The Commentariat -- December 8

Jacob Weisberg in Slate on "how the Republicans fleeced Obama in tax-cut poker": "There's an old poker adage that if you don't see the mark at the table, you're it. Bad news, Mr. President. You're the mark." ...

... Paul Krugman & ultra-conservative Stephen Moore of the Club for Growth appear on PBS's "News Hour" to talk about the tax deal & President Obama's disparaging his progressive critics. The segment with Krugman begins about 6 min. in:

... Actually, Krugman, Obama wants to pick a fight with Congressional Democrats. Glenn Thrush of Politico: "Relations between President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have never been worse, but it’s a feud that many in the White House quietly welcome."

** Republican Conspiracy -- Starve the States & Unions. James Pethokoukis of Reuters: "Congressional Republicans appear to be quietly but methodically executing a plan that would a) avoid a federal bailout of spendthrift states and b) cripple public employee unions by pushing cash-strapped states such as California and Illinois to declare bankruptcy.... That’s why the most intriguing aspect of President Barack Obama’s tax deal with Republicans is what the compromise fails to include — a provision to continue the Build America Bonds program.  BABs now account for more than 20 percent of new debt sold by states and local governments thanks to a federal rebate equal to 35 percent of interest costs on the bonds. The subsidy program ends on Dec. 31." ...

     ... Reuters Update: "U.S. President Barack Obama would like to see the the Build America Bonds program continue this year or next year, White House economic adviser Larry Summers said on Wednesday." ...

     Also from Reuters: "Failure by the Congress to pass a tax cut deal soon would 'materially increase' the risk of the economy stalling and a double dip recession, White House economic adviser Larry Summers said on Wednesday." ...

... ** David Kocieniewski of the New York Times: in the tax deal, there's something for everybody, especially the rich: the biggest beneficiaries. "At least a quarter of the tax savings will go to the wealthiest 1 percent of the population.... In fact, the only groups likely to face a tax increase are those near the bottom of the income scale — individuals who make less than $20,000 and families with earnings below $40,000." Includes a chart that shows what's in it for you. ...

     ... Update: the back-and-forth between Jake Tapper of ABC News & Larry Summers on low wage-earners getting whacked is good. Summers finally concedes that Tapper & Kocieniewski are right.

... CW: This is exactly what I said last night in my comment (#8) in Maureen Dowd's column. Michael O'Brien of The Hill: "... senior administration officials said their own party is at least part[l]y to blame for the [tax-cut] deal. White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said..., "He [President Obama] and the White House, frankly, urged the House and Senate to hold votes on this before the election.... But they didn't do that, in part because there's not unanimity in the Democratic Caucus on this.'"

The Polls. It Depends on What the Meaning of "All" Is:

     (1) Bloomberg: "Americans don’t approve of keeping the breaks for upper-income taxpayers that are part of the deal President Barack Obama brokered with congressional Republicans, a Bloomberg National Poll shows.... Only a third of Americans support keeping the lower rates for the highest earners." ...

     (2) Gallup: "Two major elements included in the tax agreement reached Monday between President Barack Obama and Republican leaders in Congress meet with broad public support. Two-thirds of Americans (66%) favor extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for all Americans for two years, and an identical number support extending unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed." ...

     (3) BUT Andy Borowitz reports: "President Obama’s deal to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich drew rave reviews today from the wealthiest .0000001% of Americans, who pronounced the deal 'a total home run.'”

... Biden Did It. Carl Hulse & Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: Vice President Biden & Minority Leader McConnell hammered out the tax-cut deal in secret talks held in the Vice President's ceremonial Senate office. ...

... Jonathan Allen of Politico: "House Democrats railed against President Barack Obama's tax cut deal with congressional Republicans in a closed-door caucus meeting Tuesday night, even as there were signs that the White House could pick up enough support for the package to win enactment." ...

... President Obama speaks to his supporters about his tax-cut deal:

... New York Times Editors: "... the Democrats should vote for this deal, because it is the only one they are going to get." ...

