MORNING MESSAGE
Don’t Put Privatizer And Payday Lender Lobbyist On The USPS Board
With
corporate-conservative calls for full or partial privatization of the United
States Postal Service (USPS) escalating, groups are sounding the alarm about new
nominees to the USPS Board of Governors. The Senate is scheduled soon to
consider the nominations of Mickey D. Barnett, James C. Miller III and two other
nominees. Miller is a notorious privatization advocate and Barnett is a payday
lender lobbyist ... This should be a big public issue. Please take a minute and
contact your state’s senators and ask them to oppose the nominees for the USPS
Board.
TPP Deal Struck
Pacific
rim nations agree to TPP trade deal. NYT: “The accord for the first time
would require state-owned businesses like those in Vietnam and Malaysia to
comply with commercial trade rules and labor and environmental standards …
Unions and human rights groups have been skeptical at best that Vietnam,
Malaysia and Brunei will improve labor conditions … In a concession likely to be
problematic with leading Republicans, the United States agreed that brand-name
pharmaceutical companies would have a period shorter than the current 12 years
to keep secret their data on producing so-called biologics…”
Final
text not available yet. Politico: “A vote [in Congress] is likely months
away, next February at the earliest – and perhaps later if Obama waits for the
last details to be ironed out before he gives Congress the legally mandated
90-days notice that he intends to sign it.”
New
Zealand trade minister describes final deal to New Zealand Herald: “… on the
hardest core issues, there are some ugly compromises out there. And when we say
ugly, we mean ugly from each perspective – it doesn’t mean ‘I’ve got to swallow
a dead rat and you’re swallowing foie gras.’ It means both of us are swallowing
dead rats on three or four issues to get this deal across the line.”
Hillary, Bernie Jockey On Gun Control
Hillary
tries to squeeze Bernie on gun control. Bloomberg: “…Clinton planned to call
for the repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which gives
legal protection to gun manufacturers and dealers whose guns are used for
criminal activity … As a senator from New York, Clinton voted against the law in
2005 … Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who served in the U.S. House at the time,
voted in favor of it.”
Clinton
may also propose executive action on guns. NYT: “The proposal most likely to
generate controversy is using executive action to close the so-called gun show
loophole, if efforts to pass new measures in Congress do not succeed…”
Sanders
pushes gun control measures at Boston rally. W. Post: “…Sanders called for
several additional gun-control measures, including the closing of the ‘gun-show
loophole’ on background checks. He also stressed the need to improve mental
health services to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have
them.”
Bernie
winning over some WV Dems. W. Post: “West Virginia has rejected the
Obama-era Democratic Party more dramatically than any state outside the South …
But if you think it’s in places like this that the insurgent Sanders campaign
faces its most formidable test, here’s what he thinks: It is also one of his
greatest opportunities.”
The
New Yorker publishes Bernie profile: “…even if he fails to secure the
Democratic nomination, he has exposed a deep indignation about the distribution
of wealth which other candidates cannot ignore.”
Chaffetz Scrambles Speaker Race
Rep.
Jason Chaffetz challenges Rep. Kevin McCarthy for Speaker. Fox News quotes:
“You just don’t give a promotion to the existing leadership team. That doesn’t
signal change.”
Chaffetz
roils House leadership races. Politico: “…Chaffetz says McCarthy can’t get
the 218 votes on the floor needed to become speaker, while McCarthy allies
privately bash the Utah Republican as woefully unprepared … meanwhile, in a nod
to the ongoing war for control of the House GOP, Speaker John Boehner is
considering delaying the election for majority leader and whip, a blow to Reps.
Steve Scalise (La.) and Tom Price (Ga.), but a boon to conservatives who are
looking to run a candidate against the pair…”
Community Banks Thriving Under Dodd-Frank
Dodd-Frank
did not crush community banks. WSJ: “Loan balances at community banks grew
8.8% in the second quarter from a year earlier—almost twice the rate of bigger
banks … In the second quarter, the profitability of small banks—which earned a
0.95% return on assets—barely lagged behind the 1.08% return of the big banks,
according to the FDIC. That’s a big change from the margin when Dodd-Frank
passed, when the gap was more than three times as wide.”
Bank
regulators don’t think they can prevent another crisis. NYT: “The Fed has
publicly committed itself to a strategy of so-called macroprudential regulation,
meaning it is now focused on maintaining the stability of the financial system
as well as the health of individual firms. But senior Fed officials at the
Boston conference described that as more of a goal than an achievement. Crises
remain hard to anticipate and prevent, and the available tools could cause
significant economic damage.”
Progressive
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