MORNING MESSAGE: They Bought Wisconsin. Don't Let Them Buy America.
OurFuture.org's Roger Hickey: "Democracy lost in Wisconsin. Gov. Scott Walker kept his job only after outspending the recall movement 8 to 1. And that doesn’t even count the millions spent by secretive third-party groups. Now, they are trying to buy the November elections. To stop them, you need to be in Washington, DC, June 18 to 20, for the Take Back the American Dream conference … And on June 20 to finish the conference, come march with us to Karl Rove’s 'Crossroads GPS' Super PAC and issue a “People’s Indictment” for trying to buy the 2012 elections."
Secret "Grand Bargain" Talks…
Senators conduct secret "grand bargain" talks. Politico: "A dozen senators ranging from Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn to Delaware Democrat Chris Coons have begun to organize closed-door briefings with leading economic experts to prod Congress into action. Some lawmakers like Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) are quietly pushing to have a major tax and budget package ready by September so a bill can be introduced immediately after the November elections and passed by Christmas. Others like Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) have taken matters into their own hands by privately preparing bills they hope will shape the post-election debate … The secret talks might allow Democrats to entertain deeper cuts to entitlements than they usually would, and Republicans could talk more candidly about increasing tax revenues — without either side getting blasted in the political arena."
President Obama flatly rules out any extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. AP: "Pressed directly on whether Obama would support a temporary extension, Carney said: 'He will not. Could I be more clear?'"
Republicans are obsessed with raising taxes … on the poor. The Atlantic's James Kwak: "The fact that Eric Cantor feels compelled to go out of his way to talk about raising taxes on the poor shows how the nasty instinct for class warfare is undermining what should be a simple, small-government agenda."
…As More Talk Of Stimulus
CBO insists the stimulus worked. W. Post: "… the director of the nonpartisan (and widely respected) Congressional Budget Office was emphatic about the value of the 2009 stimulus. And, he said, the vast majority of economists agree. In a survey conducted by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, 80 percent of economic experts agreed that, because of the stimulus, the U.S. unemployment rate was lower at the end of 2010 than it would have been otherwise. 'Only 4 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed' CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf told the House Budget Committee."
Fed members suggest more stimulus is possible: "'Scope remains for the FOMC to provide further policy accommodation,' Yellen said in Boston yesterday … Two regional Fed bank presidents who vote on policy, San Francisco’s John Williams and Atlanta’s Dennis Lockhart, said yesterday the central bank should be prepared to take action if the economy deteriorates … Yellen’s speech 'is a prelude to the Fed clearly considering additional easing,' said Diane Swonk, chief economist in Chicago at Mesirow Financial Inc. … 'The Fed is keeping its powder dry, but is at least signaling that it’s willing to act.'"
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. proposes increased minimum wage to boost economy. NYT: "At a Capitol Hill news conference, he said the economy would be bolstered by increasing 'the purchasing power of millions of low-income and low-wage workers, and one proven and effective way of doing that is to raise the federal minimum wage.' He has introduced a bill that would immediately increase the minimum wage by $2.75, to $10 an hour from $7.25."
Spain, France Resist Austerity
Spain holding out for a better bailout. NYT: "Political leaders in Madrid are insisting that emergency aid to their banks avoid the stigma in capital markets that has hobbled countries like Greece, Portugal and Ireland after accepting tough rescue terms. They are also fighting to slow the pace of austerity and economic change that have pushed those smaller countries into deeper recessions … Madrid’s trump card in this latest game of euro-zone poker is that the consequences of a Spanish default and exit from the euro zone would probably be so catastrophic that policy makers in Berlin will be willing to bend their bailout rules for Spain, and are on the verge of doing just that."
France moves to lower retirement age. NYT: "The change will allow people who entered the work force at age 18 or 19 to retire with full state pensions at 60, instead of 62, assuming they have paid into the pension system for 41 or 41.5 years … The pension change is expected to bring more than 110,000 additional retirements next year, at a cost to the state of more than $1.25 billion, the president’s office said in a statement, but is to be paid for entirely by a 0.1 percent rise in taxes on employees and companies."
Romney Slanders Obama
Romney falsely accuses Obama of deliberately slowing down the economy. NYT: "Mentioning a passage [from Noam Scheiber's 'The Escape Artists'] he called 'pretty disturbing,' Mr. Romney said the book recounts that within the administration, 'there was discussion about the fact that Obamacare would slow down the economic recovery in this country.' 'And they knew that before they passed it,' he said … But this account of the book, which Mr. Romney has given two or three times in recent weeks, is disputed by no less than the author, Mr. Scheiber…"
MItt Romney. Bad Neighbor. NYT: "The elderly woman next door complains that her car is constantly boxed into her driveway. A few houses over, a gay couple grumbles that their beloved ocean views are in jeopardy. And down the street, a widow grouses that her children’s favorite dog-walking route has been disrupted … Little did Mr. Romney know that his efforts to quadruple the size of his house would collide with a bid for the White House, foisting the unpredictable dramas of home renovation and presidential politics onto a community that prides itself on low-key California neighborliness."
Romney encourages business owners to pressure employees to vote for him. W. Post: "On a tele-town hall Wednesday afternoon with members of the National Federation of Independent Business … he urged the business owners not to shy away from talking to their employees about the presidential race. 'There’s nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business,' Romney said."
Volcker Rule Momentum
Proposed Volcker Rule would have reigned in JPMorgan Chase. WSJ: "A proposed regulation barring banks from trading with their own money would have forced J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to document and more carefully evaluate the risks it took in its trading activities … The comments from Fed governor Daniel Tarullo is the latest evidence of how the bank's big loss is shaping the debate on banking regulation … Republicans on the [Senate] panel, who in years past might have come more firmly to the bank's defense, instead used the high-profile hearing to praise Mr. Tarullo's opening remarks…"
House Republicans Continue Effort To Undermine Wall Street Reform By Cutting Regulators’ Budgets" reports ThinkProgress.
House GOP Readies "Oil-Above-All" Bill
House GOP proposes dirty energy bill to be voted on this month. The Hill: "The Domestic Energy and Jobs Act is a package of seven existing bills aimed at speeding up and expanding onshore oil-and-gas projects and delaying certain Environmental Protection Agency rules … The latest offensive comes as gasoline prices have been dropping, a welcome political development for the White House … Republicans signaled that they intend to use the energy package to keep focus on the tepid job growth …"
Dem Rep. Ed Markey fires back: "Instead of sending a thank you note to President Obama for increasing oil production and decreasing our foreign oil dependence through his 'all of the above' energy strategy, House Republicans are sending a love letter to the oil industry in the form of another oil-above-all scheme."
Question swirl around higher West Coast gas prices. McClatchy: "West Coast oil refiners cut gasoline production after a fire earlier this year at a Washington state refinery … [But a] McCullough Research report, published Tuesday, questioned whether the historically low gasoline inventories on the West Coast were really a result of a fire on Feb. 17 that idled the BP plant for about three months … McCullough’s research implies that supply was withheld from the market to keep prices inflated."
