The Commentariat -- April 14
See the next post -- "President Obama's Fiscal Plan" -- for commentary regarding the President's speech yesterday.
Dana Milbank reports on the rollout of "The People's Budget," an alternate budget proposal put forward by the Congressional Progressive Congress. "Among the highlights: A $4 trillion tax increase over 10 years. An increase in the top tax rate to 49 percent. A $2.3 trillion cut in defense spending – and an increase in domestic spending. Oh, and they would revive the “public option” to offer government-run health care." CW: the CPC may not be ready for primetime, if Milbank's description of their rollout event is accurate, but their budget plan sounds mighty sensible to me. ...
... Update: here's a pdf of an overview of the CPC "People's Budget." AND here's a pdf of a working paper on the budget by policy analyst Andrew Fieldhouse of the Economic Policy Institute.
"Plutocracy Now." Mother Jones posts eleven charts & graphs that explain what's wrong with the U.S. Here's one of them, but take a look at the rest:
News Flash!! the Federal Government Finds that Financial Institutions Screwed Mortgagors. And regulators did nothing about it. And they're still doing nothing about it. ...
... Gretchen Morgenson & Louise Story of the New York Times: "A voluminous report on the financial crisis by the — citing internal documents and private communications of bank executives, regulators, credit ratings agencies and investors — describes business practices that were rife with conflicts during the mortgage mania and reckless activities that were ignored inside the banks and among their federal regulators.... The report adds significant new evidence to previously disclosed material showing that a wide swath of the financial industry chose profits over propriety during the mortgage lending spree. It also casts a harsh light on what the report calls regulatory failures, which helped deepen the crisis. Singled out for criticism is the Office of Thrift Supervision...." The 650-page report is here. ...
In my judgment, Goldman clearly misled their clients and they misled the Congress. -- Sen. Carl Levin
... Well, at least Carl Levin says the government should do something about it. Bloomberg Update: "Senator Carl Levin, releasing the findings of a two-year inquiry yesterday, said he wants the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to examine whether Goldman Sachs violated the law by misleading clients who bought the complex securities known as collateralized debt obligations without knowing the firm would benefit if they fell in value. The Michigan Democrat also said federal prosecutors should review whether to bring perjury charges against Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein and other current and former employees who testified in Congress last year. Levin said they denied under oath that Goldman Sachs took a financial position against the mortgage market solely for its own profit, statements the senator said were untrue." ...
... Daniel Indiviglio of The Atlantic: "Big banks and mortgage servicers have reportedly botched loan documentation, falsified foreclosure paperwork, and aggressively avoided modifying mortgages. Today, federal regulators, via the Office of the Comptroller of Currency, told them they really shouldn't have been such crooks. "There were no fines issued.... While regulators have gone pretty easy on the banks and servicers, this isn't the end of foreclosuregate. Lawsuits are still pending from the state attorneys general. A settlement or more serious punishment may come from that. Some investors are also suing banks over their poor documentation and procedures. So we'll have to wait to see if the courts treat the big banks as kindly as regulators." The Fed's gutsy press release boasts about the government's tough enforcement actions.
Steven Dennis of Roll Call: "Speaker John Boehner is playing defense ahead of Thursday’s House vote on a compromise fiscal 2011 spending bill after a new report showed the deal would have almost no impact on this year’s deficit, despite making $38 billion in spending cuts." ...
... Here's the report, by David Rogers of Politico: the budget settled on among the leaders "will have only a minimal impact on outlays or direct spending before the 2011 fiscal year ends Sept. 30. And once contingency funds related to Afghanistan and Pakistan are counted, the news gets worse: The CBO now says that total appropriations outlays for 2011 are higher — not lower — by about $3.3 billion than it had estimated in December."
Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post: "... playing chicken with the full faith and credit of the United States is a very dangerous game. And yet there is a report today that one of the adults on Capitol Hill — yeah, I’m talking about you, Speaker Boehner — is seeking a way out of the rules of the game." Capehart cites a report by Ben Smith in Politico, but he's actually referring to this report by Politico's Ben White, which we linked in yesterday's Ledes.