... Ezra Klein agrees:

If you look at the numbers alone, the tax cut deal looks to have robbed Republicans blind. The GOP got around $95 billion in tax cuts for wealthy Americans and $30 billion in estate tax cuts. Democrats got $120 billion in payroll-tax cuts, $40 billion in refundable tax credits (Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and education tax credits), $56 billion in unemployment insurance, and, depending on how you count it, about $180 billion (two-year cost) or $30 billion (10-year cost) in new tax incentives for businesses to invest. But ... Republicans are treating it as a victory, and liberals as a defeat. ...

       ... CW: Read Klein's whole post. He's very good on how Obama, in his usual tone-deaf way, alienated liberals, in Congress & out. ...

... BUT. Russell Berman & Mike Lillis of The Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday escalated the Democratic criticism of the agreement and said the estate-tax provision was 'a bridge too far.'”

... Michael Linden & Michael Ettlinger of the Center for American Progress say the Obama deal will create 2.2 millions jobs, but call it "unfortunate that these jobs have to come from an agreement that is a balance between large, unneeded, bonus tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and the needed continuation of unemployment benefits, middle-class tax relief, and additional help for the economy...." ...

... David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama effectively traded tax cuts for the affluent ... for a second stimulus bill that seemed improbable a few weeks ago. Mr. Obama yielded to Republicans on extending the high-end Bush tax cuts and on cutting the estate tax below its scheduled level. In exchange, Republicans agreed to extend unemployment benefits, cut payroll taxes and business taxes, and extend a grab bag of tax credits for college tuition and other items. For the White House, the deal represents a clear shift in policy focus. Mr. Obama and Democrats spent much of the last year pursuing long-term goals. But with the recovery faltering..., the administration is turning back to short-term job creation."

... Matt Bai of the New York Times: "President Obama’s compromise with Republicans on extending tax cuts for the wealthy, which his self-described progressive critics see as a profound betrayal, is bound to intensify a debate that has been bubbling up on liberal blogs and e-mail lists in recent weeks — whether or not the president who embodied 'hope and change' in 2008 should face a primary challenge in 2012."

Richard D. Parsons, the chairman of Citigroup, says his bank and the other major financial institutions are too damned big to fail, and we taxpayers are so lucky we made a profit on the TARP loan to Citi. CW: funny, Parsons doesn't mention that Citi's remarkable turnaround is the result of gouging customers & the huge Fed loans it got at near-zero percent interest. Video. ...

... Washington Post: "The Treasury Department plans to sell the rest of its stake in Citigroup, a move that would allow the government to end its ownership in the bailed-out banking giant while turning a $12 billion total profit for taxpayers."

Alex Altman of Time: "... the National Association of Evangelicals and the United States Council of Catholic Bishops ... came together [Tuesday] to tell Congress to ratify the New START Treaty."

Elizabeth Edwards, photo via Politico.New York Times: "Elizabeth Edwards, who as the wife of former Senator John Edwards gave America an intimate look at a candidate’s marriage by sharing his quest for the 2008 presidential nomination as she struggled with incurable cancer and, secretly, with his infidelity, died Tuesday morning at her home in Chapel Hill, N.C. She was 61." ...

... Meredith Shiner of Politico: "Friends, lawmakers and prominent political figures mourned the loss of Elizabeth Edwards on Tuesday night." Statements from President Obama, Sen. John Kerry, Vice President Biden, Lance Armstrong, Secretary Hillary Clinton and others. ...

... Dr. Barron Lerner in the New York Times: "Lessons from Elizabeth Edwards." ...

Hackattack! AP: "WikiLeaks supporters struck back Wednesday at perceived enemies of the site and its jailed founder Julian Assange, launching hacker attacks against MasterCard, Swedish prosecutors, a Swedish lawyer and a Swiss group that froze Assange's bank account." ...

