Break Up The Banks A fight is brewing in Washington – or, at the least, it ought to be brewing – over whether to put limits on the size of financial entities in order that none becomes “too big to fail” in a future…
Shocker! Steve Rosen (That Steve Rosen) Backs Bibi, Not POTUS Too funny. The GOP, party of flag-waving, guilt by association and if-you-aren’t-guilty-why-were-you indicted is now embracing Steve Rosen. I have never done this but, beyond linking to the GOP link, I am re-publishing excerpts from a piece I wrote about…
White House Walks Back Criticism of Israel & Paging Doctor Krauthammer Could the Obama administration be getting cold feet about taking on Prime Minister Netanyahu. This is from Ha’aretz. Following weeks of tension between Israel and the United States surrounding Middle East peace efforts, on Friday a senior White House official…
Conservatives Falsely Claim New Obama Nuke Policy Prevents Nuclear Retaliation Against Chem/Bio Attack Yesterday, the Obama administration released its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a congressionally-mandated report that outlines the administration’s nuclear strategy and nuclear arsenal policy. The new strategy, which did not contain any radical changes to previous administration’s policies, took a “middle course” and “keeps first-strike strategy.” The Wonk Room’s Max Bergmann noted yesterday that the right-wing […]
Yesterday, the Obama administration released its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), a congressionally-mandated report that outlines the administration’s nuclear strategy and nuclear arsenal policy. The new strategy, which did not contain any radical changes to previous administration’s policies, took a “middle course” and “keeps first-strike strategy.”
The Wonk Room’s Max Bergmann noted yesterday that the right-wing freak out had already begun before any real details emerged from the new NPR. Now that the details are known, many conservatives are completely misrepresenting them. Led by the Drudge Report, the new talking point is that the U.S. will refuse to retaliate against a chemical or biological attack with a nuclear strike. To wit:
JOHN BOLTON: But it’s a big mistake because it basically says that for countries that have biological and chemical warfare capabilities, the Obama administration is not prepared to use nuclear weapons in retaliation.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Let me tell you one scenario they brought up exclusively, and that is if the United States is attacked by a country with a biologic or chemical weapons…the White House lawyers would ascertain if that country is in compliance with the NPT. … If it is, if it is kept up with the IAEA inspections, it gets immunity from the massive nuclear retaliation.
RALPH PETERS: [M]ost worrisome is the public declaration that, if the US suffers a biological, chemical or massive cyber attack, we will not respond with nukes.
“If there was a biological attack, which killed over a million Americans, is this president really saying we would not retaliate?” Newt Gingrich asked last night on Fox News. “That’s what he said,” host Sean Hannity replied. “I agree. It’s what he said,” Gingrich said. Watch the compilation:
First, nowhere in the NPR does it say that the U.S. will not “retaliate” against a chemical or biological attack. Of course, the U.S. reserves the right to act militarily in self-defense if attacked. Apparently, some conservatives, like Krauthammer, don’t seem to have confidence in the capabilities of American conventional forces to effectively retaliate. Instead, they would seemingly prefer keeping the option of outright annihilation against anyone on the table. Are conventional forces “a credible threat [of deterrence]?” Krauthammer asked. “Who knows,” he said.
Moreover, neither Obama nor the strategy itself said the U.S. won’t use nuclear weapons in the event of a chem/bio attack against a country that is violating the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. In fact, while the NPR “narrow[s] the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons,” the President specifically stated that there are exceptions for “outliers like Iran and North Korea.”
Even former Bush administration Homeland Security official Fran Townsend refused to advance the right’s new false NPR talking point. “I think it is smart to actually explicitly articulate that the primary concern here right now…is the control of nuclear materials and preventing nuclear terrorism,” she said. Moreover, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said he “wholly endorses” the new NPR.
Both Mississippi And Georgia Have Confederate History Proclamations Without Any Mention of Slavery Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has been receiving significant attention this week for the fact that he has issued recognized April 2010 as Confederate History Month, but didn’t include any mention of slavery in his proclamation. He explained that he didn’t include a reference because slavery wasn’t one of the “most significant” aspects of […]
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has been receiving significant attention this week for the fact that he has issued recognized April 2010 as Confederate History Month, but didn’t include any mention of slavery in his proclamation. He explained that he didn’t include a reference because slavery wasn’t one of the “most significant” aspects of the conflict between the states.
