Friday
Jan042013
The Commentariat -- January 5, 2013
The President's Weekly Address:
... The transcript is here. ...
... One thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they've already racked up. If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic. The last time Congress threatened this course of action, our entire economy suffered for it. -- President Obama
Benjy Sarlin of TPM: "The White House and gun control supporters are gearing up for a whirlwind month, with plans to pass reform legislation before outrage over the Sandy Hook massacre has a chance to fade."
Annie Lowrey of the New York Times: "... the country's top earners now face a heavier tax burden than at any time since Jimmy Carter was president.... By some measures, the tax code might now be the most progressive in a generation, tax economists said, while noting that every American is paying a lower burden currently than they did then.... Over the last three decades the bulk of pretax income gains have gone to the wealthy -- and the higher up on the income scale, the bigger the gains.... [The fiscal] deal includes a host of tax increases on the rich. It raises the tax rate to 39.6 percent from 35 percent on income above $400,000 for individuals, and $450,000 for couples. The rate on dividends and capital gains for those same taxpayers was bumped up 5 percentage points, to 20 percent. Congress also reinstated limits on the amount households with more than $300,000 in income can deduct. On top of that, two new surcharges -- a 3.8 percent tax on investment income and a 0.9 percent tax on regular income -- hit those same wealthy households."
Robert Pear & Mary Pilon of the New York Times: "With the help of devoted Nascar fans in Congress and lobbyists in Washington, [auto race]track owners secured a one-year extension of an expiring tax break that allows them to write off investments in their property over 7 years, rather than the more typical 15 years." CW: because driving fast in circles is such a laudable athletic endeavor & cultural paradigm.
New York Times Editors: Raise the federal minimum wage.
Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "The White House is eyeing a return to elements of a 'grand bargain' it tried to reach late last year with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) as perhaps the best hope of defusing a fresh threat to the U.S. economy in just two months, according to people familiar with the discussions. As planning begins for the next phase of Washington's fiscal wars, attention is turning to a strategy for avoiding deep automatic cuts to domestic and defense spending and averting a government default -- which could all hit at the same moment." CW: I really could not stand to read the whole article.
Sahil Kapur of TPM: "Echoing President Obama's refusal to negotiate on the debt limit, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned Republicans on Friday that Democrats have no intention of giving in to any of their demands in exchange for lifting the nation's borrowing limit to pay its bills." ...
... Andy Rosenthal of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama should remember that if he makes any offer linked to the debt ceiling, he will have lost the war. He will end up negotiating with himself again, as he did over the fiscal cliff, and the debt ceiling nonsense will become a permanent part of budget talks." Includes a terrific citation from the Wall Street Journal editorial page. That's right, the WSJ is not liking the GOP prank. ...
... Alec MacGillis of The New Republic: "It is striking to what degree the Washington establishment has come to normalize Republican hostage-taking of the debt limit, to see it as a predictable and almost natural element of the political landscape.... If this perception starts to percolate out more broadly, the White House is in far weaker position heading into the next round than it would like to believe." ...
... Jamelle Bouie of the American Prospect: "Oddly, large swaths of the press is treating [the debt limit hostage-taking] as a routine negotiation, and not as an extraordinary and irresponsible threat to our national well-being.... There's something very wrong with Washington journalism when a threat to imperil the global economy is treated like a round of capture-the-flag." ...
... "At the Intersection of Recklessness & Stupidity." Steve Benen: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) gets the Recklessness Award for an op-ed he wrote in the Houston Chronicle. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gets the Stupidity Prize. "As a policy matter, [his remarks are] just gibberish, and the fact that the Senate Minority Leader doesn't seem to know what the debt ceiling even is, after already having threatened default in 2011 and planning an identical scheme in 2013, raises serious questions about how policymakers can expect to resolve a problem they don't seem to understand at a basic level." For the umpteenth time, Benen explains the debt ceiling to dummies. Here's Cornyn's Chron op-ed. ...
... Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has privately told other Democrats, including President Obama, that if the administration used its constitutional and executive authority to continue paying its debts in the face of House Republican opposition, he would support the approach, according to a source familiar with Reid's message to the president."
... Henry Blodget of Business Insider: "... the 'trillion-dollar coin' is a ridiculous idea. But no more so than threatening to force default." ...
... David Atkins of Hullabaloo makes this analogy: "... the Republican position is to go on a massive spending spree, quit their jobs by decreasing revenue, and then threaten to throw the bills they racked up into fire unless their spouse stops feeding the kids." His whole post is good. He pretty much explains the debt limit the way I explained it to my husband! ...
... Dorothy Wickenden talks with John Cassidy & Ryan Lizza about the tax-and-spending deal:
Elections Matter. New York Times Editors: "A small but important provision of the military budget bill just signed by President Obama ends a longstanding act of discrimination against women who serve in America's military. Offered by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, the provision lifts a statutory ban on giving female service members insurance coverage for abortions in cases of rape and incest. Since 1988, military health plans have paid for abortions only when a pregnancy endangers a women's life."
Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Chuck Hagel appears to have weathered a concerted and vocal campaign to derail his chances for defense secretary, with President Obama likely to nominate him as early as next week, administration and Congressional officials said Friday." ...
... ** Jonathan Karl & Devin Dwyer of ABC News: "Meanwhile, the president is also eyeing a replacement for outgoing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the longest-serving member of Obama's first-term economic team and one-time lead negotiator for the administration in the 'fiscal cliff' talks. Current chief of staff Jack Lew is all but certain to get the nod for Treasury, according to people familiar with Obama's thinking." CW: if true, this is quite good news. Lew is a liberal, really smart & sneaked some good stuff past the Republicans in last years debt ceiling fiasco. Last year, the scuttlebutt was that Obama would name the horrible Erskine Bowles to head Treasury. Cross thy fingers.
Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration moved ahead Friday with the first major overhaul of the nation's food-safety system in more than 70 years, proposing tough new standards for fruit and vegetable producers and food manufacturers. The long-awaited proposals by the Food and Drug Administration are part of a fundamental change aimed at preventing food-borne outbreaks -- caused by everything from leafy greens to canteloupes to peanut butter -- rather than simply reacting to them. Every year, contaminated foods sicken an estimated 48 million Americans and kill 3,000. The rules, which span 1,200 pages, are aimed at creating safer conditions from farm to fork."
** Elections Sorta Matter. Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "every single state except Hawai’i has finalized its vote totals for the 2012 House elections, and Democrats currently lead Republicans by 1,362,351 votes in the overall popular vote total. Democratic House candidates earned 49.15 percent of the popular vote, while Republicans earned only 48.03 percent -- meaning that the American people preferred a unified Democratic Congress over the divided Congress it actually got by more than a full percentage point. Nevertheless, thanks largely to partisan gerrymandering, Republicans have a solid House majority in the incoming 113th Congress." Read the whole post. ...
... Dana Milbank: "In theory, the Supreme Court could decide ... that this rigged system denies Americans fair and effective representation. But this won't happen anytime soon."
They're a bunch of jackasses. -- Former Senator Alphonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) on the 67 Republicans who voted against even minimal aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy ...
... Kenneth Lovett, et al., of the New York Daily News: "The money will go strictly to the ailing federal flood insurance program to pay the legitimate claims of Sandy victims.... 'Every one of the 67 who voted no are nothing more than pawns of a philosophy that is not backed up by facts. The naysayers tried to punish people who dutifully paid their insurance premiums, [former Sen. Alphonse D'Amato] said, adding: 'This is not pork.' Even more galling, said D’Amato, many of these Republican refuseniks are from states that received billions of dollars in aid after Hurricane Katrina -- no questions asked." D'Amato, who lives on Long Island, says he & members of his family are still struggling in the aftermath of the storm. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...
... Hee-haw, Hee-haw. Erik Wasson of The Hill: "The conservative Club for Growth said Friday that it will punish House members who voted for a flood insurance measure aimed at helping pay for Hurricane Sandy's damage." ...
