State of the City: Blithe Comments from Rahm
Let's see what Rahm Emmanuel has to say about his nascent mayorlty:
If Rahm Emanuel had known being mayor of Chicago was this much fun, he likes to joke that he would have “primaried” his political mentor four years ago.
“As I told Rich Daley, ‘You didn’t tell me the truth. You said it was gonna be a good job. It’s not a good job. It’s a great job.’ I tease him about that all the time,” Emanuel told the Chicago Sun-Times in an interview on his first 100 days in office.
“I’m having a blast. . . . [Wife] Amy and the kids [say], ‘Dad seems happy.’ If you want to see change and see what you’re doing impact people, this is one of the most dynamic and exciting opportunities of a lifetime. . . . It sure beats walking around with the world on your shoulders” as White House chief of staff.
Awwwww, how endearing.
Let's look at what he's been up to!
First, he's hired some consultants to cut city contracts to the bone:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday hired a private consulting firm to consolidate and overhaul city contracts and wring at least $25 million in savings out of $500 million in purchases.
The savings generated by Accenture are expected to come from renegotiating some contracts, rebidding others and combining purchases by individual city departments to get a cheaper bulk price.
The contract calls for the company to review $500 million in contracts and get 10 percent of the first $70 million in savings, with a smaller percentage after that. But Accenture will not get paid at all until Chicago taxpayers get their check.
Actually, that sounds good to me.
But there are harder cuts as well:
Of all the sad statistics related to the financial crisis at Chicago Public Schools, one of the most alarming is simply this: The school district is spending millions more every year to educate fewer children.
Into this mess steps Jean-Claude Brizard and a new leadership team pledging to rebuild the financial footing and repair the miserable academic performance of a school district that, by most measures, is struggling.
Brizard said Thursday that the previous leadership had only recently awakened to the bloated bureaucracy at CPS — trimming central office staff by 327 since 2009 — but that cuts should have been deeper.
"If we don't make these courageous decisions, we're going to be right back where we were — where past CEOs, past administrations, have faced problems and didn't do enough to actually correct it," Brizard said in a meeting with the Tribune's editorial board. "The very financial health of the system hinges on that."
Some of the decisions envisioned include:
•Closing schools, including charters, that aren't working or are underenrolled.
•Restructuring contracts with teachers, janitors, bus drivers and other pacts that have become burdensome.
•Consolidating jobs and departments within the central office.
•Laying off staff.
•Raising taxes when necessary.
•Creating a school system where the best-performing, not the longest-serving, principals and teachers earn the most money.
Previous administrations have made similar promises, only to see the problems get worse. But Brizard says this mandate for change comes from Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Still, cutting fat is good.
But hey - what's this extra thing he wants to pay for?
Is Rahm nuts?
•
Mayor Rahm Emanuel today said the city has an obligation to pay for former Mayor Richard Daley’s legal defense if he is sued for alleged police brutality conspiracies that happened under former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge.
The city will not, however, run up unnecessary legal bills to defend Daley or Burge, Emanuel said.
“We’re not going to be reckless and let the meter run legally,” Emanuel said.
Really? Why don't we stop this one before it even starts then.
Who was Daley working for when all of this allegedly occurred? Does Rahm even remember Daley's title at the time?
•Cook County State's Attorney
Chicago wasn't employing him at the time, nor signing his checks. So what the hell is Rahm doing promising to pay for Daley's alleged actions?
To be sure, if it was when Daley was Cook County's State Attorney he has absolute immunity, and my understanding is that the civil complaint is based on when Daley was mayor.
But frankly, I don't see that with all this scrounging for spare change in Chicago's couches, that Rahm can make a great case that the less-than-pristine Daley should be defended with the tax dollars of Chicago.
But I guess he's hoping for the same courtesy when he's ex-mayor.