However, McDonnell isn’t the only Southern governor to honor the Confederacy while omitting any mention of slavery — he joins Georgia and Mississippi.
The Confederate History and Heritage Month proclamations are being spearheaded by a group called the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. Other projects around the country include trying to erect a monument remembering South Carolina’s secession. Today, Calvin E. Johnson, Jr., who chairs the Confederate History and Heritage Month Committee for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, sent around a press release touting the group’s success:
In 2009, the Georgia General Assembly approved Senate Bill No. 27, signed by Governor Sonny Perdue, officially designating April permanently as Confederate History and Heritage Month.
In 1999, Texas Senate Resolution No. 526 passed designating April as Confederate History and Heritage Month.
Georgia’s Governor Sonny Perdue, Mississippi’s Governor Haley Barbour and Virginia’s Governor Robert F. McDonnell have all signed a proclamation designating April as Confederate History and Heritage Month for 2010.
Texas’ resolution does mention slavery. Perdue’s proclamation does not, nor does the Georgia Senate bill (with the exception of a reference to “Georgia’s best new history museum chronicles the civil rights struggle of Georgia’s oldest African American community from slavery to the present”). Barbour’s 2009 proclamation also has no slavery mention, and we received no response from Barbour’s office to our request for a copy of the 2010 proclamation. Perdue’s office also didn’t respond to our request for an official copy of their 2010 proclamation.
Today, ThinkProgress spoke to Johnson, who said that he supported McDonnell’s decision to leave slavery out of the proclamation:
JOHNSON: No, I don’t think so [that he should have mentioned slavery], because really, there was slavery on both sides. That was the issue — some of the Union commanders owned slaves. So that wasn’t really the issue of the war. The issue of the war was states’ rights, a lot of which you’re hearing today. … I wouldn’t say it didn’t play any role, but remember that slavery was recognized by the U.S. Constitution. It was protected. You still had slavery even in the North back then — in Washington, DC. […]
TP: So Virginia’s proclamation didn’t need to apologize for slavery, you don’t think?
JOHNSON: I’m not saying it was right, but then again, both sides — No, I don’t think it should be in there. It was part, but like I said, it was on both sides — North and South. The reason it was more in the South, of course, was because the South was agricultural. But no, I don’t think it should have been in there, personally.
Matt Yglesias, Jack Balkin, and davenoon all point to historical evidence showing that the Civil War, indeed, was significantly about slavery.
Two Republican stars — Palin and Bachmann — align for first time MINNEAPOLIS — Two of the country’s most popular Republicans teamed up Wednesday for a rollicking campaign rally, with Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin blasting congressional Democrats and Bachmann saying President Obama is doomed to a single term.
Lesser of two evils: Keeping Steele as RNC chair Absent a truly devastating new revelation, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele appears in no imminent danger of losing his job. But after another week of controversy over his leadership, the chairman’s longer-term prospects look far less secure.
Some black conservatives question tea party’s inclusiveness A year ago Brandon Brice was one of the primary speakers at the tax day “tea party” rally in New York. The 27-year-old African American, who calls himself a hip-hop Republican, felt at home with the fairly diverse crowd of protesters, shouting into the microphone: “We tell the federal government that it does not tell us what to do!”
Rescue crews enter mine to search; mine company faulted on safety issues MONTCOAL, WVa. — Rescue crews entered a West Virginia coal mine early Thursday to search for four miners still missing days after a deadly explosion, officials said, but it may be hours more before they reach the site — five miles underground — where the men are believed to be.
Mine company faulted on safety issues, regulators say The company that owns the West Virginia coal mine where at least 25 workers died this week has pressed its employees for higher productivity rates, sometimes at the expense of safety, according to regulators, lawyers who have sued the company and documents.
Yale Bans Faculty-Student Sex After more than a quarter century of debate, Yale faculty members are now barred from sexual relationships with undergraduates — not just their own students, but any Yale undergrads. Previously, the university had prohibited such relationships only when the faculty member had “direct pedagogical or supervisory responsibilities” over the student. That remains the rule for affairs between faculty and graduate or professional students, and between grad students and undergrads.
