Tag: 4@4

1. The Washington Independent reports ACLU lawsuit tests Obama openness policies.

   This week, the Obama administration will face its second significant courtroom test of the president’s pledges to end unwarranted secrecy about the workings of the federal government. At stake is a set of documents that could expose intentional lawbreaking by senior Bush officials.

   While concealing them would seem to contradict Obama’s much-heralded promise of a new era of open government, revealing them could make it virtually impossible for the new administration to refuse to investigate potential criminal conduct by the Bush administration, something the new administration has sought to avoid.

   The case, American Civil Liberties Union v. Department of Justice, has been going on for five years now, with the ACLU battling the Bush administration to turn over documents sought under the federal Freedom of Information Act that would reveal crucial information about the development of policies regarding treatment of detainees in the “war on terror” and could help determine whether Bush officials broke domestic and international law.

2. The CS Monitor reports President Obama stalls Bush drilling plans. “President Obama is making good on campaign promises to move toward a comprehensive approach to US energy and to broaden environmental protections.”

   The LA Times has details on the Obama administration’s most recent move: Expanded offshore drilling is on hold. “Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced he will extend public comments for six months on a last-minute proposal by the Bush administration to open swaths of the California, Alaska, Atlantic and Gulf coasts for drilling.” He also promised to “speed development of offshore wind farms”.

   The Monitor adds “also last week, the Justice Department said it is withdrawing a US Supreme Court appeal filed by the Bush administration against a court ruling governing mercury emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants.”

Four at Four continues with attacks in Afghanistan, bombings in Iraq, and MORE MONEY FOR PAKISTAN!

1. McClatchy reports the ‘shocking’ news that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said: Financial system working against recovery. “Geithner said that federal bank regulators would be empowered to conduct “stress tests” on banks to determine their financial health. These tests could lead to moves to close banks before their problems worsen and compound the economic slowdown.”

   “Instead of catalyzing recovery, the financial system is working against recovery,” he said. “And at the same time, the recession is putting greater pressure on banks. This is a dangerous dynamic, and we need to arrest it. It is essential for every American to understand that the battle for economic recovery must be fought on two fronts. We have to both jump-start job creation and private investment, and we must get credit flowing again to businesses and families.”

   According to the Financial Times, Geithner’s “‘financial stability plan’ will create a new ‘bad bank’– style public-private partnership, which will bring in private money with the initial aim of buying $500bn-worth of distressed assets from banks.” If necessary, the bad bank would buy up to $1 trillion ‘worth’ of the black hole.

   Meanwhile, the NY Times reports Geithner said to have prevailed on the bailout.

   In the end, Mr. Geithner largely prevailed in opposing tougher conditions on financial institutions that were sought by presidential aides, including David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, according to administration and Congressional officials…

   He resisted those who wanted to dictate how banks would spend their rescue money. And he prevailed over top administration aides who wanted to replace bank executives and wipe out shareholders at institutions receiving aid.

   While last night, President Obama gave his first press conference. According to the LA Times, Obama paints picture of Republican adversaries.

   Again and again in his prime-time news conference Monday, Obama painted his GOP adversaries as well beyond the mainstream. Some, he said, do not see any role at all for government in helping avoid an economic meltdown.

   “In fact, there are several who have suggested that FDR was wrong to intervene back in the New Deal,” he said, referring to President Franklin Roosevelt, the hero of the Great Depression. “They’re fighting battles that I thought were resolved a pretty long time ago.”

   At another point, he implied that his opponents wanted to stand by idly and watch the nation decline: “Do you just want government to do nothing, or do you want it to do something?”

   Me? I want the government to do something smart and different. Ya know. Change? Geithner’s plan seems like warmed-over Bush.

Four at Four continues with Bush cronism outlast Obama’s 1st term, Iran seeks improving U.S. relations, and plenty of jobs with wind power.

