EU proposal to require banks to publish number of big earners

Publishing the number of high earners is an OK start but it would be better if they required the banks to include the actual names. If taxpayers are having to bail out high paying industries such as banks, asking for more information hardly sounds unreasonable. FT:

Banks in Europe will be required to disclose more information about the number of their employees earning more than 1 million euro ($1.4 million) under proposals put forward by Brussels.

The European Commission has proposed that national authorities should collect information on the number of individuals per bank who are paid at least 1 million euro, and the make-up of those sums in terms of salary, bonus, long-term awards and pension.

The information would be forwarded to the new European Banking Authority, which would publish it on an aggregate country basis, in a common format for all 27 member states of the European Union.

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Obama wants compromise. Boehner is still holding the debt limit hostage.

Well, we've got one more week to go before the government of the United States defaults. The President spoke to the nation tonight and asked people to call Congress to prevent that from happening.

From the NY Times:

It was a day filled with legislative chess moves, back-to-back party caucuses and closed-door meetings that ended with a nationally televised presidential address followed by a rebuttal by the House speaker, John A. Boehner. Just a week ago the two men were in private negotiations on a “grand bargain”; their separate speeches captured that the two sides are farther apart than ever.

“Because neither party is blameless for the decisions that led to this problem,” Mr. Obama said in an address to the nation Monday night, “both parties have a responsibility to solve it.”

Actually, the Republicans spent the first eight years of the last decade ballooning the debt. I don't understand why Obama will never ever say that. Yes, Obama added to the debt with the stimulus. But, we needed to the stimulus because of the economic crisis created by Republicans. Yet, Obama assigns blame evenly. Why is that so hard to say?

And, all that blather on bipartisanship for the past two years hasn't paid off. That was evidenced by Boehner tonight:

In response to Mr. Obama, Mr. Boehner said: “The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today. That is just not going to happen.”

Mr. Boehner urged the president to sign a Republican plan to raise the debt limit. “If the president signs it,” he said, “the ‘crisis’ atmosphere he has created will simply disappear. The debt limit will be raised.”

Hostage taking at its finest.

Although, this isn't all fun and games for Boehner. He's getting cranky. CBS News Capitol Hill Producer Jill Jackson tweeted this tonight:

Overheard Boehner saying "I didn't sign up for going mano-a-mano with the President of the United States" leaving the Capitol.

Mano-a-mano combat. That's what this has become. It's only our financial future that is at stake. Boehner and his fellow GOPers already tanked our economy -- and everybody's 401ks -- just three years ago. Instead of facing political banishment for that, he's now the Speaker and Republicans control the House. Maybe they really don't see a political downside in default.

The President's approval rating is again at its lowest point, according to Gallup: 43 percent. But, that's all probably part of the grand political scheme that none of the rest of us understand. Read the rest of this post...

Livestream of Obama’s address to the nation on the debt, deficits and default

Speech is scheduled to begin at 9:00 PM ET. John will be dissecting the speech in the comments. Join in. Using MSNBC's embed so we can watch Boehner speak after Obama finishes.
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Palin documentary plummets to $1700 per theater in second week

Oh the humanity. Read the rest of this post...

Pelosi supports Reid’s debt plan, saying "It is clear we must enter an era of austerity"

Last week, at a blogger meetup on the Hill, Nancy Pelosi provided an outline for a debt plan that sounded a lot like what Harry Reid is proposing. TPM's Brian Beutler wrote about it here. So, it's not a surprise that Pelosi is supporting Reid's plan. But, the first line of her statement sure made me feel uncomfortable. I guess we can be happy that, unlike the President, Reid and Pelosi don't want to share the sacrifice by cutting by cutting Social Security and Medicare. Here's the statement:

“It is clear we must enter an era of austerity; to reduce the deficit through shared sacrifice.

“The President has called for a ‘grand bargain,’ which provides long-term deficit reduction based on shared values and sends a message of confidence to the markets.

“The latest proposal from the House Republicans is a short-term plan that burdens the middle class and seniors, and continues this debate about whether we will default in a few months from now.

“Senator Reid has put forward a responsible plan to reduce the deficit that protects the middle class, and Medicare, Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries. It also includes many proposals already supported by Republicans.

“We must come together for an agreement because our economy and middle class will suffer from a default.”

Republicans got us into the financial mess. Yet, they've completely defined the debate.

If Reid's plan were to pass (and who knows if it even has a chance), at least House and Senate Democrats can hold on to the Medicare issue and they won't have to run against Obama's efforts to cut it. Same for Social Security. It was heading that way -- and still may.