... New York Times: "The Justice Department, in considering whether and how it might indict Julian Assange, is looking beyond the Espionage Act of 1917 to other possible offenses, including conspiracy or trafficking in stolen property, according to officials familiar with the investigation." ...

... BUT. Reuters: "The Australian government Wednesday blamed the United States, not the WikiLeaks founder, for the unauthorized release of about 250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables and said those who originally leaked the documents were legally liable. Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd also said the leaks raised questions over the 'adequacy' of U.S. security over the cables."

The Commentariat -- December 7

President Obama holds a news conference to defend his tax deal with Republicans:

NAUSEA!

... Here's the transcript.

We truly live in a bizzaro world when a call for immediate 'shared sacrifice' from middle class federal employees is soon after followed by a massively costly extension of tax cuts for millionaires.
-- Jon Walker, Firedoglake

Getting Republicans to agree to more tax cuts in return for preserving existing tax cuts is roughly equivalent to getting crack addicts to agree to try a different brand of cocaine in return for allowing them to keep their existing stash. -- John Cassidy, The New Yorker

... AP: "... President Barack Obama announced agreement with Republicans Monday night on a plan to extend expiring income tax cuts for all Americans, renew jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and grant a one-year reduction in Social Security taxes. The emerging agreement also includes tax breaks for businesses.... Obama's announcement marked a dramatic reversal of his long-held insistence, originally laid out in his 2008 campaign, that tax cuts should only be extended at incomes up to $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples." New York Times story here: "The package would cost about $900 billion over the next two years, to be financed entirely by adding to the national debt, at a time when both parties are professing a desire to begin addressing long-term fiscal imbalances." ...

... Adam Serwer makes several good points about the tax deal, but this is one to keep in mind: "This deal [was] made necessary only by the Democrats' bungling of a strong, popular position on tax cuts in advance of the midterm elections...." ...

... Scott Wilson of the Washington Post: "Although his liberal supporters are furious about the decision, President Obama's willingness to extend all of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts is part of what White House officials say is a deliberate strategy: to demonstrate his ability to compromise with Republicans and portray the president as the last reasonable man in a sharply partisan Washington." CW: Hah! ...

... Here are the White House talking points on the tax deal, sent in a memo to "Congressional allies," via Ben Smith. ...

... Krugman comments on the tax plan here and here and here.

... Here's Peter Baker's view of our pragmatic President: "For the first time since his party’s drubbing in last month’s election, and arguably for the first time on a major domestic policy since he took office, Mr. Obama forged a deal with the Republican opposition.... In that deal come the first clues to how he plans to govern for the next two years.... He made clear he was willing to alienate his liberal base...."

... Anderson Cooper on President Obama's broken promise:

... The Huff Post has another nice roundup of clips of President Obama deriding "tax cuts for millionaires & billionaires." He still says he doesn't like them, but he's endorsed them in his "compromise." ...

... Pat Garofalo of the Wonk Room: "So in return for continuing the fiscally irresponsible and economically unsuccessful Bush tax policy, Democrats receive an desperately necessary extension of jobless benefits of the sort that used to be completely uncontroversial until this Congress came to town, as well as some helpful tax breaks for the working class that Republicans likely would have supported under any circumstance.... But the most pernicious piece of this deal is the estate tax cut. It will amount to another $7 billion in tax breaks in 2011 that benefit no one but the ultra-wealthy." ...

... As Ezra Klein sees it, "... rather than paring the tax cuts and the deficit back, they're making both larger. If you're of the mind that the economy needs all the extra help it can get right now..., this is a lot more extra help than anyone expected Republicans and Democrats would agree to give it. And from a political perspective, if you believe that what matters for elections is the economy -- and you should -- then it's worth it for the White House to lose news cycles in 2010 if it means adding jobs by 2012.... The next fight over the tax cuts will be part of the 2012 election.... The White House's problem is that they handled the politics of this argument so poorly in 2010 that their allies on the Hill don't trust them to do better in 2012. One Senate staffer summed up his reaction to the deal in one word: 'Nausea.' ...