Q Robert, on the Census, Erick Erickson, a commentator for CNN, a couple of days ago, he said he was not going to fill out his Census form, and if a Census worker came to the door, he said he would “pull out my wife’s shotgun and see how that little twerp likes being scared at the door.” So my question is, do those remarks concern the White House? And are there any –
MR. GIBBS: It should concern CNN — probably first and foremost. Probably concerns his wife as well.
Earning His Nobel Prize At last, a believable sighting of that peace president many of us thought we had elected. Give Barack Obama credit, big time, for the startling progress he has made in tempering the threat of nuclear annihilation.
By Robert Scheer
At last, a believable sighting of that peace president many of us thought we had elected. Give Barack Obama credit, big time, for the startling progress he has made in tempering the threat of nuclear annihilation.
Volcker: Consider Higher Taxes To Tame Deficit The United States should consider raising taxes to help bring deficits under control and may need to consider a European-style value-added tax, White House adviser…
Alex Castellanos Turns On Steele; Urges Resignation When Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was suffering from one of his earlier political crises — a series of communications gaffes that had fellow…
Newt Gingrich repeatedly claimed that the IRS will need to hire 16,000 “agents” to act as “health police” because of the health care reform law. However, as FactCheck.org has noted, that claim is “wildly inaccurate” and “stems from a partisan analysis based on guesswork and false assumptions, and compounded by outright misrepresentation”; moreover, the House GOP report that produced the figure noted that the number is likely overstated.
In separate appearances, Gingrich misleadingly claimed 16,000 IRS “agents” will be hired as “health police”
From the April 6 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends:
GINGRICH: But my general experience is that, you know, you don’t have people walk up to you in an airplane and start attacking you very often, or you’re in really deep trouble. I think what [Sen.] Harry [Reid] ought to do is get in a car and drive around Nevada, where people are overwhelmingly opposed to hiring 16,000 IRS agents as health police.
GINGRICH: First of all, this is a really bad bill. The more we learn about it, the worse it is. If you say to the average American, do you really want to have 16,000 more IRS agents as a brand-new health police? They’re going to say no.
Wildly inaccurate” claim stems from GOP committee analysis, which itself found figure likely overstated
PolitiFact: “Ways and Means Republicans themselves acknowledge that the figure could be less than 16,500 new jobs.” A March 29 PolitiFact.org article stated that the source of the 16,000-plus figure was a March 18 report by the Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee. According to PolitiFact, the GOP determined the figure by using a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis that concluded the IRS “‘would probably’ need to spend ‘between $5 billion and $10 billion over 10 years’” for “implementing the eligibility determination, documentation, and verification processes for premium and cost-sharing credits” in the health care bill. But PolitiFact noted that “even as it offered the 16,500 figure, the Ways and Means Republicans’ report offered caveats as well.” From PolitiFact:
But even as it offered the 16,500 figure, the Ways and Means Republicans’ report offered caveats as well.
“Some might argue that figure over-estimates the number of employees that would be hired, because it includes only payroll and benefit costs and does not include other costs that would be incurred, including office overhead,” the report says. “However, note that the IRS total budget in fiscal year 2009 was $11.708 billion, meaning that, when all costs are included, IRS total spending averaged $126,474 per employee. Thus, critics of the 16,500 figure might argue that any new employees should be assumed to cost as much as the average member of the existing workforce and that the $1.5 billion per year would ‘only’ support hiring slightly more than 11,800 new IRS employees.”
In fact, in a footnote, the report said that “it is likely the number would lie somewhere in between the two sets of figures. There would be some additional overhead costs for the new employees, such as computers and telephone services. But there could also be fixed costs that are not as affected by additional workers (e.g., the agency may already have extra office space so does not need to rent additional square footage for each additional worker).”
[…]
Factoring overhead — rather than just salaries and benefits — into the equation would reduce the number from 16,500 new employees to 11,800. This isn’t just an outside critique; this is something stated explicitly in the Ways and Means Republicans’ own report.
FactCheck: “Wildly inaccurate” claim “stems from a partisan analysis based on guesswork and false assumptions, and compounded by outright misrepresentation.”In a March 30 article, FactCheck.org answered the question, “Will the IRS hire 16,500 new agents to enforce the health care law?” by stating, “No. The law requires the IRS mostly to hand out tax credits, not collect penalties. The claim of 16,500 new agents stems from a partisan analysis based on guesswork and false assumptions, and compounded by outright misrepresentation.” FactCheck further called the claim “wildly inaccurate.”
