Blog Archive: December, 2010

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev’rywhere you go;
Take a look in Tiffany’s store, glistening once again
With Wall Street bonus trinkets all aglow.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Art flies from Christie’s.
But the amazing sight to see is the tax cut guarantee
For the most wealthy.

Hedge funders content, still paying 15 percent
Is the wish more »

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On the menu this morning:

• MORNING MESSAGE: What About Wall Street Making Peace With Working People?
• President, CEOs All Smiles After Meeting
• House May Pass Tax Cut Deal Today
• "I Did Not Have Relations With This Earmark"
• GOP Financial Crisis Commission Releases Empty Report
• Next Phase In Right-Wing Health Care Legal Attack
• Breakfast Sides

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President Obama spent much of Wednesday huddled with a group of business executives, an effort The New York Times said afterward "went a long way to reset the tone of the relationship between Mr. Obama and corporate America" in the eyes of the corporate chieftains who attended. more »

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Can we compete with China's wages? Does government interference and regulation hold us back? Are our unions keeping us from being competitive? Do we need to lower our standard of living in a race to the bottom? You might be surprised to learn that Germany pays higher wages, has strong unions, has much more government involvement and is doing better as a result. more »

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Oh my goodness, here are some Republicans trying to help Obama pass his tax cut bill. How bipartisan of them: more »

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Many politicians have an annoying habit of putting their own opinions in the mouth of "the American people." But Tea Party favorite Rep. Mike Pence showed particular audacity yesterday. more »

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• MORNING MESSAGE: "No Labels" The Latest Third Way Fallacy
• Final Senate Vote Today On Tax Deal, House Next
• Obama-CEO Meeting Today
• Financial Crisis Commission Splits
• GOP Threatens Bill Needed To Keep Government Open Over Earmarks
• Ultimate Health Care Legal Fight Awaits
• China Cornering Wind Power Market
• Breakfast Sides

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Last Friday the White House partied like it was 1999. It was fascinating to see Bill Clinton back at the podium, and it's a pleasure to see a master of the medium at work. But the Administration's latest moves raise serious concerns about the future of Obama's Presidency. Clinton played the "centrist" angle brilliantly in the 1990s, artfully fusing Republican and Democratic positions and rescuing his own political fortunes. But times have changed, even if Washington's illusions have not.

Today the country's real center - the commonly-held set of goals and aspirations shared by Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike - has never been farther from the narrow right-leaning viewpoint that's still being peddled as a "centrism." If the White House and other Democrats buy into that illusion, as they seem to be doing, they'll lose the country. more »

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In the past year, conservative congresspeople have claimed to oppose nearly everything on the grounds that it would increase the deficit -- even when legislation was formally estimated to either cut the deficit (health care reform), have no impact on the deficit (more »

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From 'Single Mom': "I lost everything, I am now losing the roof over our heads, my 30 year history of good credit, my self-respect. I cried at night, sobbed really, about how I had destroyed my life, how I can't look my son in the face now sometimes, for fear he will see how I let us down. "

I wish somebody in a position of power would read the emails I keep getting from foreclosed homeowners. They paint a very different picture of the world than the one we usually hear about in Washington. The Administration's doing too little, or the wrong things, at a time when their opponents are brazenly submissive to the banks. The public is frightened and angry, and nobody's listening.

The headlines tell the story, too. In the last 24 hours we've learned that a large majority of Americans want to ban bonuses at any bank that received Federal help. We also learned that more than half of those polled are worried about making their housing payments, a number that's up sharply from 2008. And we've received more detail about the unethical and illegal behavior of big bank lawyers. more »

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