As the next Congressional fight over payroll tax extensions and unemployment benefits and pipelines gets set up in the next few weeks for either its final chapter or to be kicked down the road a bit farther, one or the other, you're going to hear a lot from our Republican friends about how much they value work and workers; most especially, they'll tell you, they value American jobs for American workers.
After all, they'll say, creating American jobs is the most important thing of all.
But if we were to look back over just the last few months, some would tell us, we could quickly find examples of how Republicans promote ideas that don't seem to value work or workers at all, much less American jobs.
Well as it turns out, "some" seem to be right; to illustrate one of those examples we'll look back a month or two or three to a time some Republicans might wish was long, long, ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
I have spent a number of years complaining about the interactions between Democrats and Republicans, but after the recent events involving the Keystone XL and civil liberties cave-ins, I've decided it's time to stop complaining and embrace the madness.
But I also feel like there's an ugly edge to all this...that hasn't really been fully exploited.
I mean, Republicans have tried to force through a lot of disgusting ideas this Congress as they've held various bills hostage, but it seems like, if they really tried, they could do so much more.
But I'm not here to complain, I'm here to help; that's why today we'll be trotting out a few ideas of our own that Republicans can attach to bills throughout 2012, with the assistance of certain errant Democrats.
It'll be fun, it'll be festive, but most of all...it'll be an exercise in Civic Responsibility, and in these difficult times, that's something we could sorely use.
After doing a bit of mountain hiking a few days back, I had a chance to get involved in a great afternoon conversation with the Alliance for American Manufacturing's Mike Wessel, who also serves as a Commissioner with the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission; the conversation was about how we're doing when it comes to our relationship with China.
As it turns out, the two events went well together, because what I'm hearing from these guys is that we have a great big ol' mountain to climb if we hope to get back to a level playing field in our interactions with this most important country.
There's news to report across a variety of issues; that's why today we'll be talking about trade, human rights, cybersecurity, poverty and development, and the methods by which you can apply "soft power" to achieve hard results.
The entirely unanticipated result: all of this will reveal the naïveté of Ron Paul when it comes to foreign policy; we'll discuss that at the end.
I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I am glad to be back on the campaign trail, fighting to fix our broken economy and restore the American Dream for millions of hardworking middle class families.
Why do banks foreclose instead of helping the owners renegotiate the mortgage payments? The federal bailout guarantees the banks would be made whole on the mortgage if they foreclose. If they don't foreclose the banks risk not being made whole and losing money.
Our goal is to change that equation so that the banks which foreclose will have to consider the cost of keeping up property by creating a negative cash flow until the property is sold. Renegotiating with the borrowers could be better for the bank. The California legislature has given local government the tool to compel banks to maintain foreclosed property.
SB1137 a California Law passed in 2008 says:
"A legal owner shall maintain vacant residential property purchased by that owner at a foreclosure sale, or acquired by that owner through foreclosure under a mortgage or deed of trust. A governmental entity may impose a civil fine of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000) per day for a violation."
Several cities have implemented ordinances based on SB 1137 with some success. The Foreclosure Deterrent Project strategy is to convince city governments to pass similar ordinances, by making best practices documents available including ordinances already in place, listings of East Bay cities where a large number of bank owned single family dwellings are for sale and other pertinent documents including SB 1137. The Foreclosure Deterrent Project with links to these resources can be found at www.TriValleyDems.com.
The banks;
• sold mortgages to the unsuspecting unqualified,
• bundled these high risk mortgages with OK mortgages from the qualified,
• had the bundle rated as AAA even though they were risk infested,
• insured them with AIG, Fannie & Freddie,
• bet on them defaulting,
• sold the bundle to some other bank,
• got the Federal Government (our taxes) to cover the losses at AIG, Freddie & Fannie
• ... the new owner banks foreclose & do not negotiate with the borrowers.
The problem is the insurance guarantees the banks will get the money owed on the mortgage if they foreclose (guaranteed by our federal bailout tax dollars backing up the insurers). So while the banks promised to re-negotiate loans, they drag their feet until borrowers give up in frustration. The new owner banks bought the high default risk mortgages at wholesale rates and are now making profits by foreclosing. The bank bailout is the insurance guarantee for the banks that they will be made whole.
