MORNING MESSAGE
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.”
Progressive
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