Economic News Round-Up

Here's some of what I've been reading this morning...

Reuters—Anti-Wall Street activists look to block West Coast ports:

Anti-Wall Street protesters, hoping to briefly cripple a key supply chain of American commerce and re-energize their movement, plan to attempt to block major West Coast ports on Monday.

By marching on U.S. ports from California to Alaska, organizers look to call attention to economic inequalities in the country and a financial system they complain is unfairly tilted toward the wealthy.

The planned action comes after the Occupy movement that began in New York in September has seen its tent camps in most big West Coast cities dismantled in police raids, leaving the movement looking for new avenues to voice its discontent.

...Police in several cities were so far not disclosing their plans for handling the protesters or whether they aimed to confront them, risking clashes, or stand back.

The Port of Oakland has mounted a public relations campaign to dissuade protesters from joining the effort, while two of the largest labor unions involved have split -- with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union opposed to the blockade and Teamsters in favor.

But union workers were largely expected to stay on the job, and were contractually barred from joining such a strike. The protest will focus in part on truck drivers who earn low wages and cannot join unions because they are classified as independent truck drivers, and must provide their own trucks.

"It's a group that encapsulates basically everything that is wrong with society," [Mike King, a graduate student who acts as a media liaison for Occupy Oakland] said.

And reminding us why the Occupy Movement exists...

New York Times—With lobbying blitz, for-profit colleges diluted new rules:

Last year, the Obama administration vowed to stop for-profit colleges from luring students with false promises. In an opening volley that shook the $30 billion industry, officials proposed new restrictions to cut off the huge flow of federal aid to unfit programs.

But after a ferocious response that administration officials called one of the most intense they had seen, the Education Department produced a much-weakened final plan that almost certainly will have far less impact as it goes into effect next year.

The story of how the for-profit colleges survived the threat of a major federal crackdown offers a case study in Washington power brokering. Rattled by the administration's tough talk, the colleges spent more than $16 million on an all-star list of prominent figures, particularly Democrats with close ties to the White House, to plot strategy, mend their battered image and plead their case.

I highly recommend reading this whole article. In other reminders of why the Occupy Movement exists...

Bloomberg: Bank Credit Highest Since Before Lehman as US Growth Continues.

WaPo: Congress Edges Toward a Bipartisan Compromise on Spending.

CNN Money: Millions of Unemployed Americans to Lose Unemployment Benefits if Congress Doesn't Act.

Paul Krugman in the New York Times—Depression and Democracy: "It's time to start calling the current situation what it is: a depression. True, it's not a full replay of the Great Depression, but that's cold comfort."

Meanwhile, the Eurozone debt crisis is "far from over."

As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to leave links to anything you're reading and/or writing in comments.

Economic News Round-Up

Let's start in Europe, where the history comes from...

CNN Money—European leaders hash out crisis deal:

A majority of European leaders agreed early Friday on a new deal to try to resolve the continent's debt crisis, but some countries including Britain refused to back a broader treaty change.

The 17 members of the eurozone, which share the embattled single currency, reached a deal for a new intergovernmental treaty to deepen the integration of national budgets.

Six other EU nations supported the deal. "We're doing everything we can to save the euro," President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said at a news conference in Brussels following a marathon summit meeting of EU leaders.

As a result of the news, stocks are up. For now. The rollercoaster continues in the Eurozone.

Iain and I were talking about the European crisis for a long time last night, and we were both lamenting the push for austerity in Europe, which will be just as ineffectual as it will be in the US, because it's not an economic solution; it's a deflection of accountability. Austerity is just a fancy name for the strategy of making poor people pay for wealthy people's mistakes.

Speaking of which...

The Hill—Dems' payroll tax cut extension goes down again in Senate: "Senate Republicans blocked the latest installment of President Obama's jobs plan—a bill to extend the payroll tax cut—for the second week in a row on Thursday. The bill, titled the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, was shot down 50-48. It would have cut the payroll tax paid by employees to 3.1 percent from the current 4.2 percent while funding itself by imposing a surtax on millionaires."