7 million are facing foreclosure; millions have already left their homes. The Foreclosure Deterrent Project won't end foreclosures but will deter some particularly when maintaining vacant property includes paying homeowners association dues, keeping the property secure and safe.
Banks foreclosing on condominiums frequently stop paying real estate taxes and home owners association (HOA) fees causing the remaining homeowners to make-up the shortfall. The HOA usually puts a lien on the condo to recover the arrears HOA fees, which may be paid only after back taxes. The bank then tells the HOA it has a buyer who won't cover the arrears HOA fees. The bank makes the HOA a take it or leave it offer. If the HOA leaves the offer then the remaining owners continue to make-up the shortfall.
You can help by making SB 1137 related information available to city council members, county supervisors, legislators, realtors, public safety officials and Home Owner Association members. All of these groups have stakes in decreasing the inclination of banks to foreclose, increasing local government revenue, protecting property values, increasing public safety, creating jobs and penalizing foreclosing banks for neglecting foreclosed property. If you think this approach makes sense then take it to your city council and pass it on.
You know what the problem is with America?
The poor don't get just how great they have it.
I've hear this a lot lately; the basic thrust of the discussion is that all those cars, TVs, DVD players, refrigerators, and stoves that have found their way into the homes of the economic underclass are proof there's really no such thing as "poor" in America.
If they were truly poor, the argument goes, well...think recycled corn.
And if the poor want things to get better, let 'em pull themselves up by their own bootstraps - and if they can't, then let 'em rot, because that's the best thing for the economy.
But I don't buy all that, and by the time we're done today, I hope to have given you a whole new perspective on how jobs get created in this country.
When Occupy Oakland first started, I was skeptical and frankly unimpressed. I stopped by the rally on that first Monday at 4pm and was underwhelmed by the turnout. At most, a couple hundred people were there. The rally took place on the corner of 14th and Broadway and the sound system (or maybe just a bullhorn) wasn’t loud enough and it was difficult to hear. I chatted with some friends I ran into and went back to work.
Day by day tents went up in Frank Ogawa Plaza and I became much less underwhelmed, especially once infrastructure was developed. The occupiers organized a communal kitchen, library, schedule of events, and of course port-o-potties. I work in Frank Ogawa Plaza so passed the encampment every day, often multiple times per day. I appreciated that it was mostly quiet during the day and amplified sound never started until 4 or 5pm. At night I felt safer walking around in the area, as there were tons of people around. I developed an admiration for the occupation and defended the occupiers to friends who were frightened and annoyed by the encampment.
Yet I was still skeptical. I expressed to many that while I thought the Occupy movement was doing a great job changing the dialogue in our country, it wasn’t a movement I could participate in because I didn’t understand the end game. I’ve taken part in much advocacy and several movements, and I’ve always had a clear goal in mind (even if it was a goal I knew wouldn’t be attained for many years, like stopping the federal attacks on medical marijuana – a goal I chipped away at for nearly a decade and which still hasn’t been met).
Well I'm finally back here at work after another recent series of personal adventures; in the middle of all the fun I've been finding time to get down to my local "Occupy" event, and for those of you who have not been keeping up I thought we'd take a moment today to compare a bit of Fox-driven perception to the reality I've been seeing.
What I've been told to expect, at least in certain quarters of the public space, are dirty filthy hippies with no jobs or ambitions hoping to destroy America while having deviant public couplings fueled by the free distribution of dangerous psychotropic drugs.
Sadly, I've found that there's not really much truth in that description, even as tiny bits of it do ring true; but with a manifesto in hand and a few conversations under my belt we'll see what we can do to create a picture that will surprise a lot of the 99% who already support Occupy Wall Street, even if they don't know it yet.
Meanwhile, the GOP leadership asks us to consider absurd bills like H.R. 1505, which this week passed the House Committee on Natural Resources, where I sit as a Member. This legislation will hand over control of all public lands within 100 miles of the borders - like our national parks, forests, and beaches - to U.S. Customs and Border Protections. Ironically, it's named the National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act. Under H.R. 1505, without any public notice, U.S. Customs and Border Protection could build roads and gates and install surveillance equipment in places that Americans treasure - from Glacier National Park in Montana to Cleveland National Forest in California and Olympic National Park in Washington. This legislation would, in effect, hand over the keys to many of the most beautiful places in America - places you and I own as the birthright of being an American, places that with proper stewardship our great grandchildren will one day own too.
