Japan pushes for Stimulus Part II

Hmmm, now there's food for thought. Like many rich economies there is very little room left but it's increasingly clear that 2010 will bring on another round of economic challenges as the stimulus effect wears off.

Japan's government inched toward agreeing new stimulus measures that could be worth $30 billion on Monday as economic growth is likely to slow next year due to sluggish personal spending and rising inventories.

Economists doubt whether that amount will be enough to push growth up significantly as the Democratic Party-led government will likely fund the stimulus with money cut from a budget compiled by the previous administration.

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Obama: "I have never used Twitter"

In case you were wondering or are one of the 2,677,554 followers, BarackObama isn't Barack Obama:

President Barack Obama, the source of one of the world's most-followed Twitter account, said Monday he's never used the microblogging service.

During a town hall meeting with students in Shanghai, China, the president conceded he's never personally used Twitter, and encouraged more open internet access in China, where internet censorship runs rampant.

"First of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter," Obama told students in response to a question submitted online and conveyed by his ambassador, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R).

I guess he does have other things to do. Read More......

TAKE ACTION: Brutal decapitation in Puerto Rico of 19 year old boy, possible anti-gay hate crime

UPDATE: Joe and I have created an online action center where people can send emails to Attorney General Holder asking him to have the FBI investigate this possible hate crime. The local police investigator, assigned to the crime, said because the kid was gay he should have expected this to happen. Please visit the action center and send your email, then tell your friends.

You can read more about the story here on AMERICAblog Gay. Read More......

Palin's book going for... free

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Drug makers are raising prices in anticipation of health care reform

Surprise. This may explain why insurance companies like Blue Cross are raising our rates 25% and up a year.

In the last year, the industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent, according to industry analysts. That will add more than $10 billion to the nation’s drug bill, which is on track to exceed $300 billion this year. By at least one analysis, it is the highest annual rate of inflation for drug prices since 1992.

The drug trend is distinctly at odds with the direction of the Consumer Price Index, which has fallen by 1.3 percent in the last year.

And mind you, they're already gouging us for prescription drug prices, charging Americans three to five times what they charge Europeans. Read More......

The political assassination of WH counsel Greg Craig

Steve Clemons weighs in about the White House whisper campaign that eventually did in White House counsel Greg Craig. Steve notes, as I have before, that it's odd that a White House which prided itself on running a political campaign with no leaks and no drama, now has so many leaks and such drama. Unless, of course, the leaks were sanctioned.

What just happened to Gregory Craig should not have happened in Obama Land. It’s something from what Dick Cheney would have called “The Dark Side”--where insinuation and character assassination were leaked to undermine a foe. Think of the manner in which Scooter Libby and Karl Rove promulgated the revelation that Bush administration thorn Joe Wilson was married to a CIA covert operative.

I spoke to Gregory Craig in the summer when the first leaks began to break. While he suspected they were driven by someone in the White House who was frustrated with the slow progress on shuttering GITMO, Craig did not know who was out to get him. He had no idea.

But the sustained nature of the leaks and—and the fact that they ultimately proved to be true—indicates something quite disappointing for anyone who had hoped that the Obama White House would operate more transparently and honestly than the Bush team had.

In fact, leaks are becoming standard fare by key players in the Obama administration. Someone, most likely on the military/intel side of the president’s national security bureaucracy, leaked Afghanistan Commanding General Stanley McChrystal’s report to Bob Woodward. Recently, other political players infuriated U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry by leaking his eleventh-hour contrarian view on a U.S. force surge to the press.

But it’s quite hard to maintain the kind of Obama-esque upbeat tone of transparency and forthrightness and punish staff for leaking when the president himself is standing by and doing nothing as his closest advisors undermine one of their own.

I'm just as troubled by the notion that Craig was done in by his insistence that Obama close Gitmo. Why should holding the President to an important campaign promise "do in" a senior White House official?

Let's remember a few other times the White House leak machine went into action when people were simply trying to hold the president to his own campaign promises. There was the time the senior White House official called the Netroots "the left of the left" because we wanted the President to keep his promise on the public option in health care reform. And the time that gay marchers, and other liberal allies, were labeled "the Internet left fringe," for wanting the President to keep his gay rights promises, among others. Or the time that Harry Reid's efforts to get a robust public option (Obama's promise) in the Senate was repeatedly sabotaged by anonymous White House leaks. Or lots of other times that Glenn Greenwald documents.

These leaks don't happen in a vacuum. They far too often seem to occur when the White House doesn't want to keep one of President Obama's promises. Read More......

