FW: Reich: The President's Jobs Plan (Not), NEW: Rival Debt Plans, Obama and Boehmer agreement

 

 

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From: Ed Pearl [mailto:epearlag@earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2011 7:09 AM
To: Ed Pearl
Subject: Reich: The President’s Jobs Plan (Not), NEW: Rival Debt Plans, Obama and Boehmer agreement

 

Some have said “lighten up, Pearl.  As spake, I heedeth.  Check item 3.   (and just one emailing, today.  Ed/lite)

 

From: earthactionnetwork@earthlink.net

The President’s Jobs Plan (Not)

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011072813/president-s-jobs-plan-not

 

By Robert Reich

RobertReich.Org: July 13, 2011

 

What did the President do in response to last week’s horrendous job report — unemployment rising to 9.2 percent in June, with only 18,000 new jobs (125,000 are needed each month just to keep up with the growth in the potential labor force)?

 

He said the economy continues to be in a deep hole, and he urged Congress to extend the temporary reduction in the employee part of the payroll tax, approve pending free-trade agreements, and pass a measure to streamline patent procedures.

 

To call this inadequate would be a gross understatement.

 

Here’s what the President should have said:

 

This job recession shows no sign of ending. It can no longer be blamed on supply-side disruptions from Japan, Europe’s debt crisis, high oil prices, or bad weather.

 

We’re in a vicious cycle where consumers won’t buy more because they’re scared of losing their jobs and their pay is dropping. And businesses won’t hire because they don’t have enough customers.

 

Here in Washington, we’ve been wasting time in a game of chicken over raising the debt ceiling. Republicans want you to believe the deficit is responsible for the bad economy. The truth is that when the private sector cannot and will not spend enough to get the economy going, the public sector must step into the breach. Cutting the deficit now would only create more joblessness.

 

My first priority is to get Americans back to work. I’m proposing a jobs plan that will do that.

 

First, we’ll exempt the first $20,000 of income from payroll taxes for the next two years. This will put cash directly into American’s pockets and boost consumer spending. We’ll make up the revenue shortfall by applying Social Security taxes to incomes over $500,000.

 

Second, we’ll recreate the WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps — two of the most successful job innovations of the New Deal – and put people back to work directly. The long-term unemployed will help rebuild our roads and bridges, ports and levees, and provide needed services in our schools and hospitals. Young people who can’t find jobs will reclaim and improve our national parklands, restore urban parks and public spaces, recycle products and materials, and insulate public buildings and homes.

 

Third, we’ll enlarge the Earned Income Tax Credit so lower-income Americans have more purchasing power.

 

Fourth, we’ll lend money to cash-strapped state and local governments so they can rehire teachers, fire fighters, police officers, and others who provide needed public services. This isn’t a bailout. When the economy improves, scheduled federal outlays to these states and locales will drop by an amount necessary to recover the loans.

 

Fifth, we’ll amend the bankruptcy laws so struggling homeowners can declare bankruptcy on their primary residence. This will give them more bargaining leverage with their lenders to reorganize their mortgage loans. Why should the owners of commercial property and second homes be allowed to include these assets in bankruptcy but not regular home owners?

 

Sixth, we’ll extend unemployment benefits to millions of Americans who have lost part-time jobs. They’ll get partial benefits proportional to the time they put in on the job.

 

Yes, most of these measures will require more public spending in the short term. But unless we get this economy moving now, the long-term deficit problem will only grow worse.

 

Some in Congress will fight against this jobs plan on ideological grounds. They don’t like the idea that government exists to help Americans who need it. And they don’t believe we all benefit when jobs are more plentiful and the economy is growing again.

 

I am eager to take them on. Average Americans are hurting, and their pain is not going away.

 

We bailed out Wall Street so that the financial system would not crash. We stimulated the economy so that businesses would not tank. Now we must help ordinary people on the Main Streets of America — for their own sakes, and also so that the real economy can fully mend.

 

My most important goal is restoring jobs and wages. Those who oppose me must explain why doing nothing is preferable

 

To be on our list: email earthactionnetwork@earthlink.net

For info on Earth Action Network www.earthactionnetwork.org

 

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/us/politics/25debt.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

 

Rival Debt Plans Being Assembled by Party Leaders

 

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and HELENE COOPER

NY Times:  July 24, 2011

 

WASHINGTON — The House speaker, John A. Boehner, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, were preparing separate backup plans to raise the nation’s debt ceiling on Sunday after they and the White House were unable to form a bipartisan plan that would end an increasingly grim standoff over the federal budget.

 

The dueling plans emerged after Mr. Boehner walked away from negotiations with the White House on Friday, leading to a frustrating weekend of talks in heat-scorched Washington. The leaders of both parties variously negotiated together over the phone, talked separately, conferred with their caucuses and tried to plot an end to the debt crisis that would assure the capital markets around the world that America would meet its debt obligations.

As the Aug. 2 deadline for lifting the debt ceiling nears, warnings are growing that the nation’s economy may be damaged by the protracted stalemate. A downgrade of the nation’s credit rating, which could raise the cost of borrowing, seemed more likely, deal or no deal.