And, if anyone in DC did anything about creating jobs, many families and the country would be in a better place financially.

Also, Boehner will be giving a rebuttal after Obama's 9:00 PM ET speech tonight. Read the rest of this post...

Great story about German tourist who helped kids in Norway

What great person who deserves a lot of credit. This took serious guts.

Marcel Gleffe, 32, was with his family at a campground across the water from the island when he heard gunshots, Der Spiegel reported. He and his family looked out from the shore, thinking it might be fireworks, but instead they saw a plume of smoke and a girl swimming frantically in the water and screaming.

Gleffe got into the boat he had rented and set off, Der Spiegel said. He was the first person to reach the island where Anders Behring Breivik gunned down dozens of youngsters at a summer camp.

"I just did it on instinct," Gleffe told The Telegraph newspaper.

"You don't get scared in a situation like that, you just do what it takes. I know the difference between fireworks and gunfire. I knew what it was about, and that it wasn't just nonsense."

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Reid debt plan gains White House support. House GOPers to offer "two-step plan"

UPDATE @ 4:32 PM. Via The White House:

This evening at 9:00PM EDT, the President will address the nation from the White House on the stalemate in Washington over avoiding default and the best approach to cutting deficits.

________________________
Eight days and counting. Still no debt deal in sight. But, there are plans being developed on both sides of Capitol Hill. And, the White House has weighed in.

Sam Stein has the details on the plan being developed by Harry Reid:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) $2.7 trillion debt ceiling proposal will not include reforms to the benefit structure of entitlement programs, several Democratic sources confirmed on Monday.

The plan, which is being crafted as a last-minute attempt to break through the political impasse on a deficit reduction package, would instead lean heavily on cuts to discretionary spending. The package will also reportedly include roughly $1 trillion in savings that will come from the drawdown of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (which the Congressional Budget Office does score). Reid's office was notably hesitant to confirm that detail, cautioning reporters to wait until the final package is unveiled. That said, if entitlement programs remain more or less untouched in the plan, there would be few other areas from which to draw ten-year savings.

Word that Reid is taking entitlements of the table will come as welcomed news to Democrats who are still smarting from the idea that the party has gone from demanding a "clean" debt ceiling bill to willingly backing $2.7 trillion in cuts without measures to increase revenue. The Obama administration had offered to support an increase in Medicare's eligibility age, the means-testing of certain Medicare programs, cuts to Medicaid benefits and a restructuring of the payments of Social Security benefits as part of a grand bargain with Republicans. GOP leadership ultimately rejected that proposal over complaints that the president was insistent that additional tax revenues be added to the mix to round out the plan.

A fact sheet on Reid's bill can be viewed here.

A short time ago, the White House issued a statement offering support for Reid's approach:

The President has been advocating a balanced plan that would reduce our deficit by $4 trillion by making large cuts in domestic and Pentagon spending, reforming entitlement programs, and closing tax loopholes for corporations, millionaires and billionaires. This sort of approach won support from Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, but the House Republicans walked away after insisting that the budget be balanced on the backs of seniors and the middle class.

Now, faced with the “my way or the highway,” short-term approach of the House Republicans, Senator Reid has put forward a responsible compromise that cuts spending in a way that protects critical investments and does not harm the economic recovery. All the cuts put forward in this approach were previously agreed to by both parties through the process led by the Vice President. Senator Reid’s plan also reduces the deficit more than enough to meet the contrived dollar-for-dollar criteria called for by House Republicans, and, most importantly, it removes the cloud of a possible default from our economy through 2012. The plan would make a meaningful down payment in addressing our fiscal challenge, and we could continue to work together to build on it with a balanced approach to deficit reduction that includes additional spending reforms and closing tax loopholes for corporations, millionaires and billionaires.

Senator Reid’s plan is a reasonable approach that should receive the support of both parties, and we hope the House Republicans will agree to this plan so that America can avoid defaulting on our obligations for the first time in our history. The ball is in their court.

Meanwhile, House GOPers are finalizing a plan with a short-term deal, which Obama has already said he would reject (although the GOPers appear willing to test him on that -- a strategy that has worked well for them in the past.) They also create what's being dubbed a "Super Congress." But, as usual, everything depends on what the teabaggers want. From the NYT:

House Republicans intend to push for a vote this week on a two-step plan that would allow the federal debt limit to immediately rise by about $1 trillion and tie a second increase next year to the ability of a new joint Congressional committee to produce more deficit reduction.