Rachel and Keith and Barack

The NYT has a story about how MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann are keeping President Obama honest. Naturally, the story gets into the whole "how is MSNBC any different than FOX" argument. Rachel offers up this argument:

Ms. Maddow, however, contrasts her channel’s advocacy with the activism conducted, she says, by others on cable news. “We’re articulating liberal viewpoints,” she said at dinner, “but we’re not saying ‘Call your congressman, show up at this rally!’ ”

I disagree, it's much more than that. The very fact that Rachel calls her show "liberal" is far more than FOX has ever admitted about its network being conservative. That's the difference - Rachel and Keith are honest and up front about where they're coming from. FOX is not.

But it's far more than that.

1. Rachel and Keith don't routinely lie.
2. They're not bat-shit crazy.
3. Rachel's and Keith's liberal views are not echoed in MSNBC's news coverage. On FOX, the "news" hosts push the same conservative talking points as the "opinion" hosts.
4. MSNBC doesn't just have three hours of liberal programming in the evening. The NYT fails to tells its readers that MSNBC also has three hours of conservative programming in the morning, with former arch-Republican congressman Joe Scarborough. Kind of relevant, since it means that MSNBC splits its partisan programming 50-50. FOX has no liberal hosts, period, and when they did have one, for one hour (Alan Colmes), he had to share his show with an outspoken conservative who wouldn't shut up. Read More......

How Stimulus II, or a Jobs Bill, can and should help states

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities has released a new report detailing how failing to help ailing state governments could cost almost a million jobs over the next year. The basic problem is this: States rely very heavily on sales taxes and income taxes for revenue. When incomes and sales go down because of a recession, so too does the money going to state governments.

But states, unlike the Federal government, have to balance their books every year. There is no such thing as deficit spending for them (though they can engage in short term gimmicks that only worsen the problem in the following years - California is an example of how this can lead to very deep trouble). That means that when revenue goes down, so does spending - the link is direct and the result is as instantaneous as things ever get in the realm of government spending.

All of this makes transfers to state governments a near perfect way to stimulate the economy - not only will they spend the money right away, but a huge share of it goes directly to salaries. And we are not just talking about state bureaucrats, though they are directly affected. In many states (e.g., my own state of New York) aid to schools is a big share of state spending. The CBPP cites Department of Education estimates that 318,000 jobs were saved or created through September 30 due to stimulus spending. Aid to police and fire departments can also be big, depending on the state. Happily, spending of this kind is typically well spread out over the state and population, since things like schools and cops are needed everywhere.

But the help already provided in the stimulus bill passed last winter is far short of what is needed. But how to aid states without providing federal cover for irresponsible politicians, like California Republicans, who live in a world where revenue and spending have no connection to each other? One way would be to link aid to states to benchmarks in their state budget process - requiring them to raise the revenue to cover stated percentages of spending in order to win federal money to cover the remainder. But make no mistake - this is not something states can do on their own without a sharp contraction in employment and spending. They need help from the Federal level and they need it badly. Converting some of those pointless tax cuts into additional state aid would make a major contribution to recovery. Or maybe we can just label it a "jobs bill." Read More......

But was it terrorism?

I was in a a cab on my way to dinner with my friends Connie, Chris and Dennis, and I heard a rather odd public service announcement from the DC police. It was about the Ft. Hood shootings, and it noted how everyone agrees now that it was an act of terrorism.

Really?

I caught a glimpse of FOX News the other day, and they've all but convicted the entire Muslim world of being behind the "obvious terrorist attack." But just because FOX says something doesn't make it true. In fact, it quite often puts it in doubt.

This story from ABC News gives some of the latest updates on the case, and I have to say, it sure sounds like grasping at straws. E.g., he was seen at strip clubs! Well, then we might as well convict most of red state America as well. And he frequented a shooting range! (Ditto). He also was seen regularly having dinner with a man who reportedly wore "traditional Muslim garb."

Give me a break. The man may have very well been part of an extreme Muslim terrorist conspiracy, but these "facts" from ABC bear a distinct stench of racial stereotyping. The man was in the military, of course he went to shooting ranges and strip clubs. (And the fact that he went to strip clubs throws in doubt just how much of a Muslim fundamentalist he really was.) And he was Muslim, so it doesn't really say much that he would have dinner with a guy in "Muslim garb." These are facts without a point.

Then there's the larger question: What exactly is "terrorism," how do you define a "terrorist attack"? I know it's PC on the right to consider any attack on US troops by a guy who's a Muslim to be "terrorism." But if we stretch the definition of terrorism too far, doesn't it risk watering it down to the point of meaninglessness?

Again, this may have been a terror attack. But for FOX and the Metropolitan Police Department to immediately declare any attack on US troops an act of terror, without having all the facts, strikes me as a bit counterproductive to the whole effort to deter terrorist attacks. Isn't it possible the guy was just some nut, angry at the military and wanting to strike back, who just happened to be Muslim? And even if he did go on his rampage because he was upset about "US troops killing Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan," does that make this a terrorist attack, or simply a rampage by a guy who clearly didn't have his head on straight?

