Our Future Today--November 19, 2008--by Biodun Iginla, BBC News in Paris
NOVEMBER 19, 2008 ROBERT BOROSAGE
Free Fall Free fall. The U.S. has lost private sector jobs for 10 straight months. One quarter of all businesses in the U.S. plan to cut payroll over the next year. Retail sales fell in October by the largest monthly drop on record. Auto sales have collapsed, driving the auto companies towards the precipice. Unemployment is up to 6.1 percent, with most analysts predicting it will soar past 8 percent over the next year. The U.S. has joined Germany and Japan in what is becoming a global recession. The era of big government is over is over. In the crisis, we are, as Richard Nixon once said, "all Keynesians now." Paulson Considering Mortgage Aid ft.com — The Bush administration has not ruled out using money from a $700 billion bailout fund to back home loan modifications, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said after coming under intense pressure from Democrats in Congress to take this step. "I am going to keep working on this," Paulson told the House Financial Services Committee. However, the Treasury secretary said he still had reservations about using the money for a "direct subsidy" to homeowners rather than for investments in banks or other financial assets. Meanwhile Sheila Bair, the outspoken head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation who has challenged Paulson by putting forward a $24 billion mortgage relief plan of her own, warned Congress: "As foreclosures escalate we are clearly falling behind the curve." Consumer Prices Fall by Record Amount nytimes.com — In another sign that the struggling economy continues to slow, consumer prices tumbled by a record amount in October, carried lower by skidding energy and transportation prices. The Consumer Price Index, a key measure of how much Americans spend on groceries, clothing, entertainment and other goods and services, fell by 1 percent in October compared with prices in the previous month, the Labor Department reported Wednesday morning. It was the steepest single-month drop in the 61-year history of the pricing survey. The decline in consumer prices was just the latest symptom of an ailing economy. the government reported that wholesale prices dropped a record 2.8 percent last month as commodities prices plummeted on slumping worldwide demand. CEOs Seek $500 Billion Stimulus usatoday.com — A group of business executives on Tuesday urged President-elect Barack Obama to "quickly implement" a large stimulus package soon after taking office. The stimulus should be in the range of $500 billion, said Roger Ferguson, chief executive of TIAA-CREF, an amount much larger than has been mentioned by Democrats in Congress. A second stimulus package should "emphasize investment in infrastructure," such as roads, bridges and other construction, as well as alternative energy projects, the CEOs said. The stimulus also should include permanent tax cuts rather than one-time tax rebates, Ferguson said, because permanent cuts are more likely to be spent and to boost the economy. Senators Urge Bush To Halt Job Shifts washingtonpost.com — Democrats in the Senate called on President Bush to halt any effort by his administration to place political appointees in career jobs before he leaves office. The White House said there is no orchestrated effort to embed Bush loyalists in the federal workforce before Jan. 20. Between March 1 and Nov. 3, the Bush administration allowed 20 political appointees to become career civil servants. Six appointees to the Senior Executive Service, the government's most prestigious and highly paid employees, have received approval to take career jobs at the same level. Fourteen other political, or "Schedule C," appointees have also been approved to take career jobs. One candidate was turned down by the Office of Personnel Management, and two were withdrawn by the submitting agency. EPA Moves to Ease Air Rules for Parks washingtonpost.com — The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing new air-quality rules that would make it easier to build coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other major polluters near national parks and wilderness areas, even though half of the EPA's 10 regional administrators formally dissented from the decision and four others criticized the move in writing. The proposal would change the practice of measuring pollution levels near national parks, which is currently done over three-hour and 24-hour increments to capture emission spikes during periods of peak energy demand; instead, the levels would be averaged over a year. Under this system, spikes in pollution would no longer violate the law. Many national parks struggle with poor visibility shrouding otherwise spectacular vistas, as well as acid rain and other problems caused by air pollution. F.D.A. Opens Inspection Office in China nytimes.com — The United States opened a branch of the Food and Drug Administration in the Chinese capital, the first of several overseas offices aimed at regulating the safety of imported food and medicine.The opening follows a string of scandals involving contaminated Chinese-made toothpaste, pet food, drugs and milk. In the coming months, the F.D.A. plans to open inspection stations in Shanghai and Guangzhou; offices are also to be opened in India and Latin America. "We're opening up a new era, not just new offices," said Mike Leavitt, the secretary of Health and Human Services, in announcing "a permanent F.D.A. presence in China." But F.D.A. inspections have been disorganized, inefficient and ineffective, according to a recent report from the United States Government Accountability Office. Toy Makers Fight Lead