Anger and rancor lead to senseless, cruel economic decisions

The Republican position is so ludicrous that it beggars belief. Here's what they argue: Extend the tax cuts for the richest Americans - in fact, make them permanent. Doing so would increase the deficit by $700 billion over the next decade, but this doesn't matter. We did tell you that we're the party of fiscal responsibility, however, so to prove it we'll block the extension of unemployment benefits for millions of jobless workers. Three weeks before Christmas.

In other words, there's no additional money in the national coffers for the victims of the most devastating recession since the Great Depression. But to help investment bankers start the new year right, perhaps with a new Mercedes or a bit of sun in the Caribbean? Step right up, and we'll write you a check. ...Eugene Robinson

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Democrats in Congress still have the ability to put their opponents on the spot — as they did on Thursday when they forced a vote on extending middle-class tax cuts, putting Republicans in the awkward position of voting against the middle class to safeguard tax cuts for the rich. It would be much easier, of course, for Democrats to draw a line if Mr. Obama would do his part. But all indications are that the party will have to look elsewhere for the leadership it needs. ...Paul Krugman

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The chances of Congress allowing income tax rates to go up only for millionaires: slim. The chances of Democrats using “tax cuts for millionaires” as a political bludgeon against Republican lawmakers: game on...Democrats are planning to stage votes to force Republicans to go on record supporting the high-end tax cuts and to use the outcome to cast Republicans as putting the interests of millionaires ahead of other priorities, like reducing the deficit and providing additional benefits to the unemployed.

How it will end is anyone’s guess, though it seems increasingly likely that Democrats, unable to set an income ceiling that Republicans would accept and unwilling to blink and let all tax cuts expire, will agree to a temporary extension of the tax cuts at all income levels in return for concessions on some other issues.

But using votes cast by Republican senators — some of them millionaires themselves — as a blunt instrument of class rage is something Democrats hope will have legs beyond the lame-duck session that ends this month. ...NYT

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Republicans are demanding that Democrats extend Bush-era tax cuts at all income levels at least temporarily, not just those that primarily benefit the middle class. They are also pressing Democrats to approve a measure to keep the government funded through September, a move aimed at avoiding a fight with the White House over spending that could provoke a government shutdown. In return, Obama is seeking Republican support for as much as $150 billion in new spending on the economy, including an additional 13 months of emergency jobless benefits and another year of his signature "Making Work Pay" tax cut for working families. ...WaPo

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The plan, which would extend George W. Bush-era tax cuts for individuals earning less than $200,000 annually and couples making less than $250,000, is going nowhere in the Senate. A temporary extension of all the cuts for every income class is considered more likely to win enactment by the end of this month; otherwise they expire Dec. 31. Republicans were furious that the House Democrats staged the vote.

"I'm trying to catch my breath so I don't refer to this maneuver going on today as chicken crap, all right?" said House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, who will become speaker of the House next month. "But this is nonsense. All right? The election was one month ago. We're 23 months from the next election and the political games have already started, trying to set up the next election." ...McClatchy

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to schedule two votes on Saturday on Democratic plans to end Bush-era tax breaks for the nation’s highest income earners.

One plan sponsored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) would extend current tax rates only for families that earn less than $250,000. The second plan offered by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) would extend tax rates only for families that earn less than $1 million.

The Senate will hold cloture votes on both of those measures Saturday to end Republican filibusters blocking them from floor consideration.

“Our priorities are very, very simple and direct,” Reid told reporters Thursday night. “One, we want to make sure the American people know we believe that tax cuts should be extended for people making less than $250,000 a year. ...The Hill

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The longer people stay out of work, the more trouble they have finding new work. ...New data from the Labor Department, provided to The New York Times, shows that people out of work fewer than five weeks are more than three times as likely to find a job in the coming month than people who have been out of work for over a year, with a re-employment rate of 30.7 percent versus 8.7 percent, respectively. ...NYT

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About that pay freeze: the president likes to talk about “teachable moments.” Well, in this case he seems eager to teach Americans something false.  The truth is that America’s long-run deficit problem has nothing at all to do with overpaid federal workers. For one thing, those workers aren’t overpaid. Federal salaries are, on average, somewhat less than those of private-sector workers with equivalent qualifications. And, anyway, employee pay is only a small fraction of federal expenses; even cutting the payroll in half would reduce total spending less than 3 percent. ...Paul Krugman

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The dogged pursuit of Fox, says Media Matters' founder David Brock, reflects not just the cable network's popularity among conservatives but its power to set, and perhaps distort, the political agenda. Brock and his staff say they regard Fox as something more than just the televised equivalent of talk radio; they describe it as a de facto political operation, with a leading role in disseminating conservative messages, supporting conservative candidates and mobilizing voters. "I don't consider it a media institution," Brock says. "It's a political institution that [Fox News Chief Executive Roger] Ailes created after Obama came into office. . . . We're here to counter their lies and misinformation." ...WaPo

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The ambitious debt-reduction plan before President Obama’s bipartisan commission is likely to get support from a majority of the members on Friday but fall short of the votes needed to send it to Congress for a vote. ... But all three of the House Republicans on the commission are expected to vote no, which would expose a divide among Congressional Republicans over how to address the nation’s debt.

Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin reiterated his opposition in a meeting with reporters on Thursday. Mr. Ryan, who will become the House Budget Committee chairman in January now that Republicans have won a majority of House seats in the midterm elections, objected that the plan would not repeal the new health care law nor replace Medicare with a voucher system for future beneficiaries. ...NYT

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The investors, whose identities were disclosed as part of a trove of 21,000 records released on Wednesday at the direction of Congress, are a cross-section of America’s wealthy — investors who, in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, heard about an opportunity and weighed the risk. ...They were among scores of wealthy but lesser-known investors in an emergency lending program the Federal Reserve announced in November 2008, three weeks after President Obama’s election, to support the market for student, auto, credit card and small-business loans. ...The investors put up their own money in return for Fed financing that was then plowed into the markets for securitized loans — bundles of credit card or auto dealership debt and student loans. The investors shouldered the risk that the loan packages could lose value and be worth less than the amount they had borrowed from the Fed. ...“Realistically, if you were an early investor you could net 10 percent,” he said. “If you came in much later when the program looked to be successful, then the return dropped to 8, 7, 6, 5 percent.” ...NYT

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The system of pooling and selling mortgages around the world has caused widespread confusion about who owns the loans and raises questions about whether banks in some cases have the legal standing to foreclose, a state judge and consumer attorneys testified before Congress on Thursday. ...WaPo

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American Crossroads, a "super PAC" that can raise and spend as much money as it wants, took in nearly $28 million in donations, weighted heavily with large contributions from financiers, oil tycoons and other wealthy individuals, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

Spokesman Jonathan Collegio also said Thursday that a sister group, Crossroads GPS, took in about $43 million this year. Because it is organized as a nonprofit, the second group does not have to reveal its donors.  "After a successful 2010, we are shifting toward our goals for 2011 and beyond," Collegio said, adding that the Crossroads duo will be "active throughout 2011 in support of a conservative, free-market legislative agenda." ...WaPo

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On Dec. 13, more than 1,000 citizens from the 50 states will convene in New York to change the odds. They are founding a movement - No Labels. Among them will be Democrats, Republicans and independents who are proud of their political affiliations and have no intention of abandoning them. A single concern brings them together: the hyper-polarization of our politics that thwarts an adult conversation about our common future. A single goal unites them: to expand the space within which citizens and elected officials can conduct that conversation without fear of social or political retribution. ...WaPo