The Commentariat -- October 14
Paul Krugman on the GOP presidential candidates: "... since economic policy has to deal with the world we live in, not the fantasy world of the G.O.P.’s imagination, the prospect that one of these people may well be our next president is, frankly, terrifying." ...
... I've set up a page on Off Times Square for readers to comment on Krugman's column. Or whatever. ...
... On his blog, Krugman juxtaposes these two stories:
... "More than Anything Else, I'm Sorry for Myself...." Max Abelson of Bloomberg News: "An era of decline and disappointment for bankers may not end for years, according to interviews with more than two dozen executives and investors. Blaming government interference and persecution, they say there isn’t enough global stability, leverage or risk appetite to triumph in the current slump." ...
"... Because I Only Make 5-1/2 Times What You Do." Catherine Rampell of the New York Times: "... the average salary in the [banking] industry in 2010 was $361,330 — five and a half times the average salary in the rest of the private sector in the city ($66,120). By contrast, 30 years ago such salaries were only twice as high as in the rest of the private sector. Here's the point, graphically put:
Karen Garcia is withering in her criticism of Democratic efforts to co-opt Occupy Wall Street. ...
... AND after listing some top Democrats who are big Wall Street beneficiaries -- either in campaign contributions or fat incomes, Glenn Greenwald asks,
... does the Center for American Progress really believe that the protest movement named OccupyWallStreet was begun — and that people are being arrested and pepper-sprayed and ready to endure harsh winters and marching to Jamie Dimon’s house — in order to devote themselves to ensuring that these people remain in power? Does CAP and the DCCC really believe that most of the protesters are motivated — or can be motivated — to turn themselves into a get-out-the-vote machine for Obama’s re-election and the empowerment of Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Party?"
Prof. Mark Barenberg, et al., in a New York Times op-ed: "In the past month, the National Labor Relations Board has come under furious attack from Republicans in Congress, and decades-old workers’ rights are at risk. Backed by a well-financed lobbying and publicity offensive, Republicans are using a recent labor-law complaint against Boeing to achieve a radical goal that goes far beyond the legal issues in the case: unraveling workers’ rights that have been part of the fabric of our social contract since the Great Depression."
Jeff Zeleny & Monica Davie of the New York Times on President Obama's trip to Michigan today -- his ninth since becoming president: "As the presidential race intensifies, Michigan will become more than a trove of 16 electoral votes. It will be a virtual laboratory for some of the most central themes of the campaign in a state that embodies the changing face of the nation’s economy." ...
... BUT. Irony Alert. Steve Rattner, Obama's former car czar, writes, "The small car that is being made at the Lake Orion plant – the Chevrolet Sonic – was originally scheduled to be made in South Korea.... That was because with a traditional Detroit cost structure, cars like the Sonic cannot be made profitably in the U.S. But as part of the new agreement with the United Auto Workers in connection with the 2009 auto rescue, the U.A.W. agreed to permit 40% of the workers in the facility to be paid so-called 'Tier II' wages, roughly half of what a traditional U.A.W. member earns.... So while the U.S. gained 1,800 jobs, they came at a significant price." Via Ben Smith.
Amy Chozick & Tanzina Vega of the New York Times: "The European edition of The Wall Street Journal accounts for less than 1 percent of total business at its parent company, the . But the controversy this week over an unorthodox circulation deal that resulted in the resignation of the newspaper’s publisher could carry outsize influence among investors already concerned about ethical practices at the [Murdoch] company, analysts said Thursday." News Corp's annual shareholders meeting is next Friday.
Thomas Hargrove of Scripps Howard News: "The Social Security Administration has failed to inform tens of thousands of Americans it accidentally released their names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers in an electronic database widely used by U.S. business groups. The federal agency has kept silent about a potentially harmful security breach of the personal data of about 14,000 people each year, ignoring recommended reporting guidelines for such confidentiality breaches and violating the intent, at least, of the U.S. Privacy Act, which protects personal information of private citizens." Those whose data the SSA releases are individuals the agency erroneously thinks are dead. Forty-six states require entities who have breached privacy to inform the victims; the federal government has no such law. "Most of those erroneously listed as dead who were contacted for this story said they only found out about the agency's mistakes when they suffered adverse events like frozen bank accounts, canceled cellphones..., etc."
Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee speaks to NBC News's Andrea Mitchell. What a woman! (and no, I don't mean Mrs. Greenspan):
Right Wing World
CW Note to Self: must continue to pick on $9.99 Pizza Plan. ...
