NYT: Obama to agree to continue all Bush tax cuts for several years

New York Times this evening:

White House officials and Congressional Republicans said Sunday they were closing in on a deal to temporarily continue the Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels, while bitterly frustrated Democratic Congressional leaders began exploring whether they would have the votes for such a package.

In return, Republicans said they would probably agree to extend jobless aid for the long-term unemployed.

Probably? Why are we talking about giving them their tax cuts in exchange for a "probably"? Not to mention, you truly suck at messaging if the Republicans are able to make 'threatening to cut off the only lifeline for two million Americans and their families right before Christmas' a winning strategy:

In meetings with administration officials after the Senate votes, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and many other House and Senate Democrats voiced deep unhappiness at the prospect of extending all the tax cuts and also expressed their belief that the White House did not appear to be getting enough for such a big concession, officials said.

President Obama caving in a negotiation and not getting enough in return. Huh, imagine that.

White House officials, meanwhile, expressed hope of sealing a deal swiftly, perhaps by midweek, and clearing the Congressional calendar for a long list of other priorities that they aim to accomplish by the end of the year, including ratification of the New Start arms treaty with Russia and the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gay service members as part of a wider Pentagon policy bill.

Right, because once you give the Republicans what they want, they're going to give you what you want out of the goodness of their heart. Lucy, queue up that football for the President, please.

Democrats say they would not mind the issue coming up during Mr. Obama’s re-election bid, because they see it as politically helpful to them in painting Republicans as defenders of the rich.

Democrats caved this time, and couldn't manage to beat the Republicans on an issue that only 26% of Americans agree with the GOP position, but in 2012, Obama and the Democrats are suddenly going to learn how to message, negotiate, and fight.

Yeah, right.

I fear it's going to be a very good presidency for Republicans. And they know it.

PS How out of touch is the White House? Even Joe Scarborough can't believe they're agreeing to this. Read the rest of this post...

80-square mile kill zone on floor of Gulf of Mexico

The lies and distorted data from both BP (and the government) continues. ABC News:

A mile below the surface in the Gulf of Mexico, there is little sign of life.

"It looks like everything's dead," University of Georgia professor Samantha Joye said.

In an exclusive trip aboard the U.S. Navy's deep-ocean research submersible Alvin, ABC News was given the chance to observe the impact of this summer's massive oil spill that most will never see.

The ocean floor appears to be littered with twigs, but Joye points out that they are actually dead worms and that Alvin is sitting on top of what is considered an 80-square mile kill zone.

Read the rest of this post...

A Cave Week special: The shape of the cave to come

A Cave Week special. Thanks to Republican Sen. Susan Collins, speaking about Don't Ask Don't Tell, we now know that the cave-in will look like. Senator Collins (h/t David Dayen):

After hearing powerful testimony from Secretary of Defense Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen, and reviewing the results of the Pentagon report, I remain convinced that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy,” implemented under President Clinton, should be repealed. And, I agree with Secretary Gates that the issue should be decided by Congress, not the courts ...

Once the tax issue is resolved, I have made it clear that if the Majority Leader brings the Defense Authorization bill to the floor with sufficient time allowed for debate and amendments, I would vote to proceed to the bill.

Loose lips sink backroom deals, Senator. As Dayen (and much of the rest of the planet) points out, there's a reason Sen. Bob Menendez said negotiating with Republicans is like negotiating with terrorists. They're holding everything "hostage" to the tax deal.

And that's the shape of the cave — we will get many things we really want, DADT (I'm almost certain), the START treaty, extension of unemployment benefits, DREAM perhaps, and more; so long as Our Betters get their budget-busting billionaire tax cuts.

After all, we know that the fix is in, and Team Fierce Advocate is eager to deal.

So that's the deal for us? We get some of what we want. The price is accepting a tax cut surrender as necessary.

Note: I didn't say the price is the tax cut surrender itself; I said the price is accepting the surrender as necessary.

You don't have to pay that price.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Interview with Charles Ferguson, director of 'Inside Job'

If you haven't had a chance yet to see Inside Job, really make the effort to see the film. We went to see it last night and while it was in a smallish room, the seats were pretty full. Inside Job was very well done and in my opinion, does a brilliant job of putting the pieces together from the economic crisis. What's frustrating is that both parties (as I've said many times) are part of the problem. Even more frustrating is the same old path to nowhere that President Obama has followed with these people. I expected much better from him but when he chose Geithner and Summers, it was immediately clear to me that this administration would not break with the past, but churn out more of the same. That was and is highly depressing since this was supposed to be about change.

I recently blogged about Ferguson's blog on the Huffington Post where he wrote about the American duopoly. As unfortunate and annoying as it is that both parties are part of the problem (from Reagan, to Clinton, to Bush and now Obama) Ferguson does have hope that the public will stand up and force change. I'd like to be optimistic on that but for now, I don't see it any time soon. In all likelihood the system will see yet another jolt since the underlying problems have not been addressed. Will that be in a year, two years, five or ten? It's only a matter of time and yes, the next banking crisis will surely be much worse since the "too big to fail" problem has only been made larger thanks to actions by Bush/Paulson and then Obama/Geithner. Maybe change will happen at that time.

As for the film, I was glad to see Ferguson make that point that has bothered me since the beginning which is that not a single person in Washington has ever asked Wall Street to pay back the bonuses that they received on bogus business. It's an unusual practice in business to not have to pay back compensation that didn't exist or was removed from the books yet Washington approved this strange behavior. It's also odd that none of the big boys on Wall Street - and yes, this is a macho, mostly male culture of corruption - have been prosecuted. How do we see trillions disappear yet nobody was guilty? Oh how I recall Bill Clinton defending Goldman Sachs just recently.

