Tag: ek Politics

Dec 08 2010

When you’ve lost Oliver Willis…

Obama Secures Peace For Our Time

Oliver Willis

7:11 am EST December 7th, 2010

I see President Obama has returned from his meetings with the GOP leadership and has come back waving and bragging of the agreement that cedes the Sudentenland (background) to the Republican party on taxes.

…

They’ve just conceded to the Republicans without any fight – like they consistently have since almost day one. What they’re telling us now is that their default position is concession and capitulation, giving in to the Republicans on key issues of national importance. He ran on not kicking the can down the road on important issues, but right here – again, with no fight – he’s thrown in the towel.

If President Obama is doing what is within his power to depress his base vote and give the Republican party a new lease on power, well he’s doing a great job at it. If his goal is to be a strong leader and a great Democrat, he’s failing miserably at it. 2010 was a repeat of 1994 and 2002, when all the force of moral good on the side of liberalism can’t overcome a Democratic party that simply will not fight. If he continues on this path, and nothing – absolutely nothing – has shown me otherwise, he’s setting himself up to replicate the Democratic losses of 1980 and 1984 no matter who the Republican nominee is.

We sent him to Washington to stand up and fight. Instead he’s cowering and retreating.

Taylor Marsh is a little more scathing, but she always is-

Getting that 1979 Feeling Again

by Taylor Marsh

08 December 2010 10:36 am

Two years later he’s been shown to cave on health care in favor of the insurance companies, protected too big to fail banking system, done nothing about the exporting of corporate cash from this country, ignored the job issue, and given lip service to Democratic policy principles while tilting the country ever rightward until today he’s made a deal with Republicans that they are cheering as he uses language like “hostage” for a situation he created because he not only doesn’t know how to lead, but won’t be bothered to try. He even handed off the tax deal to Vice Pres. Joe Biden, because Barack Obama is always looking for cover. On foreign policy Pres. Obama has ignored the implications of Gen. McChyrstal’s implosion, plus turned away from the obvious ramifications of the Karzai Wikileaks exposure; meanwhile, we’re days away from a complete Middle East dialogue collapse, as we are made to swallow an arms deal for the Saudis that makes absolutely no sense at all. Because of the midterms, Obama’s foreign policy options have dried up. All of this is why he rails at the Left so gracelessly, because those who understand the political disaster Obama’s constructing won’t follow him anywhere anymore.

Pres. Barack Obama has lost the entire industrial Midwest and the working class, with women splitting their vote in the midterms with the Right, while seniors went Right as well, because Obama also sold them out.

…

Whether Obama is challenged or not, his weakness as a Democratic leader is now etched in everyone’s mind. A challenger also doesn’t matter, because there are a growing number of Democrats who won’t vote for him in ’12 no matter what.

Dec 08 2010

Spelunker-in-Chief

First of all I have to give credit to TheMomCat for the title.  It’s her coinage as far as I know, and I think it’s pretty punny.

So what’s so bad about the Tax Cut deal outside, of course, breaking yet another major campaign promise?

Well, it raises taxes on those making less than $20,000 a year.

The “2% Payroll Tax Cut” starves Social Security, throwing it into a fiscal crunch that did not previously exist.

The Estate Tax break alone, affecting only 1.62% of Estates, will cost over $23.2 Billion per year.

And it runs up a $900 Billion Defict in just 2 years with over 70% of the benefits going to the Wealthiest 2% and Corporations, proving that anyone in Washington who claims to care about The Deficit is a FLAT OUT LIAR.  As Robert Reich says– “Families with incomes of over $1 million will reap an average of about $70,000, while middle-class families earning $50,000 a year will get an average of around $1,500.”

Not to mention that all these Republican Trickle Down Voodoo Economics Policies have been tried and tested for the last 10 years and are PROVEN FAILURES.

Likewise Liars are anyone who claims to care about Democratic Electoral Victory.  74% of Obama contributors and volunteers are deeply opposed to this deal, while fully 57% say it will make them less likely to support Democratic Candidates in 2012.

