's John Harwood analyzes President's strategy: "He still wants Congress to pass stimulus and deficit reduction measures that his economic team is preparing to unveil as early as this month. But his strategy no longer turns on coaxing Republican leaders. It turns, instead, on his ability to leverage public opinion through events like the town hall-style meeting planned for Monday here, kicking off his Midwestern bus tour. If he cannot apply enough public pressure to move Congress, he will try to move 2012 voters to give him a mandate."
NYT edit board backs Schakowsky jobs bill: "Take, for example, Fix America’s Schools Today, or FAST, an idea that has been incorporated into a House proposal to be introduced this fall by Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois ... A $50 billion school renovation program would employ 500,000 workers ... Other programs in the Schakowsky bill could employ an estimated one million young people for projects in federal parks, community centers and on college campuses, as well as 350,000 laid-off teachers, police officers, firefighters and health care providers."
Low interest rates may not be enough to kickstart lending and spending. NYT: "...with unemployment high and those with jobs worried about keeping them, consumers are more concerned about paying off the loans they already have than adding more debt. And by showing its hand for the next two years, the Fed may have inadvertently invited prospective borrowers to put off large purchases. Lenders, meanwhile, are still dealing with the effects of the boom-gone-bust and are forcing prospective borrowers to go to extraordinary lengths to prove their creditworthiness."
Buffet, Wehner Pressure Republicans To Accept Tax Increases On Wealthy
Warren Buffet takes to NYT oped page to back higher taxes on wealthy: "...for those making more than $1 million — there were 236,883 such households in 2009 — I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. And for those who make $10 million or more — there were 8,274 in 2009 — I would suggest an additional increase in rate. My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice."
Conservative Peter Wehner's laments GOP dismissal of any tax increases ever, in Commentary: "What if there is no spending-cuts-to-tax-increases ratio that any of the GOP nominees would accept? If that were the case — and perhaps it is now the case — it would be serious indictment against the modern-day GOP mindset ... if taxes cannot be raised under any circumstance — then we have veered from economic policy to religious catechism."
Taxes on the rich needed to solve growth crisis, argues Bloomberg's Simon Johnson: "...one percentage point extra growth per year for the next 20 years would fix the U.S.’s budget problems. If we could manage to increase our growth rate from 2 percent a year to, say, 3 percent over the long haul, that would greatly boost average incomes, as well as tax revenue ... Restoring growth is not easy because of a second, more debilitating element -- a paralyzing fight over the distribution of income, in which powerful people can block the government from doing anything sensible..."
Breakfast Sides
White House pledges on international climate policy undercut by GOP House. W. Post: "But the Obama administration is on track to fall more than $200 million short on its $1 billion pledge to help prevent the cutting and burning of tropical rain forests. Lawmakers have slashed requests on everything from promoting clean energy to helping developing nations cope with the effects of global warming ... Any clear indication on where the United States is headed in this arena will have to wait until after the 2012 election, if not later..."
Chair of House Oversight Committee could use some oversight of his own mountaing of conflicts of interest. NYT: "Most wealthy members of Congress push their financial activities to the side, with many even placing them in blind trusts to avoid appearances of conflicts of interest. But [Rep. Darrell] Issa ... may be alone in the hands-on role he has played in overseeing a remarkable array of outside business interests since his election in 2000 ... As his private wealth and public power have grown, so too has the overlap between his private and business lives, with at least some of the congressman’s government actions helping to make a rich man even richer and raising the potential for conflicts."
New study shows "half the recent record loss of Arctic sea ice can be blamed on global warming caused by human activity" reports McClatchy.
