MORNING MESSAGE
“Two Million Felonies”: Will Wells Fargo’s Scandal Change Wall Street?
Big-bank
CEOs have presided over a cornucopia of criminality in recent years. Their
misdeeds are so varied and numerous that Wall Street begins to loom in the mind
like some Hieronymus Bosch landscape, a scene whose occupants stun the
imagination with the scope of their diversity and perversity. And yet these top
executives have managed to avoid being held accountable – legally, financially,
and even socially – for their actions. Is that finally about to
change?
Trump EPITOMIZES RIGGED RULES
Fine
print of Trump tax return particularly shocking, says W. Post’s Allan Sloan:
“… he would have been tax-free because of a $15,818,562 loss reported on Line 11
of the return under ‘Rental real estate, royalties, partnerships, S
corporations, trusts, etc.’ It looks to me that this loss reflects the
outrageous, special tax break that real estate developers that people like Trump
can get, but that the rest of us can’t … I have plenty of problems with the
Clintons’ financial behavior, as I wrote. But at least Hillary Clinton is
proposing tax code changes that would cost her and her family money. Trump, by
contrast, is proposing tax changes that would greatly benefit the commercial
real estate business, which is his primary field, and would greatly benefit his
own family.”
The
New Yorker’s Jane Mayer deems Trump an “American Oligarch: “…with the Times
reporting that congressionally-crafted loopholes for real-estate magnates could
have enabled Trump to legally evade all income taxes for eighteen years, while
earning as much as $50 million a year, we have a perfect example of how
oligarchic interests have made inroads in the United States. The question now is
whether the American public favors this trend.”
Clinton
to deliver economic speech in OH today. Politico: “…the Democratic nominee
plans to condemn ‘in-it-for-yourself’ corporations … The Democratic nominee will
also lay out two new proposals that promote ‘free and fair competition between
corporations and address corporate abuse.'”
WELD V. TRUMP
LIbertarian
VP candidate Bill Weld turning his fire on Trump. The Atlantic quotes: “We
are drawing 50-50 [from the two major parties], but that’s before people hear
everything I have to say about Mr. Trump for the next seven weeks.”
Sanders
knocks Johnson on CNN: “Look at his point of view on issues like the
environment, on climate change, on the economy. And I think, if any of the
people voted for me take a hard look what he stands for, I think — and
understand where he’s coming from, they will not be supporting him.”
ClimATE PACT ADVANCES
India
ratifies Paris climate deal. Reuters: “[The pact] needs to be formally
ratified by countries representing at least 55 percent of global carbon dioxide
emissions … Next week the European Union is expected to complete the joint
ratification of the climate pact, which will be a major milestone as it would
take approvals past the 55 percent mark and put the deal into effect ahead of
the next round of climate talks in November, in Morocco.”
Clinton
campaign sees climate change as “wedge issue.” Politico: “Clinton’s focus
groups … show that a central wedge issue is global warming, a cultural and
political signifier that differentiates Clinton’s self-style rationalism from
Trump’s visceral populism. That’s why you heard her slip the words ‘climate
change’ into her spiel so often at Hofstra – and why she’ll do the same in St.
Louis.”
The
next president will have a massive impact on the climate. Bloomberg: “… it
seems fair to ask what the next president can do about such an existential
subject. It turns out quite a bit, from rolling back rules or making new ones,
building on treaties or withdrawing from them, to deciding whether to appeal a
critical court ruling … With climate change underway, and a global policy
framework in place, presidents may have increasing power, and responsibility, to
fight the problem…”
TPP TOWN HALLS IN IOWA
Our
Revolution Chairman Larry Cohen criticizes TPP, announces town hall meetings, in
Quad City Times oped: “Iowa CCI Action, the Communications Workers and Our
Revolution will be holding a series of town hall meetings across Iowa from Oct.
5-8. We will be discussing the TPP and mobilizing opposition but most
importantly demanding that all candidates for the House and Senate tell us which
side they are on.”
W.
Post’s Jared Bernstein lays out principles of “smart and fair trade”: “85
percent of those who gave input to our TPP negotiators were from ‘corporate
interests and their trade associations.’ With a meager 15 percent of the input
left to noncorporate interests … That ratio has to be flipped … Smart, fair
trade starts with selecting trade partners based on their countries’ records …
known bad actors should be barred from the negotiating table until they’ve made
proven, effective efforts to clean up their acts …”
BREAKFAST SIDES
Supreme
Court begins new session. USA Today: “Before Scalia’s death in February, the
justices agreed to hear some of the most controversial cases on its calendar
affecting insider trading, class action lawsuits and government ‘takings’ of
private property. Those are issues the conservative jurist cared deeply about —
but without his vote, the odds of his side winning are longer … The justices
could decide to reconsider President Obama’s proposed overhaul of the nation’s
immigration laws, on which they deadlocked 4-4 in June.”
Canada
goes Keynesian. WSJ: “Mr. Trudeau’s big infrastructure spend will be largely
financed by a bigger deficit, which is projected to reach C$29.4 billion this
fiscal year, or about 1.5% of gross domestic product. That’s a sharp turn from
the balanced-budget promise of his Conservative predecessor, who hewed the
austerity path Mr. Trudeau is now shunning. Canada’s efforts stand in contrast
to many of the world’s economies…”
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