Media Giants for Health Care

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I said on Twitter yesterday that Comcast was endorsing health care reform as a sop designed to butter up Obama’s regulators who must approve the Comcast-NBC deal. But that becomes even more clear when you look at the letter Comcast’s CEO Brian Roberts wrote.

Roberts starts with an utterly shameless suck up. Congratulations, Mr. President, you rock! But as part of that suck up, Roberts appeals to the themes–job creation, investment, and innovation–taht Comcast will mobilize to justify its acquisition of NBC. (He does not, for some reason, mention the real reason behind the deal: profits.)

Congratulations on today’s Summit on Jobs and Economic Growth. I believe that hosting a thoughtful and vibrant discussion with the Vice President, members of your Cabinet, business leaders, scholars, and other public officials about the persistent economic challenges confronting America and the path we must forge to foster job creation, investment, and innovation is a really important initiative.

Then, Roberts uses his non-attendance at the summit as his excuse for making his transparent bid to suck up to Obama.

Because of our announcement today that we have formed a joint venture with General Electric consisting of NBCU’s businesses and Comcast’s cable networks, I am unable to attend the Summit. I very much appreciate the outreach to the business community, and want to express one of the thoughts I intended to make at the Summit –that enactment of comprehensive health care reform legislation is, in my judgment, critical to putting this country on a path of sustained growth and prosperity.

“I can’t attend because I’m busy becoming an even bigger media behemoth and oh by the way I’m sorry I haven’t mentioned yet that I support your signature policy issue but I do.”

From there, Roberts goes on to prove that he has been paying attention to Obama’s talking points, citing the cost and the amount by which it reduces deficits–which Roberts labels “a strong dose of fiscal responsibility.”

Then Roberts’ letter gets really interesting. He makes a sustained pitch for the digital technology aspects of reform.

I also strongly support the development of standards and protocols to promote the digitization of health records and documents, electronic data matching, and the interoperability of systems for enrollment in health services programs. Such steps could revolutionize how health centers and hospitals operate and enrich how health providers and patients communicate. Telemedicine and  distant health services will literally transform the delivery and monitoring of health care services and the training of health care professionals. As a leading information and communications technology company, Comcast understands the generative power of broadband technology and its potential to improve the overall quality of health care, while stimulating job creation and restoring our economy.

Notice that Roberts assumes this will all be done via broadband and not–say–satellite.

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Bernanke Confirmation Hearing, Two

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Picture 161Follow along on CSPAN3.

Nothing terribly exciting from Corker or Menendez. But Bailout Ben keeps talking about the stress tests as if they’re something worth bragging of.

DeMint: We never bought one toxic asset and the entire banking system did not collapse. The precise we used to create TARP was never followed through on so it’s difficult for me to believe we saved the economy.

Bernanke: To fix TBTF: tougher regulation, a resolution regime that will allow govt to wind down, allow creditors to take losses.

I guess Glass-Steagall isn’t an issue.

Tester: Dodd’s regulatory reform bill?

Bernanke: Disagree about Fed’s role. Regulatory expertise and need to know.

Tester: Taking turf issue off table, does it address TBTF.

Bernanke: Not a turf issue.

Judd Gregg giving Bernanke a big smooch. Along the way he says, “You could be in a Dan Brown novel,” trying to push back against suspicion of Fed.

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Bernanke Hearing Liveblog

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Picture 161Follow along on CSPAN3.

This will be a half-assed liveblog, but it has already proven more interesting than I thought. Chris Dodd has basically said, “Fed screwed up prior to the crash” but then said, “but I support your reapproval anyway.”

Then, he just raised Nouriel Roubini’s read that people are borrowing dollars to buy assets, which is making those assets overvalued. Dodd said he wasn’t sure if he pronounced Roubini’s name correctly (!?!?!?!). And Bernanke said he doesn’t think assets are overvalued.

That, by itself, should cause Bernanke to lose his job.

