Evan Bayh to work for Chamber of Commerce

Who would have guessed working for the Chamber of Commerce that promotes policies that destroy the American middle class was "honorable?" Cha-ching!

Not long after announcing his plans to retire in 2010, then-Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) offered this bit of commentary on why he'd opted to leave Congress after two terms in office: "I want to be engaged in an honorable line of work." It was taken as a biting critique of the increasingly polarized and dysfunctional Senate, and a hint that Bayh's post-Senate plans might include a quiet career in academia, away from politics.

Now Bayh is eating his words. As iWatch News' Peter Stone reports, Bayh has signed on with one of the most corporate-friendly, anti-environment shops in all of Washington, DC: the US Chamber of Commerce. According to an internal memo penned by Chamber president Tom Donohue, Bayh, along with former Bush White House chief of staff Andy Card, are now part of the Chamber's anti-regulation messaging team, doing "speeches, events, and media appearances at local venues."

And isn't it interesting how the revolving door that keeps shafting the public gets so little attention but sexting is a 24/7 issue including press conferences? Great priorities but sex does always sell. Read the rest of this post...

Video: Attach a video cam to a Hula Hoop, mayhem ensues

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Anderson Cooper tonight: How "anti-sissy" therapy destroyed a young boy

A horrible story of how an effeminate little boy was forced into therapy that included beating him every time he did something "girly," like playing with dolls.  He ended up killing himself as an adult.  His "doctor"?  A founder of the religious right hate group, Family Research Council.  Anderson Cooper will be reporting on this on his show tonight at 10EST on CNN.  You can also read more about it on AMERICAblog Gay. Read the rest of this post...

Kuttner: Debt politics pits the claims of the past against the productive potential of the future

This seems to be a theme day at Casa GP, more about the economy than one meal should contain.

At least it keeps our minds off that flashlight of truth pointed at Anthony Weiner and his focus on the serial corrections of the deeply conflicted Justice Clarence Thomas.

Robert Kuttner has a terrific piece in The American Prospect, a one-page column that's both a fast read and wonderfully enlightening (pdf).

The gist is this: One way to think about the current problem, with its monster overhang of consumer debt smothering consumer demand, is to decide who the political system is going to protect, creditors or debtors.

• Protecting creditors protects the past. It attempts to resolve all past debts (with full repayment) before the economy can be allowed to move forward. In other words, everyone waits until creditors are made whole.


• Protecting debtors (with bankruptcy, so their debts can be cleared) hastens the day when they can start being productive again and contribute to the health of the economy.

It's possible to do both to some degree, but you can't do all of the first without doing none of the second.

And creditors (rentiers, in Krugman's phrase) are in charge. Here's just a taste of Kuttner (my emphasis):

Economic history is filled with bouts of financial euphoria followed by painful mornings after. When nations awake saddled with debts incurred to finance wars, episodes of failed speculation, or grand projects that haven’t paid off, they have two choices. Either the creditor class prevails at the expense of everyone else, or governments find ways to reduce the debt burden so that the productive power of the economy can recover.

This is class war, but with a difference:

The creditor class views anything less than full debt repayment as the collapse of economic civilization. In fact, however, debts are often not paid in full. In the 20th century, speculators lost fortunes as dozens of nations defaulted on debts. Several 19th-century U.S. states and municipalities defaulted. Losers in wars and revolutions seldom pay debts. (Those czarist bonds have no value except on eBay.) The Brady Plan of the late 1980s paid bondholders of defaulting Third World debtors at about 70 cents on the dollar so that economic growth could resume.

Sometimes, debts simply cannot be paid. That’s why debtors’ prison was a ruinous idea (except as a deterrent). The real issue is how to restructure debt when it becomes impossible to repay. This is not just a struggle between haves and have-nots but between the claims of the past and the potential of the future.

It's a really smart article, and as I said, a fast read. He contrasts the treatment of debt after WWI with the treatment of debt following WWII. Big difference, both in action and results. The quality of mercy indeed blesseth him that gives and him that takes. The post-Versailles French, wanting full reparations, bought dearly what they took.