And Barack Hussein Obama is not just a Liar, but a Craven, Cowardly, Petulant, Whiner.

Update: I ought to point out before you invest a lot of time that the presser runs 32:24 and the Special Comment 11:51.  Americablog had the best liveblog coverage that I have read.

Dec 07 2010

Korean Update

I know the story of the day is Obama’s spectacular cave on the Bush Tax Cuts for the Billionaires.  It is not by ANY DEFINITION a stimulus.

  1. Tax Cuts of any kind are the LEAST stimulative investments a government can make, in many cases producing negative returns.
  2. PEOPLE ARE ALREADY GETTING THIS MONEY!  This does nothing at all to introduce new Aggregate Demand.

Even the more charitable than I (and the CBO I might add) Paul Krugman estimates at best an improvement of 0.3 to 0.4% in unemployment.

But we can’t allow the new horrible to make us forget about the last horrible- that’s what they want to happen, so here’s an update on the horrible Korean Job Export “Free Trade” bill that got dumped on us Sunday, just two days ago.  My earlier piece is here.

Dec 02 2010

Good for us

Liberal groups blast Obama for considering tax compromise

By Perry Bacon Jr., Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, December 2, 2010; 10:50 AM

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal group that has repeatedly attacked President Obama on the left, is airing an ad demanding that he not agree to any compromise with the GOP that would extend tax cuts for household incomes above $250,000 a year.

The spot is called “Obama Promised,” and the group says it will air on CNN and MSNBC and on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central over the next few days. It shows Obama in 2007 declaring that “we will also allow the temporary Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire.”

Meanwhile, Moveon.Org has its own new ad, titled “Obama Back,” which in cludes a video montage from Americans all over the country urging the president not to compromise.

“MoveOn members worked countless hours to help elect President Obama so we would have a leader who would go to the mat for regular Americans,” said Justin Ruben, Executive Director of MoveOn.org. “…We need the Obama of 2008 back to lead the fight and make the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.”

Lefty group running ad slamming Obama — in Iowa

By Greg Sargent, The Washington Post

Posted at 11:01 AM ET, 12/ 2/2010

This means actual voters will see the spot, the first hitting Obama from the left of the new cycle. Iowa has special significance, because it’s there that Obama made his 2007 campaign promise to let the tax cuts for the wealthy expire, which is the centerpiece of the ad. The spot demands that Obama stick to his promise and not “cave” to Republicans by extending the tax cuts for the rich.

“We’re bringing our ad to the place President Obama made his core campaign promise of letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire,” Green tells me. “There is no room for compromise on an issue where the promise is so clear and where the Republicans are standing with the wealthiest 2% of Americans against the entirety of the American people.”

Between this spot and the new one unveiled this morning by MoveOn, it’s clear that the left has settled on a strategy of actively trying to damage Obama politically with the base and with left-leaning independents by painting him as weak, to force him to draw a harder line against Republicans. The left, clearly, has no intention of stopping with these efforts.

Surely some will insist that it only helps Obama to be attacked from the left. But efforts to encourage the perception that Obama is weak and refuses to fight — which is gaining some traction with the mainstream media, whether fair or not — could very well damage Obama politically over the long term. And the White House will probably have to deal with it sooner or later.

Dec 02 2010

Obstruction of Justice

Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe

By David Corn, Mother Jones

Wed Dec. 1, 2010 2:47 PM PST

In its first months in office, the Obama administration sought to protect Bush administration officials facing criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in establishing policies the that governed interrogations of detained terrorist suspects. A “confidential” April 17, 2009, cable sent from the US embassy in Madrid to the State Department-one of the 251,287 cables obtained by WikiLeaks-details how the Obama administration, working with Republicans, leaned on Spain to derail this potential prosecution.

…

It would still be up to investigating Judge Baltasar Garzón-a world-renowned jurist who had initiated previous prosecutions of war crimes and had publicly said that former President George W. Bush ought to be tried for war crimes-to decide whether to pursue the case against the six former Bush officials. That June-coincidentally or not-the Spanish Parliament passed legislation narrowing the use of “universal jurisdiction.” Still, in September 2009, Judge Garzón pushed ahead with the case.

