As Election Day nears, President Obama is regaining his populist mojo. His State of the Union speech was mostly pitch perfect, evoking core American themes of opportunity and optimism, and calling for “an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”

But the President has repeatedly hit a wrong note in talking about the foreclosure crisis. Not only is his story inaccurate, but he is promoting a harmful narrative that will make it harder to fix the problem.

The President said in his State of the Union address that “we’ve all paid the price for lenders who sold mortgages to people who couldn’t afford them and buyers who knew they couldn’t afford them.” He repeated that theme a week later at a speech in Falls Church, VA, contending that people who did the “right and the responsible thing” were hurt by “lenders who sold loans to people who they knew couldn’t afford the mortgages; and buyers who bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford; and banks that packaged those mortgages up and traded them to reap phantom profits, knowing that they were building a house of cards.”

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Co-written with David Reeves.

Several GOP presidential candidates have made competing claims to the Reagan mantle this election season. So in order to determine once and for all which candidates truly honor the Gipper’s legacy, we are submitting the following questionnaire to the remaining Republican presidential nominee contenders. (Except for you, Mitt-- you were disqualified in 1994.)

All other candidates, please return immediately to WhoIsTheReaganest@aol.com.

1. Reagan nearly tripled the federal budget deficit. Describe how this is Barack Obama’s fault.

2. If a train leaves St. Louis for New York at 12:07pm traveling 74 mph, and another leaves Hartford for Charlotte at 4:40pm traveling 87 mph, how much would you slash Food Stamps?

3. Now that Reaganomics has been discredited by economists, how would you rebrand the exact same doctrine to sell it to the American “people” (non-corporate persons)?

A) The Golden Trickle B) Los Reaganomicos - El Sabor de la Libertad C) Unchain the Job Creators D) ReaganMnemonics

4. Have you ever had a non-sexual dream about President Reagan?

5. Do you like jelly beans?

6. Complete the following quotation: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this _______!”

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A Missouri grand jury handed down multiple felony indictments for foreclosure fraud on Monday. That's the same kind of crime being negotiated in nationwide settlement talks with America's big banks. If people can be indicted for doing it, why should bankers be allowed to write a check and walk away?

"Robo-signing" is the nickname that's been given to the practice of hiring large groups of inexperienced workers (they called them "Burger King Kids" at JPMorgan Chase) to file false statements with local courts in order to process foreclosures. In a typical "robo-signing," someone who sign a statement testifying that they had personally reviewed documents that prove the bank has title to a home that's being foreclosed - and might do that many times every hour. That's either perjury or forgery, depending on the way in which the robo-signing was done.

Forgery and perjury are serious crimes. It's an even more serious crime to ask others to do it for you.

Banks, and some friendly and lazy journalists, were quick to dismiss the whole issue as a "paperwork problem." If robo-signing is a "paperwork problem," then the St. Valentine's Day Massacre was a "misplaced bullet problem."

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Just in case you missed the news, "Insider trading" is back. It's even bipartisan. Well, the truth is that it never really went away after its heyday during the 1980s, when Gordon Gekko served as a stand-in for era villains like Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky. It launched more investigations in the 1990s than at any other time, except for the 1980s.

In the "aughts," the names and players changed, but the "inside game" remains the same. Now, Raj Rajaratnam and Martha Stewart serve as stand-ins for Milken and Boesky. Gekko even returned to the scene, getting out of prison little more than year before Rajaratnam began serving his own prison sentence. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney could even be called a stand-in for Gordon Gekko, in the 2012 presidential election. (But Newt Gingrich could be a runner-up for that spot.)

Not only are insider trading and inside traders back, but they're not just on Wall Street anymore. They're all over Capitol Hill, and apparently have been for a while. Naturally, now that it's news, there's a bill to ban congressional insider trading —the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act, a/k/a the STOCK Act.