The lesson could not be more current:

The banker-afflicted European Union is punishing Greece rather than finding a way to let it grow. In the United States, relief is denied to underwater homeowners because debt contracts are sacred, even as the policy prolongs the agony. Everywhere, budget austerity is advertised as the road to growth— though it denies the economy its productive potential.

We're headed toward the post-WWI Versailles solution. By the pricking of my thumbs...

GP Read the rest of this post...

Al Qaeda spokesman tells terrorists to use NRA-favored gun show loophole to kill Americans

Kind of embarrassing being on the same side as Al Qaeda. Via ThinkProgress, we hear from American-born al-Qaeda spokesmen Adam Yahiye Gadahn. He recommends would-be terrorists get weapons to attack Americans via the so-called gunshow loophole:

America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?

More from TP:

So it seems like it might be a pretty responsible and relevant idea to force individuals to go through a background check at gun shows and to prevent those on the terrorist watch list from purchasing firearms.

However, there are powerful people in this country that don’t want that to happen. The National Rifle Association is opposed to eliminating the gun show loophole. And, referring to the terror gap, an NRA spokesperson said recently that “it’s wrong to arbitrarily deny a law-abiding person a constitutional right.”

Read the rest of this post...

SPLC: GOP forced Obama to gut DHS office tracking non-Islamic domestic terror

From the Southern Poverty Law Center:

The Southern Poverty Law Center this week urged the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reassess the resources it devotes to investigating non-Islamic domestic extremism. The request came as the SPLC published an interview with a former top DHS analyst who charged that the department effectively dismantled the unit he once headed following the political right’s unjustified criticism of a 2009 report on right-wing terrorism.

"The department’s work should never be compromised by misguided criticism from any quarter," SPLC President Richard Cohen wrote in a letter sent this week to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Johnson, who was interviewed for the upcoming summer issue of the SPLC’s Intelligence Report, said that following the controversy, the DHS dismantled the intelligence team that studied the threat from right-wing extremists and that the department no longer produces its own analytical reports on that subject. When the 2009 report was written, there were six analysts in the unit, including Johnson. Today, he said, there is one.

"DHS stopped all of our work and instituted restrictive policies," said Johnson, who has since left the department. "Eventually, they ended up gutting my unit. All of this happened within six to nine months after the furor over the report. Since our report was leaked, DHS has not released a single report of its own on this topic. Not anything dealing with non-Islamic domestic extremism – whether it’s anti-abortion extremists, white supremacists, 'sovereign citizens,' eco-terrorists, the whole gamut."

Even white supremacists?  Disturbing. And it fits an administration pattern of not fighting back against GOP attacks, but rather, acceding to them.  This is why Joe, Chris, Gaius and I are so insistent on pointing out when the Obama administration caves on an issue, and why we just won't let it go.  Whether it's on the stimulus, on health care reform, the Bush tax cuts or domestic terrorism, a pattern has developed, and it's a good indicator of future action. And it needs to stop.

Here's what we wrote at the time about that domestic terror report. Read the rest of this post...

House Republicans now want to privatize Social Security

Because trying to privatize Medicare didn't give them enough pain. From the Hill:

House Republicans on Friday introduced legislation that would allow workers to partially opt out of Social Security immediately, and fully opt out after 15 years.

Let's hope the White House sees the wisdom in cutting this off at the legs. Read the rest of this post...

DeLong: The Obama administration didn’t have a Plan B for the macroeconomy

With all the negative analysis regarding the new next-leg downturn, you would hope that the Obama administration had a plan. According to UC Berkeley economist Brad DeLong, that's not the case.

In a short, striking post DeLong quotes Mark Thoma, who says in part:

We have millions of people out of work, we face the prospect of a five to ten year recovery for employment, yet the administration has no plans to even try to push Congress to do more. ... [I]t's hard to conclude that the unemployed are anywhere near the top of the list.

And then DeLong adds this:

Two and a half years ago I remember asking a couple of newly-chosen Obama appointees: That's fine, but what if it isn't enough and we don't get a strong recovery. What is Plan B? You have to be thinking about Plan B.

Now it is clear: there is no Plan B. There never was a Plan B.

This isn't hyperbole. He's joined the list of those who sound really frightened.

It's got to be hubris that caused this; what else could it be? We're way past stupid. I have a Plan B when I go make coffee.