The case eventually came to be overseen by another judge who last spring asked the parties behind the complaint to explain why the investigation should continue. Several human rights groups filed a brief urging this judge to keep the case alive, citing the Obama administration’s failure to prosecute the Bush officials. Since then, there’s been no action. The Obama administration essentially got what it wanted. The case of the Bush Six went away.

Back when it seemed that this case could become a major international issue, during an April 14, 2009, White House briefing, I asked press secretary Robert Gibbs if the Obama administration would cooperate with any request from the Spaniards for information and documents related to the Bush Six. He said, “I don’t want to get involved in hypotheticals.” What he didn’t disclose was that the Obama administration, working with Republicans, was actively pressuring the Spaniards to drop the investigation. Those efforts apparently paid off, and, as this WikiLeaks-released cable shows, Gonzales, Haynes, Feith, Bybee, Addington, and Yoo owed Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thank-you notes.

Another perspective-

The Madrid Cables

By Scott Horton, Harper’s Magazine

December 1, 3:51 PM, 2010

These cables reveal a large-scale, closely coordinated effort by the State Department to obstruct these criminal investigations. High-ranking U.S. visitors such as former Republican Party Chair Mel Martinez, Senator Greg Judd, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano were corralled into this effort, warning Spanish political leaders that the criminal investigations would “be misunderstood” and would harm bilateral relations. The U.S. diplomats also sought out and communicated directly with judges and prosecutors, attempting to steer the cases into the hands of judges of their choosing. The cables also reflect an absolutely extraordinary rapport between the Madrid embassy and Spanish prosecutors, who repeatedly appear to be doing the embassy’s bidding.

…

The cables also reflect a high level of concern at the prospect that Spanish and German prosecutors-both looking at aspects of the kidnapping and torture of Khaled El-Masri-would share notes and begin taking action. In fact exactly this sort of cooperation occurred (as it has occurred between Spanish, German, and Italian prosecutors in several other cases involving the CIA extraordinary rendition program), and U.S. concerns that it would block their efforts were proven correct. After political pressure was applied to Germany to withdraw the arrest warrants, they were simply reissued by the Spanish magistrates, who were better shielded against political manipulation.

Dec 02 2010

When you’ve lost Howard Fineman…

Obama’s Naivete on Bipartisanship Has Finally Caught Up to Him

Howard Fineman, Senior Political Editor, The Huffington Post

Posted: December 1, 2010 01:37 PM

On the Hill yesterday, GOP aides privately could barely contain their contempt — and their amusement — at the president’s declaration of a dawn of bipartisan optimism.

They know that Obama already in effect has conceded on a two- or three-year extension of all tax cuts, and they are going to insist on that before considering anything else — which, in the end, they won’t.

Barack Obama and his crew have many good qualities. But that list does not include skill and guts at legislative combat with Republicans. They don’t seem to really know the enemy or the game they are in, and the president’s meager and glancing experience in the trenches of politics has caught up with him.

Dec 01 2010

A Big Day in Economics News

Two of the major Washington based stories are extension of the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest 2% on which the best policy from an economic standpoint is to let them all expire and replace them with Obama Tax Cuts for those consumers hardest hit by the Financial Depression and most likely to spend them so that as poor a tool as Tax Cuts are there is at least some increase in Aggregate Demand.

Simply extending any of the Bush Tax Cuts has ABSOLUTELY NO STIMULATIVE EFFECT WHATSOEVER, this is money people already have and have had for 10 years now.  Continuing it will NOT make consumers more likely to spend it- they already are.

The fact that this is also the best political policy makes it unlikely that the Obama Administration and the Institutional Democratic Party will adopt it.  Indeed the best “bi-partisan” compromise we can seem to hope for is tying it to extension of unemployment benefits (which are one of the most stimulative transfer payments, but not at all as economically productive as investment in infrastructure).