Thanks to reader TRB in pointing me to the Second City Cop blog -- other posts of interest:
Rahm finds another $20 million
2nd City Cop on the Accenture deal
Chicago: Old Ghosts Coming for Daley
The former long-time mayor of Chicago has been dodging all sorts of reckoning over the years. It may finally be catching up with him in a civil lawsuit filed against various parties, related to long-running police brutality in Chicago that was tied to false confessions:
For the first time, a federal judge has ruled former Mayor Richard M. Daley can be sued as a defendant for his alleged role in what plaintiffs claim is a citywide conspiracy to cover up police torture.
And Daley could be deposed by lawyers representing alleged victims, all African American, who charge their abuse came at the hands of a small band of predominantly white police officers under the command of former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge.
The Burge case has already cost Chicago taxpayers more than $43 million in settlements and outside legal fees. Burge is in federal prison.
Though Daley was questioned under oath by a court-appointed special prosecutor in 2006, it was widely criticized as an overly solicitous interview. This would likely be a more adversarial exchange.
The deposition date is set for early September.
For more info on the cases surrounding Jon Burge, the entry at wikipedia is rather comprehensive. I'll set you down at "torture methods". This may shock you, but Daley had a primary challenger in 1991 who brought up this issue... and Daley, of course, won.
But here's a twist: Daley had been county prosecutor during the time of the most notorious torture cases - the 1980s. He was able to escape civil liability due to his position then.... but he became mayor in 1989. And they're going after him for that time period, as he resisted investigation of the issue.
I bet with regards to any civil award, it will be the city of Chicago paying, not Daley's personal wealth. But what Daley could be paying is his reputation.
And it's about damn time for that to start.
So.... what is Rahm Emmanuel's connection to the Daley machine? Does he owe the old man anything? Is it in his interest to settle this quickly & quietly, or would he like the full deposition to go on?
I could see Rahm letting this fester, so he can blame the current problems of Chicago (crumbling finances, the violent flash mob activity along the Magnificent Mile) on Daley (and he would have a point), and just so that he can look like the good-government guy (snort).
Emmanuel has been doing all sorts of stuff in Chicago that has local unionists up in arms, by the way. Have you heard about it in the national news, like Gov. Walker's cuts?
Birth of a Neocon
I don't suppose my story is really all that unique; raised in a household loyal to the Democratic Party. "Loyal" may be an understatement, perhaps "devoted" is a more accurate term. I was at least a 4th generation Democrat, starting at least as far back as my great grand father during the Great Depression; judging from the stories my Grandmother tells of her Daddy. Her husband, my grandfather for whom I was named, was a union leader at his John Deere plant. My father started working there a few years before my Grandpa retired, and my younger brother has been there for more than 10 years now. Union politics run in my family, so I was raised to believe that Republicans were evil, intolerant hypocrites who hated poor people and kicked puppies in their spare time.
I read stories of conservative students attending colleges dominated by liberals, but I had the opposite experience, which only served to reinforce the beliefs of a stubborn 18 year old kid. At a small college that was, roughly 90% GOP, I reveled in being a Christian Democrat among friends who didn't understand how that was even possible. I may as well have shown them a round triangle. So voting for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 came natural, as did voting for Tom Vilsack in 1998.
By this time, however, I was deeply involved in listserv discussions with newfound internet friends across the country, and I was slowly discovering that these Republicans didn't hate poor people and they weren't just trying to hoard their money. They honestly believed government was getting in the way, and that if that trend could be reversed, the lower class would have access to more and better jobs.
At the same time, Monica Lewinsky hit the headlines, along with all of his defenders on the left. All those powerful women on the left, who championed the cause of feminism, were all falling in line defending a man who, at the very least, had abused his position as the most powerful man in the world for personal gratification. That shattered my idealism, I no longer believed my political heroes (ie Tom Harkin) were so true to their beliefs, so I started questioning their beliefs. This led to me questioning everything.
If Democrats weren't the stallwarts of Truth, Justice, and the American Way, as I'd beileved, perhaps Republicans really weren't the living embodiments of Lex Luthor. As I started rethinking things, the 2000 election was approaching and I started, for whatever reason, to think of Bush as a Republican I could actually vote for. I also started realizing that I was, in a lot of respects, already conservative. Aside from the social conservatism I'd been raised with, I was coming to grips with the fact that government programs, high taxes, and arbitrary regulation were all hinderances on the economy, and thus job killers.