"Spillionaires." Kim Barker of the Washington Post: "The oil spill that was once expected to bring economic ruin to the Gulf Coast appears to have delivered something entirely different: a gusher of money." But BP's cash handouts, totaling "more than $16 billion so far," have been uneven and unfair. "To show how the money flowed, ProPublica interviewed people who worked on the spill and examined records for St. Bernard Parish, a coastal community about five miles southeast of downtown New Orleans. Those documents show that companies with ties to parish insiders got lucrative contracts and then charged BP for every possible expense.... Assignments for individual fishermen also fell under the control of political leaders."
How to Steal a Small Object so Only 5 Million People Will Notice. Robert Mackey of the New York Times: A video of Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, "admiring a ceremonial pen during a state visit to Chile, and then attempting to slip it into his pocket without anyone noticing, was annotated and set to music by the Czech television program 168 Hours on Sunday." The pen "was encrusted with semiprecious Chilean lapis lazuili stones." Videos of the incident have had a total of more than 5 million hits:
Right Wing World *
Paul Ryan tapes a "Kick Me" sign to his own ass. Conservative David Frum: "The Republican insistence on joining two negatives [cutting social programs & taxes on the rich] in hopes of producing one positive opened the way to President Obama’s speech Wednesday. That speech ... frames the debate in a way that is maximally useful for Democrats. This framing was made possible by the efforts of Republicans themselves, blinded by their own hopes, misdirected by their own messaging."
CW: I've brought the next two stories forward because I added them fairly late yesterday.
"He damn near hit us." Smoking Gun: "Newly released Federal Aviation Administration documents and audiotapes shed a scary new light on a bizarre incident late last year during which U.S. Senator James Inhofe landed his Cessna on a closed runway at a south Texas airport, scattering construction workers who ran for their lives as the politician’s plane hopscotched over them and six vehicles. The FAA material ... details how Inhofe, 76, chose to land on the main runway at the Cameron County Airport on October 21 despite being aware that it was closed and had a large ‘X’ on its threshold.... In a bid to avoid 'legal enforcement action,' Inhofe, who has a commercial pilot’s license, agreed to 'complete a program of remedial training,' according to an FAA letter sent in January to Inhofe.... In a statement today, Inhofe said, 'This is an old story, and the FAA and I have long consider the matter closed.'" With audio & facsimile of FAA documentation. ...
... Rachel Maddow features Inhofe's aviation skills in "Debunktion Junction":
Because they have no earthly idea what kind of a toll manual labor takes on an older person's body, nor do they give a damn, "Three Republican senators on Wednesday will propose a Social Security reform package that would raise the retirement age to 70 and cut benefits for the wealthy. Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mike Lee (Utah) previewed their proposal on Fox News, saying that it will put the entitlement program on a long-term path to solvency without raising taxes." Reporting by Julian Fabian of The Hill.
* Where facts never intrude.
News Ledes
The President speaks to the press before a meeting on his framework to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over twelve years with Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the chairmen of his bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform:
CNN: "In a joint opinion piece to be published Friday, the leaders of the United States, Britain and France lay out in stark terms their contention that Libya's future must not include its leader, Moammar Gadhafi. 'It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government,' said the article, titled 'Libya's Pathway to Peace,' by U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. 'It would be an unconscionable betrayal.' The article, which is slated to appear in the International Herald Tribune, Le Figaro, and Times of London, was sent to reporters by the White House." The New York Times publishes the joint letter here. ...
... Washington Post: "The splintered coalition of nations engaged in a four-week-old air campaign over Libya struggled Wednesday to come up with new tactics to topple Moammar Gaddafi without resorting to further Western engagement in Libya’s back-and-forth civil war. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, the vanguard of intervention in favor of rebel forces, met at the Elysee Palace with British Prime Minister David Cameron. The two leaders have been the main actors in the NATO-led air war since the United States handed over leadership March 31 and pulled back most of its aircraft into a support role." ...
... New York Times: "Pentagon officials disclosed Wednesday that American warplanes had continued to strike targets in even after the Obama administration said the United States was stepping back from offensive missions and letting take the lead." ...
... AP: "A rebel in the besieged western Libyan city of Misrata says Moammar Gadhafi's troops have unleashed heavy shelling of the city's port, killing nine and wounding 20 people in the hours-long barrage."
Al Jazeera: "Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, has formed a new cabinet two weeks after sacking the country's government amid unprecendented protests against his rule. Assad also ordered the release of hundreds of protesters detained over the past couple of weeks but said those who committed crimes 'against the nation and the citizens' would remain in jail."
