MORNING MESSAGE: Why Would They Shut Down Occupy Now?
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "...the timing's very interesting - and, for some people, very convenient. The nation's expecting a deficit package from the undemocratic Super Committee, anticipating another possible free trade deal, and waiting to see whether Wall Street will go unpunished for its foreclosure crime wave. All that makes this a very good time for dissident voices to suddenly disappear. Unfortunately for them, it's not going to be that easy."
Occupy Returns To Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street returns to Zuccotti Park, under strict rules. McClatchy: "...they entered under a new set of rules: no tents, tarps or sleeping bags are now permitted in the park. Protesters also are not allowed to store personal property in the park, or even to lie down ... Even before they were let back into the park, protesters said that regardless of what lay ahead, the unexpected raid would only serve to further unify them in their efforts."
Protesters determined to stay regardless. NY Mag: "Around 2,000 activists marched single-file back into the newly tentless Zuccotti Park last night, and spent the evening in a dramatic general assembly, forging a strategy for the coming days ... presenters have agreed that a core presence will remain at Zuccotti, even if protesters cannot sleep in the park. 'I will stay awake all night,' declared Jackie DiSalvo ..."
"Super Committee" Remains Gridlocked
Progressive Caucus holds 11 AM ET hearing on deficit reduction ideas ignored by "Super Committee" featuring testimony from Robert Borosage of Campaign for America's Future.
"Super Committee" impasse deepens as GOP rallies around permanent tax cut for the wealthy. NYT: "... a Democrat close to the negotiations said Tuesday night[,] 'f this becomes the Republicans’ last, best, final offer, they could be dooming these negotiations' ... Democrats dismissed the Republican offer last week as inadequate, saying it did not raise enough revenue and would provide a windfall to millionaires by permanently reducing the top tax rate ... Republicans and some Democrats saw a possible breakthrough last week when Republicans on the committee, long hostile to new taxes, offered the proposal to raise $300 billion in new tax revenue, mainly by scaling back tax deductions for higher-income households. Mr. Reid on Tuesday appeared to minimize the significance of the offer... "
GOP "Super Committee" co-chair suggests he will never accept a plan with net increased revenue. TPM: "[Rep. Jeb] Hensarling claimed that if the committee recommended even a dollar of new net tax revenue — the kind of revenue Dems are demanding — it would constitute a step in the wrong direction ... 'We have gone as far as we feel we can go,' Hensarling said ... "
"Democrats Said to Consider Lowering Demand for New Tax Revenue" reports Bloomberg: "Democrats on Congress’s supercommittee are weighing whether to reduce to about $800 billion their demand for new tax revenue as part of a deficit- reduction agreement ... [But] Texas Representative Jeb Hensarling, the panel’s Republican co-chairman, doubts Republicans would accept the Democrats’ lower revenue benchmark."
GOP leaders try to get caucus to accept any new revenues at all. The Hill: "Lawmakers emerged from the closed-door meeting saying Hensarling had made the case that offering some new revenue — $300 billion in at least one publicized offer — would be a good trade to secure a permanent extension of the George W. Bush-era tax rates ... Amid widespread skepticism that the committee will meet its $1.2 trillion charge, some members said Hensarling had dampened expectations for a blockbuster deal."
Sen. Maj. Leader Reid suggests he will not let Republicans block automatic military cuts if no deal is reached. The Hill: "Reid’s threat is yet another signal that Democrats are preparing for a supercommittee flop, and are largely comfortable with the cuts that would be triggered if there is no bipartisan agreement ... 'Those who are — who talk about retracting the sequester are wrong and are not living up to the agreement we reached to cut our nation’s deficit last July,' Reid added."
Financial markets will not care if there's no deal, argues EPI's John Irons: "... there would still be a $1.2 trillion 10-year spending reduction put onto the books via a process called sequestration ... a $1.2 trillion agreement would be no different than a so-called failure. Congress can of course revisit those cuts, but they could also revisit any other kind of spending agreement too ... real interest rates on federal debt are negative for some maturities, and very low for longer term bonds. There is no indication that markets are worried about U.S. debt and need to be reassured ... The markets would react if Congress fails to fails continue a payroll tax holiday or fails to continue unemployment insurance payments. The real, immediate crisis is jobs ..."
Republican mayor of Owensboro, Ky revitalizes downtown ... with taxes. NYT: "The total value of the projects is more than $1 billion, including a $385 million hospital under construction east of town; a $2 million, 8,500-square-foot expansion of the regional airport terminal; various road and drainage projects; and a new shopping center along the city’s highway bypass ... Most improbable in this politically conservative region, more than two hours downriver from Louisville, is the $80 million tax increase that provided almost half of the $178.4 million in public and privately financed downtown development projects now under way."
Spending agreement to avoid shutdown eliminates high-speed rail funds. USA Today: "...supporters of high-speed rail will try to revive funding in a transportation reauthorization bill that will move as separate legislation."
CBO tells Congress, Dem plan creates more jobs. TPM: "Here’s a chart [from CBO] that lays [it] out pretty clearly ... the plans conservatives favor don’t really do much to reduce unemployment and grow the economy. Cutting income taxes across the board is less effective than anything that puts money in the hands of people who need it to pay for necessities (extending unemployment insurance and the payroll tax holiday are both top Obama goals). Letting corporations repatriate foreign-earned profits tax free (as Republicans want) does almost nothing, while creating incentives for firms to hire has a fairly substantial effect."
Middle-class neighborhood are shrinking, finds US2010 study. NYT: "...44 percent of families lived in neighborhoods the study defined as middle-income, down from 65 percent of families in 1970. At the same time, a third of American families lived in areas of either affluence or poverty, up from just 15 percent of families in 1970 ... there is more residential sorting by income, with the rich flocking together in new exurbs and gentrifying pockets where lower- and middle-income families cannot afford to live ... Children in mostly poor neighborhoods tend to have less access to high-quality schools, child care and preschool, as well as to support networks or educated and economically stable neighbors who might serve as role models."
WI Recall Drive Launches
"Drive to recall Wisconsin Gov. Walker begins" reports McClatchy: "Recall supporters have 60 days to gather enough valid signatures to force a vote, which would likely take place sometime in the spring."
58% of Wisconsin voters want to recall Gov. Walker reports AP.
"Scott Walker's New Jobs Plan: Abstinence-Only Education" reports Mother Jones.
Breakfast Sides
Pizza sauce still consider a vegetable after Congress blocks proposed Obama administration school lunch rules. NYT: "The rules, proposed last January, would have cut the amount of potatoes served and would have changed the way schools received credit for serving vegetables by continuing to count tomato paste on a slice of pizza only if more than a quarter-cup of it was used. The rules would have also halved the amount of sodium in school meals over the next 10 years. But late Monday, lawmakers drafting a House and Senate compromise for the agriculture spending bill blocked the department from using money to carry out any of the proposed rules."
Energy Sec Chu testifies to House cmte today about Solyndra loan reports The Hill.
Chamber of Commerce launches early attack ads on Democrats. LAT: "...a million-dollar-plus buy that includes attacks on two vulnerable Democratic senators, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jon Tester of Montana ..."