Safety Rule online.wsj.com — Manufacturers and retailers of children's products are asking the government to relax a requirement that they stop selling any inventory that doesn't meet tough new lead standards, beginning Feb. 10. Congress enacted the standards as part of a sweeping overhaul of U.S. product-safety rules in August 2008 after a spate of high-profile recalls of toys and other children's products, many because of high lead levels. U.S. manufacturers, distributors and retailers face penalties of up to $100,000 for each violation. Small and mid-size retailers and manufacturers, whose sales are already in the doldrums, say they could be especially hard hit. They have fewer resources to pay for testing and other costs. Many big companies have also already put tougher standards in place in anticipation of the new rules. PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA
A New Chapter for America on Climate Change dotearth.blogs.nytim
Change We Can Bank On thenation.com — This is not change we can believe in. Not if Robert Rubin or his protégé
Paulson Impeaches Himself progressive.org — Henry Paulson is a bad witness for himself. Testifying before Congress, he said: "I am very proud of the decisive actions' he has taken as Treasury Secretary in this economic crisis. What's there to be proud of? DEAN BAKER
Stopping Foreclosures With the Right to Rent truthout.org — Politicians often prefer complex solutions to simple problems. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the long list of complicated and convoluted proposals to address the country's foreclosure crisis. For those not offended by simplicity, there is an easy solution. JOHN PLENDER
The Return of the State ft.com — For the best part of three decades, policymakers in the developed world followed Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in seeking to roll back the frontiers of the state. The triple mantra of privatization, liberalization and deregulation held sway. Yet the problems that began in credit markets a year ago now cast a cloud over the strong market orientation of western policy. After the collapse of banks such as Bear Stearns, and against the background of mounting speculation about the viability of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Anglo-American approach to capitalism appears badly flawed. MARIE COCCO
A Wal-Mart Christmas for a Wal-Mart Country truthdig.com — It is going to be a Wal-Mart Christmas. It is definitely not going to be a General Motors Christmas, because we long ago stopped being a General Motors country. What were we like then? E.J. DIONNE
Conservative Identity Crisis truthdig.com — The right is divided into ideological conservatives and dispositional conservatives. The ideological conservatives hold to a faith linking small government and more tax-cutting to extreme social conservatism. They talk obsessively about returning to the glory days of Ronald Reagan and sometimes drop Sarah Palin's name as a talisman. The dispositional conservatives want to check government’s influence on the economy but not eliminate it. They want solutions that are as unobtrusive as possible, but they do want solutions. The ideological conservatives will hold sway for a while, but the dispositional conservatives will triumph eventually. For the right, there is no alternative. RICK PERLSTEIN
What's Really Driving EFCA Opposition: The Smoking Gun The forces of workplace authoritarianism have gotten far too far with their propaganda that the Employee Free Choice Act, designed to make it easier for workers who want to join a union to do so, only oppose this common-sense reform because it is un-American: that it eliminates the "secret ballot" in unions. Perlstein, Sorensen, and Blumenthal on the Way Forward I haven't done much blogging here this week and last, partly because I'm still cogitating upon what the hell really happened to conservatism on November 4, and partly because I've been doing much of that cogitating aloud, on the road, in speeches and panel discussions that obliging souls booked me for long ago on the presumption that I would have something wise and useful to say about "Nixonland" Romney to City: Drop Dead My fine colleague Terrance Heath has been riffing out a new concept to explain the latest turn of our right-wing friends: "drop dead conservatism." As in the infamous 1975 New York Post headline, "Ford To City: Drop Dead," reporting on the 38th president's avowal that he would rather see New York City go bankrupt than approve a bailout DAVID SIROTA
Mandate Watch: NAFTA Reform? Psych! What do you do after a huge number of new swing-district Democrats win office promising to reform NAFTA? Apparently, if you are D.C. Democrats, you do this. Were Democrats Elected With a Mandate to Attack "The Left?" Seems to me that House and Senate leaders have declared an all-out war on "the Left." In fact, "seems" is the wrong word. It doesn't "seem" like that. They are actually saying it explicitly. BILL SCHER
Romney Jumps On The Worker-Bashing Bandwagon Rick explored why Mitt Romney is compelled to bury his home state of Michigan and the automobile industry that generated his family's wealth. Let's also explore the fertilizer he's using. more from our bloggers >> We Can Choose A New Energy Economy
We can choose a new energy economy, creating millions of jobs, generating clean American energy and freeing us from the tyranny of oil.
Most jobs producing renewable energy are not easily outsourced, helping reverse the recent loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs.
Investing $30 billion a year for clean energy is a fraction of the $237 billion we spent on foreign oil last year and the $500 billion we've blown in Iraq to date.