When my daughter was born in 2000, and we were considering daycare and other job-related expenses for my wife, I finally understood how the costs of working (and risk) would reduce the incentive to actually engage in financial risks that are inherently necessary for economic growth. Finally, Al Gore made it easier and easier to vote Republican that year, and Tom Harkin's disingenuous attacks on Dick Cheney's lack of a military record pushed me over the edge. At that time, I not only decided to vote for Bush, but vowed never to vote for Harkin again. Then there was 9-11, and my decision was confirmed in my mind, as the thought that Al Gore could have been president for that scared me.
Palin Unloads On Obama…Again !
In her latest Facebook post titled: Conquering the Storm. The subject, of course, is economics. Specifically our overwhelming debt, the S&P downgrade, and the abject failure of Obamanomics. It's definitely a must-read. Here's a taste:
In the coming days we’ll sort through the repercussions of S&P’s downgrade of our credit rating, including concerns about the impact a potential interest rate increase would have on our ability to service our suffocating $14.5 trillion debt.
Back in December 2010, I wrote: “If the European debt crisis teaches us anything, it’s that tomorrow always comes. Sooner or later, the markets will expect us to settle the bill for the enormous Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending binge. We’ve already been warned by the credit ratings agency Moody’s that unless we get serious about reducing our deficit, we may face a downgrade of our credit rating.” And again in January, in response to President Obama’s State of the Union address I wrote: “With credit ratings agency Moody’s warning us that the federal government must reverse the rapid growth of national debt or face losing our triple-A rating, keep in mind that a nation doesn’t look so ‘great’ when its credit rating is in tatters.”
One doesn’t need a Harvard Law degree to figure this out! Just look across the pond at Europe. European nations with less debt and smaller deficits than ours and with real “austerity” plans in place to deal with them have had their ratings downgraded. By what magical thinking did we figure we could run up perpetual trillion dollar deficits and still somehow avoid the unforgiving mathematics of a downgrade? Nothing is ever “too big to fail.” And there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Didn’t we all learn that in our micro and macro econ classes? I did at the University of Idaho. How could Obama skip through Columbia and Harvard without learning that?
[emphasis-ed]
She goes on to talk about strong policy prescriptions for turning the US economy around, getting us back on track, and restoring prosperity through cutting spending, shrinking government, and drastically changing Obama's stifling energy policy. Serious proposals for serious times...
Then she wraps it all up with a strong finish, tellin' it like it is; Sarahcuda style:
Be wary of the efforts President Obama makes to “fix” the debt problem. The more he tries to “fix” things, the worse they get because his “solutions” always involve spending more, taxing more, growing government, and increasing debt. This debt problem is the greatest challenge facing our country today. Obviously, President Obama doesn’t have a plan or even a notion of how to deal with it. His press conference today was just a rehash of his old talking points and finger-pointing. That’s why he can’t be re-elected in 2012.
Our economic news is disheartening and the task before us can seem daunting, but we must not lose our sense of optimism. People look around today and may see only the negative. They see a culture and a nation in decline, but that’s not who we are! America must regain its optimistic pioneering spirit again. Our founders declared that “we were born the heirs of freedom.” We are the heirs of those who froze with Washington at Valley Forge, who held the line at Gettysburg, who freed the slaves, carved a nation out of the wilderness, and allowed reward for work ethic. We are the sons and daughters of that Greatest Generation who stormed the beaches of Normandy, raised the flag at Iwo Jima, and made America the strongest and most prosperous nation in the history of mankind. By God, we will not squander what has been given us!
I've said it before, but I'll reprise now; she sounds positively Reagan-esque, in tone and content...
And while many here may not exactly count themselves among Palin's supporters, if she throws down a, "There they go again...", in an affable reply to an oft-repeated, tiresome, progressive talking point; y'all might as well toss me a life preserver, because I'll be completely in the tank.
What do you think, kind reader? Both of her post and of her, broadly speaking of course.