Another story out of Washington is the Catfood Commission meltdown.  Clearly there aren’t 14 votes for the Chairmen’s Mark, and no progress has been made on compromise.  Bowes-Simpson is essentially unchanged and all the initial objections still apply, the most fundamental of which is that it subsidizes Tax Cuts for Corporations and the Wealthy at the expense of neccessary Government Services (and one of those is Social Security which is not even part of the deficit).

Unfortunately Simpson is probably correct that Republicans will simply pull out the most pernicious, greedy, and hurtful ideas and push them.

Another Big Fail by Barack Hussein Obama and his confederacy of dunces and conservatives.

Anyway the best reporting I’ve seen so far (though I did sleep in) is at Firedog Lake and as a service I’ve collected some of their Front Page stories on the subject.  The one I think gives the best overview is Scarecrow’s.

dday has some pieces on the FDL News Desk that have not yet been Front Paged (though I’m sure they will be).  One on the Catfood Commission-

And others on the Tax Cuts-

Nov 30 2010

But, but, but…

More hopey changiness-

OFA Tries to Get Supporters to Write Letters to the Editor Praising a Federal Worker Pay Freeze

By: David Dayen Tuesday November 30, 2010 9:55 am

That’s right, the organizing project of the Democratic National Committee wants you to organize in support of freezing public worker salaries.

And don’t worry, later in the email, OFA tells you how the Administration has really been responsible on this issue – they’ve frozen salaries of White House officials and political appointees, froze non-defense discretionary spending, and more.

So go out there and sharpen those pencils and tell everyone how great it is to cut people’s pay!

Is there any core principle of the Democratic Party Barack Hussein Obama isn’t willing to sell out?

Nov 30 2010

So, how’s that bailout thing working?

Ireland Gets $113 Billion Aid as Bondholders Win Bailout-Payment Reprieve

By James G. Neuger and Simon Kennedy, Bloomberg News

Nov 29, 2010 11:42 AM ET

“The notion that a rescue package for Ireland would create a firewall and stop the fear of contagion is clearly discredited,” said Preston Keat, director of research at Eurasia Group, a political consultancy, in London. “Portugal and Spain are already facing pressures in the markets.”

…

Germany, which built the euro on the principle of budgetary rigor, unleashed the latest phase of the crisis by demanding a “permanent” system as of 2013 that would enable fiscally troubled countries to restructure their debts and cut the value of bond holdings.

The German push ran into criticism from policy makers elsewhere, who called it mistimed, and from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, who warned it would unsettle bondholders. Merkel, who has faced domestic criticism for aiding EU neighbors, yesterday backed away from the pitch for an automatic penalty, agreeing to give the International Monetary Fund a role in determining losses on a case-by-case basis.

Bank bondholders escape again as a protected species of capitalism

JOHN McMANUS, The Irish Times

Monday, November 29, 2010

FOR A brief moment on Friday, it looked as though for the first time in Europe’s handling of the financial crisis the holders of senior bank bonds were going to join the rest of us in the world of moral hazard.

But it now seems that the issue of the senior bond holders in the Irish banks being asked to participate in the fourth bailout of these institutions was effectively shelved on Saturday.

…

The speed with which even the mere suggestion of burden sharing with Irish bank senior bond holders sent the market into paroxysms indicates that they know the day of reckoning is coming.

…

The authorities may have blinked first, but a process may have been set in train that will see the abandonment of the position that senior bond holders in European banks are a protected species.

Markets Remain Focused on Debt Crisis

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: November 30, 2010

“Ireland’s bailout package has clearly failed to stop the rot in euro zone markets and if anything it has focused attention on other countries in the periphery especially Portugal but also to Spain, Belgian and Italian government debt,” an analyst at Crédit Agricole, Mitul Kotecha, said.

…

At the heart of the problem is that the austerity measures these countries need to take to reduce their deficits threaten to backfire by weakening economic growth and hurting state revenues. That is what’s happening in Greece, which has been able to drastically cut its spending but is struggling to raise tax income as economic and corporate activity wilts.

Just as badly as predicted.

Nov 29 2010

Idiots or Liars?