PolitiFact: GOP based its claim solely on “the high end of the CBO estimate.” PolitiFact noted that “CBO estimated a cost burden of between $5 billion and $10 billion over 10 years. The Ways and Means Republicans’ report made its calculations based only on the high end of that range. If it had used the $5 billion figure instead (or offered it side by side with the $10 billion figure) it would have worked out to 8,250 jobs.”
FactCheck: GOP figure based on incomplete CBO cost estimates. FactCheck reported that the GOP analysts “based their 16,500 figure on an assumption that the IRS budget ‘could’ require an additional $10 billion over the next 10 years as a result of the law, a figure they attribute to the Congressional Budget Office.” FactCheck quoted from CBO director Douglas Elmendorf’s March 11 letter to congressional leaders in which he noted that “CBO has not completed an estimate of all of the discretionary costs that would be associated with H.R. 3590. … [S]uch costs would probably include an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion over 10 years for administrative costs of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).” FactCheck continued: “Note the words ‘probably’ and ‘could.’ And the figure — based on preliminary analysis — could as easily be $5 billion as the $10 billion number the GOP analysts used.”
FactCheck: GOP made “false assumptions” based on incomplete CBO estimates. In its March 30, article FactCheck wrote:
The GOP analysts then inflated their estimate by making a couple of false assumptions.
No desks? First, they assume that all the new “administrative” spending projected by CBO would go for payroll and benefits — without any allowance for desks, computers, office rent, utilities, travel or other overhead costs necessary to run any government enterprise. The partisan analysts simply divided the spending (which they figured could be $1.5 billion per year once the law is fully effective) by the current average payroll cost for the entire IRS workforce.
[…]
No pay raises? The second false assumption is that there will be no inflation or pay raises over the next decade. They apply fiscal 2009 cost figures to budgets for 2014 through 2019. In fact, CBO currently projects that the Employment Cost Index will rise 1.4 percent next year and reach 3 percent per year in 2015 and thereafter. Even if the partisan analysis is valid, that would further reduce the maximum number that could be hired by another 1,000 in 2014, and by about 2,800 in 2019, by our calculations.
The GOP analysts assume that the $10 billion would not be spread evenly over the decade, but would reach $1.5 billion annually in later years. That’s reasonable, given that major provisions of the new law don’t take effect until 2014. But even accepting that, the peak figure could just as easily be $750 million a year, if the CBO’s lower guess proves to be correct. So the number of new IRS workers implied by the GOP’s own logic could be closer to 5,000 than to 16,500, after adjusting for overhead costs and inflation.
FactCheck explains “huge difference” between IRS “agents” and “workers who make up the bulk of IRS employees.” Gingrich repeatedly claimed that 16,000 IRS “agents” would need to be hired as a result of the health care reform law. But FactCheck noted that “[t]he GOP staff analysis projected only the number of new ‘employees’ ” — not agents — and stated: “[T]here’s a huge difference between an IRS revenue agent — who calls on taxpayers and conducts face-to-face audits — and the workers who make up the bulk of IRS employees. Those who work at the IRS include clerks, accountants, computer programmers, telephone help line workers and other support staff.”
Gingrich claimed IRS “agents” would act as “health police” — but “IRS’ main job under the new law isn’t to enforce penalties.” Contrary to Gingrich’s claim that IRS “agents” would need to be hired to act as “health police,” FactCheck noted: “The IRS’ main job under the new law isn’t to enforce penalties. Its first task is to inform many small-business owners of a new tax credit that the new law grants them — starting this year — which will pay up to 35 percent of the employer’s contribution toward their workers’ health insurance. And in 2014 the IRS will also be administering additional subsidies — in the form of refundable tax credits — to help millions of low- and middle-income individuals buy health insurance.” FactCheck further stated: “[T]he bill signed into law (on page 131) specifically prohibits the IRS from using the liens and levies commonly used to collect money owed by delinquent taxpayers, and rules out any criminal penalties for individuals who refuse to pay the tax or those who don’t obtain coverage. That doesn’t leave a lot for IRS enforcers to do.”
Gen. McChrystal: We’ve Shot ‘An Amazing Number Of People’ Who Were Not Threats In a stark assessment of shootings of locals by US troops at checkpoints in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal said in little-noticed comments last month that during his time as commander there, “We’ve shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force.”