OK, we'll admit it - we love a great infographic. And this one from the Internet Innovation Alliance is one of the best we've seen in a while. It makes the connection between broadband and jobs - the fact that more Americans than ever before rely on a fast, reliable connection to do their jobs. That more investment in broadband will yield hundeds of thousands of jobs. That... well, we could go on, but really you should just check it out for yourself.
Many Californians are again worse off than last year
by Brian Leubitz
In another Field Poll release (PDF), the pollsters take the temperature of the state on economic issues. To summarize, it is bad out there.
"Pretty gloomy stuff," said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo. "The length of these negative reports is now becoming historic."
Field also found that 91 percent of voters say that California's economy is in bad shape. Forty-two percent believe that things will stay the same over the next year, while 30 percent say it will worsen and 26 percent think it will improve.(SacBee)
Half of all California voters report a decline in their economic condition from a year ago. And that is for the fourth straight year. Much of that has to do with the global and national economic condition, but we have been hit particularly hard. We had huge housing bubbles in the Central Valley, where unemployment is now at staggering levels. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to control the foreclosure rates in any meaningful way.
The state government can do some things to help, but right now, we are handcuffed and making the situation worse. We are laying off teachers and other state workers by the thousands. All this has a major negative effect on the economy. For every state worker you fire, there is a multiplier effect in the private sector. All this compounds to make the situation worse.
We should be doing more, but instead, we are looking at ways to cut more jobs. It's like 1937 all over again.
This editorial in The Detroit News by Orjiakor N. Isiogu, chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission, very nearly perfectly sums up our argument.
Like HDTV before it, 4G-LTE wireless holds incredible promise for consumers and device manufacturers alike. But today there is insufficient wireless capacity to support millions of 4G-LTE devices, and demand is rising ever faster. According to Cisco Systems, mobile traffic is expected to increase 26-fold by 2015. By 2015 the majority of Internet traffic will be via mobile devices - a reality unthinkable just two years ago.
That's why LightSquared's venture is significant. It would substantially increase America's broadband wireless capacity while providing next-generation high-speed wireless data and voice to areas previously underserved. In addition, the company plans to market its nationwide network on a wholesale model, allowing any number of new competitors to enter the market. Many observers have hailed this proposal as a key part of President Obama's plan to increase high-speed Internet adoption nationwide, while also increasing competition in a consolidating wireless industry, all at zero cost to taxpayers, thanks to a planned $25 billion investment by the company.
More competitors in the market will mean lower prices and better service for consumers, along with expanded wireless broadband options. Another key benefit will be the economic benefit associated with building out a national network, including the creation of an estimated 15,000 jobs per year. Public safety could be enhanced by this network as well.
Simply put, whether you're somewhere in urban Michigan or rural California, an expanded wireless network means more competition, lower prices, and better service. And we're doing it all at zero cost to taxpayers.
For real - it is. And the truth is, that while all of this debate about the AT&T/T-Mobile merger is important, worthwhile and necessary, it's also something of a red herring. Because at the end of the day the problem that the merger was initiated in part to address, the problem that will ultimately prevent new competition, stifle innovation and shut down the incredible potential to create jobs and grow the economy through broadband investment remains.
And that problem is SPECTRUM.
And if there's something we know a little bit about, it's the need for more spectrum.
Check out this very excellent article written by Jeff Kagen at E-Commerce Times, "Let's Solve the Real Wireless Problem: Spectrum Shortage" http://www.technewsworld.com/s...
I took a break to enjoy the holiday, as I'm sure many of you did, but my inbox kept busy, and on Friday came a doozy, courtesy of the Washington Post.
You remember that little bit of a banking crisis we had a couple of years back, where banks around the world might have possibly, maybe, just a little, conspired in a giant scheme to package toxic mortgage loans into Grade A, investment-ready securities instruments, which then blew up in everyone's faces to the tune of a whole lot of taxpayer bailouts?
Well all of a sudden, it looks like an agency of the Federal Government is looking to do something about it, in a real big way.