Another excellent side of the problem that Ferguson addresses is the dysfunctional link between economists in Ivy League (and beyond) schools and the government justification of Reaganomics that destroyed the economy. For every Roubini or Stiglitz, there are many more Summers or Frederic Mishkin types, for both Democrats and Republicans. These high profile professors provide cover thanks to enriching themselves with flowing dollars from Wall Street. Conflict of interest? Of course, but that's the modern banking system. Read the rest of this post...

WikiLeaks: Senior Chinese politburo member ordered Google hacking

No surprise there, but still interesting to see how America's close business partner treats the US.

The hacking of Google that forced the search engine to withdraw from mainland China was orchestrated by a senior member of the communist politburo, according to classified information sent by US diplomats to Hillary Clinton's state department in Washington.

The leading politician became hostile to Google after he searched his own name and found articles criticising him personally, leaked cables from the US embassy in Beijing say.

That single act prompted a politically inspired assault on Google, forcing it to "walk away from a potential market of 400 million internet users" in January this year, amid a highly publicised row about internet censorship.

Read the rest of this post...

McConnell says Obama to cave on tax cuts for the rich

This is going to be seriously disappointing, if it turns out to be true. If this happens, there is no way it will be possible to support Obama or any other Democrat that goes along with this. The support is already on life support so the White House better feel confident about winning over massive numbers of independents because he's quickly losing Democrats.

Sen. Mitch McConnell's assessment comes a day after Senate Republicans voted down Democratic efforts to limit any extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the top-earning Americans.

President Barack Obama then signaled a willingness to give in to Republican demands that the tax cuts that expire at the end of the year be extended at all levels.

Read the rest of this post...

Frank Rich on Obama and the Stockholm Syndrome

You really have to read the entire piece. Here's the start:

THOSE desperate to decipher the baffling Obama presidency could do worse than consult an article titled “Understanding Stockholm Syndrome” in the online archive of The F.B.I. Law Enforcement Bulletin. It explains that hostage takers are most successful at winning a victim’s loyalty if they temper their brutality with a bogus show of kindness. Soon enough, the hostage will start concentrating on his captors’ “good side” and develop psychological characteristics to please them — “dependency; lack of initiative; and an inability to act, decide or think.”

This dynamic was acted out — yet again — in President Obama’s latest and perhaps most humiliating attempt to placate his Republican captors in Washington. No sooner did he invite the G.O.P.’s Congressional leaders to a post-election White House summit meeting than they countered his hospitality with a slap — postponing the date for two weeks because of “scheduling conflicts.” But they were kind enough to reschedule, and that was enough to get Obama to concentrate once more on his captors’ “good side.”

And so, as the big bipartisan event finally arrived last week, he handed them an unexpected gift, a freeze on federal salaries. Then he made a hostage video hailing the White House meeting as “a sincere effort on the part of everybody involved to actually commit to work together.” Hardly had this staged effusion of happy talk been disseminated than we learned of Mitch McConnell’s letter vowing to hold not just the president but the entire government hostage by blocking all legislation until the Bush-era tax cuts were extended for the top 2 percent of American households.

Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Today's talkers are talking about the lame duck session -- and expect more lame duck lameness. GOP leaders are out in full force to continue controlling the message. You'll see McConnell on NBC and Kyl on CBS. Richard Lugar, viewed by some as a voice of reason, is on CNN. Note this intel from "The Hill" on Lugar:

Look for Lugar to expound on his "Don't ask, don't tell" position Sunday. While the senator was previously thought to be a 'yes' vote on repealing the policy, a Lugar spokesman indicated Friday that the senator is not yet ready to support that, citing some concerns found in the Pentagon's report.

Yeah. He was supposed to be on our side. But, Obama needs him on START -- and that's what matters.

ABC is doing its show on DADT. Among the guests on the side of repeal are: General Wesley Clark, Clarke Cooper from Log Cabin Republicans, Tammy Schultz from the Marine Corps War College (who wrote this op-ed in the Washington Post) and former Sergeant First Class Stacy Vasquez, a discharged vet. On the side of homophobia, you'll see Elaine Donnelly (of course) and a representative from Family Research Council, which has been designated a hate group. Why is ABC's "This Week" promoting representatives from a hate group?

Full lineup is here. Read the rest of this post...

Eurythmics, Sweet Dreams

Our winter weather has moved on following a snowy (for Paris) day. The ice and slush made riding a bit tricky so I ended up doing a deep clean on my new bike, right down to using Q-tips and toothpicks. It's supposed to be warming up to the mid 30s this week though they are calling for more snow. Read the rest of this post...

UK Labour calls university tuition increases 'cultural vandalism'

British students have been actively protesting the recent move by the Conservatives that will remove the current cap on university costs. (Compared to the US, British universities at the highest level are a bargain.) As we have seen in the US, when there are no cost controls in place and universities can charge whatever they like, the end result is either massive debt for families and students, or a system that is primarily open for the wealthiest. Neither is a very healthy option for obvious reasons. The Guardian:

Ed Miliband today accuses the coalition government of "cultural vandalism" over university tuition fees as he seeks to reinvigorate his struggling leadership and exploit the growing crisis in Liberal Democrat ranks on higher education.

Before a week of student protests and a crucial Commons vote on Thursday, the Labour leader takes the high-risk option of restating the case for a graduate tax despite the vocal opposition of his shadow chancellor, Alan Johnson.

In a full frontal attack on the coalition's proposals to lift the cap on fees to £9,000 a year he also argues that the plan will set back the cause of social mobility by a generation by entrenching "privilege and inequality" and discouraging students from lower and middle-income families from going to university at all.

Read the rest of this post...