1. The Guardian reports High winds slash Spanish energy prices. “Spain has built so many wind farms in recent years that the arrival of high winds and the subsequent surge of electricity into the national grid now has an immediate impact on the price at which it is sold… Spain added another 11% to its wind-power capacity last year. That increase contributed to a year in which wind power accounted for 43% of new generation capacity – more new electricity capacity in Europe than any other source.”

   In a somewhate related story, The Economist adds Spain plans the most extensive high-speed rail network in Europe.

   New passengers reflect a revolution in Spanish travel. Domestic airlines have lost a fifth of their passengers in the space of a year. And long-distance trains have gained almost a third.

   This shift is the consequence of an ambitious programme for high-speed rail. The streamlined AVE trains, with their sleek corridors, work tables and spectacular views, are stealing the show. Those used to the tedious taxi rides, security checks and crowded shuttle flights traditionally endured by Spanish businessmen will not be surprised. The opening of the Barcelona-Madrid line a year ago marked the beginning of the end of airlines’ dominance…

   Spain’s high-speed network is still in its infancy. Another 9,000km of lines are planned over the next decade. The aim is to create Europe’s most extensive high-speed network, with 90% of Spaniards living within 50km of a station.

   Imagine what a country can do when it pulls out of stupid money and life wasting wars!?

2. Meanwhile, back in the U.S.A. The Washington Post reports the National security team Delivers a grim appraisal of Afghanistan war. “U.S. officials said more troops were urgently needed, both from America and its NATO allies, to counter the increasing strength of the Taliban and warlords opposed to the central government in Kabul. They also said new approaches were needed to untangle an inefficient and conflicting array of civilian-aid programs that have wasted billions of dollars.”

   And the NY Times adds President Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, says Afghan war ‘tougher than Iraq’. “It’s going to be a long, difficult struggle,” he said. Plus, the U.S. is risking the future of NATO by continuing the war in Afghanistan.

3. Surprise! Another Republican trojan horse. The $15,000 tax credit won’t help low-income home buyers, experts say, reports the LA Times. “To take full advantage of the credit, buyers would have to earn enough to use it and spend at least $150,000 on a home… Since the money comes as a deductible tax credit spread over two years, home buyers must earn enough to have $7,500 in income taxes — $81,900 per year for a family of four to get the full benefit, according to the housing coalition.”

   And according to Bloomberg News, U.S. taxpayers risk $9.7 trillion on bailout programs. “The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages.”

4. Change in Iran? The LA Times reports a Former Iranian president declares candidacy. “Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami announced Sunday that he will run as a candidate in the June 12 election, setting up a challenge to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that could alter Iran’s domestic and foreign policies… Throughout his two terms, Khatami sought a detente with the West.”

1. The Hill reports Vice President Biden douses Democrats with reality. “Biden, in an overly subdued manner, repeatedly told Democrats that the challenges they face as members of Congress – as a party and as leaders of the country – are ‘daunting.'”

   “There has never been the constellation of crises we face right now,” Biden said. “And we have no historical precedent to look back on, other than our grit. Our determination.”

   … Recounting a conversation he had with Obama in the Oval Office earlier in the week regarding the economic stimulus bill and other matters, Biden said the two came to the realization that: “If we do everything right… there’s still a 30 percent chance we’re going to get it wrong.“

   Biden said the doom-and-gloom manner in which he and the president have been speaking – and on a morning where the government reported a loss of an additional 598,000 jobs – was “not hyperbole.”

   But “it’s not that things are so bad now,” Biden said, “it’s what happens if we miss.”

   Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported 598,000 jobs were lost in the U.S. in January, pushing the unemployment rate to 7.6 the highest level in more than 16 years. According to the Washington Post, making it the largest one-month job loss since December 1974. The U6, a broader measure of unemployment, is up to 13.9% unemployed.

Four at Four continues with Obama’s continues Bush’s faith based policies, A.Q. Khan is released from house arrest, Cole bombing trial at Guantánamo is halted, and algae hope for coral reefs.