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Economist Christina Romer had an op-ed in the NY Times this weekend, Do Manufacturers Need Special Treatment? The question that keep coming back to me is why did she feel the need to write an op-ed to diss manufacturing? Is it just an economist thing? Or is she, like so many economists, from another planet?

In her op-ed Romer claims those of us who argue for a national manufacturing policy do so out of “the feeling that it’s better to produce “real things” than services.” But, she says,

American consumers value health care and haircuts as much as washing machines and hair dryers. And our earnings from exporting architectural plans for a building in Shanghai are as real as those from exporting cars to Canada.

Here is the difference: We can't just keep servicing each other. This "service economy" thing hasn't worked out so well here on Earth, and now we have a huge trade deficit. It is "better to produce real things" because that is what you sell to others to get the money to pay each other for haircuts.

Once You've Got It It's Hard To Lose It, Once You Lose It It's Hard To Get It Back

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Originally posted at Capital Gains and Games.

Over at Economix, Bruce Bartlett does a very nice job explaining how House Republicans are trying to change the congressional budget process so that cutting taxes is never a problem no matter what damage that would do to the deficit and national debt.

Here's the money quote:

...the Republican effort is just a smokescreen to incorporate phony-baloney factors into revenue estimates to justify unlimited tax cutting. How soon before the C.B.O. is required to incorporate estimates from the right-wing Heritage Foundation in its calculations?

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The Susan G. Komen breast cancer fund reversed its Planned Parenthood action, and the right wing anti-choice politician it hired has resigned. But the real lesson of this incident is broader than one decision or one person.

Our society is permeated with a cultural of corporate greed, aggression, and power that reaches from the boardrooms of New York to the meeting rooms of Washington, and from to the hospital rooms of the sick and suffering.

The Susan G. Komen foundation has raised millions to support vitally important work, but it has also reinforced some of the worst tendencies in our society. It has leveraged big-company resources so that it could dominate its 'marketplace,' usually by serving as a marketing arm for a client list that includes some very poorly-behaved corporate citizens. Then it has used its market dominance to bully other organizations, push its own political agenda, and tried to reshape the course of US cancer research in dangerous ways.

Just like its most prominent sponsor, the Susan G. Komen foundation has become too big to fail.

The Players

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The FAA reauthorization bill has passed Congress with its anti-union provisions. Once again big companies of the 1% were able to use their money and power to buy legislation that hurts 99% of us. And many Dems joined in. Watch the powerful video at the end of this post.

TPM has the headline that just about covers it: Senate Dems Greenlight Key Anti-Union Bill,

With the help of Senate Democrats, Congress took its final step Monday toward enactment of long-term FAA reauthorization legislation, despite an aggressive last-minute effort by organized labor to kill the package.

... Democrats and Republicans have been tussling over this bill for a year now, with the key flashpoint being language aimed at preventing transportation workers from forming unions. In the end, Democratic leaders agreed with Republicans on a new measure that largely accomplishes the same anti-union goals — and labor officials are steamed.

Huffington Post: Senate Passes FAA Bill With Anti-Union Measure,

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Join thousands of progressives, five months before the critical 2012 elections, to energize the movement and "Take Back the American Dream."

Go to OurFuture.org/takeback for "Early Early Bird" discount registration for the Take Back The American Dream conference.

We'll plan strategic campaigns on such themes as "Jobs, Not Cuts," "Challenging Citizens United," and "Taking on the Big Banks."

We'll champion "American Dream" candidates who are fighting for the 99%.

From "We are One" in Wisconsin to "Occupy Wall Street," progressive movements have created a new political moment. Come to Washington with thousands of progressives as we share ideas on how to move forward and "Take Back the American Dream."

Join the Campaign for America’s Future, Rebuild the Dream, Progressive Majority and thousands of progressive activists. Save the Date: June 18-20. At the Washington Hilton & Towers in Washington, DC.

Conference details to come soon.