Update: Paul Krugman piles on. First he quotes Christina Romer, "There was a definite split among the economics team [in the fall of 2009] about whether we should push for more fiscal stimulus, or switch our focus to the deficit." Then he says:

This matches what I was hearing. And it tells you that it wasn’t just the Republicans: a substantial faction within the administration was eager to “pivot” away from the jobs issue. ... The case for doing more ... was overwhelming.

Yet even within the administration, people were itching for a switch to deficit hawkery.

Hawkery — shades of Amy Winehouse.

GP Read the rest of this post...

Greg Sargent: "Maybe it’s time for that pivot to jobs?"

In light of the latest polling, which John wrote about below, Greg Sargent at the Plum Line has a suggestion -- and I couldn't agree more. Actually, the pivot to jobs should have happened a long time ago. But, the President needs to let the American people know he's on their side:

Maybe it’s time for that pivot to jobs? The finding in today’s big Post poll that doesn’t matter at all: That Mitt Romney is roughly tied with Obama. It’s far too early for such head-to-head matchups to have any meaning, particularly since we don’t even know who the GOP nominee will be and the eventual nominee may find his or her standing and/or image dramatically impacted by a long and difficult GOP primary.

The findings that do matter, a lot: About six in ten disapprove of Obama on the economy and the deficit, with nearly half strongly disapproving of his performance in those areas. Forty five percent trust Congressional Republicans more than the president on the economy, up 11 points since March, versus 42 percent who trust the President.

Key takeaway: All the nonstop talk about the deficit is doing nothing to buoy Obama on the issue that matters most to voters. Indeed, the fact that all the chatter about the deficit isn’t allaying people’s anxiety about the deficit either may support the view — argued convincingly in many places — that deficit worries mainly reflect anxiety about the economy. Did somebody say we were trapped in a “Beltway Deficit Feedback Loop”?

One assumes that the Obama reelection team expects him to get a lift if and when the President is seen presiding over a deficit deal with Republicans. This will neutralize Dem overspending as a political issue, the thinking goes, at which point Obama can turn to jobs. But it’s not clear what Dems can do in policy terms on that front, since they seem to have concluded — perhaps rightly — that more spending to jump-start the economy is too tough a sell with the public.

I'm worried that the "turn to jobs might come too late." Republicans aren't worried about the economy. They destroyed it in 2007-8, yet reclaimed the House in 2010. They're willing to let Americans suffer if it means regaining the White House. Plus, their Wall Street benefactors are doing quite well these days.

Obama and his team have played into the hands of the GOP and are caught in what Greg calls the "Beltway Deficit Feedback Loop." It's a great place for the GOPers to be, but not for Obama.

Notice how the Republicans are so willing to blame Obama for the current state of the economy -- even though they caused the Great Recession. Yet, Obama never held Bush and the GOPers accountable for creating the mess. Apparently, that was too political and unseemly. Read the rest of this post...

New poll shows Romney ahead of Obama; POTUS still beats other GOPers

From The Hill:

Forty-nine percent of registered voters said they would choose Romney over Obama if the election were held today, compared to 46 who would reelect Obama, the poll found. While that lead was small enough to be considered within the margin of error, the pair are still tied at 47 percent among all Americans.

The president's political weakness appears to be driven by Americans' dissatisfaction over the state of the economy. On Monday, veteran Democratic strategist James Carville warned the president's reelection could be "very rough" if job growth doesn't rebound. And to that end, dissatisfaction with Obama's handling of the economy and the federal budget deficit is at an all-time high in the ABC/Post poll.

And no one expects job growth to rebound, and nothing is being done to support such a rebound. The President decided a little over a year ago to join the Republicans in making the deficit a priority, and worse, a larger priority than job creation. Except that while people claim they care about the deficit, they care far more about their own jobs and families. Paul Krugman said as much a long while back. Fix the economy, Krugman said, and people will vote for you regardless of the deficit. That doesn't mean we don't try to get the deficit under control, it does mean, however, that you don't make it your number one priority when the economy is still just shy of another recession.

