The WonkLine: July 14, 2009
The WonkLine: July 14, 2009
Welcome to The WonkLine, a daily 10 a.m. roundup of the latest news about health care, the economy, national security, immigration and climate policy. This is what we’re reading. Tell us what you found in the comments section below, and subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, you can now follow The Wonk Room on Twitter.
National Security
Yesterday, Pakistan began moving 2 million refugees, who were displaced by Taliban elements, back to their homes in the Swat Valley. The United States, among other nations, will closely watch the process for signs of Pakistan’s ability to reverse a growing Islamist militancy.
The multicolored terror alert system created after 9/11 in under review and could be revised or eliminated entirely. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to appoint a panel Tuesday to reevaluate the system.
Navy pilot’s are changing their strategy to become more collaborative in Afghanistan in order to avoid civilian casualties. The adjustment reflects orders last month by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the new United States commander in Afghanistan, that sharply limit the use of airstrikes.
Economy
According to a Goldman Sachs forecast, “severe budget crunches afflicting U.S. states will put the brakes on the national economy by as much as seven-tenths of a percent of Gross Domestic Product in the next 12 months.”
Five companies involved in the derivatives trade are forming the Wholesale Market Brokers’ Association Americas Inc., which will “press its case as lawmakers debate legislation to regulate the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market.”
According to a new report from President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors, “jobs requiring only an associate degree or skills certificate are projected to grow slightly faster than those requiring at least a bachelor’s degree in the coming decade.”
Health Care
In a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), President Obama pressed Democrats to move quickly on health care reform.
A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds that Americans believe that “it’s important to overhaul health care this year… but they are less enthusiastic about some of the proposals to pay for it.”
Who is Dr. Regina Benjamin? Jonathan Cohn and Tim Foley have some answers.
Immigration
In a move to “thaw relations,” the U.S. and Cuba will convene this afternoon to discuss migration issues for the first time since talks were suspended in 2003.
Deportation flights have risen since President Obama took office with the Office of Detention and Removal Operations averaging 9 to 10 charter flights a weekday.
A federal judge certified a class action lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who claim to have been overcharged and subject to illegal fees when they were applying for Temporary Protected Status.
Climate
In a Washington Post op-ed, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) calls President Obama’s cap-and-trade energy plan “an enormous threat to our economy,” but repeats false arguments and “at no point does Palin mention CO2 emissions, rising global temperatures or anything that’s at the core of the legislation.”
Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) “has placed a hold on President Obama’s pick to be the No. 2 official at U.S. EPA” — Robert Perciasepe — over what he claims is “an incomplete analysis of the House-passed global warming and energy bill” by the EPA.
Eric Chivian, Harvard Medical School’s Director for the Center for Health and the Global Environment: The G-8 goal of a 2-degree limit to warming is “almost twice the amount we have already caused, which is now melting ice all over the world; causing more intense heat waves, droughts, flooding and storms; and threatening the survival of coral reefs and 40 million acres of conifer forests in western states and Canada.”
7 Responses to “The WonkLine: July 14, 2009”
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The Elise Foley piece on Dr. Benjamin in the New Republic stated:
Obama spent the first half of his press conference reaffirming his commitment to passing health care reform legislation, then moved on to discussing an appointee who worked with the same types of people his plans are meant to protect.
It didn’t mention the nails on chalkboard impact of Dr. Benjamin’s service (regardless of money) on Obama’s pay for performance plans to bribe doctors. She’d do nothing different under his plans. Money is not her motivator.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:31 amClearly the White House wanted to kick start a renewed focus on health care by the President by putting such an impressive woman forward.
Yet, a sentence on WR the day after is all CAP offered.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:33 amRe cap and trade – the recent Rolling Stone article on Goldman Sachs argues cap and trade will be a huge boongogle for the investment houses.
Anyone have observations on that assertion?
July 14th, 2009 at 11:18 amI did short piece on who stands to benefit from carbon trading:
http://peureport.blogspot.com/2009/06/carbon-traders-set-to-benefit.html
Note Goldman Sachs blew away earnings estimates with the banner quarter. Big profits came from their trading operations:
http://peureport.blogspot.com/2009/07/what-happens-on-wall-street-stays-on.html
July 14th, 2009 at 11:52 amGoldman Sachs made $2.7 billion in net income for the second quarter. They set aside $6.65 billion for compensation in the quarter.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/31894821
July 14th, 2009 at 12:51 pmFrances Townsend is back in the news again.
http://stateofthedivision.blogspot.com/2009/07/frances-townsend-lands-spot-on-national.html
July 14th, 2009 at 3:56 pmrj — the carbon market will be a fraction of the broader energy markets (oil, coal, natural gas, etc.). Fortunately Waxman-Markey increases oversight over and puts limits on these existing markets and their derivatives markets.
Right now the cost of global warming pollution simply isn’t being considered by the financial markets, which is why coal plants keep getting financing from Citigroup and the like.
That said, there’s no reason for permits to be given away. There should be a full, transparent auction and revenues distributed for public purposes.
Similarly, the unlimited banking and effectively unlimited offset markets weaken the legislation.
To some degree, if there are outsize profits in the financial industry, it will come at the expense of the Peabody Coals and Exxon Mobils of the world.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:20 pm