... Joe Conason of the National Memo highlights a few of the 67 jackasses who voted for help in their own home states but voted against aid to Sandy victims. Here's one name you might recognize: "Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chair from Wisconsin, who voted for the [auto] bailout and then, while running for vice president on the GOP ticket, pretended to have opposed it."
Jill Lawrence of the National Journal: Republicans don't seem to know what their party stands for these days. Luckily, David Brooks has a good idea! CW: as long as I can remember, the Republican party has -- in practice -- stood for the interests of the already-privileged. The culture war is a clever sideshow designed to appeal to the prejudices of the lumpenproletariat, but the GOP has always stood for Grand Old Patricians. It isn't so much about raw greed as it is about making sure the system continues to provide amply for them that has while keeping the rest of us in our place. The problem for the party now is that their clever sideshow worked too well, & some of the downstairs help climbed upstairs. The party of Edith Wharton novels (the Bushes) has been invaded by the descendants of John Steinbeck characters (Reagan, Santorum, Gingrich).
** Simon Romero of the New York Times: "José Mujica [is] the former guerrilla who is Uruguay's president. He lives in a run-down house on Montevideo's outskirts with no servants at all. His net worth upon taking office in 2010 amounted to about $1,800 -- the value of the 1987 Volkswagen Beetle parked in his garage. He never wears a tie and donates about 90 percent of his salary, largely to a program for expanding housing for the poor.... Quoting the Roman court-philosopher Seneca, Mr. Mujica said, 'It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, who is poor.'"
Gail Collins publishes her New Year's pop quiz today. CW: I missed the one on Scott Brown, but guessed right on the pop culture questions & actually knew the answers to the rest of the political questions. If you want to get the Brown question right, read this first.
Inauguration
Nicole Guadiano of "Vice President Joe Biden will be sworn into office for a second term by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.... Sotomayor will administer the oath of office to Biden at a private ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 20, and at a public ceremony the following day on the west front of the U.S. Capitol."
News Ledes
Denver Post: "Four people were killed this morning including a gunman who held police at bay for several hours in an Aurora townhome. Aurora SWAT team members shot the gunman after he went to a second-floor window and fired a gun at police."
AP: "Northern Ireland police used water cannons to fend off brick-hurling protesters in Belfast on Saturday as violent demonstrations over flying the British flag stretched into a third straight day." Here's a report from the Belfast Telegraph.
New York Times: "A powerful earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska around midnight Friday night, prompting tsunami warnings on the mainland and jolting some residents of Alaska. The warning was later canceled."
AP: "Just days before the second anniversary of a mass shooting that critically injured Gabrielle Giffords, the former congresswoman was in Newtown meeting privately with families of those killed during last month's massacre at an elementary school."
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Reader Comments (10)
Marie, I think I said this before but it should be repeated often. Just to verify your comment that 'the Republican party has -- in practice -- stood for the interests of the already-privileged', about 60 years ago I went with my father to go voting. I asked him who he voted for. He said I always vote Democratic. Why? "Because the Republicans don't give a damn about people like us."
So...Obama is going to nominate Chuck Hagel as SecDef in spite of all the yelling and screaming by the righties and the Israel Lobby. I am pleased he is sticking with his choice, but it will not be pretty.
The Daily Beast says of Hagel:
..."When he was a senator, Hagel often made it a point to not sign letters circulated by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He voted against resolutions proposing sanctions against Iran and designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group. In 2009, when he was out of office, Hagel signed a letter urging the Obama administration to encourage the Palestinian Authority to form a unity government with Hamas, an organization that calls for the destruction of Israel in its charter."
Should be an interesting time in the Chambers when AIPAC senators and congressmen start calling him an accessory to terrorists a threat to our national security. No doubt they will threaten to filibuster his confirmation. Wonder if they will suggest that Hagel be sent to Guantanamo? And I also wonder if Harry Reid will get with it and support the filibuster bill--which he still has a chance to do--since Congress will not officially be in session until January 22.
