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.
A Super Committee "Failure" Wouldn't Hurt The Economy - But a "Success" Sure Would
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "Some Democrats have come under a lot of criticism lately, much of it deserved, for abandoning popular and important programs that were historically associated with their party. But some of the other Democrats - the ones who are trying to act in the country's best interests - are genuinely concerned about what will happen to the economy if the Super Committee fails to come up with a plan. This message is for them - and anyone else who has the same concern. You need to know that the evidence is clear: A Super Committee failure won't hurt the economy at all. But its 'success' almost certainly would."
Class Warfare Casualties
An alternate Census measure boosts the number of Americans living in poverty [CNN Money]: "There were more than 49 million Americans living in poverty in 2010, under an alternative measure released by the Census Bureau Monday. That's 16% of the nation, higher than the official poverty rate of 15.2%. The official rate, released in September, showed 46.6 million people living in poverty. The Census Bureau's first supplemental poverty measure includes various government benefits and expenses not captured by the official poverty rate, which will continue to be used to determine eligibility for public assistance and federal funding distribution. The alternative calculation also takes into account geographic differences in prices."
Writing at TomDispatch.Com Frances Fox Piven says that we've been at war against the poor for decades: "We've been at war for decades now -- not just in Afghanistan or Iraq, but right here at home. Domestically, it's been a war against the poor, but if you hadn't noticed, that's not surprising. You wouldn't often have found the casualty figures from this particular conflict in your local newspaper or on the nightly TV news. Devastating as it's been, the war against the poor has gone largely unnoticed -- until now. The Occupy Wall Street movement has already made the concentration of wealth at the top of this society a central issue in American politics. Now, it promises to do something similar when it comes to the realities of poverty in this country."
The wealth gap between younger and older Americans is wider than ever [Christian Science Monitor]: "The wealth gap between older and younger Americans has widened sharply in recent years – because of both the deep recession and longer-term trends. That's the conclusion of a new analysis released by the Pew Research Center, which looked at an array of government numbers to reach its conclusions. In all, the typical household headed by someone younger than 35 has seen its net worth fall by 68 percent between 1984 and 2009, after adjusting for inflation, according to the Pew report released Monday. Those in the 35-to-44 age group also saw a decline in net worth over that period, a drop of 44 percent."
Dean Baker warns that the 1 percent is turning "class warfare" into generational war: "The public should realize that 'generational warfare' is an agenda that was deliberately designed by the 1 percent to distract the rest of us from the class war that they have been successfully waging over the last three decades. Rather than have a public debate on the policies that have redistributed so much income upward, the 1 percent want to pit children against their parents and grandparents, forcing them to fight over crumbs. In this context, the only victory that the supercommittee can hand to the 99 percent is a blank sheet of paper. People will have enough things to worry about this Thanksgiving without adding a Congressional plan to slash their Social Security and Medicare."
Republicans' Economic Sabotage
DailyKos reveals a new poll showing that half of Americans believe that Republicans are purposely sabotaging the economy: "The survey follows up on last week's poll showing that half of Floridians believe Republicans are purposely sabotaging the economy to defeat President Obama (just one-third disagreed)... And between the Florida poll and our latest survey, we've got pretty strong evidence that the public basically agrees with the proposition that Republicans are acting in bad faith."
At the American Prospect, Jamelle Bouie writes that we are living in the conservative recovery: "Thanks to lower revenue, limited federal aid, and budget cutting state legislators, the public sector has cut 455,000 jobs since the beginning of 2010, sending the proportion of government jobs to 16.7 percent, the lowest level in three years. These cuts have been a huge drag on the recovery... Far from unleashing the power of the private sector, cuts to government have prolonged the economic pain, as demand is removed from the economy without an adequate replacement. Despite this, conservatives continue to press for further and greater cuts to government spending – the Pentagon notwithstanding. What conservatives refuse to acknowledge is that we are living through the recovery they say they want, and it's been disastrous."