Paul Krugman in the New York Times—All the GOP's Gekkos:

Almost a quarter of a century has passed since the release of the movie "Wall Street," and the film seems more relevant than ever. The self-righteous screeds of financial tycoons denouncing President Obama all read like variations on Gordon Gekko's famous "greed is good" speech, while the complaints of Occupy Wall Street sound just like what Gekko says in private: "I create nothing. I own," he declares at one point; at another, he asks his protégé, "Now you're not naïve enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you, buddy?"

...[T]he current orthodoxy among Republicans is that we mustn't even criticize the wealthy, let alone demand that they pay higher taxes, because they're "job creators." Yet the fact is that quite a few of today's wealthy got that way by destroying jobs rather than creating them.

The Hill—GOP seeks to cut unemployment benefits: "GOP leaders hope to build momentum for an end-of-year tax package with sweeping reforms to federal unemployment benefits. The Republican proposal is expected to reduce the total number of weeks unemployed workers are eligible for aid by as much as 40 weeks and tighten rules for eligibility."

Digby—Next step in our Randian dystopia: stigmatize the unemployed: "[J]ust as you can tell if someone looks like an '"illegal' you can tell if someone's likely to be a drug user. They're just looking for the 'bad people' who are stealing the money from hard working taxpayers."

And in Occupy news...

Greg Sargent: Winning the Argument.

CNN: Midnight deadline passes for Occupy Boston protesters to clear out.

WSJ: NYU to Offer Classes on Occupy Wall Street.

As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to leave links to anything you're reading and/or writing in comments.

Economic News Round-Up

Here's some of what I've been reading this morning [trigger warning for child abuse]...

The Hill—Senate Passes $662B Defense Bill After Deal on Detainee Language:

The Senate passed a $662 billion Defense bill Thursday evening after a long fight over how the U.S. military detains terror suspects.

The bill passed overwhelmingly 93-7, following an agreement reached late Thursday afternoon to add compromise language on the detention of U.S. citizens and terror suspects on U.S. soil.

Now the Defense bill goes to conference committee with the House, which had its own language on detaining terror suspects that must be reconciled with the Senate version.

It is not clear whether the change will satisfy the White House, which has threatened to veto the Defense bill over the detainee provisions.

The Obama administration expressed its opposition to the use of military detention within the United States, but also had concerns over the legislation tying the hands of federal law enforcement by mandating military custody and prosecution of al Qaeda members. The administration also opposes restrictions on transferring Guantanamo detainees.

For more on the detainee legislation, see Glenn Greenwald, whose piece underscores why this is an economic issue: War is big business for US corporations, especially as war is increasingly subcontracted to profit-making enterprises. Forever war is forever money, for them.

CNBC—Economy Creates 120,000 Jobs, Rate Tumbles to 8.6%: "Job creation remained weak in the U.S. during November, with just 120,000 new positions created, though the unemployment rate slid to 8.6 percent, a government report showed Friday. The rate fell from the previous month's 9.0 percent, a move which in part reflected a drop in those looking for jobs. The participation rate dropped to 64 percent, from 64.2 percent in October. The actual employment level increased by 278,000. The total amount of those without a job fell to 13.3 million." Emphasis mine. It's not good news when the unemployment rate drops only because people are giving up.

New York Times—For Jobless, Little Hope of Restoring Better Days: "Even though the Labor Department is expected to report on Friday that employers added more than 100,000 jobs in November, a new study...to be released Friday by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, [shows] just 7 percent of those who lost jobs after the financial crisis have returned to or exceeded their previous financial position and maintained their lifestyles. The vast majority say they have diminished lifestyles, and about 15 percent say the reduction in their incomes has been drastic and will probably be permanent."

Texas Tribune—Abuse Reports in Texas Increase as Economy Falters:

More children are living in poverty than ever in Texas. About 1.7 million Texas children — 26 percent of the total population — live below the federal poverty level, according to United States census data released this week. Experts speculate that a key factor in the increase in reports of child abuse and neglect is the struggling economy; the number of reported cases of abuse has gone up 6 percent in Texas since 2008, before the recession.

In Travis County, the number of new cases opened with Child Protective Services rose 36 percent from 2008 to 2011.