[Cross Posted at The Conservatory]
Play the Chicago Game and Avoid Taxes
What's so special about Lollapalooza (that thing is still going on? Jeez, it started when I was in high school...but it looks it has much fewer venues now) that it gets a $1-million-holiday from taxes?
Oh, I'm sure it's just coincidence they had hired one of Daley's nephews:
And if Lollapalooza wasn’t already enough of a financial bonanza for its promoters, who grossed more than $21 million last year, City Hall and Cook County government officials are doing their part to boost the festival’s bottom line, even as they struggle with their own budget crises, which threaten to result in layoffs of city and county workers.
For a seventh straight year, the city and county are exempting Lollapalooza from paying the amusement taxes normally imposed on arts and athletic performances and even movies.
That will save the promoters — Austin, Texas-based C3 Presents LLC — more than $1 million in taxes on the 270,000 tickets sold for this years’s festival, which opens Friday.
Lollapalooza got its latest waiver from the city’s 5 percent amusement tax in the waning days of the administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley, whose nephew Mark Vanecko has been a lobbyist and lawyer for the festival promoters, helping to negotiate their current 10-year contract with the Chicago Park District.
Just business as usual, guys. Nothing to see here.
I liked this detail:
Also, the contract says C3 has to comply with the park district’s affirmative-action goals — which call for subcontracting 25 percent of work to minority-owned businesses and 5 percent to women-owned companies. The park district says 14 of the 57 Lollapalooza vendors are owned by minorities or women. It won’t identify them. Nor will the district or the foundation provide any records to show how much work Lollapalooza gives to minority- or women-owned companies.
I love it when old school white nepotism runs into "diversity" goals. Their problem is that they didn't marry enough different ethnicities. Only if Daley had a black or hispanic nephew...
By the way, this Vanecko nephew isn't the same one involved in a homicide case where police files were "lost".
I can imagine the Daley family reunions are so much fun. In mine, we're just comparing kid videos...the Daleys must compare who got away with the most.
Rasmussen: Consumer Confidence Falls to New 2 Year Low and other Polls
Sure you do, champ; sure you do...
More of the hopey-changey-goodness that is RecoverySummer™ Part Deux :
Consumer confidence has fallen to a new two-year low while investor confidence continues to hover just above the lowest levels of 2011.
The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell four points on Wednesday to 63.7. That’s down eight points from a week ago, down nine from a month ago and down ten from three months ago. Confidence is now just nine points above the post-9/11 low reached in March 2009.
Just 15% of the nation’s adults believe the U.S. economy is getting better these days, while 66% believe it's getting worse. Those numbers reflect a far more pessimistic outlook than was found at the beginning of the year. The first update in 2011 showed that 30% believed the economy was better and 45% thought the opposite.
Lets see, how about we check out the 2012 Generic election ballot:
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows the generic Republican with 48% of the vote, tying the highest level of support earned by either candidate to date. The president picks up 42% support. Three percent (3%) like some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
And for good measure, how about the Presidential Tracking Poll:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -17 (see trends).
That last one isn't as bad as it's been in the past...But overall, do you think there's any correlation between these numbers? Well, anyone who relies on data, and realizes that figures never lie, but liars figure, would probably be inclined to. Show these links to the malcontents on the professional left, though, and all you'll here is something like; "Sure, but that's only because it's OberGruppenFuhrer McPollster Scott Rasmussen!11!1! (eleventy)"
Which, you know, is factual, but not such a convincing rebuttal in and of itself.
What's your opinion?
[Cross posted at The Conservatory]
Chairman of Obama’s Job Council to Create New Jobs…In China?
But, you know, at least they weren't Green Jobs...Yet...From Boston.com :
General Electric Co.’s health care unit, the world’s biggest maker of medical imaging machines, is moving the headquarters of its 115-year-old X-ray business to Beijing.
The headquarters will move from Wisconsin amid a broader plan to invest about $2 billion across China, including opening six “customer innovation’’ and development centers.
The X-ray business, whose financial results aren’t reported separately by GE, will hire 65 new engineers and support staff at a new Chengdu facility, the company said. GE has hired “a large number’’ of engineers who are in training, LeGrand said. GE, based in Fairfield, Conn., also has a global research center in Shanghai.
