MORNING MESSAGE
So
how do you increase demand in an economy? With jobs that pay well. How do you
get jobs to pay well? Of course, raise the minimum wage, but another way is to
make sure there are plenty of jobs. When there are so many open jobs in an
economy that employers start having trouble finding people to work for them,
they start to offer better pay. How do you make sure there are enough jobs in an
economy? The way that has again and again proven to work is through the
government hiring people to do work that needs to be done.
Progressive Presidential Forum In Iowa Saturday
Iowa
Citizens for Community Improvement hosts ‘Real People Ready for Real Solutions’
Issues Summit" in Des Moines Saturday morning, followed by a CCI
Action “Putting Families First” Presidential Forum, “not to hear their stump
speeches – our grassroots leaders will be on stage demanding real solutions from
the candidates.”
Sanders Intensifies Wall Street Fight
Sanders
challenges Clinton over Wall Street ties in major speech. NYT: “‘My opponent
says that as a senator, she told bankers to “cut it out” and end their
destructive behavior,’ Mr. Sanders said of Mrs. Clinton. ‘But, in my view,
establishment politicians are the ones who need to cut it out. The reality is
that Congress doesn’t regulate Wall Street. Wall Street and their lobbyists
regulate Congress. We must change that reality, and as president, I will.'”
Sanders
pledges to rein in exploitative interest rates and fees. The Atlantic:
“…he’d push for a 15-percent cap on all credit-card interest rates and consumer
loans, mirroring the rate cap credit unions must abide by for loans. And ATM
fees, he said, shouldn’t be more than $2.”
Speech
crystallizes choice for Democrats, argues TNR’s David Dayen: “…he recognizes
the fundamental choice in financial reform, between a go-slow approach to tweak
up weak points in the system and a radical alteration in design. That
recognition matters, even if the Vermont senator doesn’t always focus on what’s
currently wrong with the industry—and even if he cannot accomplish everything he
laid out.”
Wall
Street isn’t “feeling the Bern” says Bloomberg: “The largest banks are
bracing for more public discussion of whether they should be dismantled after
capital requirements and other rules enacted in the wake of the 2008 financial
crisis punished size without demanding breakups. The risk is that Sanders’s
remarks could spur harsher rhetoric from others.”
Sanders
campaign makes case it can win. WSH: “In a conference call with reporters on
Tuesday, Mr. Sanders’s campaign advisers [said] Sanders is building an apparatus
that can prevail … fundraising has surpassed expectations … The Sanders campaign
pointed to polling that suggests Mr. Sanders would be no pushover in a general
election showdown.”
Economy Is Awesome (Or Not)
Politico’s
Michael Grunwald argues the economy is “awesome”: “The past two years have
been the best two years for job creation in the 21st century … after-tax
corporate profits are at an all-time high … wages actually grew 2 percent faster
than inflation over the past year … cheaper gas, free birth control and
preventive care … and much more—have put more money in the pockets of American
families…”
But
recession looms, frets W. Post’s Jared Bernstein: “Somewhere out there is
the next recession. We are woefully unprepared for it … [The Fed] emptied the
tank fighting the Great Recession and may not have time to fill it, constraining
their ability to fight the next fire … That leaves fiscal policy, meaning taxes
and government spending on ‘countercyclical’ interventions. And that, at least
partially, invokes Congress. You see the problem.”
Breakfast Sides
Republicans
won’t move quickly on TPP, despite corporate pressure. The Hill: “The
National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Roundtable announced
their support for the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) this week …
The Chamber of Commerce is widely expected to endorse [today.] But McConnell’s
office says his position hasn’t changed and that Obama shouldn’t bother to send
the TPP to Congress until after the elections, when it might be possible to hold
a vote in a lame-duck session … McConnell couldn’t move the TPP through Congress
before September even if he wanted to because of congressional review
requirements …”
Obamacare
not sparking shift to part-time work. The Hill: “The study, released Tuesday
in the journal Health Affairs, examines the claim … The probability of working
25-29 hours a week has stayed essentially flat over the last few years, even
after the employer mandate went into effect in 2015. The probability of working
30-34 hours also did not decrease.”
Progressive
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