"In an economic downturn, when you're losing your job, it pushes you over the edge in terms of the resources you have both internally and externally to care for your kid," said Jane Burstain, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a liberal research group.

...Child Protective Services, like most state agencies, was hit with severe cuts during the 2011 legislative session.

Child abuse prevention financing was slashed by 44 percent. And because the Legislative Budget Board did not increase financing for caseload growth or to support family services or relative caregivers, the agency will continue to operate on a budget designed in 2009. Shelters and facilities that care for children and provide services like domestic violence prevention and protective parenting classes are struggling to find ways to serve more families with far fewer dollars.

Texas is, of course, not the only state in which this is happening.

CNN—Fannie Mae, Banks Halt Foreclosures for the Holidays: "Happy holidays struggling homeowners! Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and several large mortgage lenders have pledged not to foreclose on delinquent borrowers during the [holiday] season. For homeowners with loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the moratorium will run from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2. During this time, legal and administrative proceedings for evictions may continue, but families will be allowed to stay in their homes, Fannie said in a statement. 'No family should have to give up their home during this holiday season,' said Terry Edwards, an executive vice president for Fannie Mae." Awwwwwwwww. God bless us, every one!

Nick Hanauer at Bloomberg—Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators: "It is unquestionably true that without entrepreneurs and investors, you can't have a dynamic and growing capitalist economy. But it's equally true that without consumers, you can't have entrepreneurs and investors. And the more we have happy customers with lots of disposable income, the better our businesses will do. That's why our current policies are so upside down. When the American middle class defends a tax system in which the lion's share of benefits accrues to the richest, all in the name of job creation, all that happens is that the rich get richer. And that's what has been happening in the U.S. for the last 30 years." This is just a great piece. A definite must-read.

Paul Krugman at the New York Times—Killing the Euro: "Can the euro be saved? Not long ago we were told that the worst possible outcome was a Greek default. Now a much wider disaster seems all too likely. even optimists now see Europe as headed for recession, while pessimists warn that the euro may become the epicenter of another global financial crisis. How did things go so wrong? The answer you hear all the time is that the euro crisis was caused by fiscal irresponsibility. Turn on your TV and you're very likely to find some pundit declaring that if America doesn't slash spending we'll end up like Greece. Greeeeeece! But the truth is nearly the opposite." Spoiler Alert! Austerity is disastrous. Whooooooooooops!

As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to leave links to anything you're reading and/or writing in comments.

Economic News Round-Up

The password is: Unemployment.

LA Times—On the US: "Despite the nation's 9% jobless rate, Republicans have grown increasingly uneasy with providing additional unemployment benefits beyond the 26 weeks most states offer. More than 2 million jobless Americans will exhaust those benefits in the early weeks of the new year. The federal government has been supplementing the states to provide up to 99 weeks of benefits. Congress will need to devise a way to pay for the estimated $55-billion cost of the extra aid that will draw GOP support without alienating Democrats."

Belfast Telegraph—On the UK: "The UK's economy will slip back into recession in the coming months, a bleak forecast from the OECD revealed. The economic think-tank said the UK's GDP will shrink in the final quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012—the first time it has predicted a double-dip recession for the UK. ... The OECD also said unemployment, which currently stands at 8.3%—its highest since 1996—will rise to 9% in 2013 as jobs figures take a worse hit than in the recession following the banking crisis."

ABC Melbourne—On Australia: "A study looking at youth employment has found young people make up almost a quarter of Australia's long-term unemployed. ... Since 2008, the percentage of young Australians without a job for a year or longer has almost doubled."

AP—On Japan: "Government figures released Tuesday showed the unemployment rate adjusted for seasonal variations had jumped to 4.5 percent from 4.1 percent in September. Other recent indicators show slowdowns in exports and industrial production in the face of a strong yen and a sputtering global economy."

China Daily—On France: "The number of jobless people in France grew by 1.2 percent in October from a month earlier, as sluggish economic activities slowed job creation in the eurozone's second largest economy, official figures showed on Monday. According to labor ministry figures, France registered 34,400 more jobless people last month, which pulled up the country's total number of jobseekers to more than 2.814 million in France's mainland."