President Obama will make remarks at a DNC fundraiser in Chicago at 7:25 pm ET, at another DNC fundraiser at 8:35 pm ET, & at a third DNC event at 10:30 pm ET. New York Times: ", having drawn battle lines with Republicans over how to cut the deficit, returned to his political home here Thursday for a fund-raising visit, bringing the message of fiscal responsibility and core Democratic values he laid out in a speech a day earlier. Mr. Obama’s overnight visit — which included a reunion with his former chief of staff, now the mayor-elect of Chicago, — amounted to an unofficial kickoff of his re-election campaign." Chicago Tribune story here.
AP: "Congress sent President Barack Obama hard-fought legislation cutting a record $38 billion from federal spending on Thursday, bestowing bipartisan support on the first major compromise between the White House and newly empowered Republicans in Congress.... The tally in the House was 260-167. Among the supporters were 60 of the 87 first-term Republicans, many of them elected with tea party support.... The Senate added its approval a short while later, 81-19, and most of the opponents were conservatives who wanted deeper cuts." New York Times story here. ...
... Politico Related: "Fearing failure of a landmark budget deal that averted a government shutdown, House GOP leaders reached out to Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and top Democrats on the Appropriations Committee to pass the measure. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) contacted Hoyer on Wednesday and asked for his help, said GOP and Democratic sources. And Republicans certainly needed the help — on the 260-167 vote for passage, 59 Republicans voted no, and 81 Democrats voted yes."
... The Hill Update: "The House on Thursday afternoon approved two resolutions that would amend the FY 2011 spending bill to block funding designated for Planned Parenthood and last year's healthcare law. But House passage is largely symbolic, as the Senate did not pass either of the bills. Votes in both the House and the Senate were a condition that Republicans insisted on as part of last week's agreement on funding for the rest of the fiscal year." ...
... Washington Post Update 2: but Democrats held back their votes until late in the voting process, trying to force Republicans to "own" the spending cuts.
President Obama & Amir Hamad Khalifa al-Thani of Qatar will make statements to the press at 2:50 pm ET. AFP post-meeting report: "US President Barack Obama Thursday poured praise on the emir of Qatar, saying in Oval Office talks that the international coalition in Libya would have been impossible but for his leadership. Obama also thanked Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani for his role in supporting democratic transitions in Egypt and Tunisia, in a sign of an increasing convergence of interests between Washington and Doha."
AP: "The House and Senate are ready to vote on legislation cutting almost $40 billion from the budget for the current year, but President Barack Obama and his GOP rivals are both eager to move on to multiyear fiscal plans that cut trillions instead of billions." ...
... AP: "A new budget estimate released Wednesday shows that the spending bill negotiated between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner would produce less than 1 percent of the $38 billion in promised savings by the end of this budget year. The Congressional Budget Office estimate shows that compared with current spending rates the spending bill due for a House vote Thursday would cut federal outlays from non-war accounts by just $352 million through Sept. 30. About $8 billion in immediate cuts to domestic programs and foreign aid are offset by nearly equal increases in defense spending."
Washington Post: Virginia "Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has advised a state board that it cannot impose new regulations that some argue would for the first time allow gay couples to adopt children in Virginia.... Cuccinelli’s position reverses one of his predecessor, William C. Mims, a former Republican legislator and now a Virginia Supreme Court justice."
Washington Post: "A Nevada air traffic controller allegedly fell asleep early Wednesday as a medical flight carrying a sick patient tried to land, leading federal authorities to order an immediate end to the practice of leaving one controller on duty during overnight shifts. The plane landed safely at Reno-Tahoe International Airport with the help of a radar controller based in California, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The Reno controller was suspended, and the FAA is investigating...." ...
... Meanwhile ... Washington Post: "The Transportation Security Administration and one of its sharpest congressional critics [Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)] are vowing to review air passenger screening procedures for young children amid an uproar over a video of a TSA screener giving an enhanced pat-down to a 6-year-old girl."
AP: "North Korea confirmed Thursday that it is preparing to indict an American who was reportedly arrested for proselytizing. Jun Young Su has been held since November last year, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. The report did not state what crime he was accused of, but South Korean media have reported an American was detained for spreading Christianity."
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