... John Cassidy of The New Yorker: "From a political perspective, the agreement is a humiliating moment for President Obama, and one that may forever rupture his relations with the liberal wing of his party....   From an egalitarian standpoint, the failure to end Bush’s giveaway to the rich is an inexplicable failure. It will only strengthen the impression that the United States is ... a country in which a small group of rich people wield an inordinate amount of political power. But from an immediate macroeconomic perspective, and, hence, from the perspective of a President preparing for a reëlection campaign in 2012, the tax-cutting agreement makes some sense. By boosting the overall level of spending power, it will reduce the chances of the economy falling back into recession sometime next year or in 2012." ...

... Low Expectations, Part 1. Later, after reading more of the President's deal, Klein says the deal is not as bad as it might have been. Money quote, so to speak: "The tax cuts for income over $250,000 are a bad way to spend $100 billion or so, and the estate tax deal is really noxious." ...

... Low Expectations, Part 2. Kevin Drum of Mother Jones says the same: "This isn't anyone's idea of dream legislation, but it could be a lot worse. But how stimulative is it? Answer: not much in a positive way, but it does prevent the elimination of current programs that would have been contractionary." ...

... Low Expectations, Part 3. New York Times Editors: "President Obama’s deal with the Republicans to extend all the Bush-era income tax cuts is a win for the Republicans and their strategy of obstructionism and a disappointing retreat by the White House. We suppose it could have been worse." ...

... More on Why I Love Bernie!

... Katrina vanden Heuvel in a Washington Post op-ed on Obama's right turns, on Afghanistan, on the Korea trade deal, on deficits, on jobs: "This is political self-immolation." ...

... Obama gives away the store just after Krugman recommends you see the film "Inside Job." That's appropriate. Here's the trailer for "Inside Job":

"I Want It All for Christmas":

Tom Toles, Washington Post.... those of you who bought the idea that electing more Republicans would be the path to reform here in the Emerald City .... have been gamed yet again, and the name of that game is still the same: money in politics. And the money comes from...oh!...the rich! Now watch in surprise as your newly duly elected representatives vote to serve the interests of the rich! Who could have guessed. -- Tom Toles

Manu Raju of Politico: "Members of Congress requested almost 40,000 earmarks that exceeded $100 billion directed to their home districts and states for the current fiscal year, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis to be released Tuesday."

Peter Boyer of The New Yorker profiles Speaker-in-Waiting John Boehner, who will not have an easy time controlling his caucus, especially the new tea party members.

CW: based on yesterdays oral arguments & precedent, it appears the conservatives on the Supreme Court are prepared to deprive veterans of their benefits when their illnesses or injuries cause them to miss filing deadlines. Justice Scalia's cruel, vindictive, closed-minded rigidity, as reported in this article by Adam Liptak of the New York Times, makes clear that he is a sociopath.

I'm not particularly optimistic that they're going to get this done. -- Defense Secetary Robert Gates, on repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Evelyn Rusli of the New York Times: economist Nouriel Roubini, a/k/a Dr. Doom, "says he’s increasingly worried about ... America’s real estate mess. The country’s real estate problems are 'underappreciated,' and banks could face another $1 trillion in housing-related losses, Mr. Roubini said.... The United States 'real estate market, for sure, is double dipping,' Mr. Roubini said. 'The apparent increase in prices has been fully reversed, demand is falling, and supply is going to increase.'”

I think we have to blow up the place. -- Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), on how to fix Congress

"Keith Chaudruc, left, of Madison, tries to get a word in (but he can't) as Gov. Chris Christie berates him at a town hall meeting in Parsippany on Friday." Photo & caption by Star-Ledger.