If you recall, GE's CEO, Jeff Immelt, is the Chairman of President Obama's Job Council; a group committed to creating new jobs. But who knew they were talking about creating jobs overseas? Especially considering all of the Sturm-und-Drang one hears about "outsourcing jobs" coming from "Big Labor", one of Obama's vital constituencies, and indeed from the entire progressive left in general whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Look. I've been a free-trading free-market guy all my life; in my opinion any business can do business wherever they'd like. But really, above and beyond the irony of this story and its concomitant sweet, sweet, schadenfreude there are more important points to be made here.
First and foremost, Americans will not be getting these jobs. Good Jobs. High-tech, high paying jobs. The ones the transnational globalists always said we'd retain here, so it was OK to shop all of those nasty ol' smokestack industry jobs to the developing nations. And what should be important to the DC politicians is that now they'll be missing out on the tax revenue from these jobs and the associated supply chain activity. But wait, there's more.
See, what most people don't realize are the details of the Faustian bargain that must be made by any US businesses that wants to set up shop in China. In most cases they have to cede 51% of the ownership to a Chinese partner, so Hello, GE shareholders-any objections to this? But far worse is that they have to agree to transfer both the device's operating technology and the expertise associated with manufacturing it to China as well; in other words they're not allowed to just ship the parts there to be assembled, and import tech's to service the units sold.
And really it's the technology transfer, both electronic as well as industrial process related, the Chinese crave. That way they can be saved the taxing step of actually buying enough units to successfully reverse engineer the device, and associated process, themselves; just ask the Russians about the SU-27 and SU-33 military aircraft. For a while the Chinese built them under Ukrainian license, (which the Russians protested-they knew better), for a while, and then they simply stopped paying the license fee, renamed the airplanes, and that was all there is to that.
People may think this imaging technology to be a benign transfer at best; which, Bill Clinton thought the same about missile guidance technology transfer to China in the 90s. We can see today how that's worked out for us...
The same technology that allows for the 3-d imaging of babies in the womb, on a different scale, has applications underwater, which is all I'm going to say about that...
The Chinese are our "frienemies" at best. Their aggressive, mercantilistic, monetary policies have cost Americans untold numbers of jobs. We are indirectly paying for their defense expansion and modernization via our monthly trade deficit with them, which most months is equal in magnitude to the amount of money we send overseas to pay people who hate us for oil (we could be producing here). It's bad enough we're paying for their military build-up. Let's not give them technology that may be useful in doing so to boot!
What do you think, kind reader?
[Cross posted at The Conservatory]
Congress Deluged With Telephone and E-Mail Traffic: add yours to the mix
Which, Mr. Obama asked the American people to weigh in on the debt ceiling increase debate, and it looks like they're taking his suggestion under serious consideration:
Congressional offices were deluged with feedback Tuesday after President Obama urged Americans to make their voices heard on the gridlocked debt ceiling debate.
Moments after dueling prime-time speeches by the president and Republican Speaker of the House John A. Boehner on Monday night, several congressional websites were overloaded with traffic. A day later, some were still slow to load, if they did at all.
On Tuesday morning, the Capitol call center said in a memo that House telephone circuits were "near capacity" due to the high volume of incoming calls.
A spokesman for the office of the chief administrative officer said that at the peak, House offices received a combined 40,000 calls in an hour — twice the typical volume. Some callers got a busy signal, but the number was not significant, spokesman Dan Weiser said.
A spokeswoman for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) said the phones in his Capitol Hill office were "ringing off the hook" at midmorning. Calls included a lot of "scared seniors," the spokeswoman said, adding that Rohrabacher believes the administration has misled seniors into believing their Social Security checks are at risk.
The calls, mostly from outside the congressman's district, favored the president's position, "but not by much," she said.
It's good to see folks actually paying attention to, as well as participating in, this debate, and I would urge all our readers to do so as well. I realize that with plans changing on a daily basis, and ideas being alternately talked up and shot down on a variety of outlets, that the idea of calling the members of their Congressional delegation without a specific proposal to support may seem like so much unproductive complaining.