Pay Freeze Decision Smacks of Too-Cute Political Team Running the Show

By: David Dayen Monday November 29, 2010 12:06 pm

There are two options. One is that Obama necessarily gravitates toward people with really bad economic ideas, and as a result of this advice makes really bad economic decisions. The other, and I would probably say the right, option is that the economic team isn’t really driving the debate, certainly not anymore. The political team thinks in terms of 11-dimensional chess and putting Republicans in a bad spot and all of the things you’d expect out of this federal pay freeze decision. Never mind that this hasn’t worked in the entire history of the Obama Administration. So a politically-minded official saying that unemployment is structural reinforces that we should really get around to those budget cuts which will please centrists in 2012.

There’s a lot of turmoil on the economic team right now, with new people moving in and out. The political team, outside of Rahm Emanuel, has remained basically stable, certainly in terms of worldview. And that worldview (mis)reads polls, and thinks that being the “good guys” who cut worker pay and freeze discretionary spending to “look tough” on the deficit is eminently responsible. It’s also responsible to extend unemployment benefits to people who have no other visible means of support, but that’s out of their hands, and if they fail, ah well. What’s important is to convey responsibility to the elites, who will pat them on the head as they carry out their austerity plans.

Oh, and while raising taxes on or otherwise “punishing” the banksters will instantly result in these “talented” Masters of the Universe going Galt, the same logic doesn’t apply at all to government employees-

"Responsible" Obama Administration Doesn’t Think Federal Employees Facing Pay Cut Will Leave to the Private Sector

By: David Dayen Monday November 29, 2010 11:30 am

On a conference call just now, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer and U.S. Chief Performance Officer and the Office of Management and Budget’s Deputy Director for Management Jeffrey Zients defended the White House’s [proposed pay freeze ] for federal employees from the charge that this will drive talented workers out of government as they see no prospects for individual advancement. Seeking a better return on their talent, the theory goes, they would move to the private sector, probably a government contractor, where their services can be “rented” from the government at a higher rate. If the government has the same amount of services to deliver and less skilled know-how at their disposal, they would need to draw upon that from somewhere. So under this scenario, government would end up paying more for the same pool of talent, despite freezing salaries.

Zients disputed the notion that this pay freeze will lead to a dissolution of talent. “On recruitment and retention, we believe that people come to government service for range of reasons…. We feel comfortable that we have a strong value proposition and can retain the best and brightest.” Given this, Zients didn’t feel that there would be an expanded reliance on government contracting as a result of this decision. They believe they can wring enough out of federal contracting to save $40 billion dollars, in fact.

And finally, the problem with the economy is NOT THE DEFICIT!  It’s a lack of Aggregate Demand!

Obama Flunks Economics with Pointless Federal Wage Freeze

By: Scarecrow Monday November 29, 2010 8:35 am

(F)or the umpteenth time, this President has repeated discredited Republican gibberish that when households are having to cut back spending during a recession, government should do the same thing.

That’s just wrong. Foolishly wrong. Depressingly (literally), tragically wrong.

…

With 15 million unemployed and millions more living in job and health insecurity, typical non-wealthy households have no choice but to cut back. So private spending cannot pull the economy out of the ditch as it has in the past. But that is not true of the federal government.

Government spending can pull the economy up from the bottom. And only government has the resources and the power to fill in the gap in aggregate demand to bring the economy and jobs back.

A government with its own currency is not a household. It has different abilities, different ways of affecting the economy and paying for things. It controls the money supply. And it has different responsibilities, including the obligation to pull the economy out of a deep recession, to help create jobs and foster job creation in the private sector. To do this under today’s conditions requires enhanced spending/investments by government, not less. And there has never been a better time for government to act, nor has the cost of acting ever been lower.

It’s counterproductive and stupid for the President of the United States to keep telling Americans the false argument that government needs to tighten its belt when households are tightening theirs. And it’s even worse to falsely claim that by focusing on deficit reduction, the government is “doing everything we can to help boost economic growth and spur job creation.”

As Krugman said–

(Y)ou have to wonder what it will take for serious people to realize that punishing the populace for the bankers’ sins is worse than a crime; it’s a mistake.

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