CW: Republicans are begging New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie to run for President. The editors of the Star-Ledger, New Jersey's largest-circulation newspaper, call him a bully: 

Christie has turned state politics into one never-ending yo’ mama joke. It doesn’t matter who you are — school superintendent, teacher, student, U.S. senator, state Assembly leader, former education commissioner or just a regular guy trying to have a conversation: If you disagree with him, Christie will try to humiliate you publicly. -- Editors, Star-Ledger

      ... CW: the editorial, which includes an account of one incident in which Christie bullied a citizen -- & involved Christie's ordering state trooper to effectively manhandle the guy -- is entertaining. Includes video.

Ho Ho Ho! Steve Benen: Christmas is just around the corner and "they" are picking on Christians again. Happy Holidays! ...

Farah Stockman & Matt Viser of the Boston Globe: "The latest trove of diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks provides a rare glimpse into behind-the-scenes meetings Senator John F. Kerry has held with world leaders.... The cables ... portray him as a statesman who is constantly seeking a middle ground...." ...

... Mark Thompson of Time points to Denver Nick's profile of Bradley Manning, who is suspected of providing classified documents to WikiLeaks.

President Obama speaking yesterday in North Carolina on education, innovation & the economy:

     ... AP: "President Barack Obama warned Monday the United States faces a new 'Sputnik moment' in an increasingly one-world economy and said it must move dramatically to hold its place as global leader."

New York Times: "In the latest twist in the drama swirling around the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group, British police officials said on Tuesday they had arrested Julian Assange ... on a warrant issued in Sweden in connection with alleged sex offenses." Story has been updated: "Assange ... was denied bail by a London court on Tuesday.... Mr. Assange said he would fight extradition" [to Sweden].

The Commentariat -- December 6

New York Times: "The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said in an interview broadcast on Sunday evening that rising inequality was eroding social cohesion and that Congress could help economic growth by making the tax code more efficient." Bloomberg story here.  Here's the video:

Julie Pace & Ken Thomas of ABC News, December 4: "The White House says the Korean agreement could put as many as 70,000 Americans to work...." CW: I'm pretty sure I repeated this assertion somewhere ...

... BUT Paul Krugman says trade deals do not produce jobs. He even provides a fancy formula -- which I don't understand -- to explain why. If you also don't quite get it, here's a good rule to apply: a sentence that begins "The White House says" is less likely to be true than one that begins "Paul Krugman says."

There is a war ... in this country..., a war being waged by some of the wealthiest & more powerful people in this country against the working families of the United States of America, against the disappearing & shrinking middle class of our country.
-- Sen. Bernie Sanders ...

Chicken Crap? Jay Newton-Small of Time thinks Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is crowing before he counts his chickens. ...

... Howard Fineman: "While the public focus of the Great Tax Battle remains riveted on the U.S. Senate, top Democratic insiders are privately worried about the real lame-duck end game: a last-minute, potentially deal-breaking revolt by Democrats in the House." CW: I hope the House Dems do revolt; the capitulation to the rich is revolting. ...

... Jonathan Chait of The New Republic: "So now that President Obama has given up on his campaign pledge of ending the Bush tax cuts on income over $250,000, what is Plan B?" (a) Get re-elected. (b) assuming he does win, he'll be in much stronger position on taxes two years from now.... Eliminating the Bush tax cuts would reduce the deficit by $4.6 trillion over ten years, considerably more than the $3.8 trillion that the Bowles-Simpson plan would save." ...

... Paul Krugman: "Democrats should not give in to Republican blackmail on extending tax cuts." ...

... Oh, the Worries of the Rich. Louise Story & Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "Worried that lawmakers will allow taxes to rise for the wealthiest Americans beginning next year, financial firms are discussing whether to move up their bonus payouts from next year to this month.... If Congress does not extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the highest income levels, a typical worker who earns a $1 million bonus would pay $40,000 to $50,000 more in taxes next year than this year, depending on base salary." ...