1. The Washington Post reports New jobless claims surge to 626,000. “The number represents a larger-than-expected increase over the 591,000 people who filed for benefits the week before, and it sets the stage for another jump in the January unemployment rate when it is released Friday.”

   Meanwhile the AP reports Productivity surges and labor pressures ease.

   Productivity was increasing at the end of last year at three times the expected pace while labor costs slowed significantly, underscoring that a deepening recession has taken away the threat of inflation.

   The Labor Department said Thursday that productivity rose at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the final three months of last year, far above the 1.1 percent rise that economists had expected. The increase was double the 1.5 percent rise in productivity in the third quarter.

   Americans are working harder for less money.

2. The CS Monitor reports From Minnesota to Texas, wind power sweeps new jobs into old-tech towns. “Before the nation’s financial crisis hit, wind manufacturing was on a roll. Riding a wave of wind-farm development, some 55 new or expanded facilities popped up nationwide just last year – from blade manufacturers to bearing makers – in what some describe as a new north-south wind manufacturing corridor running roughly from Minnesota to Texas.”

   “Nationwide, wind-turbine manufacturing added 13,000 jobs for a total of 85,000 wind workers last year… Even amid the economic gloom, demand is still soaring in one wind-energy area: wind-turbine technicians. Wind-farm growth has come on so fast worldwide that huge demand remains for technicians to maintain them.”

   But, The Guardian reports gloom from one of the companies featured in the Monitor’s article — a Californian wind turbine firm axes staff as recession hits renewables sector. “Clipper Windpower said in a trading update that 90 staff would be laid off and production levels cut by up to a fifth… Clipper had been ramping up its production facilities at its main manufacturing base at Cedar Rapids in Iowa in anticipation of new demand. But the company said it was now ‘reducing overall operating expenses, component purchases and working capital balances to align with the lower production levels, including an 11% workforce reduction.'”

Four at Four continues with Wall Street pay, Treasury Department over paying for bailout ‘assets’, Dawa party’s big win in Iraq, and the U.S. Navy’s wargame plans for Oregon.

1. The LA Times reports U.S. energy secretary warns of dire climate change scenario for California. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu explained that California’s farms and vineyards could fail by the end of the century and its cities are in danger of collapse. “Chu warned of water shortages plaguing the West and Upper Midwest and particularly dire consequences for California, his home state, the nation’s leading agricultural producer.”

   “I don’t think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen,” he said. “We’re looking at a scenario where there’s no more agriculture in California.” And, he added, “I don’t actually see how they can keep their cities going” either…

   “I’m hoping that the American people will wake up,” Chu said.

2. ProPublica reports Obama limits bailout corporate executive pay, but plenty of wiggle room. “The restrictions are stricter than the Bush administration’s, but provide plenty of wiggle room for execs to do well. There is no real limit on executive compensation, just restrictions on the type of compensation.”

   The Washington Post adds Bailout includes executive pay limits for some firms. “Under the new rules, companies can waive the $500,000 cap by informing shareholders that they planned to continue paying executives higher salaries. Companies would be required to allow a shareholder resolution on the subject, but the results would not bind the company.”

3. The NY Times gives the low down on President Obama’s Commerce Secrertary nominee, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH). Gregg differs with Obama on nearly every major issue. “He differs with his boss-to-be in favoring oil drilling on the coast of an Alaska wildlife refuge. He promotes a lighter touch with China than does the president. And he disagrees with him in backing private accounts for Social Security.”

   Gregg is “the 21st-richest senator, with assets, according to his 2007 financial disclosure forms, of $3 million to $10 million.” Smells like Change we can believe in!

4. The Washington Post reports Interior Secretary cancels leases on federal land in Utah. “Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is cancelling oil and gas leases on 77 parcels of federal land in Utah… The Bush administration conducted the lease sale in December, but environmental groups went to court to block the winning bids encompassing roughly 110,000 acres near pristine areas such as Nine Mile Canyon, Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument.”

