Daily digest – The president’s no-man

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

Latest Lame Obama Excuse: “Geithner Blew Me Off” (Naked Capitalism)
Ron Suskind’s new book about the financial crisis reveals that President Obama asked Tim Geithner to consider breaking up Citigroup and Geithner just wasn’t into it, because that’s how being Treasury Secretary works.

Three Years After Lehman Bros. Collapsed, Republicans Refuse To Implement Wall Street Reform (Think Progress)
The financial sector’s last bout of insanity cost the U.S. millions of jobs and hundreds of billions in bailout money, but the GOP is ready to let bygones be bygones.

Obama Won’t Include Social Security Reform In Recommendations To Super Committee (HuffPo)
It took a little while, but the president has come around to the idea that a deficit reduction deal shouldn’t mess with a program that doesn’t contribute to the deficit.

Free to Die (NYT)
Paul Krugman writes that modern conservative economics is less about freedom of choice than freedom from responsibility — even when it comes to caring for sick kids.

The Republican Weapon of Mass Cynicism (Robert Reich)
Reich argues that no rhetoric could undermine Americans’ faith in government as effectively as watching how Republicans behave when handed the reins of power.

Shutdown Chances Increase Over Disaster Relief, Program Cut Disputes(TPM)
Party leaders say they’d like to avoid another stand-off, but House conservatives are having trouble with the idea of a deal where they don’t get everything they want.

‘I Wasn’t Born at Harvard’: Elizabeth Warren Meets the Voters (The Atlantic)
Warren, who was actually grown in a Soviet lab to destroy the banking industry, has some campaign trail chops. All she’s lacking is name recognition and a manly truck.

The Truth About Stimulus (MoJo)
Kevin Drum writes that stimulus funds going to Solyndra doesn’t prove much except that some projects fail, and those who root for those projects to fail really enjoy it.

Is the poverty rate even higher than we think? (WaPo)
Suzy Khimm notes that under an alternative formula that accounts for consumer expenditures, the U.S. poverty rate may go from merely awful to truly horrendous.

Recession Job Losers Take Bigger Hit to Future Earnings (WSJ)
More good news for those who have been laid off recently: According to a Brookings study, they can look forward to decades of lower wages even if they find a new job.

In Boeing Case, House Passes Bill Restricting Labor Board (NYT)
Republicans are quite annoyed at the NLRB and its rude attempts to enforce federal labor law, and they don’t care who knows it.

Study: Privatizing government doesn’t actually save money (WaPo)
It turns out the government often spends more by outsourcing work to private contractors, but at least those projects wind up being more freedomful.

Short URL: http://aworldofprogress.com/readingroom/?p=984

Posted by New Deal 2.0 on Sep 16 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