Bailout Ben says BoA will pay us back immediately. Now boasting of stress tests. Claims that the holding companies are perfectly healthy.

Bailout Ben pushing getting healthcare under control. Apparently doesn’t know that health care reform cuts the deficit.

Please fire this arsehole now!!

He apparently hasn’t heard about the two wars we’re fighting.

Bailout Ben is really focused on restoring securitization markets. That’s nice.

Jim Bunning beating up on Bernanke for being too captive to derivities. Says he’s worse than Greenspan.

Bunning: You are the definition of a moral hazard.

Bunning: I will do everything I can to stop your nomination and drag out this process as long as I can.

Dodd: I don’t understand guaranteeing at 100%. Hard to accept notion that we had no leverage.

Bernanke: We had no leverage.

Dodd: Counterparties would have been in trouble too. You’re the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

(But Dodd will still support Bernanke.)

Bayh: I’m struck that Bunning and Sanders find themselves in agreement.

Bayh: What would you have done differently?

Bernanke: Slow to do anything on consumer protection.

Bernanke: Liquidity is to be distinguished from bailouts.

[Except for the fact that they made a bunch of insolvent firms “liquid” last year]

Schumer: You’re a victim. Action was needed and was needed quickly. I talked to Warren Buffet, govt deserves high grade. You played a major role. Now onto consumer issues.

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DHS Doesn’t Want to Scan Shipping Containers

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In 2007, Congress passed the 9/11 Act mandating the government implement the remaining recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. As part of this, they required that, by 2012, all shipping containers be scanned before they get to the United States. Only, DHS is balking at this, calling it unachievable. So GAO did a study of efforts to scan shipping containers to see whether DHS really knows whether it is achievable or not. The study shows that DHS has basically refused to even figure out whether 100% scans is feasible, and instead plans on just granting all ports a waiver from this law.

Basically, DHS is refusing to follow the law because it doesn’t want globalized trade to pay for the costs of making such trade secure.

As a reminder, the 9/11 Commission recommended scanning all shipping containers for WMDs (really, nukes, since they’re not doing chemical or biological scans). But scans would be valuable, as well, for hindering the importation of other things–drugs, arms, and people. Basically, scanning shipping containers would address one of the security risks of globalized trade that all sorts of illicit groups are currently exploiting. It would be asking importers to pay the full cost of importing foreign goods.

But no one wants to do this. GAO describes the complaints about the mandate to screen shipping containers.

Both DHS and CBP, as well as foreign governments and customs organizations, have expressed serious concerns regarding the feasibility and efficacy of the 100 percent scanning requirement. In April 2009, the Acting Commissioner for CBP testified that much had been done to enhance the security of cargo containers relative to other modes of transportation, and added that the area of maritime security should not be overemphasized to the detriment of other transportation modes. He also emphasized that the threat of a significant nuclear weapon in a container remains remote and requested that the scanning requirement be thoughtfully reconsidered by Congress. In January 2009, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security also stated that any requirement regarding container scanning from Congress must be achievable and affordable and noted that the July 2012 deadline for 100 percent container scanning appeared to be unattainable. In April 2009, the Secretary determined that CBP would focus deployment of the SFI program to foreign locations of strategic importance in a way that will maximize security benefits given its limited resources. In addition to DHS’ concerns that the requirement to scan all U.S.-bound cargo containers cannot be met, foreign governments and customs organizations have expressed their opposition to the requirement. For example, in June 2008, members of the WCO unanimously endorsed a resolution expressing concern that implementation of 100 percent scanning would be detrimental to world trade and could result in unreasonable delays, port congestion, and international trading difficulties.10 Similarly, in May 2008, the European Parliament issued a resolution calling for the United States to repeal the 100 percent scanning requirement.

Now, the GAO explains a number of real impediments to scanning all shipping containers at other ports: governments at those ports don’t want to do the scans, the scan technology is not yet robust or effective enough to work well. And, of particular concern, there are safety concerns for drivers that drive the shipping containers through scanners.

