Progressive Breakfast: Wednesday Is National Call-In Day To Stop the TPP

MORNING MESSAGE

Dave Johnson
Wednesday Is National Call-In Day To Stop the TPP
Wall Street, the multinational corporations and President Obama are pushing for a vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in the “lame duck” session of Congress that follows the election. Wednesday, September 14, is a national call-in day to Congress to stop this. Use this link, or use this number, 888-659-7351. Ask your representative to issue a public statement against the TPP ... Calling your representative is quick and easy. And it REALLY makes a difference.

TRUMP BUSINESS DEALINGS UNDER MICROSCOPE

Newsweek investigates Trump’s business operations and potential for conflicts of interest: “A close examination by Newsweek of the Trump Organization, including confidential interviews with business executives and some of its international partners, reveals an enterprise with deep ties to global financiers, foreign politicians and even criminals … If Trump moves into the White House and his family continues to receive any benefit from the company, during or even after his presidency, almost every foreign policy decision he makes will raise serious conflicts of interest and ethical quagmires.”
Trump Foundation payment to Florida Attorney General under further scrutiny. W. Post: “Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are asking the Justice Department to investigate the circumstances surrounding a $25,000 donation the Donald J. Trump Foundation made to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi at a time when her office was considering whether to open a fraud investigation of Trump University … Separately, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on CNN Tuesday that his office was ‘concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety’…”

POVERTY DOWN IN 2015

Big jump in household income, drop in poverty, in annual Census report. W. Post: “Median household income stood at $56,500 in 2015, ­inflation-adjusted, up from $53,700 in 2014. That 5.2 percent increase was the largest since the bureau started tracking the statistic in 1967 … the poverty rate fell by 1.2 percentage points, the steepest decline since 1968. There were 43.1 million Americans in poverty for the year, 3.5 million fewer than in 2014.”
Don’t thank Obama, says TNR’s David Dayen: “…this is the first gain in median household income since 2007 … that doesn’t make up for the opportunity cost of a near-decade of stagnation … What if households received relief from their debt overhang and returned to spending sooner? What if we didn’t pre-empt the recovery with unnecessary austerity? … We’re also seeing rising geographical inequality—a few islands of prosperity amid a sea of misery.”
Could boost Clinton, notes Politico: “The Clinton campaign immediately retweeted a favorable comment on the findings by University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers — adding, mischievously, a 2004 quote from Trump: ‘It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than under the Republicans.'”

WILL CLINTON OWE REPUBLICANS?

Clinton’s Republican supporters hope to win appointments, reports Politico: “After she is sworn in, these Republicans say, they expect positions in a Clinton administration that go beyond the one or two seats that are typically reserved for opposition party experts … any moves Clinton makes to satisfy her Republican backers will be closely scrutinized by progressives who were never quite sold on her candidacy in the first place.
Can Dems take the House? Roll Call examines the map: “…in the Red to Blue list, Democrats are really targeting 34 pickup opportunities. That’s still enough to net them a majority … [But] Democrats failed to land top-shelf recruits in two Pennsylvania districts, the 6th and 7th … Democrats didn’t get their preferred candidate [in Florida’s 26th] … [And] 11 [Democratic] incumbents who represent swing or GOP-tilting districts, or for whom special circumstances mean the party operatives in Washington are fretting about them.”

BREAKFAST SIDES

“Government funding talks stall” reports The Hill: “Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) on Tuesday said internal GOP discord is holding up work on the funding stopgap … the proposal was delayed because of dissension within the Senate GOP conference over letting Planned Parenthood, a family-planning services group, have access to federal funds for fighting the Zika virus … [But] he is ‘cautiously optimistic’ about reaching a deal on Zika funding in the next several days.”
Tough issues face Canada PM Justin Trudeau in his second year in office. NYT: “He has said that climate change will be a top priority, but he has also promised to help the country’s economically vital oil and gas industry — a major and growing source of carbon emissions — out of its current slump … while there appears to be broad public support for Mr. Trudeau’s plan to revive the economy through government spending, it will be difficult to find a lasting way to revitalize key sectors, particularly manufacturing.”

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