Said pollster Peter Brown: “With less than six weeks until the May 18 primary, Specter looks to be in solid shape for the Democratic nomination. Not only would Sestak have to win every undecided vote, he also would have to take away some who say they are for Specter.”
In the governor’s race, Tom Corbett (R) is way ahead of Sam Rohrer (R) in the Republcian primary, 58% to 7%.
Three candidates in the Democratic gubernatorial primary for Governor are bunched together — Dan Onorato (D) at 20%, Joe Hoeffel (D) at 15% and Jack Wagner (D) at 13% — but there are still 47% undecided.
Palin to Attend Bachmann Rally Sarah Palin will attend “a free, massive rally and a high-dollar fundraiser” to benefit Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and the Minnesota Republican Party later today, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
GOP officials say they have handed out 10,000 free rally tickets and have no more. Tickets to the afternoon fundraiser cost $500, with prices skyrocketing to $10,000 for a “private reception with photo opportunity.”
Independent and interdependent Published in Haaretz, Fri., April 02, 2010 By Sam Bahour and Bernard Avishai The latest rift between the United States and Israel, which began with Israel’s announcement of more planned construction planned in Ramat Shlomo – a Jewish-only neighborhood -…
The Fed in Hot Water digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/political_opinion/The_Fed_in_Hot_Water’; The Fed has finally came clean. It now admits it bailed out Bear Stearns – taking on tens of billions of dollars of the bank’s bad loans – in order to smooth Bear Stearns’ takeover by…
ExxonMobil paid no federal income tax in 2009. (Updated) Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. “Most egregious,” Forbes notes, is General Electric, which “generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.” Big Oil giant Exxon Mobil, which last year […]
Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. “Most egregious,” Forbes notes, is General Electric, which “generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.” Big Oil giant Exxon Mobil, which last year reported a record $45.2 billion profit, paid the most taxes of any corporation, but none of it went to the IRS:
Exxon tries to limit the tax pain with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. No wonder that of $15 billion in income taxes last year, Exxon paid none of it to Uncle Sam, and has tens of billions in earnings permanently reinvested overseas.
Mother Jones’ Adam Weinstein notes that, despite benefiting from corporate welfare in the U.S., Exxon complains about paying high taxes, claiming that it threatens energy innovation research. Pat Garofalo at the Wonk Room notes that big corporations’ tax shelter practices similar to Exxon’s shift a $100 billion annual tax burden onto U.S. taxpayers. In fact, in 2008, the Government Accountability Office found that “two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005.”
ThinkFast: April 6, 2010 Twenty-five coal miners died and four others remain missing in a “huge underground explosion” at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine yesterday, making it “the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades.” The tragedy is the latest deadly disaster involving coal baron Don Blankenship’s Massey Energy, which has been repeatedly cited for “serious […]
President Obama said Monday that the nation’s new nuclear guidelines will “substantially narrow the conditions under which” the weapons will be used. The Nuclear Posture Review, to be released today, “renounces the development of any new” weapons and represents “a sharp shift” from “his predecessors.”
American taxpayers are making an 8.5 percent profit off bank bailouts, according to a new survey. The profits come from 49 companies that have already repaid their portion of the Troubled Asset Relief Fund, and the Treasury Department predicted Friday that the bailout would be a net profit to taxpayers once all of it is returned.
In a speech before a group of supporters yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took a jab at Sarah Palin. “I was going to give a few remarks on the people who were over here a week ago Saturday, but I couldn’t find it written all over my hands.” He added, “You betcha.”
“Bombs hit apartment buildings and a market in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people,” in a series of attacks that have killed more than 100 people over the last week. Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, whose bloc came out slightly ahead of current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s in the recent elections, blamed the violence on political gridlock.
Democrats and Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) “traded barbs” Monday over who was responsible for the expiration of unemployment benefits for thousands of Americans. Bunning insists that Democrats are responsible for not paying for the extension, while Democrats claim the benefits qualify for “emergency spending” that does not need to be immediately paid for.
“The panel established by Congress to investigate the causes of the financial crisis has been hobbled by delays and internal disagreements and a lack of focus,” the New York Times reports after interviewing “a majority of its members and government officials briefed on its work.” “We lost a fair amount of time on the front end,” said commissioner Keith Hennessy, a former economic adviser to President Bush.
“Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s top political advisers announced Monday evening that they are parting ways with the embattled committee following Chief of Staff Ken McKay’s dismissal.” Curt Anderson of OnMessage Inc., who advised Steele’s 2006 Senate run, “confirmed in a statement that his firm is ending its relationship with the committee and the chairman.”
State Department legal adviser Harold Koh attempted to articulate a legal rationale for the use of drone attacks, which many experts consider to be a violation of international law. “In this ongoing armed conflict, the United States has the authority under international law…to defend itself, including by targeting persons such as high-level al Qaeda leaders who are planning attacks,” Koh said.
West Virginia mine has been cited for myriad safety violations The West Virginia mine where at least 25 workers died Monday in an explosion was written up more than 50 times last month for safety violations. Twelve of the citations involved problems with ventilating the mine and preventing a buildup of deadly methane.
Even in Loss, Butler Gives Hope to Little Guys Bob Kravitz, Indy Star This is not the way the fairy tale ends. Little Red Riding Hood doesn't get mauled by the big, bad wolf. Cinderella doesn't show up two hours late for the ball because of traffic on I-65. The Three Little Pigs don't get evicted from their home before the dyspeptic fox even thinks about blowing their house down.Duke 61, Butler 59.Where were Norman Dale and Jimmy Chitwood when you needed them? Where was Hollywood when Gordon Hayward's fall-away jumper from the corner, on line but slightly long, bounced off the rim and out? Where were the writers when Hayward's…
Still Waiting for that ObamaCare Bounce Kyle Wingfield, Atlanta JC Yet another opinion poll indicates the public wasn’t sighing in relief after ObamaCare passed. The latest is from CBS News, which calls the American public “increasingly skeptical” about the new health laws:Fifty-three percent of Americans say they disapprove of the new reforms, including 39 percent who say they disapprove strongly. In the days before the bill passed the House, 37 percent said they approved and 48 percent disapproved.Republicans and independents remain opposed to the reforms, and support has dropped some among Democrats. Now 52 percent of…
The White House and the Writedowns James Klein, Wall Street Journal Commerce Secretary Gary Locke had it backwards last week on these pages when he cited the “hype and overheated rhetoric” of U.S. corporations that have reported large writedowns in response to health-care reform.In fact, the companies' accounting announcements were written in the most bland prose imaginable. It was the Obama administration that created the controversy by suggesting that these legally required filings were politically motivated. Mr. Locke himself publicly criticized the companies for being “premature” in making these disclosures, even though rules…
Obama’s 17-Minute Non-Answer Answer Debra Saunders, SF Chronicle In June, comedian Bill Maher complained of President Obama, “You don't have to be on television every minute of every day — you're the president, not a rerun of 'Law & Order.'”I get paid to listen to politicians tell the same old jokes, repeat the same canned sound bites and — as often occurs — not answer questions. But I do not think it too much to ask that, now that Obama has signed legislation to overhaul the health care system, he ditch the health care spiel.
Gibbs: Team Obama ‘Frustrated’ With Karzai’s Remarks Relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan were further strained over the weekend after the White House caught wind of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s musings that he might join the Taliban as a reaction to pressure from the West to make some changes in his country. Politico reported over the weekend that Karzai called U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday to “clarify” the accusations he’d made earlier that week about the United States’ alleged role in election fraud in his country. However, that call apparently happened before Karzai let fly with his comment about taking up with the Taliban, which spurred White House press secretary Robert Gibbs to voice dismay “on behalf of the American people” on Monday. “The Two-Way” on NPR: “On behalf of the American people, we’re frustrated with the remarks,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters this morning. According to the Associated Press, the news of what Karzai reportedly said came from Afghan lawmakers who met with him Saturday. “He said that ‘if I come under foreign pressure, I might join the Taliban’,” said Farooq Marenai, who represents the eastern province of Nangarhar, AP reported. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/04/karzai_taliban_white_house_fru.html
Relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan were further strained over the weekend after the White House caught wind of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s musings that he might join the Taliban as a reaction to pressure from the West to make some changes in his country.
Politico reported over the weekend that Karzai called U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday to “clarify” the accusations he’d made earlier that week about the United States’ alleged role in election fraud in his country. However, that call apparently happened before Karzai let fly with his comment about taking up with the Taliban, which spurred White House press secretary Robert Gibbs to voice dismay “on behalf of the American people” on Monday.
