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Middleboro Review 2

NEW CONTENT MOVED TO MIDDLEBORO REVIEW 2

Toyota

Since the Dilly, Dally, Delay & Stall Law Firms are adding their billable hours, the Toyota U.S.A. and Route 44 Toyota posts have been separated here:

Route 44 Toyota Sold Me A Lemon



Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Progressive Breakfast: The Bipartisan Cromnibus Saga: A Final Assessment




MORNING MESSAGE

Robert Borosage
The Bipartisan Cromnibus Saga: A Final Assessment
The Cromnibus guarantees another year of growing inequality and declining security for most Americans. Once more, vital investments are shortchanged. Once more, austerity is favored over jobs. Once more, the bill is larded with ... special interest giveaways: repeal of a key part of financial reform for Wall Street, allowing banksters to gamble not only with other people’s money but with taxpayer guarantees for their losses; an expansion of big money in politics; continuing cutting of EPA’s capacity; the stunning authority to cut the vested pensions of already retired workers and much more.

Sanders Targets Big Banks


Sen. Sanders has plan to break up the big banks. OurFuture.org’s Richard Eskow: “Sanders’ website announced on Saturday that the Vermont independent ‘will introduce legislation to break up Wall Street megabanks that are using a bill before the Senate this weekend to put taxpayers on the hook for the banks’ risky investments.’ … introducing a measure that is designed to put members of the United States Senate on record before the voters: Are they willing to break up the big banks or not?”

“Citigroup Will Be Broken Up” predicts Baseline Scenario’s Simon Johnson: “These are not left vs. right issues. And the key divide is certainly not the liberal left against anyone else. This is a broad coalition of people who care about financial stability — and who are fighting against a mighty lobby … We are going back to the original Republican principles and courage at work the last time this country took on – and won against – concentrated corporate power.”

Dems Debate Way Forward


Hillary mum on Warren’s derivatives fight. The Hill: “The reason for Clinton’s silence, some of her staunchest supporters say, is that she likely supported the spending bill — even if she didn’t want to go on record with that support … Clinton allies also think that a bigger movement that the anti-Wall Street camp favors her candidacy: The anti-gridlock movement.”

Pelosi stands with the left. Roll Call: “With 138 Democrats joining her in rejecting the cromnibus, Pelosi could be heading into the 114th Congress with a strong hand. In taking such a dramatic stance favored by the left-leaning base, she endeared herself to even the most liberal rank-and-file lawmakers who had post-election gripes with leadership. She could even end up walking into work in January with her own Democratic version of the Republicans’ ‘hell no’ caucus, a voting bloc dedicated to thwarting the House GOP leadership’s best-laid plans.”

WH downplays friction. W. Post: “‘The difference on the Democratic side was one related to tactics, not principle,’ [WH spokesman Josh] Earnest said. Many Democrats thought that watering down a piece of Wall Street reform wasn’t a good idea, he said. ‘The difference in tactics, though, it’s the president’s view that it was important to sign this bill.’ If that did not happen, there would be a more limited three-month agreement, and Democrats would soon have to vote on another spending bill — this time, with Congress under complete Republican control.”

GOP attacks against the IRS will eventually mean higher taxes. W. Post’ Catherine Rampell: “The spending bill passed over the weekend contains a lot of terrible provisions. But long-term, the most damaging may be its cuts to the Internal Revenue Service … Spending on tax collections — unlike almost any other kind of federal spending — is, unequivocally, arithmetically good for reducing deficits … Audits have slowed, and by many metrics, customer service quality has plummeted … ‘tax morale’ will wane and tax cheating will likely rise. Which will require higher statutory tax rates to make up for the shortfall.”

Fed May Hike Rates Soon


Fed expected to move toward higher interest rates this week as economy seen as improving. Bloomberg: “The Federal Reserve will look past low inflation and drop a pledge to keep interest rates near zero for a ‘considerable time’ as it seeks an exit from the loosest monetary policy in its 100-year history, economists said … The FOMC will release its statement at 2 p.m. tomorrow, along with forecasts for the benchmark federal funds rate, unemployment, inflation and growth.”

But Fed chair still cautious. NYT: “he nascent uptick in wages has prompted further warnings from the more hawkish members of the Fed’s policy-making council who want the central bank to start tightening monetary policy sooner, rather than later, to ward off what they see as a potential threat of inflation. But Ms. Yellen and a majority of Fed policy makers, pointing to evidence that inflation remains well under the central bank’s 2 percent target, do not appear to be unduly alarmed and probably still prefer to leave interest rates as low as possible until the trend is better established.”

Manufacturing up. WSJ: “U.S. manufacturing output climbed past its prerecession peak this fall, suggesting the American economy is on solid footing despite growing signs of weakness abroad.”

But failure of recovery to reach middle class hampers Dems. NYT: “In one camp are Democrats who argue that if they do not take some credit, they will continue to receive little. Others counter that boasting would backfire, infuriating millions of Americans who do not see the economy improving for them or their children. Many, including President Obama, fall in the middle: still seeking to strike some balance, more than five years after the recovery officially began, between extolling progress and recognizing the pain that lingers.”

Breakfast Sides


Another GOP governor backs Obamacare expansion of Medicaid. NYT: “Under mounting pressure from financially strapped hospitals, Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee proposed on Monday an alternative plan for expanding Medicaid that he said would bring health coverage to tens of thousands more poor residents of his state without following traditional Medicaid rules … to cover some 200,000 low-income residents through their employer’s health insurance plan or the state’s Medicaid program … [He] still needs an official federal waiver and the approval of the Republican-controlled Legislature…”

Sen. David Vitter vows to black AG nomination over immigration. USA Today: “‘We’ll have the opportunity to push back on executive amnesty with one of our first major battles: the attorney general nomination,’ Vitter said in a statement … [Sens.] Cruz and Lee have called on Lynch to state whether she supports Obama’s plan to protect nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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