   At DailyKos, mcjoan notes that “Salazar doesn’t rule out the possibility that some of the parcels on which leases were canceled today won’t eventually be put back out for sale once a valid process for determining their suitability for drilling is completed.”

Four at Four has, as a bonus, political theater below the fold.

1. The Sacramento Bee reports the Stimulus bill is nothing like Roosevelt’s New Deal. “The $900 billion economic stimulus package being debated in Congress, aside from being similarly huge, bears little resemblance to that New Deal spending spree. Today, lawmakers talk about infrastructure and tax credits. Back in the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt took a more grass-roots approach, putting people directly to work.”

   The New Deal left a “lasting impression” on America. “Roosevelt created a civilian army of 8.5 million workers, paying them through such agencies as the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps.” Gray Brechin, a historical geographer and visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, said:

   “I’m just blown away by all that they did during 10 years of horrible economic depression.” …

   “It’s all around us, but it’s invisible,” he said…

   “I always liken this to discovering a lost civilization that we forgot about,” Brechin said. “It just happens to be ours.“

   Imagine what FDR could have done with a $900 billion stimulus package, then think of what we’re going to get. Try not to get more depressed.

Four at Four continues with signs of the consumer society dying, banks still not lending, epic fail on public transit, and Iran launches satellite into space.

1. The NY Times reports Welfare aid isn’t growing as economy drops off.

   Despite soaring unemployment and the worst economic crisis in decades, 18 states cut their welfare rolls last year, and nationally the number of people receiving cash assistance remained at or near the lowest in more than 40 years…

   Of the 12 states where joblessness grew most rapidly, eight reduced or kept constant the number of people receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the main cash welfare program for families with children. Nationally, for the 12 months ending October 2008, the rolls inched up a fraction of 1 percent.

   The deepening recession offers a fresh challenge to the program, which was passed by a Republican Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996 amid bitter protest and became one of the most closely watched social experiments in modern memory.

   The program, which mostly serves single mothers, ended a 60-year-old entitlement to cash aid, replacing it with time limits and work requirements, and giving states latitude to discourage people from joining the welfare rolls. While it was widely praised in the boom years that followed, skeptics warned it would fail the needy when times turned tough.

Four at Four continues with climate changing off the U.S. Pacific coast, protecting deep sea reefs off the U.S. Atlantic coast, Bolivia’s lithium wealth, and China in the face of economic protests.

1. The Washington Post reports U.S. economy falls at 3.8 percent rate at year’s end. In the steepest quarterly drop in the GDP since 1982, “new data from the Commerce Department released this morning show the U.S. economy shrank at a 3.8 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate from October through December, compared with the previous three months. The number is an initial estimate that might change as more information is collected.”

   The NY Times adds Steep slide in the U.S. Economy as unsold goods pile up. “American consumers, who took on home equity loans and large amounts of credit card debt to finance their lifestyles earlier in the decade, curtailed their spending for a second consecutive quarter. Consumer spending, which typically accounts for two-thirds of economic growth, fell 3.5 percent in the quarter, after decreasing 3.8 percent in the third quarter.” Maybe this is the beginning of the end of the consumer culture?

2. Meanwhile, Bloomberg notest that Exxon and Chevron Top analyst earnings estimates. “Chevron’s refining earnings jumped 10-fold to $2.08 billion. Exxon Mobil had a gain of more than 6 percent to $2.41 billion as profit margins in overseas markets widened.”

   The NY Times underscores Exxon posts record 2008 profit despite slip in 4th quarter. Big oil isn’t hurting.

3. In what may be a ‘too little, too late’ move, the Washington Post reports Vice President Biden to helm a task force on the Middle Class. “Biden announced that his chief economic adviser, Jared Bernstein, will be the executive director of the task force — a welcome announcement to more liberal economists and the labor movement, who regard Bernstein as one of their greatest allies within the administration. The task force also has its own web site — astrongmiddleclass.gov — that will not only post information but also solicit ideas, Biden said.”

