Barack Obama

Weekly Audit: Obama's Stimulus Plan Signals End of Era

by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Bloggger

Since the U.S. is officially in a recession, and the Congressional Budget Office has predicted the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, just about everybody acknowledges that times are tough. Everybody, that is, except the National Republican Congressional Committee. Talking Points Memo's David Kurtz caught the Republican fundraising operation spouting some embarrassing doubletalk on their website earlier this week, including the proud declaration that "the U.S. economy is robust and job creation is strong."

In fact, job creation is non-existent. The U.S. economy is losing over half a million jobs every month and even optimistic Wall Street economists expect unemployment to keep rising for at least another year.

Weekly Audit: The Battle for Wall Street Begins

by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Blogger

"I'm not talking about a budget deficit. I'm not talking about a trade deficit. I'm not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans. I'm talking about a moral deficit . . . . We have a deficit when CEOs are making more in ten minutes than some workers make in ten months; when families lose their homes so that lenders make a profit; when mothers can't afford a doctor when their children get sick."

-Sen. Barack Obama, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Jan. 20, 2008

How We All Get To Vote On The Stimulus Plan.

So you only have one President at a time, and clearly, right now, the President is Barack Obama who is standing up and attempting to do something about the economic situation here in the United States, a situation which is worsening by the day.

As such, the world online and off is exploding with opinion, new ideas, some old ones rehashed and many of the usual talking points being thrown around with increasing speed. Clearly, there is some great commentary being written about the Stimulus Plan, what it means and what might happen over the next days and weeks as the plan is debated.

For example, at TruthDig, it is pointed out that "Now Is No Time For Phony Thrift" lampooning Mitch McConnell who presided over hundreds of billions of dollars in government overspending, now suddenly worried about waste.

Paulson wants second $350 billion; Obama may help

The Washington Post reports that:

Treasury Department officials are laying the groundwork for seeking the second half of the $700 billion financial rescue package from Congress ... [but w]ith lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressing heated opposition to such a request, Treasury officials have come to realize that they need the president-elect's help to obtain the rescue money, the sources said.

The Treasury aired the possibility of seeking the second half of the funds with transition team officials, who said they would attend a meeting with lawmakers and the Bush administration if the department pulled one together.
....

UPDATE 8 : NEWSFLASH: Geithner nomination and the return of Lawrence Summers?

NBC is reporting that Federal Reserve Bank of New York President, Timothy Geithner has been nominated by President-elect Obama to be the new Treasury Secretary.

As new developments occur, I will update. Below is a brief from Wikipedia about the nominee.

After completing his studies, Geithner worked for Kissinger and Associates in Washington, DC, for three years and then joined the International Affairs division of the US Treasury Department in 1988.

In 1999 he was promoted to Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs and served under Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.

Why something should be done

I'll be honest, I never wanted to write up a diary piece like this. A week ago, like many of you, my feelings on "bailing out" Wall Street was equally negative. Why? Why in the name of all that is decent should we clear up the bad judgment of folks who really do not care about the common folk?

For years, folks who would be identified as the type who would get the jobs of running organizations like Goldman Sachs or Lehman Brothers, were considered "Masters of the Universe." For them, we, you and I, were the dirty lowers against their kind. We existed to supplement their income. But now the veil has been lifted, and we see now that they are not masters of anything but their own greed and stupidity.

Tankergate UPDATE: It's dead, John McCain must be happy

Today the Pentagon announced that is terminating the competition for a new airborne refueling tanker.

The tanker deal that tanked.

Bottom line, the politics of the whole thing got too hot for them. As many know, European Aerospace Defense System (EADS) subsidiary Airbus beat out Boeing for the contract; a bid that also included US-based Northrop Grumman. Everyone expected the Chicago/Seattle-based aerospace maker to land the contract, but the EDS product proved more appealing to the Pentagon. You see, the plane that Airbus had submitted was much larger than the one Boeing had proposed.

Manufacturing Monday: Strike at Boeing, Dell to sell plants, and Solar Arabia,

Greetings everyone, I hope your weekend was fantastic. Welcome to another edition of Manufacturing Monday! Some exciting and interesting stuff to cover this week. First the big time strike happening at Boeing. Then theres computer maker Dell looking to sell of ALL of it's factories, and finally could Saudi Arabia claim to be Mecca of solar energy beside crude oil??

Dreamliner turning out to be a nightmare for Boeing and it's workers

Honestly, Boeing should have seen this coming. Well, in case you weren't aware, the machinists at Boeing went on strike over the weekend. The raison d'etre for calling the move? Outsourcing of work, or basically job security was the main issue.

UPDATE : Manufacturing Monday: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!


(UPDATE NOTE: New economic data released, see below!)

The Democrats are finally going after McCain's jugular. That is, his economic policies. Oh sure, we all know he's Mister War, and that is one of his weak links too. But the economy, in particular the jobs situation, that will help propel Barack Obama into the White House.

The DNC responds to McCain's Jobs First campaign restart.

The Democratic National Committee finally released their response to John Airbus McCain's reboot of his half-ass presidential campaign under a "Jobs First" theme. But slightly off topic for just a brief second, can anyone tell me how the hell this man hasn't even been replaced by Cheney yet with someone else?? Shit, Viagra whore, Bob Dole, ran a better campaign than this! Ok, back on topic.

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