If this nomination goes through, I do believe it will show us that Obama is serious about settling the Israel/Palestine two-state solution.
As I said yesterday, the rethuglicans know very well what the debt limit is. They're lying because they think the average American doesn't know what it is and is too lazy to find out. Unfortunately, they're probably correct.
Re: Ah; Civics class. Mr. Barbarossa; let's help the lazy out. One, three branches of Government, Congress one part, has the purse strings. "Mom, can I have some money to buy a war?" Mom, or congress, says "sure, kid here's a kizzion give or take a arm or two; who's counting?" MIC; playing the part of kid, overspends by two arms and a leg.
"Mom, I overspent by two arms and a leg and the bill is due."
"Kid, go see your Dad, part two of the three branches of government; the Executive branch, he's the one that has to ask to OK all this debt you ran up.".
"Dad; stop spending money on the heating bill and food for grannie and I will get Mom to raise the amount of debt we can carry. And what can we do with this arm and a leg?"
"Kid, you spent the money on a war, two arms and a leg, and now you say you're not going to pay? Your mother raised a fool or a crook, which is it?"
"Both, Dad, I'm the idiot son of bloody greed."
"Oh great, are you sure I'm the father? MIC; as far as I'm concerned your allowance is going to be spent on all those arms and legs you bought."
So lazy people, what did we learn? Congress OK's the debt that they now say they are not going to pay.
The President has to ask for new debt ceiling.
If Congress says, "No, not without spending cuts of our choice"; the country stalls.
Congress is going to throw a tantrum and blame it on the President.
The President should let the baby cry itself to sleep.
I think this is a good explanation of the debt limit and how it came to be. I still see no reason to have it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_debt-ceiling_increases#Overview
Boy, oh, boy, do I like the possibility of Ed Marky sitting in the seat that Barney Frank might keep warm until spring elections in Mass. Marky's bête noire are the oil companies who drill in waters far and wide and he's downright livid at their procedures. If he gains the seat we will have two feisty Mass. senators, the other being Warren who will take on the banks and won't that just be the cat's meow.
The ignorance voiced by someone like McConnell re: the debt business is ludicrous. I can't believe the man doesn't understand; I tend to agree with Barbarossa, he is lying knowing full well he can fool the foolish who soak up this blather. I find this kind of duplicity disgusting.
Note of interest, non earth shattering variety.
I was listening to an interview with Alan Grayson, newly reelected to Congress, yesterday on NPR. Wow. He has an impressive background, both educationally and in experience. In private practice, his specialty was Iraq war contractor fraud, which is what perked up my ears in the first place. Live, in the interview setting, he was self effacing, smart and witty.
Wikepedia has a synopsis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Grayson
NPR interview 1/4
http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/01/04/168547792/outspoken-alan-grayson-gets-another-chance-in-congress
I'm sure glad he is on our side, but then he would eliminated by his abundance of schoolin' by Republicans.
A link from Daily Kos: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Hugh-Bailey-There-is-no-argument-for-doing-4168568.php
There is no rational argument for not banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines, as this article makes very clear.
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I can't stop myself.
I heard this yesterday on NPR from David Brooks, "There's just not much more room on the rich." To tax them more. When NPR is giving this history rewriter a forum as well as PBS and whatever other teevee networks, it really shows who owns the media.
When the reports about the new Food Safety Act don't mention the barriers to entry for competitors in food production, it again shows who owns the media. Do you think you could ever approach the CEO of Kraft foods versus approaching the corner diner down the street and tell them about their food? Concentration of ownership of the nations food supply is all about Homeland Security. Or lack thereof.
It will soon be a world where the government will say that farmer's markets are illegal. If you don't believe that can happen, think again.
Taibbi in Rolling Stone on TARP and rolling America. Probably to be read by American citizens in increments not exceeding 15 minutes for your mental health.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/secret-and-lies-of-the-bailout-20130104
Let's hear a cheer for the Obama/Geithner team.