1.) Congressional Dems: Where’s Obama? — With Robert Gibbs gone, Washington is safe again for Democrats in Congress to complain that Pres. Obama isn’t doing his fair share in the budget battle. “The message to the White House is we need to ramp this up, we need to get going,” an anonymous Senate Democrat told The Hill, which reports that “Democratic officials on Capitol Hill say they are uncertain about what the president’s endgame plan is for the budget standoff” and that “some congressional Democrats are losing patience with the president, saying they want to move on to other priorities, such as their jobs agenda.” Oh, yes. The jobs agenda.
2.) Wisconsin’s pension problems will get worse before they get better — As public sector employees in Wisconsin begin to “shoulder more of the burden” for their pensions and health care they “will provide immediate relief for struggling towns, school districts and state agencies, and help them balance their budgets,” reports the New York Times. “But new pension cost estimates, ordered before Governor Walker was elected…are expected to show that the current contribution levels to the state pension system are too meager. More money, from employers and employees in some combination, will be needed, and perhaps much more in coming years.” According to economists, the problem won’t be unique to Wisconsin, and doing away with collective bargaining won’t fix it. According to labor officials, economics are evil and anyone who says that public pensions are in trouble is the Antichrist.
3.) Even green jobs dying in a regulatory spider web — “While the Obama administration has repeatedly pushed for the development of a renewable energy industry, its regulatory process is strangling clean energy projects before they even get off the ground, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Project No Project’ initiative.” According to The Daily Caller’s Amanda Carey, “The authors found 351 stalled energy projects around the country that they say, in the aggregate, are costing the U.S. economy $1.1 trillion in GDP and at least 1.9 million jobs in 49 states. The reasons for the delays, say the authors, are what they call “Not In My Back Yard” activism, a broken permitting process and a system that allows for never-ending lawsuits.” Ironically, the study found that there are more renewable energy projects currently caught up in red tape than projects in the fossil fuel industry.
4.) Tallahassee prepares for the Madison experience — “Fearful that protesters might storm their doors during the legislative session, the Florida Chamber of Commerce is on lockdown — hiring off-duty Tallahassee police officers to stand guard in the parking lot and establishing security codes (red, orange and yellow) so employees know the threat level,” reports the St. Pete Times. “Chamber president Mark Wilson said Thursday that he ordered the precautions after hearing of protests that led to the destruction of public property in states like Wisconsin.” Over at the Associated Industries of Florida, which, like the Chamber, supports Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s proposals for fiscal reform, they are doing things a little differently. “I told the staff if they get any protesters to take them some bottled water and Girl Scout cookies,” said AIF’s Barney Bishop. “If they start breaking windows, we’ll call the cops, but the truth of the matter is you can’t be afraid of these people.”
5.) Wall Street strikes back — “Bankers are ratcheting up their rhetoric as they fight a mortgage-servicing settlement proposal, predicting lasting damage to the U.S. economy in an effort to force regulators to soften terms of any penalties,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “On Thursday, Wells Fargo & Co. Chief Executive John Stumpf said extensive loan principal reduction would increase the U.S. deficit if taxpayers are forced to pay for write-downs of loans held by government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac…Bank of America executives issued similar warnings on Tuesday, calling principal reductions ‘no panacea’ and questioning the fairness of the approach.” In a sign that the banks are trying a different psychological approach to rebutting claims of malfeasance, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf warned against the settlement by saying, “It’s important to the country so that whatever happens does not slow down the recovery.”
6.) Will union fat cats try stacking Wisconsin’s supreme court? — With elections for the Wisconsin State Supreme Court on the horizon, Mickey Kaus asks the big question: “Will Wisconsin voters feel comfortable turning a judicial election into, in effect, a referendum on a law Democrats don’t like?” Republican David Prosser is running against Democrat JoAnn Kloppenberg for the seat that decides the court’s political majority. “Conservatives have often campaigned against liberal judges after unpopular rulings (e.g., Rose Bird in California),” concedes Kaus. “But it seems even worse, in terms of legal etiquette, to elect a judge in order to make a particular ruling, about a particular law, in a particular upcoming case.”
VIDEO: Sheila Jackson Lee’s rant at terrorism committee hearing