Which, your humble scribe has some advice and a few suggestions to offer regarding that. Don't ever be hesitant to contact your Senator, Congressman, or even the White House and simply voice your opinion on the issues of the day. Always remember the fundamental American principle of our founders; the right to govern comes from the consent of the governed. And although there are many, in my opinion, arrogant individuals who mistakenly contended during the Obamacare debate that this consent began and ended at the ballot-box alone, it is much closer to the truth to say that political speech is the most protected of first amendment "free-speech" rights; so never shrink from engaging in the time-honored American tradition of telling elected officials just exactly what is on your mind.
Although right now there may seem to be no conservative plan to get behind and demand your delegation vote for, you can certainly let them know what you don't want them to vote for. For instance, it is my considered opinion, as well as Paul Ryan and others smarter'n me, that Senator Reid's plan is rife with the usual Washington smoke and mirrors, and that it also proffers additional, real, defense cuts I believe would harm the effectiveness and readiness of our military. So one course of action could be to express your dissatisfaction with Reid's plan as a whole, or to make clear any of the specific parts you disagree with.
And even though members of your Congressional delegation can't necessarily do anything about it, you might also considering expressing your unhappiness with the Democrat's "Mediscare" tactic of frightening senior citizens via the class-warrior assertion that the GOP is wantonly holding their Social Security checks hostage in the interest of benefiting "Big Oil!", and, "Corporate Jet Owners!". There's also the matter of the administration's constant media drumbeat about the coming US default, at odds completely with what they are telling banking and finance executives via the back channel; a direct and boldfaced lie that you may wish to call out the most ETHICAL! and TRANSPARENT! administration, EVAR! on. In fact, these just might be good topics to voice your displeasure with directly to the White House . I mean, Mr. Obama's the one who asked everyone to contact DC, right?
You may be asking, "why should I bother to contact DC"? The reason is pretty straightforward, and as usual with the Obama administration is all about the optics.
Mr. Obama is attempting to use a technique that Mr. Reagan used effectively several times in the 1980s; having the American people directly pressure their Senators and Congressman. Since part of the narrative construct that is Barack Obama is that, somehow, he is more beloved and an even better communicator then Reagan ever was, there is going to be an urgent need for his solicitation of the public to succeed; to be the biggest and bestest ever(!11!1!eleventy!!). To that end one can expect that all the Fightin' Nutroots, Obamabots, and assorted electronic brownshirts will be out trying to "freep" the results; just as they did with every high-visibility poll and media event during the 2008 campaign. They're going to try to sway the opinion of both Congress and the public at large by making it appear as if all America is behind beloved President Obama...
That's why it's vital that each of us make our preferences, and feelings, known. Do like they do in Illinois; vote early, and often :)
Seriously, America needs her patriots to make their voices heard above the shrill professional left. I urge you to add yours to the chorus of others. Don't let the nutroots reward Obama's "Days of Whine and Poses".
Here's a list of Senate Contact information, of House of Representatives Contact information, and White House Contact information. Please, kind reader, make the call or send and e-mail.
[Cross posted at The Conservatory]
Spokestool Jay Carney: Asking To See Obama’s Plan is a GOP Talking Point
Or alternatively, he doesn't want to put it out there because it will become "politically charged"; so says the man who's boss has threatened to veto the Boehner plan, draped himself in the mantle of Reagan by misappropriating one of the Gipper's quotes out of context, and demanded that Congressional leaders "compromise"-by accepting the Democrats debt ceiling increase plan-all within the last 24 hours.
From Greg Hengler at Townhall:
Chip Reid is the first to ask Carney about Obama's plan: "Why not put it out there?" Reid also asks: "What was the point of giving a prime time address to the nation without an Obama plan?"
Next, Chuck Todd doubles down on Reid's challenge and causes Carney to stutter a bit. After Todd's feisty challenges, a reporter named Carol triples down on the press's "show us the plan" challenge to Carney and Obama. The scene is ugly and unpleasant--if you're on Team Obama.