“The Two-Way” on NPR:
“On behalf of the American people, we’re frustrated with the remarks,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters this morning.
According to the Associated Press, the news of what Karzai reportedly said came from Afghan lawmakers who met with him Saturday.
“He said that ‘if I come under foreign pressure, I might join the Taliban’,” said Farooq Marenai, who represents the eastern province of Nangarhar, AP reported.
SEC Slow To Reform A year-long effort by the Securities and Exchange Commission to overhaul its enforcement of laws against corporate crime has run into courtroom setbacks and internal…
Diane Dimond: Justice in a 2.0 World You have to have been living in a cave on the dark side of the moon not to notice the impact the internet has had…
Dick Morris falsely suggested that the recently-passed health care legislation would lead to “higher premiums” for “most” Americans. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that by 2016 the Senate’s version of health care reform — on which Obama’s plan is largely modeled — would not increase premiums for the vast majority of Americans, and for many, premium costs would decrease.
From the April 5 edition of Hannity:
SEAN HANNITY (Host): Joining me now with analysis on why it took the President of the United States 17 minutes to justify hiking taxes on you, the American people is the author of the forthcoming new book 2010: Take America Back, Dick Morris is with us.
[…]
MORRIS: What is interesting is that he spent 17 minutes and he still didn’t tell the truth. The truth is that the big tax increase in this bill is the one that is going to force insurance companies to levee on people in the form of higher premiums, and that is going to take effect immediately, and in the next few months most of the listeners to this program will receive notices from their insurance companies saying that there are higher premiums.
FACT: CBO found law will not raise premiums for majority of Americans
CBO: Premiums in group market will not increase. CBO estimated that the large group and small group markets make up 83 percent of the insurance market and that those premiums would essentially remain unchanged and could decrease.
PolitiFact: “CBO reported that, for most people, premiums would stay about the same, or slightly decrease.” A January 27 PolitiFact.com analysis labeled the claim that health care reform would cause premiums for most Americans to increase “pants on fire” false and stated, “The CBO reported that, for most people, premiums would stay about the same, or slightly decrease.” From PolitiFact.com:
On Nov. 30, 2009, the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, released a detailed analysis on how health insurance premiums might be affected by the Senate Democrats’ health care bill. The CBO is an independent agency whose estimates for pending legislation are considered nonpartisan and rigorous.
The CBO reported that, for most people, premiums would stay about the same, or slightly decrease. This was especially true for people who get their insurance through work. (Health policy wonks call these the large group and small group markets.) People who have to go out and buy insurance on their own (the individual market) would see rates increase by 10 to 13 percent. But more than half of those people — 57 percent, in fact — would be eligible for subsidies to help them pay for the insurance. People who get subsidies would see their premiums drop by more than half, according to the CBO. So most people would see their premiums stay the same or potentially drop.
CBO: Most individual enrollees would receive subsidies, which would decrease the premiums they pay by “56 percent to 59 percent” on average. CBO estimated that by 2016 a majority of people insured on the individual market would receive subsidies, which would decrease their premiums compared to what they would pay without health care reform. CBO stated, “The majority of nongroup enrollees (about 57 percent) would receive subsidies via the new insurance exchanges, and those subsidies, on average, would cover nearly two-thirds of the total premium, CBO and JCT [Joint Committee on Taxation] estimate. Thus, the amount that subsidized enrollees would pay for nongroup coverage would be roughly 56 percent to 59 percent lower, on average, than the nongroup premiums charged under current law.” Claims that the bill would increase premiums in the individual market are based on estimates that do not factor in subsidies.
Washington Post’s Ezra Klein: “CBO found health-care reform would reduce premiums.” The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein reported on an exchange between Obama and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) during the February 25 health care summit:
Lamar Alexander and Barack Obama just had a contentious exchange on this point, so it’s worth settling the issue: Yes, the CBO found health-care reform would reduce premiums. The issue gets confused because it also found that access to subsidies would encourage people to buy more comprehensive insurance, which would mean that the value of their insurance would be higher after reform than before it. But that’s not the same as insurance becoming more expensive: The fact that I could buy a nicer car after getting a better job suggests that cars are becoming pricier. The bottom line is that if you’re comparing two plans that are exactly the same, costs go down after reform.
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