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: What A Real Jobs Agenda Looks Like
OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "The president is recycling his current jobs lite agenda: payroll tax cut extension, infrastructure bank, trade deals, tax cuts for companies that hire veterans, and patent reform. 'Things the Congress could do right now,' but nothing near the scope of the problem ... what would real jobs agenda look like? ... This requires a national plan for manufacturing – targeting industries, coordinating research, incentives, training, repealing tax laws that reward companies for shipping jobs abroad. It requires a new trade strategy, insisting that every major nation play by the same set of rules, taking direct action against mercantilist nations like China ... We need to not simply staunch the layoffs of skilled teachers; we need to invest in creating the finest public education in the world ... Those already facing foreclosure should have access to bankruptcy proceedings that can restructure their debts and, where appropriate, restructure their mortgages, providing them with a right to rent ... If veterans and young people cannot find employment in the private sector, then government should act as the employer of last resort. Rep. Jan Schakowsky has a sensible bill that would provide 2.2 million jobs, largely through direct employment in public or non-profit sectors."
President Seeks To Prod Congress On Jobs
President Obama vows to run against a do-nothing Congress if it rejects jobs agenda. WSJ quotes: "I’ll be putting forward, when they come back in September, a very specific plan to boost the economy, to create jobs, and to control our deficit. And my attitude is: Get it done. And if they don’t get it done, then we’ll be running against a Congress that’s not doing anything for the American people, and the choice will be very stark and will be very clear."
Obama to unveil rural jobs program today, that does not need congressional approval. The Hill: "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Small Business Administrator Karen Mills said Monday that the elements of the package, which does not have new costs associated with it, are not insignificant ... Mills said that the SBA portion of the initiative was a doubling of an effort that already created an estimated 250,000 jobs since 2009 ... SBA is shifting the distribution of funds from its Small Business Investment Company’s Impact Investment Fund toward rural communities ... 90 percent of persistent poverty is found there ... Obama will announce that the Agriculture Department and SBA will hold a series of conferences to attract venture capital to rural areas, and that USDA field offices will now have access to Labor Department job training resources."
Dem Rep. John Larson expected to introduce "jobs supercommittee" bill this week. The Hill: "House Republicans can be expected to oppose the proposal, as they have been arguing for several months now that they already are helping to create jobs by limiting the effects of federal regulations on business."
Two House Dems pus to scuttle Korea trade agreement. The Hill: "Reps. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) and Mike Michaud (Maine) say the free-trade agreement — which Congress is expected to take up in September — would eliminate U.S. jobs ... Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced earlier this month that the two parties have agreed to tackle the workers’ aid and the three pending deals separately, clearing the way for those votes next month when Congress returns from its August vacation."
Perry Threatens Bernanke
Presidential candidate Rick Perry threatens Bernanke against doing anything more to help the economy. ABC quotes: "“If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we -- we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous -- or treasonous in my opinion.”
NYT explores the real Perry jobs record: " Tens of thousands of rig jobs have been created and many residents have received thousands of dollars in lease sales and royalties ... 'He’s been lucky,' said Bernard L. Weinstein, associate director of the Maguire Energy Institute ... 'Obviously, neither the governor nor public policy in Texas has pushed oil prices up...' ... The federal government has also helped support Texas. Federal spending in the state, home of NASA and large Army bases, more than doubled over the last decade ... and Texas has one of the highest percentages of workers who are paid the minimum wage and receive no medical benefits."
Yet fewer Texans have jobs under the Perry administration. Reuters' Felix Salmon: "According to the figures we have for 2011, 44.7% of the total US population has a job, compared to 43.5% of the Texas population. And Perry’s record is pretty bad, here: he inherited a ratio of more than 47% in Texas from George W Bush, and has presided over a steady decline ever since..."