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Share the Turkey

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Picture 146A couple of weeks ago, the USDA put numbers to the reality that has appeared, anecdotally, all over the country: more and more people in this country don’t have enough food. Almost 15% of the country had at least some food insecurity last year. 5 million more kids faced hunger last year than the year before.

That means the food banks that have helped such families fill the gap are slammed, facing far more demand than they can meet.

So as you prepare to join family and friends tomorrow to give thanks for everything you’ve got, if you’re able, please consider helping the food banks that are trying to put Thanksgiving meals on so many tables this year.

Feeding America

Pantry Net

Angel Food Ministries

Foodpantries.org

Gleaners Community Food Bank, Southeastern MI

Food Gatherers, Washtenaw County, MI

(Susie’s got more links here)

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NY Post Floats Dimon to Replace Geithner

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Talk about unclear on the concept! The NY Post claims that “a number of policy makers” have proposed ousting Geithner and giving the position of Treasury Secretary to one of the MOTUs who was effectively Geithner’s “client” at both the NY Fed and Treasury. (h/t scribe)

Sources tell The Post that a number of policy makers have begun mentioning Dimon as a successor to Geithner, whose standing in Washington has suffered because of the country’s high unemployment rate, the weakness of the dollar, the slow pace of the recovery and the government’s mounting deficit.

Last week, Geithner faced a withering attack from some Republican members of the Joint Economic Committee, getting into a testy exchange with one congressman who at one point asked Geithner if he would step down.

Dimon, meanwhile, has achieved rock star status during the financial crisis, having navigated JPMorgan through the recession and being a go-to guy when Uncle Sam last year needed Wall Street’s help during the collapses of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual.

Furthermore, while many bank chiefs are facing heat over outsize bonuses, Dimon has repeatedly made clear he won’t write fat checks to attract or keep talent.

Now, you can never tell whether the Post is reporting news or spewing propaganda, and the fact that the Post reports only that Republicans want to get rid of Geithner and not–for example–Democrat Peter DeFazio suggests that this might be the current state of Republican spin.

Still, it is true that Obama thinks Dimon can do no wrong. And it is true that Obama’s economic policy has been totally captured by people like … Dimon.

So who knows? Maybe this is a genuine trial balloon?

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Mika Brzezinski and her 7% Husband

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In the guise of pitching her book on career and family yesterday, Mika Brzezinski had this to say:

Finding a job is hard enough, but have you ever considered the odds and the challenges of finding a good man?

Bad news, girls. The odds are definitely better on getting the right job than getting a good partner for life. Someone who will grow with you. Someone to develop memories with. Someone who was there in the beginning. Someone who will be there at the end.

Don’t push away that chance if you’re one of the lucky ones who find that partner. And remember, you can always change a job. I hear it’s much harder to switch out a husband.

Now maybe this will come as a surprise to someone born into fame and connections like Mika, but it’s not actually all that easy to find a job. As CNN pointed out the other day, statistically it’s actually harder to find a job right now than it is to get into Harvard (or Mika’s alma mater of Williams).

Since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, job openings declined from 4.4 million to 2.4 million and the number of officially unemployed persons grew from 7.5 million to 15.7 million, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

If the 15.7 million officially unemployed workers were to apply for those 2.4 million jobs, the chance of any one of them finding a job are about 15 percent, or roughly the same odds as being accepted to the University of Pennsylvania.

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Break with the Bankers

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In the calm before yesterday’s election night storm, Howie Kurtz took a moment to engage in his favorite hobby, obsessing about Democratic men’s penises.

If any of the candidates are patronizing hookers, Chris Matthews has the right guest. Eliot Spitzer, on the set.

But Matthews may in fact have had the most logical guest on to interpret last night’s results. As Digby concluded last night,

At this point, the only thing that seems obvious to me is that the super wealthy just aren’t as popular as they used to be. Even in New York City.

