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: Will DeMarco Hear The Drumbeat?
OurFuture.org's Bill Scher: "From progressive activists to mortgage bankers to Wall Street traders, the drumbeat is getting louder and louder for Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco to end his resistance and act to end the housing crisis by allowing principal to be reduced for struggling homeowners with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages ... this goes beyond a progressive cause. Mortgage Bankers Association CEO David Stevens last week lent his support for principal reductions, saying they would put 'cash flow into the hands of families.' ... Further, DeMarco protestations are being scrutinized. The Bloomberg News editorial board two weeks ago gently but firmly nudged DeMarco [and] the Los Angeles Times editorial board reminded DeMarco that the numbers from his own agency undercut his stance..."
Frank Wants DeMarco Out
Rep. Barney Frank calls for DeMarco's ouster. The Hill: "The Massachusetts Democrat said Edward DeMarco, head of the federal agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has been 'too rigid' in his approach to foreclosure prevention and should be replaced ... But Frank was also quick to concede that replacing DeMarco is no guarantee the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) would adopt the more aggressive foreclosure-prevention policies DeMarco's critics have urged. Instead, because Senate Republicans would likely block any permanent replacement President Obama nominated, the White House would be required, by law, to seat one of DeMarco's top FHFA deputies – officials who support DeMarco's strategies,"
Foreclose fraud settlement may be formally filed today. WSJ (via Calculated Risk): "Of the total $25 billion settlement, around $5 billion will be paid as fines. An added $3 billion will be used to help homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth refinance. To pay the remaining $17 billion, banks will receive credits for helping troubled borrowers, of which $10 billion goes toward cutting loan balances for borrowers who are underwater, owing more than their homes are worth .. Banks can satisfy up to 5% of the credits by providing more generous relocation assistance to foreclosed homeowners."
Labor Gets Behind Obama
AFL-CIO expected to endorse Obama tomorrow. NYT: "...labor leaders say they will mount their biggest campaign effort, with far more union members than ever before — at least 400,000, they say — knocking on voters’ doors to counter the well-endowed 'super PACs' backing Republicans."
Santorum acknowledges improving economy will hurt Republicans. Memphis Newspapers quotes: "You know, the economy may be getting better and Republicans may lose their edge on that issue. Well, if that was the only issue in this race, that may or may not be the case, we don’t know."
Obama tours factory floors while Romney embodies Wall Street. Bloomberg: "Obama has recently appeared alongside some of the nation’s most prominent business leaders, including Rolls-Royce North America CEO James Guyette and Boeing Co. (BA) CEO James McNerney, shaking hands on factory floors and inspecting industrial equipment. He’s promoting policy initiatives focused on boosting the American worker with manufacturing incentives, skills training and community college partnerships ... the president is aligning himself with a certain kind of business model, while undercutting the private- sector experience of Romney, who stakes his economic bona fides on his financial management background."
House GOP Looks To Re-Open Budget Battle
House GOP may try to break debt deal in budget resolution. Politco: "...the GOP feels pressure to show that if the sequester is blocked, the savings will be recouped in a matter of years — not a decade. That more-compressed schedule for repayment could translate into deeper cuts over a longer period ... The House GOP’s strategy will almost certainly shift the burden away from defense. Health care expenditures, federal workers’ compensation and farm subsidies are all potential targets in the reconciliation process."
Attacking federal workers is GOP go-to move to find budget savings. Politico: "In the past year alone, congressional Republicans have turned to the federal workforce to help pay for everything from a payroll tax cut to jobless benefits to a transportation bill. Trimming the federal payroll is also at the heart of two bills to stave off deep across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect next year."
Greece another lesson against austerity, notes NYT's Paul Krugman: "...what Greek experience actually shows is that while running deficits in good times can get you in trouble — which is indeed the story for Greece, although not for Spain — trying to eliminate deficits once you’re already in trouble is a recipe for depression."
Two Weeks Until Supreme Court Hears Health Care Case
Chief Justice Roberts seen as wanted to avoid divisive ruling on Affordable Care Act. NYT: "On the one hand, he views himself as a steward of the court’s prestige and authority, and he has called for incremental decisions from large majorities rather than broad but sharply divided rulings ... At the same time, Chief Justice Roberts has embraced an array of assertive judicial projects that have interpreted the Constitution in ways that have fundamentally reshaped American law ... The consensus among scholars and Supreme Court practitioners is that Chief Justice Roberts is unlikely to add the fifth vote to those of the four justices in the court’s liberal wing to uphold the law. But he is said to be quite likely to provide a sixth vote should one of the other more conservative justices decide to join the court’s four more liberal members."
Conservative federal appeals court judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III makes case for upholding law in NYT oped: "As a political argument, that resonates: 'Don’t Tread On Me' trumpets the imperishable spirit of American liberty. But as a constitutional argument, it would imbue judges with unprecedented powers to topple an exhaustively debated and duly enacted federal law and to make the determination that the decision not to buy ice cream can be neatly severed from the decision to buy chocolate or vanilla ... A vibrant economic order requires some political predictability, and the prospect of judges’ striking down commercial regulation on ill-defined and subjective bases is a prescription for economic chaos that the framers, in a simpler time, had the good sense to head off."
Breakfast Sides
Banks expected to show stronger solvency in Fed stress test. NYT: "Unlike the findings of the last round of stress tests, which ended last March, the results of this round will be made public by the Federal Reserve, with an announcement expected by Thursday. Last time, the Fed informed the banks of their results, and it was up to them to announce whether they would proceed with dividend increases or buybacks ... the Fed will release figures like the potential drop in revenues, expected losses, and capital levels in the event of a sharp downturn."
Fed's next steps on the economy unclear. NYT: " Some Fed officials see no reason for new measures, as the economy appears to be gaining strength. Others are eager for a new campaign, arguing that the recovery remains weak. But public remarks by Fed officials suggest a decision will not come before the committee’s next meeting in April."
Public transit use jumps. NYT: "Americans took 10.4 billion rides on public transportation in 2011 — a billion more than they took in 2000, and the second most since 1957 ... there were big increases in ridership in parts of the country that gained employment. And with the price of gas rising again — the $4 gallon has already returned in some states — many systems are bracing for even more riders this year."
