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: How We Win In November … And December
Rebuild the Dream's Van Jones: "In November, we have to win the White House — and win a big progressive majority in Congress. It won’t be easy, but the American majority is coming together. Then in December, watch out. The extreme Right is already promising to hold the country hostage once more over raising the debt ceiling in order to force a 'grand bargain' — gut Social Security and Medicare, cripple everything from food stamps to food safety, and accept mass unemployment as a grotesque 'new normal.' How do we stop this? Drive the debate. Mobilize our grassroots army. Make us impossible to ignore. Let’s strategize to win in November … and December. Join me at the June 18-20 'Take Back the American Dream' conference."
Romney Hugs Trump
Romney calls Donald Trump "good people" despite pushing birther conspiracy. CNN quotes: " I don't agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don't all agree with everything I believe in … I need to get 50.1% or more and I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people."
Romney botches education pitch.. USA TODAY's DeWayne Wickham: "…Romney told a small group of charter school supporters that his experience as Massachusetts governor and the one study he cited suggest that 'getting smaller classrooms didn't seem to be the key' to improved learning in public schools. He didn't acknowledge the mountain of evidence which disputes that contention."
Top GOPer Rep. Darrell Issa calls for Bain-style economics. CNN quotes: "'You're going to have some casualties, but that's exactly what we need in Washington and why I'm so delighted to support Gov. Romney."
Jobless Aid Cut Off
Hundreds of thousands lose jobless aid sooner than expected. NYT: "In February, when the program was set to expire, Congress renewed it, but also phased in a reduction of the number of weeks of extended aid and effectively made it more difficult for states to qualify for the maximum aid. Since then, the jobless in 23 states have lost up to five months’ worth of benefits. Next month, an additional 70,000 people will lose benefits earlier than they presumed, bringing the number of people cut off prematurely this year to close to half a million."
Fewer people receive food assistance. USA Today:"The downward trend that started with unemployment insurance in 2010 and welfare benefits in 2011 has reached food stamps, which have seen a two-month dip … The trend could mean a slight dip in poverty, which rose in 2009-10, though Census data for this year won't be available until 2013. The three-year lag between the recession ending and a reduction in government aid, on the other hand, shows how hard the post-recession period has been on low-income families, including people with part-time or low-wage jobs."
EU a "Failed State"
The EU is effectively a "failed state" thanks to austerity, says HuffPost's Robert Kuttner: "… the EU's crisis management, led by Germany, has been a failure in every respect. The first assumption was that austerity would reassure markets. Instead austerity has pushed Greece deeper into depression, whetted the appetites of speculators, scared away private investment capital, and led to a run on Greek banks. The second assumption was that the crisis could be contained to Greece. If Greece failed to deliver on the austerity demands, Greece could somehow be tossed out of the Euro and the rest of the Eurozone would be healthier for it. That also proved to be fantasy. Failure to help Greece revealed the vulnerability of the system."
Europeans conflicted about the euro. NYT: "… citizens of five euro zone countries — including Greece — say the euro has not been a good thing for them, but nevertheless do not want to go back to their old currencies, according to a survey to be released Tuesday … 'They realize it would be a leap into the dark' to lose the euro, [Pew's Bruce Stokes] said."
Breakfast Sides
NYT's Joe Nocera frets Dodd-Frank is too complicated: "Glass-Steagall did one basic thing. It forced banks to get rid of their investment banking arms. Dodd-Frank, by contrast, accepts the complexity of modern banking — and then adds to that complexity with its thousands of pages of regulations. That complexity is something to worry about."
Campaign finance rules will expose U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a Republican front group, argues NYT edit board: "…a federal judge issued a decision … requiring that the donors for these kinds of [issue] ads be publicly disclosed … [The Chamber's Bruce] Josten noted that the court order applies only to issue ads, known legally as 'electioneering communications.' It doesn’t apply to old-fashioned 'independent' political ads, the kind that say vote for Senator A or against Congressman B, and he suggested the chamber is considering going in that direction to avoid disclosing donors … The only good news is that the chamber’s highly partisan loyalties will now be fully exposed."
GOP member of NLRB quits after being caught leaking. Politico: "Terence Flynn — a Republican appointed by President Barack Obama in January to the board — submitted his resignation letter on May 26, according to a NLRB statement. NLRB inspector general reports this year accused Flynn of revealing nonpublic information about the board while he served as its top lawyer and found that he allegedly leaked draft reports and memos to former Romney campaign adviser Peter Schaumber … His resignation is effective July 24, the NLRB said."
