White House vs. Washington Post on Deficits
WH aide John Podesta takes on deficit hysteric Fred Hiatt in W. Post oped: "The problem with Hiatt’s fixation on what’s going to happen to the budget in 2039 isn’t that high debt-to-GDP ratios don’t have consequences — it’s that deficit angst makes it all too easy for policymakers to ignore the fact that we still need to do more to repair the damage from the Great Recession ... We should start by raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour ... We should ditch the sequester ... We should build things — roads and bridges, transit and utility infrastructure."
Deficit hawks refuse to admit success, argues NYT's Paul Krugman: "Far from celebrating the deficit’s decline, the usual suspects — fiscal-scold think tanks, inside-the-Beltway pundits — seem annoyed by the news. It’s a 'false victory,' they declare ... [They] hate it when those deficits get smaller. Why? Because fears of a fiscal crisis — fears that they feed assiduously — are their best hope of getting what they really want: big cuts in social programs."
USTR Seeks China and Japan Help on Trade
USTR Michael Froman leans on China and Japan in FT oped: "When G20 leaders meet in Australia next month ... China can demonstrate its leadership by helping to bring an expanded Information Technology Agreement to a successful close ... The stakes are equally high for Japan in the Trans-Pacific Partnership ... Change is always challenging – as the US knows from the restructuring of its auto, financial and healthcare sectors. But, as Mr Abe recently noted, future economic competitiveness depends on taking on vested interests and promoting competition."
"U.S. Opposing China’s Answer to World Bank" reports NYT: "Beijing has asked dozens of nations to contribute funds to the bank, which it calls the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and hopes it will become a global institution that rivals the World Bank ... if Washington persuades South Korea and Australia to abstain, it would all but ensure membership in the bank would be limited to smaller countries ... The United States Treasury Department has criticized the bank as a deliberate effort to undercut the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank ... A senior Obama administration official said the Treasury Department had concluded that the new bank would fail to meet environmental standards..."
Obama Warns GOP on Immigration
"Suicide" for Republicans to block immigration reform, says Obama. WSJ quotes: "It’s anybody’s guess how Republicans are thinking about this. If they were thinking long-term politically, it is suicide for them not to do this. Because the demographics of the country are such where you are going to lose an entire generation of immigrations who are looking around and saying, ‘You know what? That party doesn’t seem to care much about me.’”
President reiterates pledge for executive action. Reuters: "On immigration, Obama said he would proceed with plans after the elections to do what he can within his constitutional power to help undocumented workers in the United States. He said he would specifically make the H1B visa system more efficient 'to encourage more folks to stay here.' Obama held back from issuing executive actions on immigration at the end of the summer because of public discontent with how he was handling a surge of child migrants who swept across the U.S. southern border. Obama suggested this problem was largely under control."