... ** Which sometimes forces me to go to the HuffPost -- where Amanda Terkel notes that Cain's 999 plan looks suspiciously like the tax code for the old video game SimCity. And some say the GOP is no longer a serious party. ...
... Tim Egan is always a good read: "By almost any measure — social, political, economic, logical — Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan is nuts, nuts, nuts.... Cain is proposing the largest shift in tax burden from the wealthy to the poor and middle class in the nation’s history. Oh, and he apparently would scrap the two great government programs that keep millions clinging to fragile middle-class status — Social Security and Medicare...." ...
... Ezra Klein asks Prof. Edward Kleinbard, a tax law expert, to run the 999 numbers. The post even includes longish (by my standards) formulas to explain the calculations. Bottom line: for a family of four earning $50,000/year "Cain’s plan would increase the family’s tax bill by thousands of dollars.... The poor and middle class will face a big tax hike ... and the rich will get a huge tax cut." ...
... I don't run ads. BUt. Here's a 999 plan I might be able to get with. Via Ben Smith:
Mitt Romney, front row 2nd from left, and his Bain Capital buddies have fun raking in the dough (at the expense of companies it liquidated & of employees it put out of work), ca. 1970s. Bain Capital photo via Boston Globe. ... Jim Newell of Gawker: "If this does not appear in an attack ad at some point in the next year, then various rival campaigns will have failed."
News Ledes
CNN: "Protests swelled in cities nationwide Friday as police forces struggled to either corral or remove demonstrators from downtown parks and plazas in the latest development of the monthlong Occupy Wall Street movement. Scores of protesters were arrested in Denver, Seattle, San Diego and New York, while similar demonstrations were scheduled to take place in Washington, Orlando and Atlanta. CNN iReporters sent in photos and video from 'occupy' protests across several American cities."
Reuters: "A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked Alabama from enforcing part of its tough new immigration law but allowed some disputed portions to remain in effect. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, halted the controversial provision that permits Alabama to require public schools to determine the legal residency of children upon enrollment. But the court ruled the state could continue to authorize police to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally if they cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason."
AP: "Kansas City's Catholic bishop was charged Friday with not telling police about child pornography found on a priest's computer, making him the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official indicted on a charge of failing to protect children. Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese Bishop Robert Finn, the first U.S. bishop criminally charged with sheltering an abusive clergyman, pleaded not guilty to one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse."
President Obama & Republic of Korea President Lee toured GM's Orion assembly plant in Lake Orion, Michigan, & made remarks afterwards. Detroit Free Press story here. See also today's Commentariat.
Politico: "House Republicans are doing an about-face, breathing life into expensive legislation long considered dead in Congress, showing that, yes, they do believe the federal government should be spending money on domestic programs. Speaker John Boehner is starting with the mother of all public works bills — directing top aides to work with the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on a six-year highway bill to rebuild the nation’s transportation infrastructure. The last such highway bill cost $286 billion — House Republicans have not released cost projections for a new one."
New York Times: "The cleanup of the Lower Manhattan park that has been occupied by protesters for nearly a month was canceled Friday shortly before it was supposed to begin, averting a feared showdown between the police and demonstrators who had vowed to resist any efforts to evict them from their encampment. The announcement was made by the Bloomberg administration around 6:20 a.m., about 40 minutes before workers were scheduled to enter Zuccotti Park...." More expansive AP story here. ...
... Seattle Times: "Seattle police Thursday night arrested several Occupy Seattle protesters who refused to leave a tentlike structure set up in Seattle's Westlake Park. Amid chanting and beating drums, saxophone music, cheers and jeers, 10 protesters were removed from the tent and hauled into paddy wagons."
New York Times: "... hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam received the longest prison sentence ever for insider trading on Thursday, capping an aggressive government campaign that has ensnared dozens and may help deter the illegal use of confidential information on Wall Street. Judge Richard J. Holwell of Federal District Court in Manhattan sentenced Mr. Rajaratnam, 54, the former head of the Galleon Group hedge fund, to 11 years in prison. A jury convicted Mr. Rajaratnam of securities fraud and conspiracy in May after a two-month trial."
New York Times: "The trial of a man accused of trying to blow up a commercial airliner with a bomb sewed into his underwear ended Wednesday, just a day after it had begun, when , the accused, abruptly announced that he would plead guilty to all of the federal counts against him. Prosecutors and federal agents seemed stunned, if pleased, and declared that the plea was evidence that the American court system, as opposed to a military tribunal, could bring a suitable outcome to a terrorism case."
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