Text: President Obama on Earmarks Reform

(Source: White House Press Office)

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I ran for President pledging to change the way business is done in Washington and build a government that works for the people by opening it up to the people. And that means restoring responsibility and transparency and accountability to actions that the government takes. And working with the Congress over my first 50 days in office, we’ve made important progress toward that end.

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Full Text: U.K. PM Gordon Brown Speech to Joint Session U.S. Congress, March 4

(Source: Office of the Prime Minister)

Madam Speaker, Mr Vice-President, distinguished members of Congress, I come to this great capital of this great nation, an America renewed under a new President to say that America’s faith in the future has been, is and always will be an inspiration to the whole world.

The very creation of America was a bold affirmation of faith in the future: a future you have not just believed in but built with your own hands.

And on January 20th, you the American people began to write the latest chapter in the American story, with a transition of dignity, in which both sides of the aisle could take great pride. President Obama gave the world renewed hope, and on that day billions of people truly looked to Washington D.C as “a shining city upon a hill”.

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Full Text: Ben Bernanke Testimony on Economy and Federal Budget, March 3

(Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)

As Prepared for Delivery

Chairman Conrad, Senator Gregg, and members of the Committee, I am pleased to be here today to offer my views on current economic and financial conditions, the federal budget, and related issues.

Recent Financial and Economic Developments and the Policy Responses
Over the past 18 months, the global economy has experienced a period of extraordinary turbulence. The collapse of a global credit boom, triggered by the end of housing booms in the United States and other countries and the associated problems in mortgage markets, has led to a deterioration of asset values and credit conditions and taken a heavy toll on business and consumer confidence.

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Full Text: Obama Administration Executive Budget Document FY 2010 Rest of 2009

What I’ve Been Waiting to Hear From President Obama on the Banks

In at least a rudimentary way, I’ve understood what Mr. Keynes had to say about business cycles and the need for the government to prime the pump from time to time since my 12th grade economics teacher drilled it into me.  So, the economic stimulus package makes all the sense in the world to me.

What hasn’t made sense is the unfairness of the hundreds of billions going to people who so greedily and so recklessly took us all down this economic road to ruin.  I’m talking about the investment banks, brokerages, insurance companies and others in the financial services industry who leveraged America’s future to hell and back.  Tonight, the president reassured me, and hopefully others, that his Administration will deal with these fools differently:

I understand that when the last administration asked this Congress to provide assistance for struggling banks, Democrats and Republicans alike were infuriated by the mismanagement and results that followed. So were the American taxpayers. So was I.

So I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions. I promise you – I get it.

But I also know that in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment. My job – our job – is to solve the problem. Our job is to govern with a sense of responsibility. I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can’t pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can’t get a mortgage.

Full Text: President Barack Obama – Address to Joint Session of Congress – February 24, 2009

(Source: White House Press Office)

Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery
Address to Joint Session of Congress
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of the United States:

I’ve come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here.

I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others.  And rightly so.  If you haven’t been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has – a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family.  You don’t need to hear another list of statistics to know that our economy is in crisis, because you live it every day.  It’s the worry you wake up with and the source of sleepless nights.  It’s the job you thought you’d retire from but now have lost; the business you built your dreams upon that’s now hanging by a thread; the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope.  The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.

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Jindal Shows His Ignorant Side While 79% of Americans Want Republicans To Be Constructive

Hours and hours before President Barack Obama even had the chance to deliver his message to Congress tonight, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called Obama’s economic plans “irresponsible” in a release of excerpts from his “response” to the president’s message.

Meanwhile, in a NYT-CBS Poll released today, Obama is still showing broad support from Americans of all stripes.  It’s like everyone in the country has put the election behind them while we work on a huge economic crisis except for the Republican National Committee and its toadies like Jindal.

Jindal = politics as usual while Obama tries to reach across the aisle and get everyone involved in solving problems.  Here are some interesting numbers from today’s NYT-CBS Poll:

• 74% believe Obama is trying to work with Republicans in Congress; Only 31% believe Republicans in Congress are trying to work with Obama.
• 65% believe Obama has the same priorities for the country as they do; 83% think that Obama cares a lot or some about the problems of people like them.
• 77% believe Obama is bringing change to the way things are done in Washington
• 63% believe Republicans in Congress opposed the stimulus bill for political reasons rather than because the legislation would be bad for the economy.
• 79% believe working with Obama and Democrats in Congress should be the priority for Republicans over “sticking to Republican policies.”

Who do Republicans think wins the war with hope and constructive action on side and cynical politicking on the other?

Bailouts, Stimulus, Etc. – What Has The Rush Gotten Us?

Drudge Report has been trying mightily since Saturday to “sell” this story: If there was such a hot rush to pass the stimulus bill, why was President Barack Obama taking the weekend off in Chicago?

