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: Both Sides Fail
OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "...both sides fail to address the scope of our challenge. Republicans seem to believe that simply rolling back Obama’s reforms and returning to former President George W. Bush’s economy will set us straight. But those are the policies that drove us off the cliff ... The president offers more extensive reforms, but he, too, basically seems to assume that by giving the economy another boost, we can start putting people to work and generate sustainable growth. He still believes that the economy, as he said in his State of the Union address, is 'poised for recovery.' It’s just addled by bad weather, European crisis and the like. The reality is far more dire. Forty-six million Americans are living in poverty — the highest number since we began keeping track. Incomes are falling; the median household income is down 6.4 percent since 2007. And jobs are a calamity ... . We have to build a new foundation for growth, one in which America makes more and sells more, invests more and consumes less."
Most Dems Pleased At Obama Opening Bid
Most Dems calmed by Obama's aggressive posture. HuffPost: "Reserved optimism with the president's deficit reduction plan did, indeed, seem to be the order of the day. Not just from Democrats who appreciated the slate of administration policies (there were critics among both progressives and centrists), but because for an administration that has gained a reputation for making preemptive concessions, the proposal represented a welcome departure."
But some Dems not happy with President's proposal. W. Post: "Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said he was undecided about Obama’s proposal. 'We’ll see when it gets here,' he said. 'It’s not something I would’ve written.' ... 'Boehner has erected a goal post and now Obama has erected a goal post. And in as much as that limits the field of play, that doesn’t help,' said a Democratic aide familiar with recent deficit-reduction talks."
TPM adds: "Moderate Senate Democrats are signaling strong resistance to tax increases in the President's deficit-reduction plan, ... Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) told reporters Monday night that he's put off by all the talk about increasing taxes ..."
Mother Jones' David Corn looks closely at the President's veto threat: "Obama is saying that he won't take anything away from Medicare beneficiaries—and he'll continue to point out that the Republicans are on record as supporting ending the Medicare guarantee for seniors. But there is, it seems, wiggle room here. If the GOPers relent on revenues and okay a tax hike on the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations, might Obama consider trimming benefits for some seniors? With this statement, Obama looks as if he's both prepping to stand firm—while still being open to a grand bargain that includes more extensive entitlement cuts."
Closed door Super Committee talks about to begin reports Politico.
Deficit Hysterics Still Hysterical
Leading deficit hysteric complains there are not enough cuts. The Hill: "Maya MacGuineas, the president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, declared that the president’s plan needed to be bulked up on the spending side, noting the expected savings from the end of the two wars. ;I think it’s great that the president’s embraced the notion that the supercommittee needs to go big,' MacGuineas said. 'But if you peel back the layers, there really aren’t enough cuts in this plan to really get us where we need to go.'"
Multi-millionaire GOP congresspeople complains they are being taxed too much. ThinkProgress: "Responding to an ad produced by the group Patriot Millionaires calling for raising taxes on the wealthy, Rep. John Campbell (R-CA) — who was worth up to $37 million in 2009, the most recent year available — said ... 'I don’t want to raise my taxes ... I don’t want to raise anybody’s taxes.' ... fellow multi-millionaire GOP congressman John Fleming (R-LA) said his taxes shouldn’t be raised because he only has $400,000 'left over' after paying off his business and personal expenses."
What Gets Cut
NYT digs in to what's in the Presidents proposed Medicare and Medicaid cuts: "Mr. Obama proposed higher premiums and deductibles for many Medicare beneficiaries and lower Medicare payments to teaching hospitals and rural hospitals. He would start charging co-payments to frail homebound older people who receive home health services. And he would reduce the growth of federal payments to states for treating low-income people under Medicaid ... A large share of the Medicare savings would, in effect, be used to pay doctors, who would otherwise face deep cuts in the fees they receive for treating Medicare patients."
More from W. Post's Sarah Kliff: "Savings found by increasing costs for Medicare beneficiaries, as opposed to providers, are arguably the biggest departure from the previous White House proposal on deficit deduction. The administration sees four places to increase Medicare cost-sharing, including $20 billion in savings by increasing how much higher-income beneficiaries contribute to their Part B and D premiums, which cover physician and drug coverage, respectively ... [But] the benefit reductions would be relatively small ... The pharmaceutical industry is almost certain to lobby against the proposed $135 billion in savings from extending Medicaid drug rebates to Medicare’s prescription program, Part D."
TNR's Jonathan Cohn relieved by health care proposals: "...these reductions are less severe, and less worrisome, than some of the proposals Obama indicated he was willing to support over the summer, while he was negotiating with House Speaker John Boehner."
But health care industry is not. The Hill: "...it’s anathema to powerful healthcare industries including hospitals and pharmaceutical companies ... The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) made a deal to support healthcare reform in part to ensure that the bill wouldn’t extend Medicaid drug rebates to Medicare. Democrats have long championed the rebate expansion, and Obama included an even more aggressive version in Monday’s package ... PhRMA also opposes Obama’s call to strengthen the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) — an expert cost-cutting panel created by healthcare reform."