Was the McDonald's shooting in California in the early 80s also a terrorist attack? And all the Postal employees shooting up their places of work? Or do you have to be Muslim to qualify? Read More......

GM making progress. Losses down, will start paying us back (us meaning taxpayers)

In the new economic world, losing "only" $1.15 billion in the 3rd quarter is the new good:

General Motors said on Monday that its finances had improved to the point that it could begin repaying its government loans, though it lost nearly $1.15 billion in the third quarter after emerging from bankruptcy in July.

G.M. said it increased its cash reserves by $3.3 billion from July 10 to Sept. 30, ending the quarter with $42.6 billion on hand. It plans to make a $1 billion payment to the federal government in December, more than five years before the loans are due, and to make similar quarterly payments after that.

We, meaning taxpayers, may get out of the car business sooner than expected. And, that actually is good. Although, it won't be too soon according to GM's leader:

Mr. Henderson said he believes Treasury will be a shareholder in G.M. for a long time. Paying the loan is a first step toward unwinding government involvement, but he does not see the Treasury leaving the scene for some time to come.

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Alaska sues to remove polar bears from protected list

This is what happens when your state economy is a one trick pony based on oil. Too bad the Republicans haven't weened themselves from oil and developed other parts of the economy. They're completely lacking in creativity but of course, it could also be their inability to see beyond petro-dollars from lobbyists. Because they're so limited, now they're ready to trounce over the environment to pay for their own failures.

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell says he has the best interest of polar bears at heart, but he doesn't intend to let the federal government's expanded protection for bears get in the way of the state's continued prosperity.

Like his predecessor, Sarah Palin, the governor is suing the federal government to overturn the listing of the iconic symbol of the Arctic as a threatened species, a move made last year that he believes could threaten Alaska's lifeblood: petroleum development.

"Currently some are attempting to improperly use the Endangered Species Act to shut down resource development," Parnell says. "I'm not going to let this happen on my watch."

Ooohhh, so macho and manly. How impressive. Read More......

Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Your president is in China today.

Congress returns this week. All eyes are on the Senate where Democratic leaders are awaiting the CBO score for their health care bill. Once that happens, Senator Reid will provide the bill to his caucus. The Republicans will undoubtedly filibuster any effort to bring the bill to the Senate floor, so the first test will be a cloture vote on moving forward. The Democrats need all 60 votes in their caucus to begin the actual debate. That could happen this week. But, it might not -- all of this is subject to change.

And, I've said it before, I'll say it again: I can never forgive John McCain for inflicting Sarah Palin on us. Palin-mania reaches a fever pitch this week as her book is officially released tomorrow. I really don't need any more Sarah Palin in my life.

Let's thread the news... Read More......

UK regulators given authority to scrap banker contracts

Not a bad idea (and it remains shocking that neither Bush nor Obama even tried something like this) though admittedly, the devil is in the details. Being able to understand some of the contracts that promote excessive risk is probably about as difficult as understanding the complex rubbish the bankers have been selling. Either way, there always should have been the full authority to rip up contracts the moment the government stepped in. Somehow it still looks a little too convenient when they say the pace was too hectic and they urgently needed a deal to save the system. Anyone who has negotiated anything knows what a bogus story that is. That was precisely the time to inject such authority.

City regulators are to be given powers to tear up individual bankers' contracts that place too much emphasis on rewards for risk-taking.

Lord Myners, the City spokesman, revealed the plan today, trailing one of the headline measures in Wednesday's Queen's speech designed to contrast Labour's vision of a smart state with Conservative leader David Cameron's laissez-faire proposals.

Regulators previously only had the power to intervene against a general bonus scheme by requiring banks to increase capital ratios. This reform goes further by giving the Financial Services Authority (FSA) the power to rewrite individual contracts – and not just in banks in which the government has a stake.

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No climate change deal in Copenhagen

World leaders have recognized that nothing will be completed in Copenhagen on the environment. The second best plan - according to them - is to use Copenhagen as a springboard and complete a real agreement shortly after. Without the time line pressure it's going to be difficult but maybe they will surprise us.

Postponing many contentious decisions on emissions targets, financing and technology transfer until the second-stage, leaders will instead try to reach a political agreement in Copenhagen that sends a strong message of intent.

While this falls short of hopes that the meeting would lock in place a global action plan to replace the Kyoto protocol, it recognises the lack of progress in recent preparatory talks and the hold-ups of climate legislation in the US Senate.

Michael Froman, US deputy national security adviser for economic affairs, said: "There was a realistic assessment ... by the leaders that it was unrealistic to expect a full internationally legally binding agreement to be negotiated between now and when Copenhagen starts in 22 days."

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