Daily digest – No jobs plan for you

What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical debates.

President’s Jobs Measure Is Turned Back in Key Senate Test (NYT)
The Senate answered President Obama’s repeated calls to “Pass this bill!” with a resounding “Nah” last night, but failure was a foregone conclusion, since the proposal only had majority support.

Will Occupy Wall Street’s spark reshape our politics? (WaPo)
Katrina vanden Heuvel writes that the moral clarity of the OWS protesters is unsettling the powerful and reshaping the national dialogue more effectively than the kind of obsequious petition some of their critics would like to see them produce.

When Being Rich Makes Us Poor, People Should Occupy Wall Street (HuffPo)
Dean Baker argues that if we want to get the economy back on track, we need to put a stop to radical income redistribution in the U.S. — specifically, the rigged system that transfers money from working families to wealthy fat cats.

The Right’s ‘53 Percent’ Solution to Occupy Wall Street (New York)
Jonathan Chait notes that the right wing, faced with troubling questions about power and inequality in America, have decided to change the subject and get back to more comfortable territory for them, i.e., sneering at poor people.

Bathtubs for Beginners (Baseline Scenario)
James Kwak checks the math from David Brooks’s latest piece on Occupy Wall Street and finds that the Times columnist either doesn’t understand what he’s writing about or doesn’t want to understand what he’s writing about.

Banking Industry Revamp Moves Step Closer to Law (NYT)
The Volcker Rule is here at last, and it’s tougher than some bankers expected. But with many questions still up in the air before the final rule takes effect, the debate continues over whether this regulatory porridge is too hot, too cold, or just right.

The Woman Who Knew Too Much (Vanity Fair)
Before her Senate run, Elizabeth Warren was the person everyone hoped (or feared) Obama would choose to lead the CFPB. But being a friend to consumers turned out to be a great way to make enemies on Capitol Hill and Wall Street.

This Time, It Really Is Different (NYT)
A new white paper from the New America Foundation calls for increasing government spending on infrastructure, restructuring mortgage debt, and changing the relationship between creditor and debtor nations — you know, the easy stuff.

The Seven Biggest Economic Lies (Robert Reich)
From trickle-down theory to Ponzi schemes, Robert Reich runs down some quick responses to the conservative talking points your cranky uncle with the Gadsden flag airbrushed on the side of his van is most likely to forward you.

Republicans Stretch Truth in Debate Salvos on Jobs, Taxes (Bloomberg)
The GOP presidential field and economic reality remain two ships passing in the night, sometimes scraping against one another and making a loud and unpleasant noise.

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Posted by New Deal 2.0 on Oct 12 2011. Filed under New Deal 2.0, the reading room. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry