Ads from groups supporting Barack Obama are targeting Republican Senators in four states. The ads produced by groups including Americans United for Change, MoveOn.org Political Action, AFSCME and SEIU were released widely to the press yesterday.
[Video]
Watch this exchange between Dick Armey and Joan Walsh on the Chris Matthews show Hardball.
The Moral Hazard of the “Bad Bank” – “I’ve noticed something I find a bit disturbing about our new Treasury Secretary: He has not yet fully come to terms with his new job, role — and boss.”
JPMorgan Exited Madoff-Linked Funds Last Fall – “[JPMorgan] suddenly began pulling its millions out of those funds in early autumn, months before Mr. Madoff was arrested, according to accounts from Europe and New York that were subsequently confirmed by the bank.”
Lilly Ledbetter Act: The First Bill President Obama Signs – “… I sign this bill for my daughters, and all those who will come after us, because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams and they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers never could have imagined.”
Military Judge Denies Obama Request to Suspend Guantanamo Hearings – “The Pentagon may now be forced to withdraw the charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi citizen of Yemeni descent.”
By positioning himself and as an opposition party of one, it seems John Cornyn is seeking to gather followers who vehemently reject everything Obama says or does. This would be the Rush Limbaugh crowd who “hopes [Obama] fails”.
| “It’s a bold gambit for the second-term senator, whose home-state reputation had always trended moderate and whose strong ties with the Bush family once cleared his political path but now could be seen as a handicap.” |
The only problem is that Obama is extremely popular with an approval rating of 68%.
More in the article “Obama: More Political Capital Than Reagan?”
Today, Paul Krugman in a NYTimes column points out that many opponents of President Obama’s stimulus plan are either trying to intentionally mislead the public about the facts or don’t know enough about the subject.
| “[T]he obvious cheap shots don’t pose as much danger to the Obama administration’s efforts to get a plan through as arguments and assertions that are equally fraudulent but can seem superficially plausible to those who don’t know their way around economic concepts and numbers.” |
1. First, there is the bogus talking point that the Obama plan will cost $275,000 per job created. In truth, “the net cost will be as little as $60,000.”
2. “Next, write off anyone who asserts that it’s always better to cut taxes than to increase government spending because taxpayers, not bureaucrats, are the best judges of how to spend their money.”
3. “Finally, ignore anyone who tries to make something of the fact that the new administration’s chief economic adviser has in the past favored monetary policy over fiscal policy as a response to recessions.” “[T]he interest rates the Fed controls are already effectively at zero.”
| These are only some of the fundamentally fraudulent antistimulus arguments out there. Basically, conservatives are throwing any objection they can think of against the Obama plan, hoping that something will stick.
But here’s the thing: Most Americans aren’t listening. The most encouraging thing I’ve heard lately is Mr. Obama’s reported response to Republican objections to a spending-oriented economic plan: ‘I won.’ Indeed he did — and he should disregard the huffing and puffing of those who lost.” |
Despite $15 billion in losses, former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain approved $4 billion in bonuses for top executives and $565 million in dividends to shareholders. All this happened at a time when the company should have been “building up cash.”
From Business Week:
“On Nov. 13, just three weeks before Merrill shareholders voted to approve the merger with BofA, Merrill’s former board approved the payment of 35 cent-a-share dividend to all common stockholders. The payout drained another $565 million from Merrill’s coffers at a time when the firm should have been building up cash, instead of spreading it around.
Now sure, one could argue that if Merrill had slashed the dividend to the bone, the brokerage’s stockholders may not have voted for the merger with BofA. But Merrill’s dividend payout came just weeks after Bofa announced on Oct. 6 it was slashing its dividend in half to 32 cents-a-share–a move the bank said would save it some $1.4 billion in cash each quarter. (The bank has since cut the dividend to a penny-a-share).”
[Video:]
A sample from President Obama’s Speech:
“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”
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