The AFL-CIO's Mike Hall sees a conservative created jobs crisis: "Why are we lagging so far behind? In a column on Market Watch, economist Heather Boushey writes that there is a huge gap in demand—people without jobs don't have money to spend on products and services that would spur the economy. Add to that corporations that are 'sitting on several trillion dollars in cash, waiting for sufficient customers to spur higher investment, and job seekers are still waiting for investments trickle down into jobs.'...Boushey writes that congressional conservatives' commitment to tax cuts for the wealthy paid for by cuts in government services is, 'reverse class warfare' that takes precedence over the 1.9 million people who would find work with the jobs created by President Obama's American Jobs Act that Republicans have blocked."
Steve Benen writes that Republicans are literally ignoring the economy: "Rep. Robert Dold, a Republican freshman representing part of the north side of Chicago, sent an email message to constituents yesterday. "I want to hear your thoughts on the important issues facing our nation today," the congressman wrote. 'Please particapte [sic] in my survey below so I know what matters to you.' An alert reader forwarded me a copy of the survey, which asked voters, 'What do you believe are the most important issues facing the federal government today?' ...[T]he options included, debt and deficit; spending; tax reform, Medicare and Social Security, health care, immigration, protecting the environment, education, foreign affairs, national security, and other. Congressional Republicans are often accused of ignoring job creation and economic growth, but we don't usually see such literal examples of the problem."
Greek Tragedy
Greece is awaiting the announcement of its next prime minister [CNN]: "A new prime minister will be named Tuesday to replace George Papandreou, a Greek government spokesman said.
Meanwhile, European finance ministers meeting in Brussels announced Monday that they have already requested assurances in writing that Greece's government-to-be would stick to austerity agreements already made by the outgoing government. ...The formation of a new government could close one chapter in Greece's long-running, tumultuous political and economic saga, as Papandreou had become a lightning rod for critics of his leadership of the heavily indebted south European nation. Greece's turmoil is far from over."
The Roosevelt Institute's Rob Johnson explains the situation in Greece as "ungovernable banks pitted against democracy": After Prime Minister Papandreou attempted to have the public vote on the austerity measures being demanded in return for a bailout, he's now about to lose his job. Irony isn't dead. 'We all have to laugh a little bit,' Rob [Johnson] says, 'that the place where democracy originated is now terrified of resorting to democracy.' Why is everyone so terrified? 'What's really going on in Greece in the big picture is fear of the structure of ungovernable banks pitted against democracy,' he explains. So how do the Greeks find their way out of this mess? Rob sees three paths, and only one of them will work: 1. 'You can do inflation, which they can't do,' as they don't control their own currency; 2. 'You can do austerity… which is a bad endgame because it makes things worse;' and 3. 'Restructuring of the debt, and that's where we've got to be but everybody's terrified to do that to the banks.'"
At FT, Misha Glenny tells the story of the real Greek tragedy: "Capricious, unreliable and ideologically driven were some of the more printable epithets hurled at George Papandreou in his final week as Greek prime minister. We should look at the motives of his detractors before taking such critiques at face value. While engaged in titanic political struggles at home and abroad, he has been quietly trying to tackle one of the most intractable root causes of the Greek tragedy – crime and corruption. As the new Greek government struggles to convince Europe of its resolve to cut the country's bloated public sector, it also has to decide whether to face down the real domestic threat to Greece's stability: the network of oligarch families who control large parts of the Greek business, the financial sector, the media and, indeed, politicians."
