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: Ideological Inanity At the GOP Debate
OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "Most striking in the debate was that there was no mention of the policies that drove us into the mess we are in. At one point, the candidates were asked about inequality – for thirty years, the incomes of the wealthiest one percent have soared while poverty has spread to record numbers. What caused this? Obama, of course, and his job killing plans. We have had thirty years of conservative domination of our politics: deregulation, top end tax cuts, corporate trade policies, Wall Street wilding, the assault on labor. And not only is there no apology for the failure, there is no recognition of it. These candidates uniformly tout the same policies that got us into the mess we are in. Like Herman Cain, it makes me miss Alan Greenspan, who at least had the momentary grace to admit that there was a 'flaw' in his worldview."
Senate GOP Kills Jobs Bill
Senate Republicans kill American Jobs Act. Obama vows to keep fighting. The Hill: "The president said in a statement that his administration will work with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to get votes on the individual components of the bill 'as soon as possible.' ... Obama said that on each vote, lawmakers can 'either explain to their constituents why they’re against common-sense, bipartisan proposals to create jobs, or they can listen to the overwhelming majority of American people who are crying out for action.'"
LAT details WH legislative strategy: "Now, Democrats will bring up individual elements of the bill that have widespread appeal in opinion polls. They are likely to include a tax break for workers and money to prevent teacher layoffs, as well as new spending on road construction and school modernization. Other provisions include tax credits for companies that expand their payrolls and hire veterans looking for jobs."
President gaining edge over GOP on jobs. Politico: "A Washington Post/ABC News poll in early September found voters evenly split when asked whom they trust most to create jobs, with 40 percent choosing Obama and 40 percent picking congressional Republicans. A month later, 49 percent said Obama could be trusted while only 34 percent chose the GOP."
Only two Dems, Sens. Jon Tester and Ben Nelson, voted with GOP to filibuster reports The Hill.
Dem Sen. Chuck Schumer struggling to sell compromise combining infrastructure bank with multinational corporate tax holiday. The Hill: "... some top Republicans remain firmly behind the repatriation holiday and deeply skeptical of the infrastructure bank, while prominent Democrats have the reverse view. Meanwhile, leaders of the congressional tax-writing committees from both parties would like to keep discussion of repatriation of offshore corporate profits within the broader push for tax reform."
Bipartisan duo tries to pass corporate tax holiday on its own. Politico: "Sens. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) [introduced a] bill [that] would temporarily reduce the corporate tax rate from as much as 35 percent to 8.75 percent on overseas earnings..."
President speeds 14 infrastructure projects by executive order, reports Politico: "The Obama administration picked 14 projects Tuesday that will undergo expedited permitting and environmental reviews with the goal of getting construction workers on the job site sooner than normal."
Robert Reich details "The Seven Biggest Economic Lies": "Tax cuts for the rich trickle down to everyone else ... Higher taxes on the rich would hurt the economy and slow job growth ... Shrinking government generates more jobs ... Cutting the budget deficit now is more important than boosting the economy..."
Senate Passes China Currency Bill ... So House GOP Can Kill It
Senate passes China currency crackdown bill. NYT: "The measure passed 63 to 35, with 16 Republican votes, an unusual dynamic in the Democrat-controlled Senate ... At the same time, House Republicans have made it clear they have no intention of bringing the currency measure to the floor, and the White House has given it a chilly reception ... House Democrats have been circulating what is known as a discharge petition, a measure used by the minority party to force the party controlling the chamber to bring the bill back to the floor. Such a petition would require 218 signatures; currently only 176 members have signed."
Congressional cmte details who will be hurt by trade deals, before Congress expected to pass trade deals. NYT: "..., the Joint Economic Committee of Congress has released a report showing that the workers most likely to be hurt by free trade are the same groups that will have the most difficult time getting new jobs ... older workers and those without a college education ... Because trade can displace entire industries in a specific region, it helps if a displaced worker can move. But the report shows that older people are much less likely to move..."
Wall St. Regulation Steps Up
Proposed rule would heighten regulation of big financial institutions. NYT: "Financial companies that are not banks but have more than $50 billion in assets and $20 billion in debt could be regulated by the Federal Reserve and required to meet tougher standards ... The Financial Stability Oversight Council voted unanimously to seek public comment on a proposed rule that laid out the standards by which insurance companies, hedge funds, asset managers and the like could fall under stricter regulation ... Among those companies are big insurers like the Mass Mutual Financial Group and Zurich Financial Services; hedge funds like Citadel and Paulson & Company; and asset management and mutual fund companies like BlackRock, Fidelity Investments and the Pacific Investment Management Company."
Volcker Rule advances. NYT: "...the proposal on Tuesday included several unfriendly surprises for the banks, including provisions that scrutinize how they generate revenue, award compensation and track their compliance with the Volcker Rule. Such measures, analysts say, could significantly change the way Wall Street does business ... [But] the 298-page document, regulators posed nearly 400 questions for the industry and the public to consider, leaving room for significant changes." "Banks fume" reports Politico.
Distrust of Wall Street slightly bigger than distrust of Washington, in ABC/W. Post poll: "...more than two-thirds of Americans say they view Washington unfavorably, including nearly half who hold “strongly” unfavorable impressions. These sentiments spike higher among Republicans, and continue to fuel the tea party political movement. But there’s just as much negativity directed at Wall Street financial institutions. Fully 70 percent of those polled view such firms unfavorably, with strongly unfavorable mentions outnumbering strongly favorable ones by 8 to 1. For political independents, there’s little love for either one..."
Wall Streeters still whining government won't let them make more money. Bloomberg: "An era of decline and disappointment for bankers may not end for years, according to interviews with more than two dozen executives and investors. Blaming government interference and persecution, they say there isn’t enough global stability, leverage or risk appetite to triumph in the current slump ... 'They’re not going to make the kind of money they wanted,' said William Hambrecht, chairman of San Francisco- based WR Hambrecht & Co., who designed the Dutch auction of Google Inc.’s 2004 initial public offering. 'I’m not sure people really have come to terms with the fact that what we had was a financial bubble.'"
Breakfast Sides
Super Committee stuck on what budget baseline to use, reports The Hill: "... without agreement on the benchmark, it will be virtually impossible to agree on a package..."
Mother Jones uncovers video of Mitt Romney praising Ted Kennedy on health care: "This Ted Kennedy love-fest footage from the 2006 bill-signing ceremony for the health care law is probably not what Romney wants GOP primary voters to have in mind when they enter a polling place or caucus meeting."
Enviros sue Obama administration over delayed ozone rule reports NYT.
Australia House passes cap on carbon emissions, Senate expected to follow suit. NYT: "Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s proposal for Australia to adopt the second-largest emissions trading scheme in the world, after the European Union’s, cleared its biggest hurdle yet ... fierce opposition to the bill is being driven by political, not financial, orthodoxy, said Tim Jordan, a senior analyst at Deutsche Bank in Sydney. 'The impact on most businesses is modest,' Mr. Jordan said..."
Dem Sen. Tom Harkin proposes revamp of No Child Left Behind, reports NYT: "[The bill] would dismantle the provisions of the law that used standardized test scores in reading and math to label tens of thousands of public schools as failing."