Last Friday the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced they're suing 17 firms (I'll give you a list, bit it's pretty much all the usual suspects); depending on who you ask the Feds are seeking an amount as high as $200 billion.
As Joe Biden would say, it's a big...well, it's a big deal, anyway, and that's why we're starting the new week with this one.
Main Street, USA - Nurses call their neighbors and their elected officials to come to Main Street on September 1, even as many of the elected officials continue chiding one another about returning to DC.
Main Street is where the damage has been done and is being felt most deeply; DC is where deals are cut to protect Wall Street with breath-taking regularity. This is not a time when political posturing for some distant election cycle by those largely insulated from the harsh financial realities they helped create ought to take precedence over the real-time, real-life needs of millions.
Lives depend on it; jobs depend on it; communities depend on it. 170,000 Registered Nurse members of National Nurses United throughout America have come together to re-build Main Street. We need you on our side.
So, on Thursday, September 1, the nurses of National Nurses United will gather in more than 60 communities from Maine to Texas, and Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan, Florida, Illinois, California and beyond to call on the nation's elected officials to chose to protect and repair Main Street and stop cow-towing to Wall Street. Find an action on a Main Street near you and join in.
When last we met, it was to discuss a Big Idea that the Obama Administration might apply to get some job creation going, despite a difficult Congress; the Big Idea was to look at the "Buy American" provisions that exist in our laws, regulations, and Executive Orders and see if we could practice a bit of "jobs arbitrage" by not just meeting the "Made in USA" requirements when governments across this country make purchases, but exceeding them.
(As it stands today, pretty much any "good or service" with more than 50% Made in USA content qualifies as a Made in USA purchase, even if 49% of the "good or service" comes from somewhere else).
At the time, I told you that if all went well we could look forward to comments from both Labor and the Administration as to the practicality of the Big Idea, and as it turns out I have comments for you that hit close to that mark - and a bit more besides:
On Saturday I just happened to bump into Congressman Adam Smith (WA-09); in the course of that conversation I told him what we're doing here, and he wanted to offer a few thoughts of his own...and when you put all that together, I think we're going to have a lot to talk about.
Few topics today are generating as much discussion as the seemingly insatiable demand for mobile data and how our country is going to keep pace with it. The United States has set a national goal to provide 98 percent of Americans with broadband access within the next five years. LightSquared is stepping up to help make this a reality. We are contributing $14 billion in private investment over the next eight years to build a nationwide wireless broadband network using 4G-LTE technology integrated with satellite coverage. This represents a $14 billion private sector-not government-investment in America's infrastructure.
The deployment and management of the LightSquared network will, in turn, create new jobs. We expect to generate more than 15,000 direct and indirect jobs in each of the next five years. And that's just the beginning of what the LightSquared network will help bring to California and across the country.
LightSquared will offer network capacity on a wholesale-only basis. This is a dramatic departure from the current vertically integrated model in the wireless industry, and it will open the broadband market to new players such as retailers, cable companies, and device manufacturers, to name a few. This means that end users - consumers like you - will enjoy the benefits of innovation, increased competition, and choice.
Come to think of it, they like to argue and obfuscate in abstractions, as well. They campaign in abstractions and make abstract pledges until those abstractions turn into something tangible, like a subprime lending crisis or a downgrade from a particular private rating agency.
We spend so much time wading through abstractions that we cannot get to the meat of the issues that face us today. Enough of that.
What really happens in a bad economy? And what is the public's role during these tough times?
It has been a tough news weekend for the United States.
I've been blocking out news coverage today and cringing every time I hear a partisan or pundit prognosticate about the decline of America, or our supposed shuffle closer to doomsday.
My heart breaks hard every time I think about the selfless men and women we lost in Afghanistan this weekend. Brothers and sisters alike, it seems almost trivial to sit here tonight and type--a freedom they have won for me--while so many are facing grim realities and long, tense moments of combat half a world away.
It's easy to lose focus of who you are and what you stand for in times like these.
Tonight, I'm reminded of a famous speech given by a wartime American president from Illinois (emphasis added):
"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
It is easy to cower in the face of disappointment or unspeakable tragedy, to cave to the demands of those playing the temporary game of political opportunism. In these times, we should not forget who we are:
