Progressive Opinion

prospect.org — On Monday, President Barack Obama released a complimentary statement about Sen. Chris Dodd's latest proposal for financial reform, singling out its creation of "a new consumer financial protection agency to set and enforce clear rules of the road." This is notable largely because it is not, in fact, true. What the bill actually creates is a Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection within the Federal Reserve, a move that has raised great concern among consumer advocates who note, with more accuracy, that the Fed's numerous consumer-protection failures played a large role in the recent crisis. But the rhetoric around the creation of a new consumer-protection agency illustrates the central pitfall of financial regulatory reform: telling real reform from the cosmetic.

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politico.com — What better way is there to use the current government giveaway to private lenders than to work toward restoring the promise of equal opportunity? And, high quality early education pays. Long-term studies have demonstrated that taxpayers actually save money from public investment in high-quality early childhood education through reduced special education and correctional system costs, a lower crime rate and a more skilled workforce. Why should taxpayers continue to give large student loan companies both high rates and a government guarantee? Let’s transfer those excess bank profits to students, especially our youngest, while we can still change the trajectory of their lives.

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slate.com — In the early 1700s, Europeans discovered in the Pacific Ocean a large, unpopulated island with a temperate climate, rich in all nature's bounty except coal, oil, and natural gas. Reflecting its lack of civilization, they named this island "Basicland." Today, Basicland is under new management, using a new governmental system. It also has a new nickname: Sorrowland.

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thenation.com — Sen. Chris Dodd came out swinging today to defend his revamped proposal for fixing the financial regulatory system, and he’s won cautious support from some key reformers. The primary complaint, however, remains Dodd’s choice to house a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency inside the Federal Reserve rather than make it a stand-alone regulator. It’ll be a bureau, not an agency. But critics point to a provision that allows an oversight board to rein in the bureau if it treads too heavily on the “safety and soundness” of the banking sector. Who sits on that board? The existing regulators, who failed to stop the subprime predation and risky lending that started all of this.

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openleft.com — There are two things that are sucking all the life out of that surge of hope so many people felt when Obama came to office. The first is the perception that, early on, Obama chose to help rescue the big banks but has been more passive when it comes to creating new jobs for people, a perception which, while unfair in some regards, is reinforced by record profits and bonuses last year for the big banks we rescued while unemployment is stuck around 10%. The second is that the legislative process always seems like it follows the same depressing pattern.

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nytimes.com — California has been very, very good to Toyota. It is one of the largest markets in the world for the popular Prius hybrid. Nearly 18 percent of all Toyotas sold in the U.S. are sold in California. The state has showered the company with benefits, including large-scale infrastructure improvements for its operations and millions of dollars for worker training. California is one of the key reasons that Toyota is the wealthiest carmaker on the planet. Toyota is paying the state back with the foulest form of ingratitude.

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baselinescenario.com — What the Democrats need is something that will compel big banks to come out in force against them — to show their teeth and to pick off votes in an explicit manner. These powerful forces, once mobilized and out in the open, will almost certainly stop anything from passing the Senate. But the debate will grab people’s attention — and the ads, the lobbying, and the outrageous vote buying of Big Finance will help get across the bigger point: Big banks became only more powerful as a result of our most recent boom-bust-bailout sequence. Reasonable reform has almost no chance of passing the Senate. But a well-crafted debate, drawn up on the right terms — and with the support of the president (although don’t hold your breath on that) — could really help shift popular understanding of the issues.

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nytimes.com — Tensions are rising over Chinese economic policy, and rightly so: China’s policy of keeping its currency, the renminbi, undervalued has become a significant drag on global economic recovery. Something must be done. So how should we respond? First of all, the U.S. Treasury Department must stop fudging and obfuscating. If Treasury does find Chinese currency manipulation, then what? Here, we have to get past a common misunderstanding: the view that the Chinese have us over a barrel, because we don’t dare provoke China into dumping its dollar assets.

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huffingtonpost.com — Are we at a turning point in the Obama presidency? It took far too long, but the president has belatedly grasped that when the other party is out to destroy you, the search for common ground is a fool's errand. For over a year, Obama believed that reform required him to govern as a post-ideological bipartisan. Now, mercifully, he has learned that progressive leadership demands taking on the Republicans, just as it requires taking on the insurance and banking industries. There is little common ground on those fronts either.

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openleft.com — The American people are not peasants. But they are getting treated like peasants, and their anger is growing. The Republicans don’t care: they don’t believe poor people and working class people deserve any help. A lot of Democrats do care, but they need to deliver the goods, one way or another. It’s good to see them take that attitude on health care and now, apparently, on student loans. Now we need to seem them to do the same thing on the other big issues in front of them.

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