I suspect the President still has "faith" that the economy will rebound on its own. It's the reason, I'm told, that he didn't push for a bigger stimulus - his advisers told him the economy would rebound sooner than it has, so a larger stimulus wasn't needed. And if you still believe that the economy is on its way back, any day now, you might choose to focus on the deficit instead. Sadly, the only people who believe that are Republicans and quite possibly the President himself. Read the rest of this post...

Stephen Colbert on Sarah Palin and Paul Revere

It's great.

The Colbert Report

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Pawlenty proposes tax cuts, ignores fiscal crisis he left in MN

The GOP continues to play the "let's see who can cut taxes the most while ignoring the financial problems." Today's winner is Tim Pawlenty. The pandering to the far right may help him with the extremist crowd but back in the real world, there are costs associated with these policies. It's irresponsible but there's a lot of that going around among the political class. Current Minnesota governor Mark Dayton is unimpressed.

"I think it's ironic that he's talking about a fiscal plan for the entire country when he left his state a mess," Gov. Mark Dayton said in an interview. "He decided he was going to leave and left it to his successor. They knew they were going to kick this down the road."

In speeches, including the one Tuesday at the university where Obama taught law, Pawlenty boasts that he balanced the Minnesota budget during his time in office although he fails to mention he left behind a projected $5 billion deficit.

Dayton said the cuts under consideration for the next two-year budget include cuts to special education programs, increases in college students' tuition and limited availability of home health care for seniors to offset the deficits.

More from AMERICAblog Elections: The Right's Stuff, including Pawlenty's fascinating new method for cutting federal programs. It's called "The Google Test." Read the rest of this post...

59% of Americans disapprove of Obama's economy

Keep in mind that the 59% really doesn't mean much though since those schmucks mostly don't give big dollars to run the campaign. The only people that matter are the big money types. As in the Wall Street bankers who are funding the backbone of Obama's campaign. To the rest, tough luck and better luck next time.

Americans' disapproval of how President Barack Obama is handling the economy and its growing budget deficit has reached new highs amid broad frustration over the slow pace of economic recovery, according to a Washington Post-ABC New poll released on Tuesday.

The ratings boost Obama received after the killing of Osama bin Laden has dissipated with his job approval rating back to 47 percent. Forty-nine percent disapprove of his performance.

Obama's approval rating bounced to 56 immediately after bin Laden was killed last month.

Read the rest of this post...

Syria reports deaths of security forces

Whether there is actually an armed rebellion or if Assad is using this as an excuse to be even more violent is hard to say due to varying reports. Regardless, we should expect a change in tone from the already violent security forces and it's not likely to be a good change. Al Jazeera:

Syrian authorities have threatened to crack down on "armed groups" it says killed 120 members of its security forces in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughur.

"The state will act firmly, with force and in line with the law. It will not stay arms folded in the face of armed attacks on the security of the homeland," Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar, the Syrian interior minister, said in a televised statement on Monday.

The minsiter's threat of retribution came after Syrian state television said that the security forces who came under attack were on their way to the town in response to calls for help from residents, and that they died in an ambush and an explosion at a post office.

Read the rest of this post...

E. coli remains a mystery as sprout tests are negative

What seems increasingly likely is that Germany and Germany alone was responsible for the E. coli outbreak. While there have been victims outside of Germany, they were people who had been in northern Germany. Over the weekend German authorities were convinced that the problem was with bean sprouts grown at a German organic farm but tests have come back negative. The Guardian:

A first set of 23 results from 40 samples taken at the farm were negative, Lower Saxony's agriculture ministry said in a statement.

"The search for the outbreak's cause is very difficult, as several weeks have passed since its suspected start," it said. "A conclusion of the investigations and a clarification of the contamination's origin is not expected in the short term."

This is the worst possible news for both German consumers, who face indefinite warnings against raw salad leaves, tomatoes and cucumbers, and, more acutely, farmers. Spain's farmers, whose cucumbers were wrongly at first blamed by German scientists, have suffered in particular. The news also came too late to prevent the small town of Bienenbüttel, 40 miles south of Hamburg in Lower Saxony's rural heartland, being overrun by media while police sealed off access to the farm. Its owner, Klaus Verbeck, told a local newspaper he was baffled at the apparent connection, given there were no animals or animal products on the site.

The German handling of this is so bad that American experts have called them incompetent. Read the rest of this post...