Federal workers unhappy with proposed pension cuts. W. Post's Joe Davidson: "Obama wants to increase contributions by federal employees to their pension plan as one of his tools to fight the nation’s deficit. The increase of 1.2 percentage points, which would be phased in beginning in 2013, would generate $21 billion in savings over 10 years ... The American Federation of Government Employees quickly called the Obama plan unfair. For an employee with an annual salary of $47,500, AFGE said, the plan amounts to a $570 annual pay cut."
"Buffet rule" doesn't go far enough to reduce inequality, argues Bruce Ackerman and Anne Alstott in LAT oped: "We propose a 2% annual wealth tax on households owning more than $7.2 million in net assets. Such a tax would target the 0.5% of Americans at the top of the pyramid, and would yield at least $70 billion a year ... There is more at stake than fairness. Our proposal would address a deeper issue. There comes a point at which extreme wealth concentration threatens the very existence of democracy, and we are reaching that point."
Treasury Sec. says President may release corporate tax reform plan by end of year reports Reuters.
Republicans Attack Clean Energy Loan Program ... Then Borrow a Few Bucks
Republicans eager participants in clean energy program. NYT: "[Senate Min. Leader Mitch] McConnell made two personal appeals in 2009, asking Energy Secretary Steven Chu to approve as much as $235 million in federal loans for a plant to build electric vehicles in Franklin, Ky ... Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, recently asked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to appoint an outside investigator to determine how the Department of Energy distributes clean-energy money. But in 2009, Mr. Smith wrote to Mr. Chu asking him to approve loan guarantees from stimulus money for a Texas project proposed by Tessera Solar ... Representative Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan and another critic of the Energy Department program, signed letters along with other members of the Michigan delegation in 2009 and 2010, pushing at least five clean-energy projects in his state, including a $207 million loan request from EcoMotors International. And Representative Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida, praised the opening last year of a lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant in his state, which relied upon an Energy Department grant."
Energy Department ignores GOP attacks, plans more loans. Politico: "Even as it takes fire over its $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, the Energy Department intends to keep pushing billions of dollars in additional guarantees in the next week and a half ... More than a dozen energy projects that were offered conditional commitments by the DOE Loan Programs Office still need to be finalized by Sept. 30. DOE doesn’t actually lend the money, but the guarantees help the companies get financing elsewhere by promising that taxpayers will make up the loss if a project fails."
State-based tax incentives for green retrofits embraced by business. NYT: "A business consortium that includes Lockheed Martin and Barclays bank plans to invest as much as $650 million over the next few years to slash the energy consumption of buildings in the Miami and Sacramento areas. It is the most ambitious effort yet to jump-start a national market for energy upgrades that many people believe could eventually be worth billions ... half the states have passed legislation permitting energy retrofits financed by property-tax surcharges, and hundreds of cities and counties are considering such programs."
"Home Weatherization Grows 1,000% Under Stimulus, Creating Jobs, Saving Low-Income Families $400 a Year" reports ThinkProgress.
Senate Moves On Trade
Trade deals clear first Senate procedural vote. Bloomberg: "Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, plans to move ahead with legislation that would revive tariff preferences for goods from developing nations after lawmakers voted 84-8 last night to limit debate, the first step in the process of acting on the measures. Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said he will offer an amendment that would extend the aid program for workers who lose their jobs to overseas competition."
"Corporations Advocating For Trade Deals Outsourced 18,600 Jobs Since 2001" reports ThinkProgress.
Breakfast Sides
Judge faces "litmus test" in sentencing hedge fund head Raj Rajaratnam. NYT: "Federal prosecutors want to send the convicted hedge fund chief Raj Rajaratnam to prison for as long as 24 years, which would be the longest insider trading sentence in history. How a judge rules next week on Mr. Rajaratnam’s punishment is being seen in legal circles as a litmus test of whether the crime of insider trading justifies such a long prison term."
EPI's Rebecca Thiess examines the Romney "jobs" plan: "'Believe in America,' his plan, is heavier on ideological rhetoric than it is on direct job creation solutions. In fact, nowhere in the 160 page plan could I find a stated job creation number – 11.5 million is a number Romney has quoted in public appearances, but it does not appear anywhere in his plan. The math doesn’t just appear to be fuzzy – it appears to be nonexistent. Not surprisingly, attempts to contact the Romney campaign for specifics on the 11.5 million miracle number went unanswered."
NYT's Joe Nocera argues that nothing can fix the economy except the Fed: "...a presentation put together by Paul Kasriel, chief economist for Northern Trust ... documents 'a post-WW II record' credit contraction, before moving on to a surprising solution: more quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve, which is essentially the buying of bonds from investors by the Fed, using money it prints, as Kasriel freely admits, 'out of thin air.' ... It looks instead like the only means we’ve got right now to create badly needed credit."