   Great! Let us eat website! Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports Richest Americans’ income doubled under Bush tax cuts. 2006 marked the lowest tax rate for the richest 400 people living in the United States and “their average income doubled to $263.3 million… In all, the 400 wealthiest Americans reported a combined $105.3 billion of adjusted gross income in 2006, the most recent year for which the IRS has data.” (Hat tip bubbanomics )

4. The LA Times reports U.S. DEA presence ends in Bolivia. “The last U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents left Bolivia on Thursday after having been ordered out by President Evo Morales… The departure in recent weeks of three dozen agents ends the DEA’s presence here after more than three decades. Senior law enforcement officials said it was the first time a DEA operation had been ordered out of a country en masse.”

1. Reuters reports U.S. jobless claims the highest since at least 1967. “The number of Americans claiming jobless benefits hit a record high in mid-January… The number of people staying on state jobless benefits rolls after drawing an initial week of aid jumped 159,000 to a higher-than-forecast 4.78 million in the week ended January 17, the most recent week for which data is available. It was the highest reading on records dating to 1967.”

   The “sales of newly built single-family homes slumped to their lowest levels since records started in 1963” and “New orders for long-lasting manufactured goods dropped 2.6 percent last month after plunging 3.7 percent in November, the Commerce Department said.”

2. The NY Times reports Ford has its worst year ever but won’t ask for aid. “The Ford Motor Company, the only Detroit automaker not being propped up by billions of dollars in government loans, said on Thursday that it lost $14.6 billion last year, making 2008 its worst year in history as a result of the biggest sales slump in decades.” Ford “reiterated that it did not need federal aid unless the economy worsened significantly or a competitor filed for bankruptcy protection.”

3. The Washington Post reports a Military judge denies Obama request to suspend hearings at Guantanamo. Saying he found the government’s argument “unpersuasive”, Judge James Pohl, an Army colonel, “denied the Obama administration’s request to delay proceedings for 120 days in the case of a detainee accused of planning the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole warship, an al-Qaeda strike that killed 17 service members and injured 50 others… The Pentagon may now be forced to withdraw the charges against Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi citizen of Yemeni descent.”

4. McClatchy reports a new White House lawyer’s firm sought bailout money. President Obama “appointed Neal Wolin, division president of The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., to become his deputy White House counsel for economic affairs. That makes Wolin the top legal adviser on economic issues.” Last November, Hartford “applied to become a thrift holding company entitled to between $1.1 billion and $3.4 billion in funds under the much-maligned Troubled Asset Relief Program” after purchasing a Florida thrift bank.

   “Consumer advocacy groups are upset. And not just because Wolin was a top executive of a company seeking bailout money, but also because of the regulatory reform Obama promised that includes calls for first-ever federal regulation of the insurance industry.”

5. The Washington Post reports Iraq denies new license to Blackwater. “The Iraqi government has informed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that it will not issue a new operating license to Blackwater, Worldwide, the embassy’s primary security company”. “Blackwater must leave the country as soon as a joint Iraqi-U.S. committee finishes drawing up guidelines for private contractors under the security agreement.”

1. The Washington Post reports the Long decline in union memberships reverses. The “first statistically significant increase” in union membership for American workers came last year. “In 2008, union members represented 12.4 percent of employed workers, up from 12.1 percent a year earlier, according to a report from Bureau of Labor Statistics issued this morning.” Union membership had been declining since the 1950s.

2. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports the FBI saw mortgage fraud early, but Bush administration didn’t provide resources to pursue it. “The FBI was aware for years of “pervasive and growing” fraud in the mortgage industry that eventually contributed to America’s financial meltdown, but did not take definitive action to stop it.”

