Adapted and excerpted from the CFAF Newsletter of Nov 2, 2010
Rachel Maddow analyzes the Democratic record being judged on Election Day: "A lot of hard stuff done on hard problems in a short amount of time.": "The legislative agenda of the last 21 months was policy, not politics. It was designed to get stuff done for the country and in that sense, it's an investment in long-term political reward, not short-term political reward ... Hard votes with long-time horizons that don't translate into killing the other party in the next election."
Rachel Maddow analyzes the Democratic record being judged on Election Day: "A lot of hard stuff done on hard problems in a short amount of time.": "The legislative agenda of the last 21 months was policy, not politics. It was designed to get stuff done for the country and in that sense, it's an investment in long-term political reward, not short-term political reward ... Hard votes with long-time horizons that don't translate into killing the other party in the next election." Health reform already working, as small businesses expand coverage thanks to tax incentives. WSJ: "The number of small businesses offering health insurance to workers is projected to increase sharply this year, recent data show, a shift that researchers attribute to a tax credit in the health law ... According to a report by Bernstein Research in New York, the percentage of employers with between three and nine workers and which are offering insurance has increased to 59% this year, up from 46% last year." GM ready to gradually reduce government stake, as Treasury forces plan to maximize taxpayer investment. NYT: "The automaker is planning a three-for-one stock split that will bring its total outstanding shares to about 1.5 billion ... Through the offering, the Treasury Department, which gained a 61 percent stake in G.M. as part of its $50 billion bailout of the company last year, will sell about $7 billion worth of shares. That will cut its holdings in the company to just more than 43 percent ... Treasury intends to further reduce its holdings with subsequent stock sales over several years ... The company’s former government-appointed chief executive, Edward E. Whitacre Jr., had expressed a desire to sell the Treasury Department’s stake all at once if possible. But Treasury pushed back, seeking to maximize the price it fetched for its shares." Who turns out will make the difference. W. Post's E. J. Dionne: "Perhaps the likely voter screens are wrong and young voters will surprise the pollsters. Or the Democrats will have to go back and ask themselves if there was more they could have done to keep younger voters engaged. And the country will have to ask if it should be drawing excessively broad conclusions about the entire country from a midterm election in which older voters are vastly overrepresented compared with members of the rising generation." Third Way seeks to expand influence with Dems, attack "left-wing economic populism." Politico: "With cap and trade effectively dead in a Republican House, Third Way will release a 'Plan B”' for energy reform. On Dec. 7, it’s hosting a summit on nuclear energy — one of the group’s big causes — with Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Obama energy czar Carol Browner. It will come out with a paper on the need for changes that could save Social Security, which it presents as a direct challenge to economist Paul Krugman."
Health reform already working, as small businesses expand coverage thanks to tax incentives. WSJ: "The number of small businesses offering health insurance to workers is projected to increase sharply this year, recent data show, a shift that researchers attribute to a tax credit in the health law ... According to a report by Bernstein Research in New York, the percentage of employers with between three and nine workers and which are offering insurance has increased to 59% this year, up from 46% last year."
GM ready to gradually reduce government stake, as Treasury forces plan to maximize taxpayer investment. NYT: "The automaker is planning a three-for-one stock split that will bring its total outstanding shares to about 1.5 billion ... Through the offering, the Treasury Department, which gained a 61 percent stake in G.M. as part of its $50 billion bailout of the company last year, will sell about $7 billion worth of shares. That will cut its holdings in the company to just more than 43 percent ... Treasury intends to further reduce its holdings with subsequent stock sales over several years ... The company’s former government-appointed chief executive, Edward E. Whitacre Jr., had expressed a desire to sell the Treasury Department’s stake all at once if possible. But Treasury pushed back, seeking to maximize the price it fetched for its shares."
Who turns out will make the difference. W. Post's E. J. Dionne: "Perhaps the likely voter screens are wrong and young voters will surprise the pollsters. Or the Democrats will have to go back and ask themselves if there was more they could have done to keep younger voters engaged. And the country will have to ask if it should be drawing excessively broad conclusions about the entire country from a midterm election in which older voters are vastly overrepresented compared with members of the rising generation."