What Drudge does is show he’s in the tank for the Republicans when he runs a picture like the one to the left “above the fold” all weekend with the following headline: What’s the rush? ‘Urgent’ stimulus on hold for Obama’s weekend off …

First of all, no president of the U.S. has a “weekend off.” Not even George W. Bush, although some may say he took years off.

This is a potshot – Drudge urging the producers over at Fox News to beat up on the president.

But, despite Drudge’s partisanship, he points out a real problem with Republican and now Democrat management of the U.S. economic crisis.  Our politicians are scaring us silly and ramming TARPs, assorted bailouts and stimulii through the government machine with very little transparency and even less accountability.

Back in the Fall when the Troubled Asset Relief Program, aka $700 billion bailout, was rammed through Congress there was lots of scary talk about meltdowns and companies so big and far-reaching that we couldn’t possibly let them fail.  $350 billion of that bailout went out to the banks and Wall Street.  We still have barely working credit markets.  They’ve loosened up a bit, but nothing much has changed in the past several months.  We also know that a lot of our tax dollars were wasted on bonuses, exorbitant compensation for failing management teams, mergers and acquisitions.

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Final Text: Economic Stimulus Bill, Reported From House-Senate Conference

1. Part A – Click to View
2. Part B – Click to View

At the beginning of this process, the President and Congress said that there would be at least five days for public review of this.  This bill is at least twice as many pages as that which was originally introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, and longer than what came out of the U.S. Senate.  This is the reconciling of those two versions, known as a Conference Report.  This is the actual bill.  Nancy Pelosi, according to reports today, has announced that she has to leave for a trip to Europe at 6 p.m. tonight, so this monster needs to be voted on NOW.  Public review of the final bill will have amounted to mere hours – not five days.

Bank Bailout: Hurts Worse When the Politicians Failing Us Inspired Hope and Promised Change

There are so many things to dislike about the big banks, brokerages and insurance companies that brought the financial crisis upon us that one doesn’t know where to begin.  So instead, let’s begin with the politicians who we elect and pay to keep us out of these messes.

They failed us last fall with the first enactment of the TARP – the $700 billion bailout – and they’re failing us again.  Only now it hurts worse because the folks failing us are the ones who inspired hope and promised change.

I had a fantasy that change would mean a different approach in handling the greed and inequity which hide behind the  corporate ramparts.  I thought change would mean a president taking advice from the likes of Krugman and Galbraith and instead we’ve got Summers and Geithner.  Where the problem with Krugman and Galbraith may be that they’re too “liberal” for a president trying to be non partisan and centrist, the answers to our problems do not lie with “the establishment,” represented by Summers and Geithner.

I’m angry, there are lots of people angry, and we don’t want to be told any reckless business is “too big to fail.”

On Tuesday, Geithner was still singing, Too Big to Fail.  He didn’t tell us much, but he did tell us Washington is still willing to pull out the stops for the investment class.  Congress is no better.  When it comes to the financial services sector, Congress is operating in the irrelevant sector.

What we do still have a chance at here is change.  Some players need to be thrown out of the game, and their survival shouldn’t have anything to do with how far their tentacles reach into the larger economy or the campaign accounts of our elected officials.

So, here’s another fantasy … Perhaps Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s announcement Tuesday was only a trial baloon.  Maybe he and Larry Summers were on the phone with Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan and thought they might be able to rig the game one more time for Wall Street.  Geithner may have said, “Boys, I just don’t know, I think we’ve run our string, but I’ll try for one more – but I’m telling you, if there’s blowback, this president is different than the last two …”

That’s my fantasy anyway.

Transcript: President Barack Obama, First Press Conference, February 9, 2009

(Source: CNN)

President Obama: Good evening, everybody. Please be seated.

Before I take your questions tonight, I’d like to speak briefly about the state of our economy and why I believe we need to put this recovery plan in motion as soon as possible.

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Ohio Sunday Papers – February 8, 2009

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• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Strickland’s budget has some odd twists and turns – The Plain Dealer
• GOP’s Carey scrutinizes Strickland budget – Dayton Daily News
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Ohio Dems Clumsily stoop into the mud in attacking Portman - Columbus Dispatch
• Sen. Brown touts Ohio’s $6.8 BN in stimulus - Toledo Blade
• No stimulus deal for Voinovich – The Plain Dealer
• Unemployment hits nearly every area of Ohio analysis shows - The Plain Dealer
• Ohio likes Obama – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio Mayors in line for stimulus cash – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Buy American is no sale for Obama – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio prison staffs feeling strained – Dayton Daily News
• Malaise grows, resources shrink – Columbus Dispatch
• Some wealthy districts would gain, some poor would lose in school funding – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: Reforming schools starts with audits – Akron Beacon Journal
• Factors in Strickland school funding plan – Columbus Dispatch
• Kasich says wait and see – Columbus Dispatch
• Region has clout in Ohio legislative ranks – Cincinnati Enquirer
• Ohio stem cell researchers get ready for old rules to be tossed – Columbus Dispatch
• Head of PUCO reappointed – Associated Press
• Maureen O’Connor to run for Chief Justice – The Plain Dealer
• Lake Erie ice fishermen rescued, one dies – The Plain Dealer

Congressional Republicans Fiddle While Economy Burns

Apparently, GOP leaders still don’t get it.