Mr. Reid, the Senate’s top Democrat, was trying on Sunday to cobble together a plan to raise the government’s debt limit by $2.4 trillion through the 2012 elections, with spending cuts of about $2.7 trillion that would not touch any of the entitlement programs that are dear to Democrats or raise taxes, which is anathema to Republicans.

President Obama could endorse such a plan, even though it would fall far short of the ambitious goal of deficit reduction and entitlement changes that he says are necessary to shore up the nation’s finances.

At the White House on Sunday evening, Mr. Obama spent about an hour meeting in the Oval Office to try to hash out details of the Democratic proposal with Mr. Reid and the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi. The two emerged from the meeting with nothing to say to the throngs of reporters who had been encamped there for the third consecutive weekend, awaiting an agreement on the debt ceiling.

But administration and Congressional officials said that during the meeting, Mr. Obama and the Democratic leaders had resolved to hold firm against any short-term agreement that did not raise the debt ceiling beyond next year’s presidential elections.

“You see how hard this is right now,” one administration official said Sunday night. “Can you imagine going through this again in six months?”

That means, officials say, that Mr. Reid’s proposal may gather steam as the only viable alternative that is palatable to the administration.

The contours of Mr. Boehner’s backup plan were not entirely clear, but it seemed likely to take the form of a two-step process, with about $1 trillion in cuts, an amount the Republicans said was sufficient to clear the way for a debt limit increase through year’s end. That would be followed by future cuts guided by a new legislative commission that would consider a broader range of trims, program overhauls and revenue increases.

“The preferable path would be a bipartisan plan that involves all the leaders, but it is too early to decide whether that’s possible,” Mr. Boehner said in a “Fox News Sunday” interview. “If that’s not possible, I and my Republican colleagues in the House are prepared to move on our own.”

In a conference call with Republican lawmakers that lasted over an hour on Sunday night, Mr. Boehner said he was seeking “a vehicle that can pass in both houses,” according to someone on the call, who added that Mr. Boehner had made an emotional appeal to his fellow Republicans to stick together. “If we’re divided,” he said, “our leverage gets minimized.”

One freshman lawmaker on the call described Mr. Boehner as sounding weary and said many Republicans were focused on some version of a balanced budget amendment, which was already passed by the House as part of broader legislation but then rejected by the Senate.

For the White House, the Reid proposal represents a Hail Mary pass that is meant to, at the very least, avoid putting the country through a repeat of the debt ceiling negotiations next year, an election year.

 

For more, click on http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/us/politics/25debt.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

 

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July 24, 2011 Obama, Boehner Come to Agreement That Cantor is Douche Could Be First Step Toward Debt Deal WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – In what members of both parties are hailing as an important first step on the road to a deal on raising the debt ceiling, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner today came to an agreement that Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is a douche. Mr. Obama and Rep. Boehner made the dramatic announcement in the East Room of the White House late Sunday afternoon. “Speaker Boehner and I have come to an agreement that Eric Cantor is a douche,” the President said.  “We’ll see if we can build on that.” The breakthrough reportedly came Sunday morning, but both sides spent several hours hammering out the language before agreeing on the word “douche.” “Boehner had been pushing hard for ‘dickwad,’” said a source familiar with the discussions.  “He was concerned that using a like ‘douche’ could be alienating to his base because it’s French.” While skeptics cautioned that agreeing about the douchiness of Eric Cantor is still a long way from agreeing on raising the debt ceiling, a new poll shows that Messrs. Obama and Boehner have broad public support for their position on the congressman from Virginia. According to a new poll of likely voters, 56 percent agreed that Mr. Cantor is a “douche,” 32 percent agreed that he is a “asshat” and the remainder characterized him as a “dickhead,” “cocksucker” or “motherfucker.” “With all the partisan bickering in Washington, the American people should rest assured that we all agree on one thing,” said Rep. Boehner.  “And that is, Eric Cantor is one irritating mofo.” Elsewhere, in another poll released today, faced with a possible return of quarterback Brett Favre, most NFL fans would prefer a lockout.  See Andy Borowitz LIVE with special guest Alec Baldwin! Get a free subscription to Borowitz Report here.       Upcoming Events October 19, 2011 at 08:00 PM In NYC with Alec Baldwin! Join Andy and his special guests, Alec Baldwin and Calvin Trillin, for a night of comedy at the 92nd Street Y.  Andy will be signing copies of his new book, The Fifty Funniest American Writers, following the show. Location: 92nd Street Y, Lexington and 92nd Street, NYC For tickets go to Borowitz in NYC October 04, 2011 at 08:00 PM San Francisco! Andy will be appearing onstage as part of San Francisco's City Arts and Lectures series.  Tickets available by calling 415-392-4400 or at the website below (use password HERBST, all caps). Location: Herbst Theater, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco For tickets go to City Arts and Lectures The Borowitz Report: Waste Someone's Time: Forward to a Friend.   Sign up today for your own Borowitz Reports. Remove me from this list.

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