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: Tax The Rich ... 76%
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: ...I'll come right out and admit it: Taxes can be too high. But that doesn't answer the biggest question of all: What's the ideal top tax bracket? Where can we set the percentage so that it provides the most revenue for the Federal government without discouraging high earners from making more money? Thanks to a new and very thoughtful paper by economists Peter Diamond and Emmanuel Saez, we have the answer: 76% ... this tax rate wouldn't double taxes for the wealthy. It would only apply to income about the highest cutoff point. What should that cutoff point be? We're willing to be reasonable, so let's make it $1,000,000. No, wait! My manager's in a good mood. Let's make it $2,000,000, with graduated increases that begin at the $400,000 level. It wouldn't even affect everybody in the 1%. Agree to these terms and you can drive your new, lower-deficit Federal government off the lot right now!"
Conservatives Can't Take Military Cuts Off The Table
WH tells Congress to follow its own "trigger" law. USA Today: "'...why do you think people are so cynical about how Congress works? If they pass a law that's supposed to hold them responsible for their actions and then say, never mind,' [WH Press Sec Jay] Carney told reporters..."
Congressional leadership in both parties may not be willing to remove trigger. NYT: "Democrats have said that absent a plan with spending cuts and new taxes — like the one members of the so-called supercommittee tried in vain to produce — the Pentagon cuts will abide ... the House speaker, John A. Boehner ... earlier this month said he was 'morally bound' to honor the statute and who has previously indicated a willingness to entertain Pentagon cuts."
Experts calls automatic military cuts in trigger, "agonizing but manageable." NYT: "[Some] analysts argued that the United States had such overwhelming military superiority globally that it could easily withstand the cuts, even to the point of eliminating the Joint Strike Fighter. 'We have airplanes coming out of our ears,' said Gordon Adams, who oversaw military budgets in the Clinton White House ... Nonetheless, he said, the automatic cuts make life difficult for Pentagon budget planners and are 'a terrible way to manage defense.'"
What Republicans rejected was the Simpson-Bowles plan with fewer tax hikes. CAP's Michael Linden: "Super committee Democrats offered their Republican colleagues a deficit reduction package that was nearly identical to the much-lauded Bowles-Simpson plan, but with one major exception: It contained only half as much new revenue. The Republicans rejected it ... Some prominent conservatives even criticized the president and Democrats in Congress for failing to fully embrace the Bowles-Simpson plan. But Democrats on the super committee did embrace it, and even sweetened the deal for conservatives..."
Republicans Boxed In By President's Payroll Tax Cut
Democrats turn tax tables on Republicans over payroll tax cut. TPM: "Obama wants to renew it — in fact he wants to deepen it. But Republicans have little incentive to help Democrats keep the economy afloat or to help it grow. And Republicans will at least demand that the costs be offset — something they’ve almost never done with previous tax cuts. So for the next six weeks, Obama and Congressional Dems will squeeze Republicans. They won’t demand that the cut be offset, but they’ll propose offsetting it by raising taxes on wealthy Americans. 'Are we going to cut taxes for the middle class, working folks, $1500, paid for by a small haircut for the wealthiest Americans. Pretty clarifying statement,' said one Senior Administration Official..."
"Eight Reasons Why Extending Unemployment Benefits Will Boost the Economy" from New Deal 2.0's Mike Konczal
Small biz not worried about regulations. W. Post: "...just 9 percent of businesses who describe themselves as 'moderately successful' cited government rules and regulations as a culprit, and that fell to 6.7 percent among those were 'not at all or slightly successful.' Interestingly, the more successful a business is, the more likely it is that it will believe that government regulations are a problem."
CBO estimates Recovery Act created up to 3.3M jobs. Politico: "The CBO figures released Tuesday estimate that the stimulus package raised the gross domestic product this past quarter by 0.3 percent-1.9 percent. The CBO report provided a broad range of the estimated number of full-time jobs created because of the stimulus — from a low of 500,000 to a high of 3.3 million jobs."
Bankers Continue To Try Avoiding Accountability
Some bankers accused of fraud trying to shift blame to regulators. NYT: "Some regulatory shortcomings may be chalked up to innocent mistakes and failures to spot problems. Still, some economists and lawyers would like the government to examine regulatory actions leading up to the financial crisis to determine whether officials actively participated in improper behavior ... Longtime defense lawyers say one reason there have been so few prosecutions related to the credit crisis is because financial executives often solicited advice from outside parties — like accountants and lawyers — and experts shelter them from some potential charges because they can argue they relied on the advice. Regulatory advice may be a similar shelter against prosecution."
Foreclosure fraud settlement might proceed without state holdouts. WSJ: "Bank representatives and government officials are working on a broad settlement of most state and federal foreclosure-practices investigations that could move forward without the participation of California, long considered a key to any deal, people familiar with the negotiations said. The terms of the deal remain fluid. Banks have proposed a deal excluding California that would carry a value of $18.5 billion ... Negotiators are continuing to make a push to persuade California to join a settlement valued at $25 billion..."
Citigroup may need to pony up more. Bloomberg: "Citigroup Inc. (C), whose $285 million settlement with U.S. regulators over a collapsed collateralized debt obligation was faulted by a federal judge as too lenient, may have to pay more money to avoid admitting it did anything wrong ... The case is the latest in which U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who must approve the agreement for it to take effect, has criticized the SEC’s practice of allowing defendants to settle enforcement suits without admitting or denying fault."
Breakfast Sides
GOPer may quit NLRB to deny it quorum. NYT: "Mr. Hayes has made his threat expressly to block the Democratic-dominated board from adopting new rules to speed up unionization elections, which the board’s other current members, both Democrats, intend to pass Nov. 30."
Republicans trying to privatize airport security again. W. Post's Joe Davidson: "[GOP Rep. John] Mica, who acknowledges that 'we are safer today than we were 10 years ago,' is just as adamant against collective bargaining rights for government TSOs. When the Obama administration granted limited bargaining rights earlier this year, Mica called it the 'turnover of airport screening to the administration’s union cronies.' Speaking of cronies, Mica reportedly has received campaign contributions from private companies that could benefit from greater private operation of airport screening."
Gingrich risks conservative support by not hating immigrants enough. CBS quotes: "I'm prepared to take the heat for saying, let's be humane in enforcing the law without giving them citizenship but by finding a way to create legality so that they are not separated from their families."
