Progressive Breakfast: VW Case Shows Need For More And Bigger Government

MORNING MESSAGE

Again and again we hear about corporations doing bad things so they can make more money: polluting, selling contaminated food or otherwise harming people’s health, selling products that injure people or just don’t do what they advertise, tricking and scamming people out of their money, selling banned goods or providing financial services for terrorists or drug cartels, and so many other things that are not good for people or society. Wouldn’t it be great if there were some entity that was more powerful than these corporations, whose purpose is to protect us, reign these corporations in, make and enforce rules, prosecute offenders and put a stop to this stuff?

Pope Addresses Congress Today

Pope addresses Congress at 10 AM ET. NYT: “… both sides of the aisle will be looking to his words for moral support for their arguments. Democrats were already cheered by his backing of immigration and climate change regulation during his visit to the White House on Wednesday. Republicans were hoping to hear Francis speak to the sanctity of life for the unborn and a traditional definition of marriage.”
The pope’s address today “poses a threat to the current economic order,” argues W. Post’s Harold Meyerson: “Where Francis has departed from his predecessors is that he has moved from talking the talk to walking the walk … Conservatives are right to fear and despise him.”

Sanders Embraces Papal Message

Sen. Sanders greets Pope with Facebook message: “He is asking us to create a new form of society where the economy works for all, and not just the wealthy and the powerful. He is asking us to become a different kind of person, where our happiness and well-being comes from serving others and being part of the human community – not by spending our lives accumulating more and more wealth and power while oppressing others.”
Hillary Clinton teams up with Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer. Politico: “…Hillary Clinton will appear in an interview opposite Girls star Lena Dunham, set to post online Tuesday, POLITICO has learned. The already-taped segment also includes comedy sketches filmed at Clinton’s Brooklyn campaign headquarters, including a cameo by comedian Amy Schumer.”
Clinton proposes energy infrastructure plan that doesn’t involve Keystone. The Hill: “Clinton’s plan focuses on a few key areas: improving the safety of oil, natural gas and propane pipelines, making oil transport by rail safer, upgrading the electric grid to better accommodate renewable energy and working with Canada and Mexico toward greenhouse gas emissions cuts.”
Trump turns on Rubio, Fox. Politico: “… Trump announced that he was temporarily putting Fox News in the penalty box, tweeting ‘.@FoxNews has been treating me very unfairly & I have therefore decided that I won’t be doing any more Fox shows for the foreseeable future.’ … He twice knocked the Florida senator’s spotty attendance record and called him a ‘lightweight’ … in pushing back against Rubio’s criticism that Trump has not delved into foreign policy specifics.”

Breakfast Sides

Bill to increase transparency of Wall Street fraud settlements clears Senate. Vox: “The US Senate today passed a bill by Elizabeth Warren that will force federal regulators to fully disclose the terms of any settlement or deferred prosecution agreement that they reach in a major case … There’s little indication the bill has a chance of passing the House [but] like many recent Warren initiatives she is trying to dramatize a point — the regulatory cops on the beat, she feels, are simply not aggressive enough in penalizing financial misconduct.”
Some investors betting on further China currency devaluation. NYT: “At the root of this investment thesis is the belief that China’s 3 percent currency devaluation last month was not a one-time event … these investors think that after a borrowing and investing frenzy — much of which was financed by dollar-based lenders — China is experiencing a run on the bank similar to what happened to Asian countries in 1997 when their semi-pegged currencies collapsed.”
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal runs mystery deficit. AP: “Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration is notifying legislative leaders that Louisiana closed the books on the past budget year with a deficit, but is not saying publicly how large it is. The announcement of the deficit’s size is expected in mid-October, when details are to be given to the Legislature’s budget committee.”

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