Daily digest – Slipping past the Congressional blockade

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

Congress Passes Three Major Trade Deals, Ending Political Standoff (HuffPo)
Congress may not be able to get it together to pass any jobs programs here at home, but they aren’t about to let minor obstacles like flagrant worker abuse get in the way of serving corporate interests abroad.

RIP, American Jobs Act (The Nation)
George Zornick notes that President Obama may be able to build an effective political strategy around the GOP’s decision to block his jobs plan, but with his economic strategy mostly dead in the water, the only job he’ll be saving is his own.

Why Liberals Should Embrace Occupy Wall Street (TNR)
Political elites of the 1930s weren’t fond of protesters who took to the streets to demand their fair share, but FDR’s decision to respond with a broad reform agenda worked out much better than the cynical hippie-bashing that’s currently in vogue.

How politicians can kick the Wall Street habit (WaPo)
If Democrats want to align themselves with OWS, Harold Meyerson suggests they put their money where their mouths are and pledge to accept no contributions from the financial sector in the next election cycle. Not even a little to take the edge off.

Trust Bust: Why No One Believes the Banks (ProPublica)
Jesse Eisinger notes that even banks that seem to be doing fine on the surface are struggling to convince investors that they’re a safer bet than the guy in the trench coat offering to show them the box of free puppies in his car.

Wall Street Sees ‘No Exit’ From Financial Woes as Bankers Fret (Bloomberg)
President Obama’s merciless persecution of financial execs continues as many who came to Wall Street seeking their fortunes learn to cope with the knowledge that they may have to settle for being fabulously rich rather than obscenely wealthy.

What Should Europe Do? (SCEPA)
Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Jeff Madrick argues that the strongest members of the EU have a moral obligation to aid the periphery, but their hesitance to act suggests they’re less reliable in a crisis than George W. Bush. Ouch.

What If the China Bubble Bursts? (Time)
In case the stalled domestic economy and impending implosion of Europe weren’t enough to worry about, Ken Miller points out that China’s economy is also on the verge of collapse — and if they go down, they’re taking everyone with them.

Why Education Needs an Occupy the Classroom Revolution (GOOD)
Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, Jose Vilson thinks it’s time for a revolution to reorient policy toward providing a better education to children instead of finding creative new ways to punish teachers for existing.

The hysterical (and deceptive) conservative response to Elizabeth Warren(WaPo)
Metaphor fail: Warren says she’ll throw rhetorical rocks at people who are wrong. The GOP takes this to mean that she will literally stone you to death if you cross her.

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Posted by New Deal 2.0 on Oct 13 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