Addressing climate change now will be much cheaper than dealing with the consequences.
more talking points >>
Free Fall Free fall. The U.S. has lost private sector jobs for 10 straight months. One quarter of all businesses in the U.S. plan to cut payroll over the next year. Retail sales fell in October by the largest monthly drop on record. Auto sales have collapsed, driving the auto companies towards the precipice. Unemployment is up to 6.1 percent, with most analysts predicting it will soar past 8 percent over the next year. The U.S. has joined Germany and Japan in what is becoming a global recession. The era of big government is over is over. In the crisis, we are, as Richard Nixon once said, "all Keynesians now." Paulson Considering Mortgage Aid ft.com — The Bush administration has not ruled out using money from a $700 billion bailout fund to back home loan modifications, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said after coming under intense pressure from Democrats in Congress to take this step. "I am going to keep working on this," Paulson told the House Financial Services Committee. However, the Treasury secretary said he still had reservations about using the money for a "direct subsidy" to homeowners rather than for investments in banks or other financial assets. Meanwhile Sheila Bair, the outspoken head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation who has challenged Paulson by putting forward a $24 billion mortgage relief plan of her own, warned Congress: "As foreclosures escalate we are clearly falling behind the curve." Consumer Prices Fall by Record Amount nytimes.com — In another sign that the struggling economy continues to slow, consumer prices tumbled by a record amount in October, carried lower by skidding energy and transportation prices. The Consumer Price Index, a key measure of how much Americans spend on groceries, clothing, entertainment and other goods and services, fell by 1 percent in October compared with prices in the previous month, the Labor Department reported Wednesday morning. It was the steepest single-month drop in the 61-year history of the pricing survey. The decline in consumer prices was just the latest symptom of an ailing economy. the government reported that wholesale prices dropped a record 2.8 percent last month as commodities prices plummeted on slumping worldwide demand. CEOs Seek $500 Billion Stimulus usatoday.com — A group of business executives on Tuesday urged President-elect Barack Obama to "quickly implement" a large stimulus package soon after taking office. The stimulus should be in the range of $500 billion, said Roger Ferguson, chief executive of TIAA-CREF, an amount much larger than has been mentioned by Democrats in Congress. A second stimulus package should "emphasize investment in infrastructure," such as roads, bridges and other construction, as well as alternative energy projects, the CEOs said. The stimulus also should include permanent tax cuts rather than one-time tax rebates, Ferguson said, because permanent cuts are more likely to be spent and to boost the economy. Senators Urge Bush To Halt Job Shifts washingtonpost.com — Democrats in the Senate called on President Bush to halt any effort by his administration to place political appointees in career jobs before he leaves office. The White House said there is no orchestrated effort to embed Bush loyalists in the federal workforce before Jan. 20. Between March 1 and Nov. 3, the Bush administration allowed 20 political appointees to become career civil servants. Six appointees to the Senior Executive Service, the government's most prestigious and highly paid employees, have received approval to take career jobs at the same level. Fourteen other political, or "Schedule C," appointees have also been approved to take career jobs. One candidate was turned down by the Office of Personnel Management, and two were withdrawn by the submitting agency. EPA Moves to Ease Air Rules for Parks washingtonpost.com — The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing new air-quality rules that would make it easier to build coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other major polluters near national parks and wilderness areas, even though half of the EPA's 10 regional administrators formally dissented from the decision and four others criticized the move in writing. The proposal would change the practice of measuring pollution levels near national parks, which is currently done over three-hour and 24-hour increments to capture emission spikes during periods of peak energy demand; instead, the levels would be averaged over a year. Under this system, spikes in pollution would no longer violate the law. Many national parks struggle with poor visibility shrouding otherwise spectacular vistas, as well as acid rain and other problems caused by air pollution. F.D.A. Opens Inspection Office in China nytimes.com — The United States opened a branch of the Food and Drug Administration in the Chinese capital, the first of several overseas offices aimed at regulating the safety of imported food and medicine.The opening follows a string of scandals involving contaminated Chinese-made toothpaste, pet food, drugs and milk. In the coming months, the F.D.A. plans to open inspection stations in Shanghai and Guangzhou; offices are also to be opened in India and Latin America. "We're opening up a new era, not just new offices," said Mike Leavitt, the secretary of Health and Human Services, in announcing "a permanent F.D.A. presence in China." But F.D.A. inspections have been disorganized, inefficient and ineffective, according to a recent report from the United States Government Accountability Office. Toy Makers Fight Lead Safety Rule online.wsj.com — Manufacturers and retailers of children's products are asking the government to relax a requirement that they stop selling any inventory that doesn't meet tough new lead standards, beginning Feb. 10. Congress enacted the standards as part of a sweeping overhaul of U.S. product-safety rules in August 2008 after a spate of high-profile recalls of toys and other children's products, many because of high lead levels. U.S. manufacturers, distributors and retailers face penalties of up to $100,000 for each violation. Small and mid-size retailers and manufacturers, whose sales are already in the doldrums, say they could be especially hard hit. They have fewer resources to pay for testing and other costs. Many big companies have also already put tougher standards in place in anticipation of the new rules. PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA
A New Chapter for America on Climate Change dotearth.blogs.nytim
Change We Can Bank On thenation.com — This is not change we can believe in. Not if Robert Rubin or his protégé
Paulson Impeaches Himself progressive.org — Henry Paulson is a bad witness for himself. Testifying before Congress, he said: "I am very proud of the decisive actions' he has taken as Treasury Secretary in this economic crisis. What's there to be proud of? DEAN BAKER
Stopping Foreclosures With the Right to Rent truthout.org — Politicians often prefer complex solutions to simple problems. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the long list of complicated and convoluted proposals to address the country's foreclosure crisis. For those not offended by simplicity, there is an easy solution. JOHN PLENDER
The Return of the State ft.com — For the best part of three decades, policymakers in the developed world followed Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in seeking to roll back the frontiers of the state. The triple mantra of privatization, liberalization and deregulation held sway. Yet the problems that began in credit markets a year ago now cast a cloud over the strong market orientation of western policy. After the collapse of banks such as Bear Stearns, and against the background of mounting speculation about the viability of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Anglo-American approach to capitalism appears badly flawed. MARIE COCCO
A Wal-Mart Christmas for a Wal-Mart Country truthdig.com — It is going to be a Wal-Mart Christmas. It is definitely not going to be a General Motors Christmas, because we long ago stopped being a General Motors country. What were we like then? E.J. DIONNE
Conservative Identity Crisis truthdig.com — The right is divided into ideological conservatives and dispositional conservatives. The ideological conservatives hold to a faith linking small government and more tax-cutting to extreme social conservatism. They talk obsessively about returning to the glory days of Ronald Reagan and sometimes drop Sarah Palin's name as a talisman. The dispositional conservatives want to check government’s influence on the economy but not eliminate it. They want solutions that are as unobtrusive as possible, but they do want solutions. The ideological conservatives will hold sway for a while, but the dispositional conservatives will triumph eventually. For the right, there is no alternative. RICK PERLSTEIN
What's Really Driving EFCA Opposition: The Smoking Gun The forces of workplace authoritarianism have gotten far too far with their propaganda that the Employee Free Choice Act, designed to make it easier for workers who want to join a union to do so, only oppose this common-sense reform because it is un-American: that it eliminates the "secret ballot" in unions. Perlstein, Sorensen, and Blumenthal on the Way Forward I haven't done much blogging here this week and last, partly because I'm still cogitating upon what the hell really happened to conservatism on November 4, and partly because I've been doing much of that cogitating aloud, on the road, in speeches and panel discussions that obliging souls booked me for long ago on the presumption that I would have something wise and useful to say about "Nixonland" Romney to City: Drop Dead My fine colleague Terrance Heath has been riffing out a new concept to explain the latest turn of our right-wing friends: "drop dead conservatism." As in the infamous 1975 New York Post headline, "Ford To City: Drop Dead," reporting on the 38th president's avowal that he would rather see New York City go bankrupt than approve a bailout DAVID SIROTA
Mandate Watch: NAFTA Reform? Psych! What do you do after a huge number of new swing-district Democrats win office promising to reform NAFTA? Apparently, if you are D.C. Democrats, you do this. Were Democrats Elected With a Mandate to Attack "The Left?" Seems to me that House and Senate leaders have declared an all-out war on "the Left." In fact, "seems" is the wrong word. It doesn't "seem" like that. They are actually saying it explicitly. BILL SCHER
Romney Jumps On The Worker-Bashing Bandwagon Rick explored why Mitt Romney is compelled to bury his home state of Michigan and the automobile industry that generated his family's wealth. Let's also explore the fertilizer he's using. more from our bloggers >> We Can Choose A New Energy Economy
We can choose a new energy economy, creating millions of jobs, generating clean American energy and freeing us from the tyranny of oil.
Most jobs producing renewable energy are not easily outsourced, helping reverse the recent loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs.
Investing $30 billion a year for clean energy is a fraction of the $237 billion we spent on foreign oil last year and the $500 billion we've blown in Iraq to date.
Addressing climate change now will be much cheaper than dealing with the consequences.
more talking points >>
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