washingtonpost.com — Timothy F. Geithner, traveling salesman, swept through Manhattan on Monday making a pitch to skeptical bankers, business leaders and even the mayor.
His central message: Far-reaching financial regulations signed into law by President Obama last month aren't something to fear. Rather, they are the foundation of a stronger economy for the months and years ahead.
bloomberg.com — Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair has taken herself out of the running to lead the new U.S. consumer-protection agency after her name was put forward by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.
nytimes.com — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said rising wages would probably spur household spending in the next few quarters, even as weak job gains dragged down consumer confidence.
Separately, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said that the government would press ahead with its overhaul of financial regulation under a new law intended to strengthen supervision and prevent future crises.
wonkroom.thinkprogress.org — Today, the Senate will be taking a procedural vote on a bill providing $26 billion in aid to state and local governments, $10 billion of which is dedicated to preventing teacher layoffs. This particular batch of funding has been included in, and then cut from, multiple bills, as each time conservatives have objected. Originally, $23 billion was to go toward saving teaching jobs, but that has been whittled down over the past few months.
dyn.politico.com — While scrambling to save pre-election jobs assistance, Senate Democrats are quietly conceding that Republicans have already won and big swaths of President Barack Obama’s 2011 budget will be cut when Congress returns after its summer recess.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signaled Monday that he sees the handwriting on the wall and Appropriations Committee Democrats will have to cap spending bills at about $1.108 trillion — or $20 billion below the president’s request.
thehill.com — The Senate tabled a jobs measure Monday because Democrats underestimated the package’s cost. Democrats had scheduled a vote to end debate on their proposal to send $10 billion in funding to states and local governments to prevent public teacher layoffs. The package contains another $16.1 billion to help states with Medicaid obligations.
motherjones.com — In the months immediately following the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, corporations seemed to be sitting on the sidelines instead of delving directly into the campaign finance free-for-all that the decision opened up. Instead, it was labor unions that leapt to take advantage of the lifted restrictions, outspending corporations on independent campaign ads by nearly threefold in the first six months of 2010. But now there's mounting evidence that some of the nation's most visible and powerful corporations have entered the fray.
online.wsj.com — Whomever President Barack Obama taps to head the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection could find it difficult to keep ahead of the credit-card industry.
The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, known as the Card Act, was intended to reshape the contours of consumer finance. Among other things, it forces card issuers to give customers more notice about interest-rate increases and restricts certain controversial billing practices such as inactivity fees.
usatoday.com — Imagine a house with both a crumbling foundation and a time bomb ticking away in the living room. If the bomb isn't defused, one of these days, it will detonate. But if the foundation isn't repaired, the house might collapse.
That illustrates the challenge facing the Obama administration as it tries to shore up a still-weak economy saddled with painfully high unemployment while keeping an eye on dangerously high government deficits.
nytimes.com — For the past three decades in America, there have been heated fights over federal taxes. Politically, Republicans usually win.
This autumn, on the eve of an election in which the Democrats are struggling, Congress faces an epic political and economic fight over extending President George W. Bush’s tax cuts and other tax measures, including the controversial estate tax. This time, the Democrats may hold the upper hand.
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