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: The Fiscal Cliff Is a Hoax
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "Everybody acts as if the 'fiscal cliff' is an unavoidable emergency … But the fiscal cliff was created by the very people who are now using it as an excuse for pushing unwise and unpopular ideas. It's an outgrowth of the 'trigger' idea that suddenly became popular in Washington a couple of years ago … The strategy seems to be working. Everybody's saying we have to pass these terrible bills or even more terrible things will happen. But nobody's arguing for right policies, the ones that would get our country back on track …"
Baucus Floats Tax Compromise
Sen. Max Baucus sketches out a vision for tax reform compromise. Politico: "Baucus, the chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, said he was 'making progress' on a detailed tax reform proposal that he vowed would get support from both Democrats and Republicans. He also called for a tax reform plan that would raise more revenue to lower the federal deficit … Without delving into specifics, Baucus outlined four goals that he said comprehensive tax reform needs to accomplish: creating jobs, making the United States more competitive internationally, supporting innovation in industries such as technology and energy, and providing more opportunities through education."
TPM explores why Dems don't want to end the Bush tax cuts without bipartisan support: "…at a very high level within the Democratic Party, there’s a recognition that breaking the GOP on taxes is an absolutely crucial strategic imperative for defending safety net programs over the long term. Getting the revenue in a passive way is a second best option, because it lets Republicans off the hook substantively, and would allow them to resuscitate the starve-the-beast policymaking that’s underlay their strategy for at least the last two decades. If they aren’t forced to grapple with the political pitfalls of that strategy and disown it, we’ll be right back where we started the next time the GOP controls government."
Jeb Bush says Reagan would raise taxes in a budget deal. Grover Norquist disagrees. WSJ: "'Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, similar to my dad, they would have a hard time if you define the Republican Party… as having an orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement,' he said, according to a Bloomberg article … 'That’s silly,' said Grover Norquist … Mr. Reagan signed a deal in 1982 that included new taxes because – lacking sufficient conservative allies in Congress – he had no practical alternative…"
Widening income gap is "bad for growth," says Joseph Stiglitz in Politico oped: "Those at the top aren’t the true innovators — people who provided the intellectual foundations of the computer, for example, or the Internet. Or those who invented the transistor or the laser; or, like James Watson and Francis Crick, who unraveled the genetic code laying the foundations of so much of modern medicine.
Much of the top-most wealth instead comes because of successful 'rent seeking.' Economists use the term 'rents' for income derived from owning an asset, rather than from effort."
Massive loss of middle class family wealth between 2007 and 2010, according to Fed report. McClatchy: "The Fed found that median net worth fell 38.9 percent_ from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010. That essentially took net worth back to levels recorded in 1992, and reflects the steep erosion of housing wealth. Middle-class Americans have a greater proportion of net worth tied up in their home than do the rich."
Romney Makes It Clear: I Want Fewer Teachers
Romney campaign insists Romney wants "fewer teachers." ThinkProgress: "During an interview with CNN’s John King on Monday evening, Romney campaign surrogate Newt Gingrich [said]: 'We have to come to grips with how big the challenge is, and does that mean there will be fewer teachers? The honest answer is yes' … top Romney surrogate John Sununu defended [Romney's] remarks earlier on Monday, saying, 'the taxpayers really do want to hear there will be fewer teachers.'"
Romney campaign won't say "school voucher," but that's what he's for, says NYT: "…Mr. Romney would seek to overhaul the federal government’s largest programs for kindergarten through 12th grade into a voucherlike system. Students would be free to use $25 billion in federal money to attend any school they choose — public, charter, online or private … Romney is taking his party back to its ideological roots by emphasizing a lesser role for Washington, replacing top-down mandates with a belief in market mechanisms … there is limited evidence in the real world of schools improving much as they compete for students, according to education experts."
Romney has a long history attacking firefighters. Salon: "As governor of Massachusetts, Romney often ended up sparring with firefighters and their unions. He proposed stripping collective bargaining rights for firefighters and police officers in a city that needed a state bailout, and cut funding to a fire station to be built on the site where six firemen died. He also proposed tripling the state police budget to deal with homeland security concerns in the years after 9/11, but didn’t offer a dime for firefighters, angering many at the time."
Romney energy adviser and Super Pac donor to testify he needs more oil subsidies. The Hill: "Harold Hamm, the billionaire oil exec who chairs Mitt Romney’s energy advisory team, will warn Congress Tuesday that going along with White House proposals to strip oil industry tax breaks would slam the breaks on the U.S. drilling boom … the White House wants to raise roughly $40 billion over 10 years with a plan that would hit 'Big Oil' and, in some cases, independent producers."
Dimon Knew The Risks
JPMorgan Chase exec knew two years ago that its London traders were flirting with too much risk. WSJ: "Interviews with more than a dozen current and former members of the bank's Chief Investment Office, the unit responsible for the losses, indicate that discussions about reining in London traders started as early as 2010. Certain directors were briefed then on a foreign-exchange-options bet that went bad…"
Why wasn't action taken? Dimon. Bloomberg reports: "Dimon treated the CIO differently from other JPMorgan departments, exempting it from the rigorous scrutiny he applied to risk management in the investment bank, according to two people who have worked at the highest executive levels of the firm and have direct knowledge of the matter. When some of his most senior advisers, including the heads of the investment bank, raised concerns about the lack of transparency and quality of internal controls in the CIO, Dimon brushed them off … Dimon may have to account for his decisions as soon as tomorrow, when he’s scheduled to testify about JPMorgan’s trading loss before a Senate committee in Washington."
Glass-Steagall would "corral Jamie Dimon," argues Salon's Andrew Leonard: "Watching banking lobbyists cut the Dodd-Frank bank reform bill to shreds, with the vocal encouragement of Jamie Dimon, has been a profoundly dispiriting experience for anyone who hoped that a great crisis would bring an opportunity for real change, for a real realignment in the relationship between Wall Street and Main Street … If reinstating Glass-Steagall would weaken his influence over public policy, that’s reason enough to do it."
Breakfast Sides
Dueling lawsuits around Florida's voter purge. HuffPost: "The Justice Department said it will sue Florida in federal court for violating two federal laws that prevent states from suppressing voters. The state will be subject to 'enforcement action,' the agency said in a curtly worded letter. Hours earlier, Florida filed a lawsuit of its own against the federal government. Secretary of State Ken Detzner, who oversees elections, sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, accusing the agency of denying access to a federal database with information about immigrants…"
David Axelrod says President Obama will push for a constitutional amendment to end Citizens United ruling. NY Mag quotes: "What the Supreme Court did with Citizens United, opening the door to this unlimited spending — and because of a loophole three-quarters undisclosed — is take us back to the Gilded Age, back to the robber barons trying to take over the government. When we win, we will use whatever tools out there, including a constitutional amendment, to turn this back. I understand the free speech argument, but when the Koch brothers can spend $400 million, more than the McCain campaign and the Republican Party spent last time, that's very concerning."
Government-financed advanced battery manufacturer may have made breakthrough. NYT: "The company is running short of money and has warned that unless it raises more cash from private investors, it might not be able to stay in business. Yet as much as A123 represents the risks of the government’s battery technology program, it also represents its promise. On Tuesday, A123 Systems will unveil a new battery technology that the company says is a breakthrough in the industry. The advance uses a new chemistry that could permit the creation of a simpler, lighter, longer-lasting battery pack that does not require a system to cool or heat it."
