Prisoner #6 and Hopscotch

dear Gov -- from #6 to #1:
First, thanks for the furlough day off! OK it was unpaid, ok so we had to send my day's wages back to the federal agency from whence it came, but it had the appearance of saving money! And, I had a day off, which I did appreciate.

Now lets see who shall I vote for, I am getting a bit perplexed.
Dudley - not willing to stand up against offshore drilling. Feels he must side with the Republicans, who have all taken the same vow to "say" they don't believe in global warming. Must be things like sun spots (convincing, but not convincing enough). To unify the world, global warming is the single most important international issue. Also to improve our economy, our air, give us jobs, and on and on and on.

Then again, how much control does a Gov have about such things? Should he really be focused on the state economy, and not the international presence of Oregon? Answer: he/she should focus on all of the above. We are all interconnected in the world, no turning back.

Meanwhile, on the Kitz front - will you really listen to anyone? Or do you have all the right policy answers? I read today that when you were Gov in a previous life, you vetoed environmental legislation something like 32 times. So tell me, what is that about??

My new party, the Progressive Party. I received a voter registration card, so its real! The symbol is 'PRG'. There are complaints that the Secretary of State wants to stick to 3-letter abbreviations for party affiliation. Well DEM and REP are probably well know. Is PRG possibly going to be confused with 'Pregnant candidate'? And I am not, I tested negative!

So Gov-to-be, lets think about this some more. Prisoner #6 is the designation from "the Prisoner", that fine Patrick McGoohan series from the 60's, that was avidly watched in the 70s at a certain lovely college I know very well (in between failing math exams I guess).

question for today - how is Congress like hopscotch? Give up?
One foot, two feet, jump again. Then start the sequence all over again..
Democrats are coming out swinging with very very positive commercials touting health care reform (rah!). They have also passed financial regulation. What the Dems do, the Republicans, should they gain control of Congress, are threatening to undo. Back to square one, as if none of this ever existed.

And our Mt Tabor was in the news today. The head of Hawthorne Auto Clinic, Jim Houser, was asked to be part of Obama's press pool today, and bear witness to the fact that the new health care reform has helped save his small business money. Possibly my new auto repair shop, now that I've made a vow (please keep me to this!!) not to go to the dealer anymore.

postscript. Today I was designated printer slot #6 in the new multiplex printer that serves the west side of financial services. Example of cosmic coincidence, for those looking for examples.

The Day after the Day after

OK it was Thursday that HR 4213 died. Harry Reid pronounced its death. A little part of me still thinks the Senate could surprise us, maybe next week, maybe the week after that - when states feel they are sunk, when people have given up on unemployment extensions and soup kitchens start asking for more donations.

Did you know that disability claims go up when people lose unemployment? I can't say I understand the connection, but I've read this several places. Maybe when people feel they can get back to working they worry less about their own health and problems. Yes this happens, as soon as my mom took early retirement from DOD her health spiraled down and she died 7 years later. Hence I must keep working, even if it keeps the young ones out of the job market..

Lets look at levels of government and how they stand on deficits vs. continued stimulus:

Our Governor Kulongoski gave a talk yesterday, advocating fiscal austerity. He is finally engaged and plans to take his ideas to the state, traveling and campaigning for them. Maybe he will frame the debate for the 2 candidates to replace him - and start a dialog.

Reid and the U.S. Congress - the Republicans won their share of floor space, and the debate. The Dems, failing to garner even a single R vote, went down. So - deficit concern trumped continued stimulus.

Across the pond -the UK in their new "coalition" government is advocating new fiscal austerity. They are deathly afraid of being the next Greece. And are raising the Value Added Tax from 17% to 20%, as well as making cuts to various social welfare programs

Fourth and last example - the G8. I hear cries of fiscal austerity (today' s NY Times). I think Obama may be the lone voice advocating continued stimulus.

So lets take a tally:
Oregon - fiscal alarm
R's in Congress - fiscal alarm
UK - fiscal alarm
G8 - fiscal alarm
D's in Congress - stimulus

That makes 4:1, and is making me wonder..

My Eighth Grade Self was Right

It Is all about the EPA..

When I was in 8th grade, all I wanted to do was work for the EPA (guess I hadn't yet thought about being Harriet). I remember telling this to my favorite Uncle Walter. He dismissed this as foolishness, telling me - no girl, you don't want to work for them. All they do, he said, is tell companies they can't pollute.

Why did I think he had answers for me?? And where would my life be now if I had listened to my inner 8th grade self?

Today in the U.S. Senate the Joint Senate Resolution sponsored by Murkowski and the Republicans to "disable" EPA's court-recognized responsibility to control greenhouse gasses was turned down. Yes! A good day.

I got the sense, listening to her, that she thought this was Congress' domain. Well! Has Congress showed they are capable of doing Anything? Like a landlord who does not enforce his own rules, they have mostly lost their ability to enforce or carry out any kind of legislation. Witness unemployment extensions, which expired on June 2. They continue in their inaction while people drop off the rolls, no jobs to be had (a story for another day)..

So thank you Obama administration for stepping up. The Time is Definitely Now.

Mr. Reid wants the Senate (ok I will try to have just a little faith) to work on global climate change legislation - this month - before Independence Day! OK, keep trying to have a little more faith, stop laughing. Hopefully he and Obama will quit trying to appease the Republicans with giveaways like offshore drilling (no possible chance in heaven or hell), or nukes. They can keep the nukes too.

Is this a Second Stimulus?

“American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010” (Amendment to HR 4213, to be debated in both the House and Senate next week starting Tuesday, with an intent to pass it and have Obama sign by Memorial Day)

Brief overview:

$174B – spending (B = Billion)

$40B – offsets (revenue)

$134B net spending

(would you call this a second stimulus?)

Emergency spending (not subject to pay-go):

$47B – Unemployment extensions (currently cutoff at June 2, they would be extended to December 31, 2010. Note this does not add additional “tiers”, it only expands the cutoff dates. Once you’ve received your regular, 4 tiers of emergency, and extended benefits, That Is It – your 99 weeks).

$24B – FMAP extensions (federal Medicaid match)

$7.7B – Cobra extensions (federal 65% pickup)

Additional spending highlights:

$64B – Medicare “doc fix” (temporary 3-year continued higher reimbursement rates)

$19.6B – Business tax credits (R&D, AMT credit for domestic capital investment, leasehold cost recovery, economically distressed tax credits, other)

$5.0B – Tax credits for individuals (state/local tax deduction, property tax deduction, tuition deduction, teacher expense deduction)

$2.4B – Increase disaster loss expenditures (think Gulf Coast)

$1.4B – Agricultural supports (did you know we have both a Wool Trust Fund and a Cotton Trust Fund, supporting domestic industries?)

$1.3B – Alternative energy (biodiesel, biomass, heavy hybrids, liquid fuels (but not woody biomass aka black liquor as the OR delegation has been pushing), green homes, energy efficient windows, etc.)

$4.6B – Settlements (Cobell, Pigford) – Native American trust accounts, black farmer restitution

$10.9B – Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund – increase 8 cents/gallon tax to 32 cents/gallon to increase fund solvency in the case of, um, national oil disasters

Closing tax loopholes (revenue):

$14.3B – closing foreign tax loopholes

$18.6B – carried interest (instead of all hedge fund manager’s income being taxed at lower capital gains tax rate, some is taxed at income tax rate)

$9.6B – service professionals not exempt from social security income cap

Something for everyone? In the past, extensions to unemployment have been held up by Republicans over a lack of emergency designation. Now they are designated emergency (interesting how much weight a single word carries), does this mean no fighting and wasting Congressional floor time next week?