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: These Evictions Won't Stand. Occupy Nov. 17.
OurFuture.org's Isaiah Poole: "'You can't evict an idea whose time has come.' That was the message posted on OccupyWallSt.org as early this morning, police began to storm the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan. To prove it, supporters of the Occupy movement have vowed to pull out all the stops to make November 17 a day of national occupation. That day is the two-month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests that sparked a national and international movement. There were already 303 'We Are the 99%' protests scheduled for that day around the country, organized with the help of MoveOn.org. Now those gatherings have added urgency as a rebuke to the efforts to squelch the occupations and silence their voices."
NYPD Busts Up Occupy Wall Street
Police clear Zuccotti Park. NYT: "...dozens of protesters left the park, while a core group of about 100 dug in around the food area. Many locked arms and defied police orders to leave. By 3 a.m., dozens of helmet-clad officers, watched over by Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, closed in on the remaining protesters. They pulled them out one protester at a time and handcuffed them. Most were walked out without incident. The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, told The Associated Press that 70 people had been arrested in the park, including some who had chained themselves together ... Mr. Bloomberg stressed that the protesters would still be able to use the park, as long as they complied with the rules, that ban things such as tents and sleeping bags."
Mother Jones gets closest to the scene: "...no reporters were allowed near the scene. MoJo's Josh Harkinson and James West were there, and Josh eventually got into the park..."
AM judge's ruling appears to allow tents to return. NYT: "The order by Justice Lucy Billings set a hearing date for Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. and said that until the matter was considered at that hearing, the city and Brookfield Properties, the owners of Zuccotti Park, would be prohibited from evicting protesters..."
Time Running Out On "Super Committee"
"Super Committee" still "has a pulse," argues Time's Jay Newton-Small: "One possibility is that the committee punts much of its responsibilities down the road — a classic Washington maneuver. In this scenario, some revenues — say, $100 billion — are paired with equal or greater cuts up front. The committee then leaves instructions or guidelines for the regular committees of jurisdiction — Senate Finance and House Ways & Means for taxes, Appropriations for spending — on how to find the rest of the savings."
Are "Super Committee" Dems caving on taxes? TPM's Brian Beutler: "The advocacy group MoveOn emailed members Monday, urging them to call Super Committee Dems and tell them any plan that doesn’t raise taxes on the rich right out the gate is unacceptable ... But as I noted last week, Democrats aren’t offering to simply take the GOP at their word. Their plan is to make any cuts to programs like Medicare and Social Security part of a trigger that would only be pulled if and when Congress passes hundreds of billions of dollars in new revenue. Multiple Democratic aides confirm their strategy hasn’t changed..."
"Super Committee" needs to finish Friday, says House Minority Leader Pelosi. Roll Call: "Pelosi’s comments came as House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Budget ranking member Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) were meeting behind closed doors to discuss the status of the negotiations. Republicans have said they have been waiting for a new proposal from Democrats. When asked about the possibility of a new proposal, Van Hollen said, 'As you can see, we’re continuing to have discussions.' However, it was unclear whether a formal proposal from Democrats was imminent."
Every deficit reduction deal has always included revenue, notes CBPP's Kathy Ruffing: "Given the size of that challenge, and the need to phase in any entitlement changes gradually, the next round of deficit reduction must include substantial revenue increases. In fact, simply letting the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2012 — or paying for those provisions that we choose to extend — would essentially stabilize the deficit for the next decade, buying us time to adopt gradual changes..."
Warren Buffet lays out plan to tax the rich. Politico: "...his plan would require everyone making $1 million and more to pay a minimum tax of 30 percent of their income, while those making more than $10 million should pay 35 percent of their earnings ..."
American Prospect's Robert Kuttner urges Dems, "don't save Republicans from themselves.": "Republicans, by locking themselves into no new taxes at a time when two thirds of Americans prefer to tax millionaires instead of cutting Social Security and Medicare, are in a nice pickle ... The Democrats are holding all the cards. Is this really the moment to save the Republicans from themselves?"
Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments On President's Health Care Reform
Supreme Court will hear arguments on President's "Affordable Care Act" next year, but may not definitely rule before Election Day. McClatchy: "The court's top-to-bottom examination of the law will start with the threshold question of whether the legal challenges are premature and should be postponed until more of the law takes effect in 2014."
Health care reform cannot be undone, no matter what the Court does, suggests NYT: "Provisions already put in place, like tougher oversight of health insurers, the expansion of coverage to one million young adults and more protections for workers with pre-existing conditions are already well cemented and popular. And a combination of the law and economic pressures has forced major institutions to wrestle with the relentless rise in health care costs ... 'The system is transforming itself,' said Charles N. Kahn III, president of the Federation of American Hospitals. 'But the success of these changes depends a lot on whether there is sufficient funding.' Hospital systems are anticipating a major influx of federal funds and patients as a result of the law."
Support for individual mandate on the rise. CNN: "... 52% of Americans favor mandatory health insurance, up from 44% in June ... 'The health insurance mandate has gained most support since June among older Americans and among lower-income Americans,' says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. 'A majority of independents opposed the measure in June, but 52 percent of them now favor it.'"
Breakfast Sides
Congressional Repulbicans may kill bipartisan bill to extend tax credits for wind power. McClatchy: "'This bill isn't about picking winners or losers,' [GOP Rep. Dave Reichert] said ... Reichert, who introduced his legislation with co-sponsor Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, called the tax credits 'job creators' across the nation. The bill would give a four-year extension of tax credits for wind power, hydropower, geothermal power and other forms of renewable energy ... the wind subsidies alone are estimated to cost roughly $900 million a year in 2011 and 2012. Supporters say it's well worth it because the tax breaks have resulted in more than $17 billion a year in private investment ... the industry now supports 75,000 jobs across the country, and that could grow to 500,000 in the next two decades."
Congressional Dems hold hearing on conservative attempt to restrict voting. The Hill: "The lawmakers said the reform laws — including new voter ID and registration requirements — are politically motivated efforts from Republicans to suppress voter turnout, particularly in minority communities that tend to vote Democratic. They compare the new mandates to the poll taxes adopted by Southern states to discourage African-Americans from voting after the Civil War."
President continues crackdown on employers hiring undocumented workers. WSJ: "The Obama administration has extended its crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants, notifying 500 companies across the nation in recent weeks that the government will inspect their hiring records. The surge in so-called silent raids is the first to occur in the government's new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. In the year ended Sept. 30, the U.S. audited 2,496 companies, topping the previous year's tally of 2,196."
Another bank settlement. AP: "Citigroup and Deutsche Bank have agreed to pay a total of $165.5 million to settle federal regulators’ claims that they had misled five failed credit unions about the risk of securities tied to mortgages ... The companies neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing in the matter."
Krugman debates Summers. Reuters' Felix Salmon scores: "Both Krugman and Summers spent a lot of time saying that they agreed with each other — with one big difference. They both quoted Keynes as diagnosing 'magneto trouble' — the engine of the economy is broken, and it needs to be fixed. Summers has faith ... Krugman, by contrast, sees political gridlock as far as the eye can see, and says that it doesn’t matter how innovative or philanthropic or demographically attractive the U.S. is — if you don’t fix the magneto, the car won’t start, and America’s magneto ain’t gonna get fixed any time soon. Economically speaking, the Nobel laureate largely had the better of the technocrat. We’re already four years from the beginning of the U.S. recession, and we’ve certainly been going nowhere over that time — the question isn’t whether the economy is lost, so much as whether there’s something which can help it back onto its feet in the next few years."