Third Way seeks to expand influence with Dems, attack "left-wing economic populism." Politico: "With cap and trade effectively dead in a Republican House, Third Way will release a 'Plan B”' for energy reform. On Dec. 7, it’s hosting a summit on nuclear energy — one of the group’s big causes — with Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Obama energy czar Carol Browner. It will come out with a paper on the need for changes that could save Social Security, which it presents as a direct challenge to economist Paul Krugman."
Largo/Mid-Pinellas Democratic Club members are celebrating President Obama's appointment of Elizabeth Warren to establish a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Most agree with MoveOn.org that this is the boldest step Obama's taken so far to rein in the big Wall Street banks. And it's a major victory for grassroots progressives who rallied for Warren.
According to MoveOn, "the banks fought to keep her out of this job—and now that she has it, they'll do whatever they can to keep her from exercising her full authority. That's why we need to get the word out—to make sure she has the grassroots support she needs to aggressively police Wall Street. So we made a video of Warren's greatest hits from her appearances on the "Daily Show" and a list of five cool facts about her. Check them out at the link below and send them to all your friends:
http://pol.moveon.org/warren_fivethings_share.html?id=23504-11149306-SVeFSGx&t=2
Top Five Things You Should Know About Elizabeth Warren
1. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was her idea. Here's why she thinks this agency is so critical: "It is impossible to buy a toaster that has a one-in-five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house. But it is possible to refinance your home with a mortgage that has the same one-in-five chance of putting your family out on the street."
2. The Republicans are so scared of her, they tried to pass a law blocking her from leading the agency. Republicans in Congress and the big Wall Street banks have always been against Warren leading the new consumer agency. Republicans even offered an amendment that was widely understood as designed to block Warren. That amendment failed.
3. She is one of the most prominent, successful and fierce female lawyers in America. Coming from working-class roots, she graduated from high school as a debate star at 16. She finished law school when she was nine months pregnant. And she has repeatedly been named one of the 50 most influential female lawyers by the National Law Journal and was twice nominated as one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People (among other honors).
4. She spoke truth to power about the failed foreclosure program. The Home Affordability Modification Program was supposed to save homeowners from losing their homes but has left many deeper in debt than they were before. Warren used her position on the Congressional Oversight Panel to bring the voices of these disaffected homeowners right to the decision makers in the administration and demand accountability.
5. She may have actual superpowers. She once calmed a crowd at an NBA game with her encyclopedic basketball knowledge. She explained the financial meltdown so clearly to Jon Stewart that he said it made him "want to make out with" her. And there's a viral cowboy rap video about her.
Kathleen Jamison, Club Member
Good article in the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Economic Downturn, Financial Rescues, and Bush-Era Policies Drive the Numbers
By Kathy Ruffing and James R. Horney
| The events and policies that have pushed deficits to these high levels in the near term, however, were largely outside the new Administration’s control. If not for the tax cuts enacted during the presidency of George W. Bush that Congress did not pay for, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were initiated during that period, and the effects of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression (including the cost of steps necessary to combat it), we would not be facing these huge deficits in the near term. |
This non-partisan organization focuses on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families/individuals. Their analysis shows that the budget deficit will continue to grow if the Bush tax cuts remain. They don't distinguish the different aspects of the tax-cuts; i.e., "high income", which Obama & Democrats want to let expire, and "middle/low income", which they plan to renew.
The graph to the right illustrates the impact of the various programs on the growth of the deficit into 2019. It is quite unfortunate that none of the high profile Republican politician and pundits, or conservative media (CNN or FOX) bother to read anything that doesn't come out of their own think-tanks.
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Without the economic downturn and the fiscal policies of the previous Administration, the budget would be roughly in balance over the next decade. That would have put the nation on a much sounder footing to address the demographic challenges and the cost pressures in health care that darken the long-run fiscal outlook.[7] |
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