Progressive Breakfast: Help Stop The Payday Loan Debt-Trap Scam

MORNING MESSAGE

The CFPB is proposing new rules to crack down and protect Americans from these scammers. The bureau has opened up a public comment period. To dismantle the debt trap, payday lenders should only loan to borrowers who can afford to repay their debt. The payday lending industry is spending millions on a disinformation campaign that includes flooding the CFPB with comments from customers coached to write industry-friendly statements. We need to push back...

WH TO LAUNCH TPP BLITZ

WH to barnstorm country during congressional recess to promote TPP. Politico: “…30 events [are scheduled] over the congressional recess … Administration officials including Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Agriculture Undersecretary Alexis Taylor are touting the deal across the country in meetings with business and agricultural leaders in a bid to generate positive local headlines…”
“Political revolution can stop Trans-Pacific Partnership” says Larry Cohen in Des Moines Register oped: “…we are being set up for a vote on TPP at a time when most Americans have shut down on politics, but also a time when corporate lobbyists will be fighting fiercely for adoption … When Iowa CCI Action convenes its convention on Aug. 20 in Des Moines, we cannot simply focus on politics as usual…”

TRUMP SPEECH MAKES NO SENSE

Trump’s immigration plans unworkable. Politico: “…the basics that Trump proposed Monday left observers struggling to envision how they could ever become a reality … what does Trump mean by ‘terrorism’ and ‘regions’ with ‘a history of exporting terrorism?’ Who counts as an immigrant — people who want to move to the U.S. permanently or the many millions who come as tourists, often without a visa? What counts as ‘bigotry and hatred?’ And how will the ideological test be administered?”
Trump foreign policy speech littered with falsehoods. W. Post: “For reasons known only to Trump, he continued to repeat false statements that have been repeatedly debunked in the past.”
Paul Ryan, GOP donors squeezed by Trump. American Prospect’s Roger Bybee: “…Trump’s blistering attacks on trade deals with Mexico and China … have placed House Speaker Paul Ryan in an awkward spot in part because of his own entrenched ‘free-trade’ beliefs—and those of the Republican donor class he has so skillfully cultivated. But Ryan’s position is most precarious because he harbors ambitions for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination, he wants to avoid alienating the supporters of Donald Trump … Republican elites seem certain to face deepening disaffection among their most dependable voting bloc.”

SANDERS TEAM WORKING WITH DNC

Former Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver holds strategy call with DNC chair Donna Brazile. Politico: “The call focused on a 50-state strategy for the November election to be implemented soon by members of Clinton’s campaign and Sanders’ former presidential team … Weaver noted that Sanders’ organization Our Revolution has raised nearly $300,000 for liberal Democratic down-ballot and congressional candidates.”
Clinton’s economic plan lacks subsidized employment. Politico’s Danny Vinik: “…a chunk of [Obama’s stimulus] money—$1.3 billion—was earmarked for subsidized employment, a low-cost experiment that used federal resources to put people back to work … This wasn’t a direct employment program … Some states directly paid the wages of those with subsidized employment … Other states contracted with community providers to pinpoint employers … people who’ve looked closely have found [the programs] were almost universally successful at putting Americans back to work—and it was a relatively cheap way to do it.”

BREAKFAST SIDES

Bard College president Leon Botstein calls for student debt forgiveness in Time oped: “By forgiving student loan debt—which is largely held by the government—a tremendous economic stimulus would be generated, whose beneficiaries are people, not banks … Student loans of the type we now have should never have been instituted. They were predicated on an inflationary economy and rising wages over time, which is not the reality we all now face.”
Retirees spend $130,000 on health care. Bloomberg: “The average single 65-year-old woman can expect to need $135,000 to spend on health care in retirement, while a man will spend $125,000, according to estimates from Fidelity Investments … up 6 percent from last year and 18 percent from 2014 … Prime culprits in accelerating health expenses are prescription drugs, especially high-priced specialty drugs.”

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