"Romney Rejects Buffett’s Call To Tax The Rich, Falsely Claims It Would Hurt Small Businesses" reports ThinkProgress' Pat Garofalo: "As we’ve noted over and over again, during both the 2008 and 2010 tax debates, raising taxes on the rich will have little effect on small businesses. Fewer than 2 percent of small businesses owners make more than $250,000, never mind the $1 million level, at which Buffett is advocating a tax increase."
NYT's Steven Rattner rounds up the radical views of the GOP presidential field: "Take the agreement to avert a disastrous default by cutting at least $2.1 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul all opposed it ... Mrs. Bachmann and Mr. Paul ventured still further, insisting that they would never vote to raise the debt ceiling ... Mr. Perry also wants to repeal the 16th Amendment, thereby eliminating the income tax, which accounts for 80 percent of government revenue."
"Tax The Rich" Call Reverberates
NYT examines how much revenue would be raised by Warren Buffet's "tax the rich" plan: "...he called on Congress to make the tax system more fair by rolling back the so-called Bush tax cuts on people who earn more than $1 million a year and on income from capital gains and dividends. He would also close the loophole allowing hedge fund managers to be taxed at a lower rate ... the tax increase on all three fronts would generate as much as $500 billion in new revenue over the next decade — about a third of what the Congressional committee is supposed to cut from the deficit."
Buffet takes proposal to Charlie Rose on PBS.
NYT edit board chastises Republicans for threatening to let the gas tax expire next month: "It would bankrupt the already stressed Highway Trust Fund, with devastating effects on the country’s highways, bridges, mass transit systems and the economy as a whole. Reports suggest that some House Republicans may push to let the tax lapse or use the threat of expiration as leverage in the budget wars. This is a dangerous idea. If anything, the tax should rise to maintain a system that constantly needs upkeep — the backlog of bridges needing repair is estimated at $72 billion — creates jobs and encourages drivers to buy more fuel-efficient cars."
Breakfast Sides
Third state resists foreclosure fraud settlement. Bloomberg: "Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, whose office has sued Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and is conducting civil and criminal foreclosure probes, said ... 'If it’s impacting my ongoing litigation and any other future litigation or current investigation, I’m going to be cautious about whether to sign on or not,'..."
President aims to keep federal role in preserving affordable mortgage rates. W. Post: "President Obama has directed a small team of advisers to develop a proposal that would keep the government playing a major role in the nation’s mortgage market, extending a federal loan subsidy for most home buyers ... The approach could even preserve Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants owned by the government, although under different names and with significant new constraints..."
TNR's Jonathan Cohn delves into the "radical" 11th Circuit ruling against the Affordable Care Act's individual responsibility mandate: "The validation of a Democratic judicial appointee, even a conservative one made to appease Republicans in the Senate, makes striking down the law seem less radical. But that doesn't mean striking down the law wouldn't be radical ... [The Atlantic's Andrew] Cohen notes that Joel Dubina and Frank Hull, the two judges in the majority, actually reject the supposed distinction between activity and inactivity [but still] reject the mandate because, they say, it would 'direct and compel an individual's spending in order to further its overarching regulatory goal.' The problem, Cohen writes, is that 'when you put it that way any regulation is suspect which takes money (and the choice to save or invest) away from Americans. ... directly and indirectly, the government all the time forces individuals to "redirect" their "funds" for "other purposes."'"
The Daily Beast profiles Van Jones and the American Dream movement: "The American Dream Movement is intended to put a name on a preexisting political force, just as the Tea Party did. Part of the inspiration for the movement came from the demonstrations against right-wing economic policies in Wisconsin and Ohio. Since then, there have been protests nationwide, some in unexpected places. In April, Montana saw one of its biggest rallies ever when 1,500 people gathered in front of the capitol to protest budget cuts. In July, 800 people demonstrated on behalf of public-school teachers in Ogden, Utah. These protests have received far less attention than the Tea Party. 'There’s been an unprecedented wave of activity that’s had no common banner, and so nobody noticed,' says [MoveOn.org's Justin] Ruben. Register now for the Take Back the American Dream conference.