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Last week several groups, including the United Steelworkers, petitioned the federal government to whack the latest trade mole – illegally traded auto parts from China.

With President Obama announcing creation of a new trade enforcement unit in his State of the Union Address, the feds probably will investigate. But even if they whack down the auto parts mole, experience has shown a new mole will pop up.

Mole-by-mole trade enforcement isn’t the solution to America’s massive trade deficit. Although conservative candidates revel in ridiculing Western Europe, America could learn crucial economic lessons from Germany, which doesn’t rely on Whack-a-Mole and maintains trade surpluses, including one with China in auto parts.

The Steelworkers – along with the United Auto Workers, the Alliance for American Manufacturing and Campaign for America’s Future – explained why the federal government must smack down the latest trade problem that has raised its ugly head.

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• MORNING MESSAGE: The GOP's Mutually Assured Destruction
• Romney Sputters Into Next Round On Contests
• Payroll Tax Cut Talks Stall
• Key States Still Won't Settle
• "Right To Work" Not Working
• Breakfast Sides

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I wrote earlier that Newt Gingrich's campaign is one of mutually assured destruction for the GOP. No one, I wrote, has to lift a finger to destroy Newt Gingrich. Just stand back, give him room, and he'll do it himself. The thing is, you want to stand way, way back — otherwise Newt's liable to try and take you with him. The problem for the GOP is that they can't put enough daylight between themselves and Newt. And even if they manage to do that, they're still stuck with Mitt.

The latest self-destruction of Newt Gingrich will be televised. If he's able to carry on after losing the Nevada Primary to Mitt Romney, and make good on his promise to campaign all the way to the convention in Tampa, we can look forward to more performances like his post-Iowa temper tantrum, his post-Florida flame-out, and his bizarre concession-speech-cum-press-conference after Nevada.

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Once again we're hearing that a foreclosure fraud deal is about to be announced between major banks, the US government, and most or all of the states. We've heard that before, only to have the deadline pushed back so that holdout Attorneys General can be brought on board with the agreement.

Deal, or no deal? We're not sure, but it's certainly possible we'll hear something today, tonight, or tomorrow.

How will we know if it's a good deal for the American people? After all, this is an issue with a lot of moving parts. It includes all of the states and multiple agencies within the Federal government, and involves a multitude of allegations involving several different kinds of crime that come under different jurisdictions. Even the statutes of limitations are a moving target.

That doesn't mean we don't know enough to judge the deal, if and when it's announced. There are well-established facts to guide us, and the principles involved are clear.

Moral and Legal Context

We keep hearing about what is and isn't possible, practical, or politically feasible. Media discussions of the topic keep mixing the quotidien problems of the process with the underlying principles involved. So let's take a second to perform a moral and legal reset and put this issue in the right context.

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The Senate scheduled a vote for 5:30 p.m. today on restricting labor rights in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill. Committee Dems caved and gave away union election rights. At least 18 unions, including the Communications Workers of America and the Service Employees International Union, have voiced opposition. Here are some actions you can take right now.

Last week, in FAA Bill Still Anti-Labor! Call Your Senators!:

Why This Fight?

The reason there is a fight over labor rules in an FAA bill at all is that Delta Airlines is trying to keep unions out, so the 1% can keep from paying good wages and benefits to the 99%. And, as usually happens, they are offering the Republican Party a share of the take if they can just make it happen for them.

Such is our present-day political system. It seems to come down to who is giving the most money to the Republican Party gets priority in legislation. ("Drill, baby, drill!")

Compromise?

If you start with a bill that says, "kill all the unions, kill all the unions, kill all the unions, kill all the unions" and take out one "kill all the unions," is that a compromise? The unions are still killed three times over.

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• MORNING MESSAGE: Plutocrats Play Political Ponies
• Deadline Today For Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
• Economy Still In Pain
• Romney Winning Now, Weakened For Later
• Breakfast Sides

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