MORNING MESSAGE
Republican
leaders, including six of the GOP presidential candidates, on Saturday will
engage in one of their occasional displays of “compassionate conservatism,” in
which they seek to convince voters that they actually do care about people
struggling to climb out of poverty; they just don’t want to trap people in
dependency the way they allege approaches favored by progressives have done ...
As always, when you hear the rhetoric from this forum Saturday, it pays to watch
what they do, not what they say.
Progressive Presidential Forum Tomorrow
“Saturday:
Watch Live Video of the Iowa People’s Presidential Forum” urges OurFuture.org’s
Roger Hickey: “Since the Democratic National Committee seems to sponsor
Democratic presidential debates only once in a blue moon, progressive activists
in Iowa have organized their own presidential forum in Des Moines – ‘Putting
Families First’ – on Saturday … the big TV networks won’t carry it, but people
all over the country can watch it live on streaming video . The live stream
featuring the presidential candidates responding to questions will start at 1:30
p.m. Central time (2:30 p.m. Eastern).”
Jobs Up, Wages Flat
December
jobs report shows strong job growth yet stagnant wages. NYT: “…employers
added 292,000 workers to their payrolls in December, the government said on
Friday, punctuating a year of healthy growth. The unemployment rate stayed at 5
percent last month, the Labor Department said, but that was mostly because large
numbers of people went looking for work … the economy added 2.65 million jobs
for the year, capping a two-year gain that was the best since the late 1990s …
Despite the improving job market, sluggish wage growth remains a persistent
thorn. Wages remained flat in December.”
Central
banks should be careful, argues OurFuture.org’s Robert Borosage: “The
December jobs report contains few indications of the storms battering stock
markets over the past days … Central banks pride themselves on acting
preemptively to forestall potential inflation even when it is not yet on the
horizon. Now we need governments and central banks to act in coordinated fashion
to fend off the threat of global stagnation that is already on our shores. The
latter is a far greater and more imminent threat.”
Dems Spar Over Taxes
“Sanders,
Clinton trade jabs over family leave plans” reports W. Post: “…the campaign
of Hillary Clinton issued a statement … attacking Sanders for wanting to raises
taxes on workers to pay for the benefit. ‘Hillary believes we can do this
without asking working people to pay for it,’ said Clinton senior policy adviser
Ann O’Leary … [Sanders’ plan] would be paid for by an increase in the payroll
tax that Sanders says would amount to $1.61 a week … ‘Bernie thinks that’s a
good investment,’ said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs…”
Sanders
begins four-day Iowa swing. NYT: “Mr. Sanders will keep a full schedule,
starting the trip on Friday with a news conference questioning what his campaign
says is Mrs. Clinton’s refusal to support the Family Act, a bill dealing with
paid family and medical leave. Over the weekend, Mr. Sanders is scheduled to
meet with seniors, speak at the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action
Fund, host forums on veterans’ issues and climate change, and hold several
town-hall-style meetings.”
Bernie
wants match-up with Trump. W. Post: “Trump told his audience that he would
love to run against Sanders, calling the prospect ‘a dream come true.’ … ‘It
would be a dream come true for me as well,’ Sanders said. ‘I would love, love,
love to run against Donald Trump.’ Sanders proceeded to repeat several jabs he’s
taken at Trump in recent days, including calling him ‘a pathological liar’ and
mocking his contention from a couple of years ago that climate change had been
created by the Chinese as a way to gain an edge over the United States in
manufacturing.”
Obama Draws Line On Gun Control
Obama
issues gun control ultimatum in NYT oped: “I will not campaign for, vote for
or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support
common-sense gun reform.”
Moderate
Dems keep their distance. Politico: “From his weeklong roll-out of a
strengthened gun background check system to his handling of the environment and
relations with Iran, the party’s shrunken moderate wing is showing increasing
concern with Obama’s fourth-quarter agenda. They’re bracing for yet another
round of criticisms in their next campaign over their support for Obama,
regardless of who is president in 2017.”
Breakfast Sides
EPA
advisers dispute fracking claim. The Hill: “The 31-member Science Advisory
Board is taking issue with the EPA’s conclusion in a landmarkreport from June
that there is no evidence that fracking has ‘led to widespread, systemic impacts
on drinking water resources in the United States.’ The panel came out with an
initial 133-page draft of its report on the study Thursday, saying that the main
conclusion of the EPA’s findings does not follow the actual data that it
precedes.”
GOP
considers filibuster rollback. Politico: “[Discussion] will focus on a
proposal to potentially eliminate an individual senator’s power to filibuster a
spending bill before it’s even debated on the Senate floor. Last year, Senate
Democrats used just such a filibuster to force a bipartisan budget deal … Senate
Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is deeply skeptical of any move to gut the
legislative filibuster, as are a number of Senate conservatives…”
Supreme
Court oral arguments Monday in major labor rights case. The Atlantic:
“[Teacher Rebecca] Friedrichs’ lawsuit argues that all activities that unions do
are political in nature, including collective bargaining and representation in
employer-employee disputes, and that she should not be forced to subsidize any
union activities, including those that get her a raise or health insurance … A
decision against unions in Friedrichs could severely weaken unions’ bargaining
and financial power.”
Progressive
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