... Matt Yglesias: "Even though Social Security is only a very mildly redistributive program, inequality of wealth is such that it’s a vital element of the bottom 60 percent’s living standards but kind of small beer to the top twenty percent":

New York Times Editors: "Schwarzenegger v. Plata ... is the most important case in years about prison conditions. The [Supreme Court] justices should uphold the lower court’s remedy for addressing the horrors." ...

... AND Times Editors: the Senate Ethics Committee must make "a decisive report" or take "disciplinary action" against Sen. John Ensign, "since the facts suggest the use of both influence and money to hush up the affair" he had with an aide.

Sunday Times, via Fox News: "Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, has circulated across the internet an encrypted 'poison pill' cache of uncensored documents suspected to include files on BP and Guantanamo Bay. One of the files identified this weekend by The Sunday Times — called the 'insurance' file — has been downloaded from the WikiLeaks website by tens of thousands of supporters, from America to Australia. Assange warns that any government that tries to curtail his activities risks triggering a new deluge of state and commercial secrets." ...

... CBS News: "WikiLeaks has been condemned by British and U.S. officials for publishing a secret State Department inventory of sites across the world deemed vital to American security. The document, dubbed the Critical Foreign Dependencies Initiative according to a report in The Telegraph, lists everything from British pharmaceutical factories churning out vaccines and insulin, to a Bauxite mine in the African nation of Guinea." ...

... Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Obama administration officials reminded rank-and-file federal workers and contractors late Friday to steer clear of WikiLeaks, the controversial document-sharing Web site." ...

Judy Woodruff's interview of former national security advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski & Stephen Hadley is a week old, but it's still worth hearing:

     ... The transcript is here. ...

... Andy Borowitz Scoop: "WikiLeaks Attempts to Expose Palin's Thoughts, Finds Nothing":

For her part, Gov. Palin seemed to be relishing her role as the one politician in the world who has nothing to fear from WikiLeaks. On Twitter, she addressed the following message to Mr. Assange: 'How’s that Wiki-Leaky thing workin out for ya?' ...

... If you're interested in knowing how Julian Assange thinks & why he's doing what he's doing, here are links to pdfs of a couple of his, well, position papers. The first is titled, "State & Terrorist Conspiracies"; the second is "Conspiracy as Governance." Assange distributed both in late 2006. If you want a short course, Michael Collins, writing on AlterNet, has an overview, tho I think he misunderstands Assange's comment about 9/11. Warning: maybe if you're planning a diplomatic career, you should stay away from this stuff.

Welcome to America. Holbrook Mohr, et al. of the AP: "Lured by unsupervised, third-party brokers with promises of steady jobs and a chance to sightsee, some foreign college students on summer work programs in the U.S. get a far different taste of life in America. An Associated Press investigation found students forced to work in strip clubs instead of restaurants. Others take home $1 an hour or even less. Some live in apartments so crowded that they sleep in shifts because there aren't enough beds. Others have to eat on floors. They are among more than 100,000 college students who come to the U.S. each year on popular J-1 visas, which supply resorts with cheap seasonal labor as part of a program aimed at fostering cultural understanding." ...

... Tougher by the Numbers. Andrew Becker of the Washington Post: "For much of this year, the Obama administration touted its tougher-than-ever approach to immigration enforcement, culminating in a record number of deportations. But in reaching 392,862 deportations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement included more than 19,000 immigrants who had exited the previous fiscal year. When ICE officials realized in the final weeks of the fiscal year..., that the agency still was in jeopardy of falling short of last year's mark..., officials quietly directed immigration officers to bypass backlogged immigration courts and time-consuming deportation hearings whenever possible...."

Illustration by Tomer Hanuka for New York Magazine.New York Magazine: "Ten years ago this month, a Supreme Court ruling ushered in George W. Bush as our 43rd president. We asked five (sometime) novelists to imagine the past decade as if the election had gone the other way. America: This is your parallel life." The five writers are Kurt Andersen, Kevin Baker, Glenn Beck!, Jane Smiley & Walter  Kirn.