Top Republicans were to try to sell the proposal to their rank-and file in a crucial meeting Monday afternoon as House Republicans and Senate Democrats readied competing plans in an effort avoid a federal default next week.

The proposal would cut current spending and put legal limits on future spending, saving what Republicans estimate to be about $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The plan calls for no new revenue.

So, it comes down to the GOP rank-and-file. That's never good for the country. Read the rest of this post...

Right wing media: Norway terrorist not Muslim but acts like it

Yes, the American right wing loons have their excuses lined up because you know, Christians are never terrorists. Forget about what you see in Northern Ireland because that also doesn't count. Timothy McVeigh was a premature Muslim terrorist as well if you buy into their wacko theory. For that matter, ignore the US bombings in the name of the war on terror because sending guided missiles into foreign countries where the people aren't white skinned doesn't count. Killing innocent civilians only counts when it's in the name of Islam because Christians could never do such a thing despite evidence to the contrary.

More from Media Matters.

Among the conservative to rush to judgment were Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post, CNN contributor Erick Erickson, and Andrew Breitbart's BigPeace.com. The Breitbart website surmised that the attacks could have meant that Norway's "big Muslim problem" had "just blown up in its face." Erickson wrote via Twitter: "Terrorist bombing in Oslo. I bet you it was not Lutherans who did it."

Now that they're uninformed and ideologically motivated guesswork has been proven wrong, these same conservatives are adopting the "No True Scotsman" fallacy and claiming that Breivik's abhorrent behavior was not that of a Christian, but more akin to that of a Muslim.

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Airlines raise fees as federal taxes expire

Well done by those airlines who chose not to screw their customers. Somehow, Delta made it on the good list which is a pleasant surprise. With service as bad as they have, it's also hard to charge a premium.

Some airline customers won't see savings this weekend even though several federal taxes on tickets have expired.

US Airways and American Airlines raised fares to offset the tax savings.

That means instead of passing along the savings from expired taxes, the carriers are pocketing the money while customers pay the same amount as before.

But other airlines left their prices unchanged on Saturday. Consumers could save money by shopping around.

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Yep, tough times. America’s very rich kids have to get to summer camp by private jet

If we need "shared sacrifice" in the United States, seems there are lots of people with a lot more to sacrifice than those who get by on Social Security and Medicare. The very rich -- and their kids -- are doing pretty darn well:

For decades, parents in the Northeast who sent their children to summer camp faced the same arduous logistics of traveling long distances to remote towns in Maine, New Hampshire and upstate New York to pick up their children or to attend parents’ visiting day.

Now, even as the economy limps along, more of the nation’s wealthier families are cutting out the car ride and chartering planes to fly to summer camps. One private jet broker, Todd Rome of Blue Star Jets, said his summer-camp business had jumped 30 percent over the last year.

This weekend, a popular choice for visiting day at camps, private planes jammed the runways at small rural airports.

Yep, private jets to summer camps. These are the people that John Boehner and his GOP colleagues think are protecting from higher taxes. Read the rest of this post...

The top priority of Obama’s "grand bargain" is his reelection

For the past few weeks, as the President has tried to secure a "grand bargain" with GOPers -- to the point of offering up Social Security and Medicare -- it's been clear that there's a political motivation. A report in today's Washington Post lays it out:

Obama’s political advisers have long believed that securing such an agreement would provide an enormous boost to his 2012 campaign, according to people familiar with White House thinking. In particular, they want to preserve and improve the president’s standing among political independents, who abandoned Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections and who say reining in the nation’s debt is a high priority.

In many ways, it has been a remarkable transformation for a Democratic president who had made the centerpiece of his first year in office a massive spending bill to boost the economy and the expansion of health insurance.

The risk for Obama now is that his pursuit of a far-reaching package could deeply disappoint his Democratic allies who believe he may be giving away too much. By calculating that an ambitious plan to reduce the nation’s debt by $4 trillion over 10 years is so important, he’s willing to endanger one of the best weapons in his party’s arsenal — the argument that Democrats will protect Medicare and Social Security at all costs.

It's so craven. But, that's exactly what's happening. In Obama's quest for independent voters, he is willing to sacrifice core Democratic values. Apparently, Obama's team of political geniuses believe that the Democratic base really doesn't have any core beliefs either. Remember this, it was Obama who put Social Security and raising the age limit for Medicare into the bargain.