Taking It To The Banks
Judge OKs $410M for Bank of America customers [USA Today]: "A federal judge on Monday gave final approval to a $410 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit affecting more than 13 million Bank of America customers who had debit card overdrafts during the past decade. Senior U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King said the agreement was fair and reasonable, even though it drew criticism from some customers because they would only receive a fraction of what they paid in overdraft fees. The fees were usually $35 per occurrence. ...The settlement became final a week after Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America backed off a plan to charge a $5 monthly fee for debit-card purchases. The outcry prompted other major banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., to cancel trial tests of their own debit card fees. "
Community banks and credit unions report that Bank Transfer Day was a boom, and not a bust [Christian Science Monitor]: "Bankers at the roughly 15,000 community banks and credit unions across the United States have been spending Monday running the numbers. And this is no routine tally. That's because it's two days after Bank Transfer Day, the Internet-launched call to move money from big, transnational financial institutions down to the neighborhood level. Now, the beneficiaries of this social action are reporting that Saturday was, well, a small-town banker's dream, with customers jostling for a parking spot and standing in line to open new accounts. 'The branches had a flurry of activity, and we treated it as a celebration of community and a liberation from big-bank neglect,' says Kimberly Kaselionis, CEO of the Bay Area's Circle Bank."
Durbin wants banks to spell out all fees [ABC News]: "Ill. Senator Dick Durbin wants banks and credit unions to go further in disclosing their so-called hidden banking fees. The senator says consumers are at risk for more hidden fees after several large banks recently decided to cancel or roll back some debit card charges. He wants the state's financial institutions to voluntarily adopt simple disclosure forms that clearly spell out all their fees. 'Empowering consumers with good information about what they're being charged and giving them an option so they can go shopping for the right bank is the strength of our free market economy,' he said."
Herman Cain's Woman Trouble
GOP urges Cain to address accusations [Politico]: "With a name, face and salacious details now affixed to allegations of Herman Cain's sexual misbehavior, Republicans who have otherwise been sympathetic to the former National Restaurant Association CEO are urging him to address the accusations clearly and forthrightly. ...Beyond the charges themselves, the widening scandal is now threatening Cain in another way: the story has begun to loom so heavily over the GOP race that it's irritating Republicans who want to focus on defeating President Obama."
Herman Cain announces that he will break his promise not to talk about sexual harassment accusation, and hold a press conference to address the latest allegations against him [ABC News]: "Cain announced that he would address the controversy in a press conference in Scottsdale, Arizona Tuesday afternoon. Cain's campaign has already tried to discredit the accuser and her lawyer. In a press release, Cain's campaign said, 'It is noteworthy that Gloria Allred is a celebrity lawyer who specializes in generating publicity for herself and her clients,' Cain continues to label the allegations as an ongoing smear campaign aimed at hurting his candidacy. In a press release Cain's campaign said, 'Ms. Allred is a high-profile Democrat Party donor and activist who has given over ten thousand dollars to liberal Democrats like Barack Obama, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer."
At the American Prospect, Pema Levy notes that the latest charges against Herman Cain are about sexual assault, not sexual harassment: "This account is shocking on several levels. First, what the media have described up to this point as sexual harassment has in fact turned out to be sexual assault (though Bialek's lawyer, Gloria Allred, refused to define the crime as either assault or harassment). Neither is acceptable, but assault is obviously a graver crime. Second, Bialek's accusations are damning because they don't describe what some would find to be an easily excusable, "boys will be boys" scenario—the favorite excuse for men giving unwanted sexual attention. This wasn't spontaneous—an office party that got out of hand (not that that would be excusable). What Bialek described is a planned- and thought-out sexual assault."
Ezra Klein explains Herman Cain's other woman problem: "As Sofia Resnick explains at the American Independent, women make up 49 percent of the workforce but 59 percent of low-wage workers. Households headed by women are disproportionately poor. Women account for 57 percent of Social Security beneficiaries over age 62, and 69 percent of beneficiaries over age 85. As you would expect, they also draw more heavily than men on income-support programs like the Earned Income Tax Benefit. And so a regressive tax plan that cuts taxes on high earners, raises them on middle-income Americans, starves government programs that disproportionately benefit the poor and ends credits and deductions that help the working class will harm women. And that happens to describe the 9-9-9 plan exactly."