After all the hemming and hawing from Carney over Obama's so-called plan, we learn that he really doesn't have one "because we want a result." Go figure.
He has a plan but not really. Truly Orwellian...
And ACE calls a spade, a spade :
It's pretty interesting-- the press room jeers in protest when Carney suggests they skipped out of town early on Friday, when he claims the President clearly outlined his "principles."
His "principles." Still not his "plan."
As the CBO said, "We can't score speeches."
Really worth viewing. It's interesting that media is finally starting to chafe under Obama's arrogant reign. Really, really worth watching. The press (particularly Todd and Jake Tapper) will not ease up on Carney over the administration's utter failure to produce a plan.
Hmmm... Obama insists that the debt deal must carry him to January 2013, and here Carney repeats that the President also insists that no tax hikes will go into effect before January 2013.
Is there some economic importance of this January 2013 date?
And AllahP recounts the musing of Steve Hayes:
Steve Hayes notes that it wasn’t so long ago that Obama’s press secretary was mocking the GOP at the podium as “the party of no ideas” for producing a brief budget framework instead of a detailed plan. Fast forward two years and, with the alleged economic apocalypse nearly upon us, we’ve got a different press secretary insisting that O doesn’t need to float a plan because he once gave a speech or something. Good times, good times.
What's black, is white; Up is down; etc. Check out video at any of the links, at savor the squirming of O!'s minion in service to The Won.
[Cross posted at The Conservatory]
Senior Banking Officials Confirm That O!ministration’s Talk of Default is Blatant Fearmongering
Because through back channels the administration is going out of their way to assure banks that a default just isn't happening. From Charles Gasparino at Fox Business:
While officials from the Obama Administration raised their rhetoric over the weekend about the possibility of a debt default if the debt ceiling isn't raised, they privately have been telling top executives at major U.S. banks that such an event won’t happen, FOX Business has learned.
In a series of phone calls, administration officials have told bankers that the administration will not allow a default to happen even if the debt cap isn't raised by the August 2 date Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says the government will run out of money to pay all its bills, including obligations to bond holders. Geithner made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows saying a default is imminent if the debt ceiling isn't raised, and President Obama issued a similar warning during a Friday press conference after budget negotiations with House Republicans broke down.
A senior banking official told FOX Business that administration officials have provided guidance to them that even though a default is off the table, a downgrade "is a real possibility for no other reason than S&P and Moody's have to cover (themselves) since they've been speaking out on the debt cap so much."
This guidance is a big reason why Wall Street has largely dismissed the possibility of default, and though the markets have been jittery amid the talk of default, they haven't imploded as would be the case, many economists fear, if the nation missed a payment on its debt.
The banking official said the administration understands that if there were to be a default, it would likely spark another financial crisis.
"They also know they can pay the debt with cash on hand," this official told FOX Business. The Treasury collects around $2 trillion in tax revenues, and is scheduled to pay out $200 billion in interest to bond holders. In order to meet its obligations to contractors, social security recipients and others, the administration would have to raise another $1 trillion either through cuts, higher tax revenues, the issuance of debt or a combination of all three.
So if this is the case, how much credibility can be put into the Treasury Secretary's words? And what of the President himself? Are we to assume it's merely a white lie, to help move the debt ceiling negotiations along at the pace he prefers? Or as some have suggested it is part of a much larger, more cynical plan to pin the blame for the bad economy on the GOP; that next year he'll counter assertions that he has been a poor steward of the economy by counter-asserting that everything was fine until the Wingnut Tea-Baggerz wrecked it with their irresponsible demands during the debt ceiling increase debate.
What this does seem to indicate is that there is more breathing room for negotiations that Mr. Obama or the Democrats want to admit, and that they're more than willing to frighten the public in order to advance their political agenda. Which, if you recall, was one of Obama's major, damning, criticisms of the GOP during the campaign of 2008; their willingness to engage in fear-mongering to divide the American people. Not to mention their most recent mediscare demagoguery...
But is any of this really shocking, coming from the crew that subscribes to the maxim, "BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!"
What do you think, kind reader?
[Cross posted at The Conservatory]
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