You see, regardless of his own considerable fortune and whether he has paid for sex, Spitzer had this to say yesterday (presumably before Bloomberg almost failed to buy a city):

Imagine this: by next spring, an intellectual consensus will have emerged that the concentration in the banking sector that developed from the 1980s until the crash of ‘08 was misguided. Voices as disparate as Former Fed Chair Paul Volcker, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, meta- investor George Soros, and the Wall Street Journal editorial page will be in agreement on this point.A few brave souls on the Right — recognizing that the Republican Party has been bereft of ideas in its attacks on President Obama — will then try to re-define a populist, conservative attack by asserting that the White House has been captured by Wall Street. Real populism and change, they will argue, will come from the Republican, not the Democratic, party.

The power of such an attack from the Right should not be underestimated. There will be a huge first mover advantage that goes to the candidates who grab the real banner of attacking the structure of Wall Street as having been the root of the crash of ‘08.

[snip]

So the simple question remains: why aren’t we focusing on the problem that got us here in the first instance — the scope, range, and size of the mega-institutions whose risk taking has so far inflicted only enormous harm on our economy? If the Republicans pick up this issue before we do, the elections of 2010 could be even worse than we are now fearing.

The teabaggers failed yesterday, but there’s every reason to believe they will be more successful at mobilizing anxiety and frustration in Florida. And they’ll be doing it all the while downplaying Dick Armey’s considerable financial largesse.

If the teabaggers can then turn their energy into a focus on Wall Street, I do believe they’ll be successful in coming years. Particularly if the Administration continues to coddle the bankers.

Update: Speaking of Spitzer, Gawker has the journalist/flack emails from the first days that scandal broke.

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Leo Gerard: I’m Tired of Hearing about Stimulus

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I’m at the New American Economy Conference, watching Leo Gerard, the head of the Steelworkers, talk about the need for a manufacturing plan. He has quoted Jeff Immelt and Alan Mulally talking about the need for a concerted focus on manufacturing in the United States.

One point he made is that by framing economic recovery in terms of “stimulus,” rather than a manufacturing plan, you imply a one-time lightning strike, rather than the plan that Immelt and Mulally–and the Steelworkers–are calling for.

Update: He went on to say, “When I was a kid if they asked your for 15% interest, they’d arrest you. Now, they make you Employee of the Year.”

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Building the New Economy Conference

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A couple of days ago I pointed out how Steve Rattner, Obama’s auto czar, was absolutely blind to the degree to which his impressions of the auto industry were true, too, for Rattner’s own finance industry. That highlighted an issue I’ve been trying to focus on (between covering Obama’s cover-up of Dick Cheney’s crimes): the huge imbalance in our economy.

I’ll be heading to DC tomorrow for a conference that tries to address that issue, “Building the New Economy.” As Scott Paul, who’s been leading these issues, says,

But chalking up the blame to a few bad apples on Wall Street and their risky financial instruments, and responding by simply providing appropriate regulation in the financial services sector, will ultimately be unsatisfying. There are much deeper, structural issues which must be urgently addressed. Otherwise, the absurd positive feedback loop will continue: consumer debt, subsidized Chinese imports, American job loss and factory closures, the growing U.S. current account deficit, burgeoning Chinese currency reserves reinvested in American debt … These will only inflate new bubbles and reinforce our current problems.

Some of us warned that this day would come. We knew that an economic strategy predicated on replacing wage growth with debt and credit to maintain a certain standard of living was doomed to fail. We knew that this nation could not replace manufacturing jobs and their multiplier effect, as well as their positive impact on the trade balance and wealth generation, with lower-wage service and retail jobs.

If you’re in town, stop by–some cool bloggers–and people like Sherrod Brown and Richard Trumka will be there.

Hopefully, we can fix health care then start talking about how Americans can make something again.

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