The events of last Fall should’ve been enough failure, enough repudiation for even the most stubborn to take a step back and rethink their world view, re-evaluate their approach.  Rational people might think that the continuing unwinding of the economy should be enough to appeal to Republican lawmakers’ sense of patriotism and push them in favor of government investment in jobs and the future.  On the contrary, President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill received not a single Republican vote in the U.S. House and is only moving in fits and starts through the Senate.

Notably, one Republican amendment which passed the Senate last night added $19 billion to the bill.

Today, in the Washington Post, Obama made a direct appeal to Washington in an op-ed piece.  Two things stand out form me in what the president wrote.

First, he reminds political Washington about the ‘fierce urgency of now.’

What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives — action that’s swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.

We are in historic times, perilous times in fact.  At this point it doesn’t matter why we’re here, what matters is what moves us forward.

Second, Obama illustrates the stakes and describes the solution:

Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

That’s why I feel such a sense of urgency about the recovery plan before Congress. With it, we will create or save more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, provide immediate tax relief to 95 percent of American workers, ignite spending by businesses and consumers alike, and take steps to strengthen our country for years to come.

As the fundamentals of the broad economy begin to turn positive and unemployed Americans go back to work and those with jobs shed their anxiety, we can rebuild parts of the system and have all of the big government/small government arguments from a position of economic security.  The time for Democrat v. Republican is not suited for this stage of the game.  We’ve tried trickle down tax policies as an economic engine and the horsepower just isn’t there for where we need to go today.  Barack Obama and the Democrats have the ‘hemi.’

We Need the Stimulus Bill, But Let’s Not Oversell It

President Barack Obama said today in the Washington Post that he believes his stimulus bill is “a strategy for America’s long-term growth and opportunity …”

With this I disagree.  No single bill, however omnibus it may appear, which was cobbled together over a few weeks by very few Congressional leaders is a “strategy.”  America needs a strategy – first and foremost for dealing with the end of the fossil fuel economy – but that would be an inclusive, collaborative process with as much input from Americans outside of Washington as from those inside the Speaker of the House’s office.

As broad and deep as this bill is, let’s not oversell it.  It’s spending, pure and simple.  When the economy is in the tank, the government primes the pump.  There’s nothing wrong with that, let’s not shy away from it Democrats.  We used to proudly call it Keynesian Economics.

This spending proposal is targeted at projects or proposals which create jobs and create them fast.  The one strategic piece may be the infrastructure outlays, but there again can anything that is rushed be considered strategy?  In the context of today’s U.S. and world economies, this recession is a deadly serious threat to our security.  Priming the pump is the way out of it and that should be enough reason for any member of Congress to vote for it.

Ohio Sunday Papers – February 1, 2009 – A Lot of Ohio Education Debate

• PNC Bank considered less stable after National City purchase – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: ACT for Ohio – Akron Beacon Journal
• Editorial: Reshaping Ohio’s Schools – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: No Money to Back Up School Plan – Akron Beacon Journal
• Op-Ed, Michael Douglas: Flaws and all, Strickland’s plan good start – Akron Beacon Journal
• All day kindergarten reflects expectations – Dayton Daily News
• Officials: All Day K costly – Dayton Daily News
• Stakes high for Strickland – Dayton Daily News
• Strickland’s plan could help district retain teachers – Dayton Daily News
• Is Education Strickland’s ‘Afghanistan?’ – Dayton Daily News
• Will Strickland’s longer school year fly? – Toledo Blade
• Longer school year worries Ohio’s tourism industry – Associated Press
• LaTourette’s lobbyist wife’s clients – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Closer look at Ohio lobbyists – The Plain Dealer
• Husted takes second job with Dayton Chamber – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Aaron Marshall: Strickland Boxes Himself In – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Boehner can have impact – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: What does it take to grow NCR here? – Dayton Daily News
• More nepotism from Cuyahoga Sherrif – The Plain Dealer
• Non-profit social service groups plight in this economy – Columbus Dispatch
• Property flipping scam bled $30 million from investors – Columbus Dispatch
• Truckers want uniform speed limit in Ohio – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: PD’s goals for Cleveland – 2009 – The Plain Dealer
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