MORNING MESSAGE: December Surprise?
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "They just named a street after Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco, while there's a strong argument for putting Robert Rubin's name on a subpoena. But the Liberal Democrat and the Wall Street Democrat are singing from the same hymnal now, and the song we're hearing is called 'Simpson/Bowles.' That name is Washington-speak for cutting Social Security and Medicare, imposing across-the-board cuts like the ones that are decimating Europe, and cutting taxes for ultra-wealthy people like Robert Rubin … If these Dems they think that imposing austerity cuts right after this year's election means that people will have forgotten by 2014, they're even more misguided … At the June 18-20 Take Back the American Dream conference, folks from the Campaign for America's Future and partner organizations will join an all-star roster of guests for sessions that will include a number of discussions on preventing the 'December Surprise.'"
Obama Campaign Takes On Romney's Job Record
Obama campaign links Bain to Romney's poor job creation record as governor. CNN: "[David Axelrod wrote,] 'Romney's goal in business was never job creation. It was to maximize quick profits for himself and his investors.' That mindset, Axelrod wrote, led to disappointing economic conditions for residents of Massachusetts … 'When he left office, however, state debt had increased, the size of government had grown, and over his four years, Massachusetts' record of job creation was among the worst in the nation.'"
Romney proposes firing 145,000 public workers. Daily Kos' Jed Lewison: "[Said Romney,] 'We have a 145,000 more government workers under this president. Let's send them home and put you back to work!' Mitt Romney's 145,000 claim isn't accurate, but even if it were, it's amazing that Romney believes firing tens of thousands of Americans would be good for the economy."
Justice Stevens Slams Court For Citizens United
Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens shreds SCOTUS for selective arguments. NYT: In striking down part of the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, the majority said that 'the First Amendment generally prohibits the suppression of political speech based on the speaker’s identity.' But Justice Stevens said the court has sustained laws that did just that in other settings … he said, 'it will be necessary to explain why the First Amendment provides greater protection to the campaign speech of some nonvoters than to that of other nonvoters.' In January, in Bluman v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court affirmed a decision upholding restrictions on campaign spending by foreigners … Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, upheld a law making it a crime to provide material support in the form of speech to groups said to engage in terrorism."
U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to avoid disclosing backers of campaign ads. W. Post: "By changing the focus of its ads to specifically support or oppose candidates, it will not have to disclose any of its donors … The move also means that the chamber is poised to become more directly involved in specific congressional races by explicitly telling people how they should vote … 'It unmasks what a complete charade the chamber’s claims have been — that they only run issue ads and don’t engage in campaign activity,' [Democracy 21's Fred] Wertheimer said."
GOP's Incoherent Health Care Strategy
GOP's planned health care strategy will drive up costs, notes Daily Beast's Michael Tomasky: "The idea is to preserve the language that requires insurers to cover people with preexisting conditions, because everyone likes that … [But you] cannot just make insurance companies cover really sick people. Sick people are expensive people, and insurers’ costs will shoot to the heavens, and those costs of course will be passed along to everyone else … hence … the individual mandate. It broadens the pool and brings premiums down."
Health care costs expected to rise next year, one year before mandate is implemented. Reuters: "The cost of healthcare services is expected to rise 7.5 percent in 2013, more than three times the projected rates for inflation and economic growth … But premiums for large employer-sponsored health plans could increase by only 5.5 percent as a result of company wellness programs and a growing trend toward plans that impose higher insurance costs on workers."
Volcker Rule Roundtable Today
CFTC holds roundtable today on Volcker Rule. Bloomberg: "A half-dozen participants scheduled for the CFTC roundtable, including Simon Johnson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have urged a stronger ban."
Discrepancies found with JPMorgan Chase's pricing. Bloomberg: "The JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) unit responsible for at least $2 billion in losses on credit derivatives was valuing some of its trades at prices that differed from those of its investment bank … The discrepancy between prices used by the chief investment office and JPMorgan’s credit-swaps dealer, the biggest in the U.S., may have obscured by hundreds of millions of dollars the magnitude of the loss before it was disclosed…"
Banks find new ways to prey on students. NYT: "…their efforts to woo students have gotten banks and other financial institutions in trouble with regulators. They are now effectively prohibited from providing gifts to students who sign up for credit cards. And the colleges themselves can no longer be paid by the lenders to steer students to student loans. But many colleges, struggling to offset cuts in state funds and under pressure to keep tuition down, are finding new ways to strike deals with financial institutions, by turning student IDs into debit cards and allowing lenders to take over disbursement of financial aid."
Breakfast Sides
In no state can one afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment on minimum wage notes NYT's Andrew Rosenthal.
WH deepens involvement in European crisis. WSJ: "Earlier in the week, the Treasury Department dispatched its top economic diplomat – Lael Brainard – to Greece, France, Spain and Germany for talks with European leaders. She is expected to stay until at least the end of the week. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama held a videoconference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti … Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who has been actively involved in talks with European leaders for more than three years, is meeting Thursday with Spanish Vice President Soraya Saenz de Santamaria. Mr. Geithner is also meeting Thursday with Mr. Obama at the White House."