Asia One News—On Thailand: "The Office of the National Economics and Social Development Board (NESDB) said yesterday that Thailand had 260,000 people out of work in the third quarter of this year and the flood had significantly affected workers' quality of life. The unemployment rate was expected to increase to 700,000-920,000 people, with household debts also rising."

NASDAQ—On Italy: "Italy's economy will contract by 0.5% in 2012, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday in a new set of forecasts, sharply slashing projections of 1.1% growth made in May. ... Italy's new government needs to 'fully implement' emergency fiscal measures it inherited from its predecessor and 'undertake important structural reforms to spur growth,' doing so even as unemployment rises, the OECD said."

Bloomberg—On Spain: "Spain's economy is struggling to recover from a three-year slump as households spend less to pay off one of the largest private-debt burdens in the euro region. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its 2012 growth forecast for Spain to 0.3 percent from 1.6 percent yesterday, and said it sees unemployment peaking at 22.9 percent next year."

The Globe and Mail—On Greece: "In October, Greece's million-strong unemployed outnumbered the county’s 750,000 public sector workers as the country edged to the close of its fourth year of recession."

Not good. Meanwhile, the Eurozone crisis remains a primary global concern...

The Guardian's live coverage is here.

CBS News—EU leaders seek Hail Mary for the euro: "The 17 finance ministers of the countries that use the euro converged on EU headquarters Tuesday in a desperate bid to save their currency—and to protect Europe, the United States, Asia and the rest of the global economy from a debt-induced financial [disaster]. ... Even countries outside the eurozone were ratcheting up pressure on the ministers to find a solution. President Barack Obama, meeting with top EU officials on Monday, said a European failure to resolve its debt crisis would complicate his own efforts to create jobs in the U.S. And even Poland, historically wary of German dominance beyond its borders, appealed for help. 'I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so, but here it is,' Radek Sikorski said in Berlin. 'I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity. You have become Europe's indispensable nation.'"

ABC News—Obama says US 'stands ready to do our part' for Eurozone crisis: "As the European debt crisis continues to escalate, President Obama urged European Union leaders today to act quickly to resolve the eurozone crisis... 'This is of huge importance to our own economy. If Europe is contracting or if Europe is having difficulties, then it's much more difficult for us to create good jobs here at home,' [the president said]. While Obama did not say what kind of assistance the U.S. would be willing to provide, earlier today the White House ruled out any financial contributions from U.S. taxpayers. 'We do not in any way believe that additional resources are required from the United States or from American taxpayers,' White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters. 'This is a European issue, that Europe has the resources and capacity to deal with it and that they need to act decisively and conclusively to resolve this problem,' Carney said."

So, basically, we're going to "help" by lecturing other countries to get their shit together while failing to get our shit together. Awesome. Austerity for everyone!

Reuters—Euro zone crisis biggest threat to global economy—OECD: "The euro zone's debt crisis has become the biggest threat to the global economy and a break up of the currency zone can no longer be ruled out, the OECD said on Monday, slashing its forecasts and urging the ECB to play a bigger role in defusing the crisis. ... A worst case scenario of continued inaction in the euro zone and the failure of U.S. lawmakers to agree a spending-reduction plan would usher in a devastating downturn for the world economy, the Paris-based OECD said."

Speaking of the Congressional Supercommittee, they have yet to do fuck-all, naturally. And Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, is leading the charge on making it All President Obama's Fault, despite the fact that Republicans accuse him of railroading Congress when it suits their narrative, and now accuse him of, essentially, not railroading Congress. (As if Congressional Republicans could be railroaded, anyway.) Good fucking god, this country's national discourse is infuriating.

In other random economic news...

IndieBay: Interview with Scott Olsen about his injury from the police attack on Occupy Oakland (video).

Bloomberg: Moody's considers bank debt downgrade in 15 European nations.

Wall Street Journal: Facebook targets huge IPO.

CNN Money: American Airlines files for bankruptcy.

Bloomberg: How Paulson gave hedge funds advance word. And related to that: Paul Krugman's "Mission not accomplished."

New York Times: In gloomy economic times, Santas learn to help by curbing expectations.

As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to leave links to anything you're reading and/or writing in comments.