In a post that shows the chart of income inequity in this country, Digby writes:

it is depraved to cut social insurance and health care programs for people who are old and sick and cannot work. The idea that those people should be asked to "share" in the alleged sacrifice of millionaires who leave more money in the seats of their corporate jets than these people have left over at the end of the month is outrageous.

When that level of wealth inequality exists but the government insists that little old ladies be forced to "pay more" so they'll be " more responsible" (and call it shared sacrifice!) something has gone fundamentally wrong. Fix that, we fix the country.

Who knows where this will lead, but it seems depraved that a Democrat would run for reelection on a platform that would "cut social insurance and health care programs for people who are old and sick and cannot work." If a GOP President proposed these changes, we'd be calling it was it is. The Democratic base would be apoplectic. But, for some reason, we're all supposed to suck it up because a Democratic President is doing it. It's just wrong. Read the rest of this post...

British police chief rips Murdoch for failing to accept responsibility

Murdoch is the ultimate "I didn't do it" person. We heard a lot of that during the Bush years including 9/11 and the Wall Street collapse. Somehow responsibility for events is always someone else. What cowards.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr programme, Orde said "You saw the chief officer of the police service of this country, Sir Paul Stephenson, saying, 'Look this happened on my watch. I am responsible. I am therefore … It's on my watch. I am resigning.' Compare that to Rupert Murdoch – complete denial of any responsibility of his organisation."

Writing in Jane's Police Review at the weekend, Orde said: "What we have seen over the last few days is police officers standing up, explaining their actions and decisions and being held to account for them. Across the country, in serving our communities, police officers expect to have to do no less.

"It is a stark contrast to the way in which others have sought to meet their responsibilities."

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Moody's slashes Greek credit rating

Remind me again why anyone went through with this latest bailout? Bloomberg:

Greece’s sovereign credit rating was cut three steps by Moody’s Investors Service, which said the European Union’s financing package for the debt-laden nation implies “substantial economic losses” for private creditors.

Greece’s long-term foreign currency debt was downgraded to Ca from Caa1, the ratings company said in a statement in London today. Moody’s assigned a developing outlook to the ratings and said it will re-assess the credit risk profile of any outstanding or new securities issued by the Greek government after Greece’s debt exchange has been completed.

“The announced EU program along with the Institute of International Finance’s statement representing major financial institutions implies that the probability of a distressed exchange, and hence a default, on Greek government bonds is virtually 100 percent,” Moody’s said.

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Egyptian protesters attacked on march to defense ministry

Considering how much money we send the Egyptian military each year, someone in Washington needs to have a serious discussion about this. Until the Egyptian military is neutered from its current position of controlling the country, reform is going to be very difficult. It's hard to see the new regime (yet to be elected) being much different from the old regime when events like this occur. The Guardian:

Strained relations between Egyptian activists and the country's military rulers appeared close to breaking point on Sunday after dozens of protesters were attacked by assailants during a rally in Cairo at the weekend.

The march on Saturday evening began with a two-week sit-in in Tahrir Square, the iconic heart of the revolution, and was heading towards Cairo's defence ministry when it came under attack by armed baltagiya – Arabic for thugs. The unidentified assailants appeared to be sympathetic to the ruling generals, who were a pillar of the old regime.

Thousands of placard-wielding and chanting protesters, who had approached the ministry of defence in the Abbasyia district, were blocked en route by tanks and hundreds of soldiers stationed behind a makeshift barrier of metal frames and barbed wire. They found themselves trapped and were set upon by armed thugs wielding swords, knives and hurling rocks and molotov cocktails.

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US wasting $34 billion with contractors in wars

And let's be honest that this is probably only part of it. Even with these eye-popping numbers, the other costs that need to be eliminated are the war costs themselves. If we're going to start throwing costs on retired Americans and the middle class, it's time to end these wasteful wars. We can't afford them yet they continue to get a free pass in Washington. It's unfair to ask for belt-tightening at home and free spending for wars that nobody understands or even cares about. Even the corporate media doesn't bother to mention the wars these days so no wonder people don't discuss them.

Do we have an economic crisis at home or don't we?

The United States has wasted some $34 billion on service contracts with the private sector in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study being finalized for Congress.

The findings by a bipartisan congressional commission were confirmed to Reuters by a person familiar with the draft of the study, which is due to be completed in coming weeks.

The analysis by the Commission on Wartime Contracting, details of which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, offers the most complete look so far at the misuse of U.S. contracting funds in Afghanistan and Iraq, where more than $200 billion has been doled out in the contracts and grants over nearly a decade.

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