MORNING MESSAGE: When It Comes to the DoJ and Wall Street, Don't Call It "Justice"
OurFuture.org's Richard Eskow: "If a recent report is true, the Justice Department will need a new name – and some of us will have to step up and admit we were wrong. It was clear that the foreclosure fraud settlement which the Administration and most states reached with major U.S. banks was a great deal for the big banks – and a lousy deal for the public. But some of us found reason to hope against hope that the settlement would be accompanied by real investigation of crooked bankers, after years of flim-flammery and disgraceful inaction by the Justice Department. … Now it looks like we were – fooled again."
Predicted Poverty Rate Rise In Context
The 2011 poverty numbers from the Census Bureau are to be released at 10 a.m. today. Brookings prediction: "For the latest year (2011) we predict a rate of 15.5 percent for adults and 22.8 for children … The predicted poverty rate translates to 48.3 million people in poverty in 2011, an increase of 1.6 million people from 2010. For children, we predict an increase from 16.3 million children in poverty in 2010 to 16.9 million in 2011. … Poverty rates have not been this high since the early 1960s before the War on Poverty began. … These increases in poverty are driven primarily by high unemployment rates."
It would have been worse had it not been for safety net improvements, writes Arloc Sherman at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities: "Even if the comparison to 1965 proves technically true, it will be misleading. That’s because the official poverty rate is based on families’ pre-tax, cash income. It ignores all non-cash benefits (such as SNAP, formerly called food stamps) and working-family tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit — the very parts of the safety net that have expanded substantially over the past half century and that have reduced the reality of poverty, even if the improvement doesn’t show up in the official poverty figures."
But "Romney’s economic plan would put tens of millions of Americans at higher risk of poverty" (Think Progress): "[A]ccording to Melissa Boteach, the director of the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the plans backed by [Republican presidential candidate Mitt] Romney and running mate Paul Ryan would make cuts to food assistance, poverty programs, and education, leaving millions of Americans at an even higher risk of poverty than they already are." Among the effects: 31 million people will lose access to health insurance due to Medicaid cuts, 46 million people could see their nutrition assistance cut below what the Department of Agriculture considers minimally adequate, 191,000 children could be kicked off Head Start, 4 million children in low-income school districts could see their educational services reduced or eliminated.
Mary Sanchez at the Kansas City Star reminds us that "[b]efore he lit up the Internet with comments on rape, Todd Akin was slamming efforts that feed hungry children. His dismissive thoughts on school lunch programs were overshadowed by his far more appalling statement on “legitimate rape. … Three in five public school teachers surveyed said they regularly see children show up to class hungry. A full 77 percent said child hunger should be a national priority, according to “Hunger in the Classroom: Share Our Strength Teacher Report 2012.” Pair that lesson with the latest stats of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, released last Wednesday. We’re setting records as a nation — for letting children go hungry. In 2011, 16.6 million children, one out of every five, struggled with hunger."
Chicago Teachers Strike
Is Chicago the next Wisconsin? Stephen Franklin at the American Prospect asks: "Whatever the union thinks of [Chicago Mayor Rahm] Emanuel is hardly as important as what comes out of their contract dispute. If a big-city Democrat with such outstanding party credentials as Emanuel is seen as squashing the teachers’ union, that doesn’t bode well for the Democrats nationally in their quest for union voters. Nor does it help the American Federation of Teachers as it fends off challenges in places far less friendly to unions than Chicago."
WaPo on the political peril for President Obama: "Obama has much to lose, and administration officials are working behind the scenes to end the conflict, which appeared headed into its third day. If Emanuel, who is closely associated with the president, is seen as knuckling under to union demands, critics could depict Obama as in thrall to public-sector employees who locked 350,000 children out of school. Should Emanuel be perceived as the victor, the president could lose valuable ground with the most powerful forces in organized labor."
Voter Suppression Update
University study says ID laws could trip up young minority voters: "As many as 700,000 minority voters under age 30 may be unable to cast a ballot in November because of photo ID laws in certain states … The lower turnout could affect several House races as well as the tight presidential contest. … "Our estimates are conservative. We are looking at demobilization from 9 to 25 percent," said Cathy Cohen, a University of Chicago expert on young and minority voters, who worked on the study with Jon Rogowski of Washington University."
CNBC host Jim Cramer: 'I have a problem….my dad, a vet, won't be allowed to vote in Pennsylvania.': "Cramer tweeted today his father is one of the 750,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania who does not have a state-issued ID and won't be able to vote this November because of a voter ID law passed by state Republicans. … This Thursday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will have a hearing on the constitutionality of this Voter ID law. "
On "the GOP war on the Voting Rights Act," William Yeomans, once Sen. Ted Kennedy’s chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a former Justice Department official, tells Politico: "Rather than showing respect for the voting rights of minorities and winning their votes with appealing policies, Republicans appear to have instead decided to try to expel them from the electorate and attack the biggest legal obstacle to their expulsion — the Voting Rights Act. … Section 5 was designed to address the insidious creativity of Jim Crow jurisdictions in devising ways to stay one step ahead of enforcers of the 15th Amendment, the post-Civil War amendment that prohibited racial discrimination in voting. .. Because Section 5 is successfully frustrating Republican efforts in covered states to shape the electorate by slicing off pockets of noncompliant minority voters, it looks as if Republican-led jurisdictions have now set their sights on eliminating Section 5."
Climate Change Alarm Gets Louder
Rising number of top firms believe climate change is threat to business: "More than one-third (37%) see the physical risks of a changing climate as a real and present danger, up from just 10% two years ago, says the latest Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Global 500 report, a survey of top global companies. .. Paul Simpson, chief executive of CDP, said: "Extreme weather events are causing significant financial damage to markets. Investors therefore expect corporations to think more about climate resilience. There are still leaders and laggards but the drive for action is growing, as is the number of investors requesting emissions data. Governments seeking to build strong economies should take note.""
Global warming in 26 seconds: "This video, put together by NASA using temperature records from 1880 to 2011, shows you the warming world in just 26 terrifying seconds."
Breakfast Sides
Greece faces more anti-austerity strikes, protests, reports AP: "A fresh wave of anti-austerity strikes hit Greece Wednesday as the leaders of the governing coalition struggled to finalize further spending cuts for the coming two years — without which the country will lose its vital rescue loans. … Hundreds of local authority workers, beating drums and carrying banners reading "No to the financial collapse of local authorities" and "We will not pay for the crisis, we did not create it," marched to the Finance Ministry in central Athens. Among them were several mayors, including the capital's Giorgos Kaminis. Hospital doctors and teachers from state kindergartens to secondary schools were planning a separate demonstration later. Serving and retired military officers were to hold a very rare march in the afternoon too."
Rep. Barney Frank calls Log Cabin Republicans "Uncle Toms", then doubles down: "“I am not surprised that members of the Log Cabin Republicans are offended by my comparing them to Uncle Tom,” Frank wrote. “They are no more offended than I am by their campaigning in the name of LGBT rights to elect the candidate and party who diametrically oppose our rights against a president who has forcefully and effectively supported our rights.”