   “Retired FBI officials asserted that the Bush administration was thoroughly briefed on the mortgage fraud crisis and its potential to cascade out of control with devastating financial consequences, but made the decision not to give back to the FBI the agents it needed to address the problem. After the terrorist attacks of 2001, about 2,400 agents were reassigned to counterterrorism duties.”

3. The Economists fear a U.S. deflation economy, reports the CS Monitor. “In a deflationary climate, the predisposition is to postpone economic activity, because things are expected to become even cheaper… The risk is if a deflationary psychology takes root. Consumers and business would defer decisions, which could deepen the recession and push prices down further… Deflation hits debtors especially hard. The burden of their debts is rising relative to a decline in the overall consumer price level.”

4. Wall Street bonuses down only 44% for 2008, reports Reuters. “Bonuses fell to $18.4 billion from $32.9 billion in 2007… Losses from traditional broker-dealer operations of New York Stock Exchange member firms topped $35 billion in 2008.”

   “Meanwhile, Wall Street shed 19,200 jobs, or 10.2 percent, in New York City over the last 14 months, ending the year with 168,600 workers… The average Wall Street bonus fell 36.7 percent to $112,000 in 2008. The average decline was smaller than the drop in the overall bonus pool, … because the pool was shared among fewer workers as jobs were cut.”

5. The Guardian reports Pier-munching gribble may provide breakthrough for biofuels. “A wood-boring crustacean that spends much of its time munching through the wooden supports that hold up piers could help provide the next breakthrough in green energy. The gribble uses enzymes in its gut to break down wood and scientists want to employ it to produce climate-friendly biofuels from natural products such as willow and straw.” Research has begun on the gribble project in the U.K.

1. The British Government must release cabinet minutes on lead-up to Iraq war, reports The Guardian. The UK information tribunal has ordered the release of Tony Blair’s cabinet meetings for the 13 and 17 March of 2003 during the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq.

   The meetings considered the highly controversial issue of whether the invasion was allowed under international law. Lord Goldsmith, who was attorney general at the time, initially suggested that the legality of the invasion was legally questionable before subsequently issuing legal advice saying that it would be compatible with international law.

   This has given rise to persistent claims that ministers were not fully briefed on the possible legal pitfalls of an invasion.

   Gordon Brown’s government has 28 days to appeal.

2. The Washington Independent reports the House Republican Strategy is to embrace Obama. “Republicans are attempting to link themselves to the popular Obama administration while criticizing the work of the Democratic Congress. The goal is to oppose Democratic policy without being seen as opposing or obstructing the president, a posture that, they hope, will put them in better position to win back voters if the Democrats’ popularity falters.”

3. The NY Times reports Geography is dividing Democrats over energy policy. Congressional Democrats are plotting to thwart President Obama’s moves to address global warming. “Mr. Obama has said he intends to press ahead on such an initiative, despite opposition within his own party in Congress and divisions among some of his advisers over the timing, scope and cost of legislation to curb carbon emissions.”

   However, these pro-pollution Democrats are using similar ‘jobs’ rhetoric the Republicans used for nearly the past 30 years. “If we pass a climate bill the wrong way, it will hurt American jobs and the American economy, as more and more production jobs go to places like China, where it’s cheaper,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

   Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) “is a leader of the so-called Gang of 10, representing the coal-dependent states in the middle of the country.” By the end of 2008, the group swelled to 16 climate dead-ender Senate Democrats, including Obama’s Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar.

4. The CS Monitor reports the Supreme Court affirms shield from employer retaliation.

   Employees who provide evidence during an informal investigation of discrimination in the workplace are legally protected against retaliation from the boss or other senior managers.

   In an important workers’ rights decision announced Monday, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 shields employees from retaliatory acts even when the employee hasn’t filed a formal complaint…

   The decision puts managers and supervisors on notice that they face legal consequences if they use their power in the organization to try to cover up their own discriminatory actions by retaliating against complaining employees. In addition, the decision puts employees on notice that, when they come forward to help expose discrimination in the workplace, they clearly enjoy the protections of the law.